Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth? — Max’s Original Heart-Stopping True-Crime Docuseries Revives 2012’s Unsolved Nightmare

Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth?, the Max Original three-part documentary series that premiered on August 8, 2024, but surged to global dominance in 2025 with its chilling re-airing, has been crowned the streamer’s “most heart-stopping true-crime doc of the year,” unraveling the 2012 disappearance and murder of cousins Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, in a case that shattered Evansdale, Iowa, and left a nation haunted by unanswered questions. Directed by Dylan Meyer and executive produced by Elizabeth Fischer, the series—viewed by 15 million in its first week of 2025 re-release—dives into the July 13, 2012, nightmare when the girls vanished while biking near Meyers Lake, their bodies discovered five months later in Seven Bridges Wildlife Area, turning a small-town tragedy into a decade-long enigma of shattered families, dark secrets, and a desperate quest for justice that continues to tear lives apart.

The docuseries opens with idyllic home videos of Lyric and Elizabeth—laughing, carefree—before plunging into the frantic search: 1,000 volunteers combing cornfields, FBI divers scouring lakes, and a community gripped by fear as rumors swirled of a local predator. Through never-before-seen footage—police bodycams, family interviews, and reconstructed bike paths—Meyer reconstructs the timeline with forensic precision, revealing the girls’ abduction in broad daylight, their bikes found abandoned by the lake, and the harrowing December discovery of their remains 25 miles away, bound and hidden. “It’s the silence that kills you,” Lyric’s mother Misty Cook-Morrissey says in a raw testimony, her voice breaking as she recounts the “what ifs” that have defined 13 years of grief.

What elevates Taken Together is its unflinching exploration of the investigation’s failures: botched leads, a suspect who died by suicide, and the lingering suspicion of a cover-up tied to Lyric’s father’s meth connections. Elizabeth’s aunt Tammy Brousseau’s emotional plea—”Someone knows something”—echoes the families’ unbreakable bond and unrelenting fight, with the series featuring polygraph tests, suspect interrogations, and a 2025 update on new DNA tech that could crack the case. “This isn’t closure—it’s a scream for answers,” Fischer told Variety.

Critics rave: The Hollywood Reporter calls it “a masterclass in trauma storytelling,” 95% Rotten Tomatoes. Fans, 4.2 million #JusticeForLyricElizabeth posts, warn “too disturbing—couldn’t finish.” In a year of true-crime saturation, Taken Together stands apart, a haunting reminder that some mysteries don’t just unsolved—they consume.