Cold Case: Missing Since 1975 - Sisters Sheila Lyon 12, & Katherine Lyon 10

[MuffyBee]

http://www.gazette.net/article/20140210/NEWS/140219968/1022/police-x2018-development-x2019-in-lyon-sisters-x2019&template=gazette
Police: ‘Development’ in Lyon sisters’ disappearance
Manger schedules Tuesday press conference; girls went missing in ’75
February 10, 2014

Montgomery County police say they have a “significant development” in a 38-year-old cold case involving two young girls who disappeared from the Wheaton Shopping Plaza in 1975.

The two girls, Sheila Lyon, 12, and Katherine Lyon, 10, left their home on March 25, 1975 and walked to the Westfield Wheaton Shopping Plaza in Wheaton. The girls never returned home.

According to a police press release, Chief J. Thomas Manger will announce the development at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday in the girls’ disappearance. FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Vogt will also attend the press conference, police said.

According to Montgomery County Police, the person they’ve identified in conjunction with the case is “a convicted child sex offender, is currently incarcerated, and had traveled extensively throughout the United States.”
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/11/md-police-to-reveal-person-interest-in-sisters-175-disappearance/
Maryland police to reveal 'person of interest' in sisters' 1975 disappearance
February 11, 2014



 
On the afternoon of March 25, 1975, 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon left their home in suburban Washington, D.C., to walk to the nearby Wheaton Plaza shopping center. Investigators say witnesses saw the girls inside the mall before they disappeared. The girls never returned home and no sign of them has ever been found.

The girls' father, John Lyon, was a well-known Washington radio personality and used his platform to solicit tips and other information about the possible whereabouts of his daughters.

WTTG reports that police will release the identity and photographs of the person of interest at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Police have revealed that the person of interest is a convicted child sex offender who is currently in prison.

Authorities say the suspect traveled extensively throughout the United States and investigators will be requesting help from the public in gathering information about this person, his associates, and his activities.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/11/justice/maryland-cold-case/
Police get break, identify sex offender, in 1975 missing girls' cold case
February 11, 2014

 
A convicted sex offender, who is currently in jail, was near Sheila and Katherine Lyon on that March day in 1975, when they went missing.
Officers will release the offender's name and photo at around noon Eastern and ask the public if they know what he's done in the past and the places he's been. But Montgomery County police have stopped short of calling him a suspect.
The public eye lost sight of the case years ago. If they're alive, the women are around the age of 50.
After years of holding out hope, their parents gave up.
Sixteen years ago, they set a marker for them in a cemetery with their dates of birth and the date they went missing, the Washington Post reported.
But the police department has not forgotten Sheila, who was 12, and Katherine, who was 10, the day their older brother, Jay Lyon, saw them last.
Maybe, in part, that's because he joined the police force as a homicide detective just a few years after that.
 
The girls must have been full of anticipation, when they decided to step out for some fun in their neighborhood not far from Washington, D.C.
Their birthday dates were just one day apart, and celebrations were coming up in just a few days. It was also the first day of Easter school vacation.
They walked half a mile to a nearby strip mall to check out the Easter decorations, the Montgomery Gazette reported.
Their mother told them to be home by 4 p.m. At 7 p.m. police received a call to report them missing, the privately run missing persons website CharleyProject.org reported.
Police swarmed out looking for them and questioned passersby.
A medley of witnesses said they'd seen the girls. One saw them walking to the shopping center.
Another -- a child -- saw them talking to a stranger, a man holding a microphone and a briefcase. Police drew a composite of him based on the witness's description.
But the girls walked away from him.
An hour later, their brother Jay, 15 at the time, spotted them at the shopping center eating pizza. And after that, someone else saw them walking in the direction of their home, according to the CharleyProject description.
Had they arrived, they would have made it home on time.
 
The girls' father, John Lyon, was a well-known radio host in Bethesda at the time, so the story of his daughters' disappearance made the rounds.
Anonymous callers rang the family demanding money, CharleyProject.org claims. One of them demanded their father deposit $10,000 in a particular location.
He complied. No one picked up the cash. The man called again, but when asked for evidence that he actually had the girls, he broke off contact.
In the ensuing years, the tips faded. The case languished.
Until Tuesday.

Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/montgomery-county-police-to-identify-a-person-of-interest-in-39-year-old-cold-case/2014/02/10/f0f38ed2-92a6-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html
Montgomery County police to identify a ‘Person of Interest’ in 39-year-old cold case
February 10, 2014

 
Officials have scheduled a news conference for 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, and said they will name the man they are investigating and release photographs. They described him as a convicted child sex offender who is currently incarcerated.

