Authorities searching for two missing cousins in northeastern Iowa said Wednesday they’ve hunted for clues in a landfill.

They summoned heavy equipment to more closely examine a lake where the girls’ bicycles were found last week.

 

The search for Elizabeth Collins, 8, and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, entered its 8th day Friday.

Family members say they’re now being treated as suspects. The parents of one of the girls served time in prison on drug charges. An aunt says they’ve hired an attorney.

Family members pleaded for officials in Evansdale to do more. A congressman requested assistance from additional FBI agents to resume an all-out manhunt for the girls, last seen Friday leaving Elizabeth’s house less than a mile from the lake.

“We’re at a standstill,” said Tammy Brousseau, the girls’ aunt. “Bring in everybody. Bring in the army. Let’s do this manhunt again … They disappeared into thin air.”

Brousseau said she feared the girls were abducted, possibly by a sexual predator. She dismissed the possibility the girls might have drowned because they are good swimmers and their shoes weren’t found.

For the third straight day, authorities drained the lake with hopes of ruling out that the girls’ bodies would be found underwater. The effort was taking longer than expected, but Black Hawk County Chief Deputy Rick Abben said he expected it to wrap up by Friday. Meanwhile an FBI dive team has been summoned to the scene.