WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – An uncle of the missing Iowa cousins is recovering in a hospital following an apparent drug overdose. Wylma Cook says her 32-year-old son Jeremiah Cook was in stable condition Friday at Allen Hospital in Waterloo after the overdose Thursday night. She says he’s expected to be OK. 

Wylma Cook says the disappearance of 10-year-old Lyric Cook and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins has “taken a toll” on Jeremiah, who was having trouble sleeping and eating. She says he has no children but was very close to his nieces, considering them his “prized possessions.”  The girls vanished after leaving for a bike ride July 13 in Evansdale.  Cook says her son hadn’t taken methamphetamine, cocaine or marijuana, but she declined to say what caused the overdose.