Detectives believe the man was at Wheaton Plaza on the day the girls disappeared. At the time, the man apparently spent time in different locations in Montgomery County. Investigators will appeal to the public on Tuesday for more information about the person of interest, his associates and his activities.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/inmate-named-as-person-of-interest-in-1975-missing-sisters-case/2014/02/11/38f4d856-9330-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html
Inmate Lloyd Welch named as ‘person of interest’ in 1975 Lyon sisters case
February 11, 2014


Montgomery County police) - Mugshot of Lloyd Welch from 1977, when he was arrested for a residential burglary near Wheaton Plaza.

Authorities have identified a sex offender incarcerated in Delaware as a “person of interest” in the nearly 40-year-old disappearance of two Montgomery County girls, who vanished after leaving home to go to a mall.

Montgomery County police appealed to the public for more information about Lloyd Lee Welch, 57, at an afternoon news conference, saying he was at Wheaton Plaza the day Sheila and Katherine Lyon, 12 and 10, went missing.

Police said Welch, who was 18-years-old at the time, was seen “paying attention” to the sisters. He has been convicted of raping girls in Virginia, South Carolina and Delaware, they said, and worked as a ride operator for a carnival company that travelled around the country.
 
Police said Welch is from the D.C. area, but traveled around the country in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s. They said he was arrested in the mid-1970s on a burglary charge a few blocks away from Wheaton Plaza, and that he was known to hitchhike and walk along railroad tracks around the D.C. area.

“Welch was considered a drifter,” Police Chief Tom Manger said.

During the 1970’s and 80’s, police said, he often stayed in hotels and homeless shelters.

Court papers show that Welch was convicted in 1998 in New Castle County, Delaware to charges including first-degree unlawful sexual intercourse and second-degree unlawful sexual contact.
More...

Four images at above link.

[MuffyBee]

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/02/10/md-police-have-person-of-interest-in-missing-lyon-sisters-case/
Md. Police Have ‘Person of Interest’ in Missing Lyon Sisters Case
Published February 10, 2014, Updated February 11, 2014


 
Police say detectives have now identified a person of interest, 57-year-old Lloyd Lee Welch, who was at Wheaton Plaza on the day the girls disappeared. Welch is a convicted child sex offender who has been in a Delaware prison since 1997.
Authorities say he traveled extensively throughout the U.S. from the 70s through the mid-90s. He worked as a ride operator for a carnival company, often set up at malls. He was arrested in several states, charged with sexual offenses against young girls. Police believe there may be victims who have not come forward.
 
Anyone who may have encountered Michael Welch is asked to call investigators at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or they can submit a tip online at http://tips.fbi.gov.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/missing-sisters/5389705/
Cops want to question sex offender in 1975 cold case
February 11, 2014

 

Lloyd Lee "Michael" Welch Jr. is imprisoned in another state and had traveled extensively around the country, Chief J. Thomas Manger said at a news conference here. Investigators say witnesses noticed Welch paying attention to the sisters at Wheaton Plaza mall the afternoon they disappeared.

"Memories will be bad," Manger said. "But we're hoping that if we can get any information at all it will help us."

Investigators are hoping to find additional people at the scene on March 25, 1975, and other victims of Welch in the more than 30 years since the disappearance of Sheila Lyon, 12, and her 10-year-old sister, Katherine.
 
"Looking at (Welch's) criminal history since the incident, has made him an important person of interest," Manger said. Investigators spoke with witnesses who saw the two girls inside the shopping mall before they disappeared and have assembled a timeline of some of Welch's activities in the past 30 years or so.

Watch video at link.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Sheila-Lyon-Katherine-Break-in-Decades-Old-Disappearance-of-Md-Sisters-Police-244783641.html
Break in Decades-Old Disappearance of Lyon Sisters: PD
February 11, 2014









 

Police hope the release of Welch's picture will jog someone's memory and help them find out what happened to the girls.

Originally from the D.C. area, Welch traveled extensively through the U.S. from the 1970s through the mid-1990s with a carnival company he worked for with his girlfriend Helen Craver, police said.

Welch was charged with sex offenses against young girls in several states and in a burglary not far from Wheaton Plaza. He was also known to hitchhike throughout the D.C. area.
 
The girls left their Kensington, Md., home March 25, 1975, to walk the half-mile or so to Wheaton Plaza, now known as Westfield Wheaton mall. They were on spring break, and wanted to get some pizza for lunch and see the Easter decorations. They had less than $4 with them.
A friend of the girls saw them outside the Orange Bowl restaurant with an older man who had a tape recorder and a briefcase, according to news and missing persons reports. A sketch of that man was made and distributed, but the man was never located.

The girls were later spotted on the road to home, but did not arrive by their 4 p.m. curfew. By 7 p.m. that night, police had been called.

A lengthy search continued but never turned up any concrete leads. At one point, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children produced age-progressed pictures of the girls; today, Sheila would be 51; Katherine would be 49.
 
The girls' older brother, Jay, became a police officer.
 More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/inmate-named-as-person-of-interest-in-1975-missing-sisters-case/2014/02/11/38f4d856-9330-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html
Inmate Lloyd Welch named as ‘person of interest’ in 1975 Lyon sisters case
Fbruary 11, 2014

 
Welch was a drifter from the District who walked along railroad tracks and hitchhiked to get around. For a time, he operated rides for a traveling carnival. And on March 25, 1975, police said, he visited the Wheaton Plaza shopping mall, where he seemed to pay special attention to the Lyon sisters.
 
Montgomery Police Chief J. Thomas Manger stressed that detectives don’t have evidence to file charges against Welch but are continuing to try to learn as much about him as they can.
 
Late last year, Montgomery detectives looking through the case files began to take a new look at Welch. “He jumped out at us in the past couple of months,” said Assistant Montgomery Police Chief Russ Hamill.

Old case file documents show that a young girl who was with the Lyon sisters that afternoon had described a man who followed the three of them that day. Police developed a sketch partly based on that description, they said. It resembles a mug shot taken of Welch a few years later — in 1977 — when he was arrested in a burglary case in Montgomery.

Welch went on to assault girls in South Carolina and Delaware, where he is currently in prison, police said. The details of the Delaware case are not clear, but court papers show that he pleaded guilty in 1998 to several sex offenses. Officials said he is due to be set free in 2027 but has asked for early release. The Board of Pardons has scheduled a hearing for July.
 
Welch’s niece, Debbie Roe, 38, of Dover, Del., said she is the only member of the family who is in regular contact with him. She said she has written letters on and off to him for the past 13 years during his incarceration. She described him as “sweet” and said he is excited when she visits him in prison. (Described as "sweet", even with his record of sexually assaulting  girls?)

She said that Welch has denied involvement in the disappearance of the Lyon girls but told her that he was at Wheaton Plaza that day.

“The only thing he said he did was walk around the mall,” Roe said. “I think they need to look elsewhere. He doesn’t know where the girls are.”

Darlene Hawn, 57, Welch’s half sister, said news of his possible involvement in the case was a surprise. “I don’t know what to say,” said Hawn, also of Dover. “It’s just a shock.” (How is it "just a shock", with his record of sexually assaulting girls? He even pleaded guilty!!)

[Red]

Amazing after all these years that the focus is back on this dirt bag.

These predators just keep on offending until they are caught.

Hopefully this family can get answers after all these years.

[MuffyBee]

Timeline:

http://kxan.com/2014/02/12/fbi-identifies-person-linked-to-cold-case-may-be-victims-in-austin/
FBI identifies person linked to cold case – May be victims in Austin
February 12, 2014

The FBI has named a person of interest in the disappearance of two girls in Washington, D.C. in 1975. Now, they are asking for the public’s help in Austin. The suspect, Michael Welch (date of birth December 30, 1956), is currently in prison convicted of rape, but he was in Austin in 1974.

Investigators say Welch  traveled extensively throughout the United States from the 70s through the 90s and worked as a carnival worker, often setting up in mall areas. He has been arrested in several states on charges of molesting several young girls.  He is currently in a Delaware prison, since his incarceration in 1997.

The FBI believes Welch was in Austin on January 9, 1974.

This is the timeline investigators have put together on his travels:

Date   Location
January 9, 1974   Austin, Texas
March 25, 1975   Wheaton Plaza in Wheaton, Maryland
April 1, 1975   Address of 4714 Baltimore Avenue in Hyattsville, Maryland, provided to law enforcement
April 9, 1977   Takoma Park, Maryland
November 1977   Address of 1825 Main St. in Orlando, Florida, provided to law enforcemet
November 24, 1977   Montgomery County, Maryland
March 13, 1980   North Miami Beach, Florida
September 15, 1981   Hyattsville, Maryland
April 15, 1982 to September 11, 1984   Incarcerated (Maryland)
March 18, 1987   Los Angeles, California
April 27, 1987   Sioux City, Iowa
January 13, 1988   Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
February 4, 1988   Sioux City, Iowa
December 20, 1988   Horry County, South Carolina
March 17, 1989   Horry County, South Carolina
September 1992   Lockhart, South Carolina
November 16, 1992   Clover, South Carolina
May 19, 1993   Union County, South Carolina
May 31, 1994   Union County, South Carolina
June 13, 1994   Baltimore, Maryland
June 21, 1994   Address of Road 3, Box 86 in Bedford, Pennsylvania, provided to law enforcement
July 13, 1994   Address of 1800 Elmerton Avenue in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, provided for sex offender registry
1995   Prince William County, Virginia
June 1996   Address of 2242 Sussex Court in Woodbridge, Virginia, provided to law enforcement
March 1997   New Castle County, Delaware
July 1997 to Present   Incarcerated (Delaware)
Welch is also believed to have spent time in New York, but the related dates are unknown.
 

[Blue Moon]

Amazing after all these years that the focus is back on this dirt bag.

These predators just keep on offending until they are caught.

Hopefully this family can get answers after all these years.

I hope this family can get answers also.

This reminds me of a missing/murdered child who was 10 years old here in our town back in 1998 (I think)--Morgan Viola.  She was kidnapped from outside her apartment complex.  Her and her sister and a friend were playing and a burgundy van pulled up and the guy opened the door and pulled her in and off he went with her.  3 months later they found her body off I-65 in Tennessee.  They have never found her killer and probably never will but it helps knowing it does happen even when it takes so many years to bring justice.  It is just so sad that this happens so often even today.

[Red]

Imagine just how little focus and expertise there was on missing person cases in the 1970's?

A person like Lloyd Lee Welch Jr. could just travel from place to place and continue to offend without a care. One has to wonder just how many other crimes he could be linked to with old cold cases of missing girls over the years.

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2014/02/12/could-there-finally-be-a-break-in-the-1975-case-if-missing-12-year-old-sheila-lyon-10-year-old-sister-kate-lyon-looking-at-convicted-sex-offender-lloyd-lee-welch-jr/

[Nut44x4]

Interesting...thanks.

[Blue Moon]

Imagine just how little focus and expertise there was on missing person cases in the 1970's?

A person like Lloyd Lee Welch Jr. could just travel from place to place and continue to offend without a care. One has to wonder just how many other crimes he could be linked to with old cold cases of missing girls over the years.

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2014/02/12/could-there-finally-be-a-break-in-the-1975-case-if-missing-12-year-old-sheila-lyon-10-year-old-sister-kate-lyon-looking-at-convicted-sex-offender-lloyd-lee-welch-jr/

I looked up Morgan Violo yesterday thinking maybe this dirtbag had something to do with her disappearance but he didn't appear to be in that area during 1996 plus the guy that took Morgan was about 20 years old at the time so in 1996 he was too young to be this guy.  1996 was when they started the alerts and they just did not get out the info on Morgan fast enough.  Hopefully someday they will find the person responsible for her death.

[MuffyBee]

October 2, 2014 Tweets
https://twitter.com/RickBooneFOX5DC

Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  17h 17 hours ago
Developing: New pic of Richard Welch, Sr. Person of interest in the disappearance of the #LyonSisters @fox5newsdc
 

 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Developing:Pic Richard Welch, Sr on left, Lloyd Lee Welch on right pic.  Uncle is about 20yrs older @fox5newsdc
 

 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Breaking: #LyonSisters still missing!  No remains found. @fox5newsdc

 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Developing:Now Lloyd Welch Richard Welch Sr are connected to the missing #LyonSisters.  Need public for help. @fox5newsdc

 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Developing: A Grand Jury will start Friday to hear testimony in the missing #LyonSisters.  @fox5newsdc

 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Developing: Richard believed to be a security guard at Wheaton Mall where the #LyonSisters were last seen @fox5newsdc

 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
BREAKING: Richard Allen Welch Sr, uncle of Lloyd Welch is now named a person of interest of the missing #LyonSisters @fox5newsdc

 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Press Conf #LyonSisters starts. @fox5newsdc


 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Update:#LyonSisters Press Conf close to starting.  Police setting up.  Mont Co MD Police almost here @fox5newsdc

Virginia, US
 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Press Conf #LyonSisters delayed about 20mins or more waiting for Mont Co MD Police to arrive. Might be a major break in case @fox5newsdc


 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  19h 19 hours ago
Developing: Follow me as I tweet out details as they come in on the #Lyon Sisters @fox5newsdc

 Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC  ·  19h 19 hours ago
Developing: In Bedford, VA waiting on a Press Conf on the Lyon sister's missing almost 40 yrs. @RickBooneFOX5DC

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wtop.com/41/3714565/2nd-POI-named-in-1975-disappearance
2nd person of interest named in 1975 disappearance
October 3, 2014

 
Montgomery County, Maryland, Deputy Police Chief Russ Hamill says it's believed Richard Allen Welch Sr. was a security guard in the Wheaton, Maryland, area where 10-year-old Katherine Lyon and 12-year-old Sheila Lyon disappeared after walking to a mall.

