An eastern Iowa judge says the mother of one of the Evansdale girls must remain in a halfway house.

Misty Cook-Morrissey, the mother of Lyric Cook, had asked to have her probation term cut short by 45 days so she could assist with the planning of Lyric’s funeral.

Lyric and her cousin, Elizabeth Collins, disappeared after going for a bike ride in Evansdale in July. Their bodies were discovered by hunters in a Bremer County park earlier this month.

Cook-Morrissey is currently under supervised release in connection with a 2003 conviction on methamphetamine charges. She spent three years in federal prison and has been on probation since being released in 2006.

Cook-Morrissey has been living at the Residential Reentry Center in Waterloo since August.

She says that being a resident there did not allow her proper time to help plan her daughter’s funeral, which will be held a week from Saturday in Cedar Falls.

By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls