Lloyd Welch is Person of Interest

[Motherof5]

It should be remembered that although the police have been talking a tough line and are obviously intent on solving this 39 year old case, they have only named Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. and Richard Allen Welch, Sr. as "Persons of Interest" not as Suspects in this case.

At this point, nobody should jump to the conclusion that they are guilty of anything. It might be that they were involved in the girls disappearance, but also possible that they only have knowledge of others who were responsible.

Hopefully more information will be made available soon.

Actually,I posted an interview where MCPD called Lloyd Welch a suspect.

 

[watermelonlady]

Okay, I just read the article on the witness who spotted the station wagon and he says he remembers the man had a misshapen nose. While surfing, I came across the photo of an older man with definitely a crooked nose and his last name is very interesting. Can I post his photo or should I not? I wasn't sure about even posting his name. He is registered as a sex offender also.

 

[steveP120]

Okay, I just read the article on the witness who spotted the station wagon and he says he remembers the man had a misshapen nose. While surfing, I came across the photo of an older man with definitely a crooked nose and his last name is very interesting. Can I post his photo or should I not? I wasn't sure about even posting his name. He is registered as a sex offender also.

I wouldn't post anyone's name who has not been named by the police as a person of interest or convicted of a similar crime (murder) even if a moderator or administrator said it was OK.

If you think it could be useful, there is the police tip line/email, and let them sort it out; most tips are useless but the police do sort through them to find the few that pan out. Frankly, I always thought the station wagon tip, while an honestly given tip, might have just been two girls fighting or playing, but the police do and should check out all tips just in case.

However, if one searches on a popular last name for a sex criminal with a crooked nose, odds are one will find several.

The station-wagon man and the tape-recorder man might even be used by Lloyd Welch's attorney to cast doubt on his guilt. Now it even looks like Lloyd Welch could cast doubt on one of his relatives.

 

[bessie]

Okay, I just read the article on the witness who spotted the station wagon and he says he remembers the man had a misshapen nose. While surfing, I came across the photo of an older man with definitely a crooked nose and his last name is very interesting. Can I post his photo or should I not? I wasn't sure about even posting his name. He is registered as a sex offender also.

No. Please do not post the name, photo, or any other identifying information. Also, for future reference, when you have questions about TOS, please send them to a moderator in a private message.

Thanks.

 

[watermelonlady]

Sorry about that. OK, yes, I will remember that. Thank you.

 

[simplifymylife2014]

I have had some of the same thoughts about the TRM being a relative of LLW and the tip about seeing the girl(s) in the back of a car being valid.

 

[Fukiyama]

Aside from what we all want in this case, the girls found and their abductors brought to justice, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Mr. Dietz vindicated in his efforts to share his experience with the station wagon.

 

[steveP120]

Aside from what we all want in this case, the girls found and their abductors brought to justice, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Mr. Dietz vindicated in his efforts to share his experience with the station wagon.

Mr. Dietz did his civic duty and reported what he saw to the police. It may or may not have been the Lyon sisters.
I don't think the time-line of the station-wagon sighting matches up with the abduction, unless there were two safe (to the kidnappers) locations that the girls were being transported between.

The location of the station-wagon sighting might match up with the driving route from Wheaton to Taylor Mountain, depending on how far the station-wagon sighting was from Interstate 66. I suppose if you have to buy gasoline, you have to buy gasoline, (I think this was before where you could pay with a credit card at the pump?) but if I were transporting contraband or kidnapped victims, I would take the quickest, most direct route.

 

[Motherof5]

Mr. Dietz did his civic duty and reported what he saw to the police. It may or may not have been the Lyon sisters.
I don't think the time-line of the station-wagon sighting matches up with the abduction, unless there were two safe (to the kidnappers) locations that the girls were being transported between.

The location of the station-wagon sighting might match up with the driving route from Wheaton to Taylor Mountain, depending on how far the station-wagon sighting was from Interstate 66. I suppose if you have to buy gasoline, you have to buy gasoline, (I think this was before where you could pay with a credit card at the pump?) but if I were transporting contraband or kidnapped victims, I would take the quickest, most direct route.

Why kidnap children and then drive them around in broad day light,while bound in your back seat for the world to see? That kind of defeats the purpose of trying to get away with something,no? Also, Mdietz posted here about seeing the bare skin of Sheila's leg and that she seemed to be wearing a Catholic school girl skirt. I'm sorry, it just doesn't get much creepier or crazier than that.


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[Fukiyama]

It's probably the station wagon sightings have nothing to do with the actual abduction of the Lyon sisters, but I'd still like to see some closure regardless, it just because it would put my OCDish mind at ease.

 

[Richard]

There are many diverse elements to the story of the Lyon sisters - many "clues" - that might have been actual links, or might have been simple coincidences, or might have been hoaxes. MCP had to sort through a deluge of tips, deadends, and questionable stories.

Only after the case is officially solved might the full story come out. Until then, one has to accept that certain things are part of the story as it has been investigated, reported, and kept secret.