A search has been ongoing on Taylor's Mountain in the Thaxton area of Bedford County. At a news conference Thursday in Bedford, Hamill said it's believed Richard Welch owned property there. He thinks "there's a good chance" the girls are on the mountain. Hamill wouldn't disclose Welch's whereabouts.

Police previously identified Welch's nephew, Lloyd Welch, as a person of interest. He's a child sex offender in a Delaware prison.
 

[MuffyBee]

These tweets were in regard to the news conference held yesterday.  I hope the sisters remains can be located and recoverable and there will be justice, even forty years later.

October 2, 2014 Tweets
https://twitter.com/JJadhonWDBJ7

Jean Jadhon @JJadhonWDBJ7  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Asst Chief Hamill: when asked if he thinks the #LyonSisters are on Taylor mountain. He said 'I believe there's a good chance "  @WDBJ7

 Jean Jadhon @JJadhonWDBJ7  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Asst Chief Hamill: we need people to come forward and do the right thing to bring closure to this matter. #LyonSisters @WDBJ7
R
 Jean Jadhon @JJadhonWDBJ7  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Asst chief Hamill: we believe Welch Sr was a security guard in Maryland in  1970's #LyonSisters

 Jean Jadhon @JJadhonWDBJ7  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Investigational grand jury will convene tomorrow in #LyonSisters case

 Jean Jadhon @JJadhonWDBJ7  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Richard Allen Welch Sr named person of interest in #LyonSisters  case. He is Uncle of Lloyd Welch who is also a person of interest

 Jean Jadhon @JJadhonWDBJ7  ·  18h 18 hours ago
Bedford co police chief Mike Brown expected to speak at any moment. #LyonSisters @WDBJ7

 Jean Jadhon @JJadhonWDBJ7  ·  19h 19 hours ago
On the news set awaiting live news conference on #LyonSisters @wdbj7

 Jean Jadhon retweeted
 WDBJ7 @WDBJ7  ·  20h 20 hours ago
WATCH LIVE: We plan to live stream the 3 p.m. news conference about the #LyonSisters case. http://www.wdbj7.com/28368986 

[grace-land]

October 3, 2014 Tweets
https://twitter.com/RickBooneFOX5DC

Rick Boone @RickBooneFOX5DC     ·  3h 3 hours ago   
Update: Current pic of Richard Welch Senior new person of interest in case of the missing #LyonSisters @fox5newsdc

[MuffyBee]

http://news.yahoo.com/officers-dig-virginia-mountain-missing-sisters-165424945.html
Officers dig site on Virginia mountain for missing sisters
January 12, 2015

BEDFORD, Va. (AP) — Armed with what one official described as new information, federal and state authorities searched a site on a Virginia mountain Monday for the remains of two Maryland sisters who disappeared 40 years ago.

Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown said at a news conference that the "forensic dig" on Taylor's Mountain could take a couple of days. He said a Federal Bureau of Investigation evidence recovery team, a Radford University forensic pathologist and state and local authorities were involved in the search for the remains of 10-year-old Katherine Lyon and 12-year-old Sheila Lyon.

Brown said new information prompted the dig, but he declined to be specific.

Asked if it appears human remains will be found, Brown said: "We would hope so."

The Lyon sisters disappeared in 1975 after walking to a shopping mall in Wheaton, Maryland. A search for clues has been ongoing since September on Taylor's Mountain in the Thaxton area of Bedford County.

Authorities have named Richard Allen Welch Sr. and his nephew, Lloyd Lee Welch, as persons of interest in the case. Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Chief Russ Hamill said in October that authorities believed that Richard Welch was a security guard in the Wheaton area at the time of the disappearance and that the family owned property in Bedford County. Lloyd Welch is a child sex offender in a Delaware prison.

Neither man has been charged in the Lyon case, but Richard Welch's wife, Patricia Jean Welch of Hyattsville, Maryland, was indicted last month on a charge of lying to a grand jury.