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Dead woman’s home searched for info on 2012 death of girls

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June 1st, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have searched the Belle Plaine home of a woman who killed herself and her 8-year-old son, looking for information on the 2012 killings of two Evansdale girls. The Des Moines Register reports that detectives recently searched 36-year-old Teresa Catherine Gerleman’s home, taking several items and a handwritten note.

On May 4, Gerleman pulled 8-year-old Henry Fields onto tracks in the path of a train that killed them both. Police say in court documents that someone who had counseled Gerleman told investigators that Gerleman claimed to have a six-page letter written by men who admitted involvement in the girls’ deaths.

Ten-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins were taken on July 13, 2012, as they rode their bikes. Their bodies were discovered on Dec. 5, 2012, in Bremer County. No one has been charged in the killings. It was not clear if any evidence relating to the girls’ deaths was found in Gerleman’s home.