The story of the tan station wagon is certainly an intriguing one which was widely reported and followed up on by investigators. Nothing was ever nailed down positively, although two separate persons reported seeing it, and police considered the sightings legitimate. However, while it could have been the Lyon sisters, there are other possible explanations as well.

At the time (early April 1975) another auto - a blue Ford with numerous stickers on it was reported by police to be of interest. Their request for the public and mall security guards to keep an eye out for it was never officially retracted. However, the story on it was that a woman was seen driving such a car with two little blonde girls who looked like the Lyon sisters. Eventually, the owner of the car was located and it was determined that the girls were the woman's two daughters. There were a number of other such misidentifications in the days, weeks and months that followed the Lyon sisters' disappearance.

 

[Richard]

There are many diverse elements to the story of the Lyon sisters - many "clues" - that might have been actual links, or might have been simple coincidences, or might have been hoaxes. MCP had to sort through a deluge of tips, deadends, and questionable stories.

Only after the case is officially solved might the full story come out. Until then, one has to accept that certain things are part of the story as it has been investigated, reported, and kept secret.

The story of the tan station wagon is certainly an intriguing one which was widely reported and followed up on by investigators. Nothing was ever nailed down positively, although two separate persons reported seeing it, and police considered the sightings legitimate. However, while it could have been the Lyon sisters, there are other possible explanations as well.

At the time (early April 1975) another auto - a blue Ford with numerous stickers on it was reported by police to be of interest. Their request for the public and mall security guards to keep an eye out for it was never officially retracted. However, the story on it was that a woman was seen driving such a car with two little blonde girls who looked like the Lyon sisters. Eventually, the owner of the car was located and it was determined that the girls were the woman's two daughters. There were a number of other such misidentifications in the days, weeks and months that followed the Lyon sisters' disappearance.

 

[beachlvr0810]

I think the girls will be found in that family cemetery that LE is taking about...JMO. I did some checking and according to findagrave,that cemetery has 70 unmarked graves. As far as how and where they were taken from...I still think, as I always have, that the girls were taken from the wooded path(short cut) between their house and the mall. I think Welch and whatever family members helped him,were parked in the parking lot on the other side of the trees that run along the wooded path. It would have been quick and easy. LE says that they know who is responsible,"every last one of them." I can't wait to see every last one of them pay. Prayers for the Lyon family.

I don't know which cemetery you looked up on findagrave.com but apparently you looked at the wrong one. The old cemetery on the property that is being searched is the Pomp Overstreet cemetery. And they are not digging in the cemetery...they are digging and searching above the cemetery as I was told by a Bedford investigator. My phone number was given to the Commonwealth Attorney who had 2 investigators get in touch with me because I have a Facebook page called Taylor's Mountain Descendents. The investigators came to my house and questioned me about my page and about the cemetery hunting and documenting that I do. I shared everything I had with them and assured them I would be available for anything further they might need. Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr's aunt is a part of my family and a wonderful Christian woman who has not seen or talked to him since he was young. She is 85 years old, hurt and is devastated by all of this. The Welch family here on the mountain are not the monsters that some of these news reports and comments are making them out to be.

 

[beachlvr0810]

There are two cemeteries that I know of on Taylor's Mountain (according to the FB page for Taylor's Mountain Decendents):

1. Holdren & Saunders Family Cemetary: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152696413334592.1073741850.171713764591&type=3

2. George Whitfield Dooley Cemetary: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152696353584592.1073741849.171713764591&type=3

Each FB link has PICS of these cemeteries. There could be more; this is just what I found on the FB page.

This is my Facebook page and the 2 cemeteries you mentioned are not on Taylor's Mountain.

 

[beachlvr0810]

Most likely the Parker Family cemetery behind Elizabeth Welch Parker's home.


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The Parker Family Cemetery is not located behind Lizzie and Allen Parker's house. It is the Pomp Overstreet cemetery.

 

[beachlvr0810]

from eight months ago:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politic...tified-in-39-year-old-lyon-sisters-cold-case/
"Police are also looking for additional information on Welch’s longtime girlfriend, Helen Craver, now deceased, as well as any security guards from the Westfield Plaza shopping center who may be able to provide additional details."
I remember it because we were slightly mocking the police for very bad record keeping. But the security guard may be more than a witness who had normal contact with Welch, as any mall guard would have with kids who hung out there often.

Frankly, in 1974, most cops would overlook an 18-year-old Lloyd Welch since he did look too young, dumb, poor and carless to commit a double murder. But it is possible that his uncle, a mall security guard maybe, cleared him.

If his uncle was working nearby (either at the mall or elsewhere) in Wheaton, it's likely Lloyd went to his uncle for help, either telling him it was to get rid of bodies or just to borrow a car. Of course a multi-person abduction team is also possible, but not what I would bet on.

Since the police 1) knew the address of the uncle, but 2) declined to state the address of the uncle, I doubt anyone should be doing it here, especially if it could be some other Welch. Doing so could get a 70-year-old man beat up or worse.

