(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will hold a Special Meeting at 10-a.m. Friday, July 15th in their Board Room at the Courthouse, in Red Oak. During the meeting, te Board is expected to hold an interview with a finalist candidate for Montgomery County Auditor/Commissioner of Elections, in what will likely be a closed session, in accordance with the Code of Iowa. The person appointed will conduct the duties of that position until the seat appears on the November 8, 2022, General Election ballot.

Montgomery County Auditor Stephanie Burke resigned at end of last month, to accept the school business official/board secretary’s position with the Stanton School District. Her last day in office was on June 30th.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report the arrest at around 2:50-p.m., Tuesday, of 35-year-old Jessica Renee Swietlik, of Creston. She was taken into custody for Violation of Probation, Failure to Appear, and Registration Violation. Swietlik was transported to the Adams County Jail and held without bond, pending an appearance before the judge.

And, a man from Creston reported to Police that his motorized bicycle was stolen from his porch in the 100 block of S. Sumner Avenue. The motorized bike is black, with a black tank and an orange flag. The loss was estimated at $500.

(Radio Iowa) – The ten-year anniversary of the disappearance of eight-year-old Elizabeth Collins and ten-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey is today (Wednesday( Iowa Department of Public Safety Special Agent. Scott Reger says they continue to look at new and old tips on the case. “Our team meets regularly, it kind of ebbs and flows as far as how often — but we meet regularly doing both of those things, evaluating the old information and evaluating the new information,” Reger says. The girls bodies were found in a Bremer County wildlife area five months after they disappeared — but no suspect has been found or charged in the case. He says the tips aren’t coming in as fast as they were early on — but they haven’t stopped either.

“The last 10 months we’ve received 117 tips into our email address that we have assigned specifically for this case. So that’s a good handle on on the volume that comes in,” according to Reger. He says the conventional thinking has always been the longer a case goes without being solved — the hard it is to find the killer. But, one factor that has changed that a little big is the development of new technologies. “Technology is always advancing. And it’s it’s advancing all over the board in terms of — think of a piece of evidence, anything you want to think about in terms of evidence — latent prints, video, cell phone, D-N-A, video enhancement, all of those things are always progressing technology wise,” he says. Reger believes that technology improvement helps turn the tide back toward investigators.

Collins and Cook-Morrissey. (photo from the Collins Foundation website.)

“Obviously, the sooner you can get on to somebody that may be responsible for something that’s always best practice, that always obviously is going to assist with leading to a successful resolution,” Reger says. “But I think the myth is, is that well, if you don’t do it in a certain amount of time, you know, I’ll use the 48 hours example. Because everybody puts that as the metric of if you don’t figure it out in 48 hours, it’s just gonna, you’ll never figure it out.” He knows it may take a lot more time before the killer is found — but he is ready to wait that out.

“We’re not going anywhere, we’re going to continue to hit this rock until it cracks. And so that continues to move us forward. The way that you feel as an investigator and anybody who’s worked this case feels the weight of wanting this to be resolved sooner rather than later,” Regar says. The Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers is offering a 100-thousand dollar reward for information in the case. You can call them at: 855-300-8477 (TIPS). Tips can also be called in to Evansdale police at (319) 232-6682, or through the Iowa Department of Public Safety email site: www.ourmissingiowagirls@dps.state.ia.us

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic will hold a Work Session 5:30-p.m. Thursday (July 14th), in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. As it is a Work Session, the meeting is public, but no motions or decisions can be made. Topics are for discussion only. The Council will hear an update and presentation from Code Enforcement Officer Kris Erickson, with regard to proposed ordinance changes.

The Council will also hold discuss with regard to the Park Board relationship and a referral of the Ordinance Review to a joint meeting of the Personnel & Finance Committee and Representatives of the Parks Board. City Administrator John Lund says he and Mayor Grace Garrett met with the Park Board regarding their long-term planning for a Splash Park and that “it was a productive meeting.” They will fill the Council in on some ideas that will hopefully allow the process to move forward.

Lund will have some elected official compensation research results the Council can review. The rest of the meeting will cover various administrative odds and ends, and a broad overview of the past six months and what the rest of the year will hold.