Two more news stories that say the same thing today about Uncle named person of interest:
http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/loc...rance-wheaton-plaza-lloyd-lee-welch/16596877/
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/26690632/new-person-of-interest-identified-in-missing-lyon-sisters-case

The main points are
1) hopefully that bodies are on mountain but not found (or proven by DNA) yet
2) grand jury on Friday, with other Welch family members

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/26690632/new-person-of-interest-identified-in-missing-lyon-sisters-case

FYI for the reporter who did this story...Taylor's Mountain does not have streets! We have country roads...there are no streets on the mountain. Instead of doing a story from a desk somewhere, why not come to Taylor's Mountain and visit us and see for yourself where we live and what great people live there.

 

[beachlvr0810]

from eight months ago:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politic...tified-in-39-year-old-lyon-sisters-cold-case/
"Police are also looking for additional information on Welch’s longtime girlfriend, Helen Craver, now deceased, as well as any security guards from the Westfield Plaza shopping center who may be able to provide additional details."
I remember it because we were slightly mocking the police for very bad record keeping. But the security guard may be more than a witness who had normal contact with Welch, as any mall guard would have with kids who hung out there often.

Frankly, in 1974, most cops would overlook an 18-year-old Lloyd Welch since he did look too young, dumb, poor and carless to commit a double murder. But it is possible that his uncle, a mall security guard maybe, cleared him.

If his uncle was working nearby (either at the mall or elsewhere) in Wheaton, it's likely Lloyd went to his uncle for help, either telling him it was to get rid of bodies or just to borrow a car. Of course a multi-person abduction team is also possible, but not what I would bet on.

Since the police 1) knew the address of the uncle, but 2) declined to state the address of the uncle, I doubt anyone should be doing it here, especially if it could be some other Welch. Doing so could get a 70-year-old man beat up or worse.

Two more news stories that say the same thing today about Uncle named person of interest:
http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/loc...rance-wheaton-plaza-lloyd-lee-welch/16596877/
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/26690632/new-person-of-interest-identified-in-missing-lyon-sisters-case

The main points are
1) hopefully that bodies are on mountain but not found (or proven by DNA) yet
2) grand jury on Friday, with other Welch family members

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/26690632/new-person-of-interest-identified-in-missing-lyon-sisters-case

FYI for the reporter who did this story...Taylor's Mountain does not have streets! We have country roads...there are no streets on the mountain. Instead of doing a story from a desk somewhere, why not come to Taylor's Mountain and visit us and see for yourself where we live and what great people live there.

 

[Richard]

Here are some excerpts from a recent Washington Post article which included quotes from relatives and neighbors of both Lloyd and Richard Welch:

... In recent months, investigators also have spoken to Welch family members.
In Oakdale, Tenn., Edna Welch, 80, said Montgomery detectives have talked to
her once on the phone and visited her twice. She said they are trying to get
Welch family members to turn on each other. “They get our family fighting over
who said what,” she said, “I’m telling you, I’m mad about it.”

During one visit, Edna Welch said, detectives had a search warrant and took
photographs and letters that Lloyd Welch had written to her from prison. She
said they also took a letter, containing Bible verses, she had written but
hadn’t mailed. “Maybe the Lord intended for them to read that,” Edna Welch said
of the investigators.

She said she knew Lloyd Welch as a boy and doesn’t think he had anything to
do with the disappearance of the Lyon sisters. “I’ll go to my grave, if I die
tonight, saying he didn’t do it,” adding that she wasn’t “excusing him for what
he has done in later years.”

Edna Welch said that Richard Welch is her late husband’s brother. She said
that Richard Welch and his wife are hard-working people who raised their
grandchildren. Asked whether she thought Richard Welch had anything to do with
the sisters’ disappearance, she said, “That’s totally insane.” ...

It was late last year that Montgomery detectives looking through the case
files began to take a new look at Lloyd Welch.
Police would not say what sparked their interest in the elder Welch.
Neighbors said that they saw police go into his house recently.

Stella Mungeon, a neighbor of Richard Welch’s, said members of the Welch
family were living there when she moved to the neighborhood 13 years ago. “They
keep to themselves, and they care for their own,” Mungeon said.
Josephine Elliott, another neighbor, described the Welches as kind and
family-centered.

“They have always been a great couple,” Elliott said. “I always see them
together.”

Elliott expressed surprise that Richard Welch could be connected to the
disappearance of the Lyon sisters in any way.

“I can’t believe they would be involved in anything like that,” she said. ...


LINK:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...59acc8-4a55-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html

 

[steveP120]

She said they are trying to get
Welch family members to turn on each other. “They get our family fighting over
who said what,” she said,

With a family member like Lloyd Welch, it would only be normal for them to talk about where he went wrong and what else he might have done. I hope the police have more than second-hand, decade-old gossip.

The "involvement" by someone else may have been so minor as having lent Lloyd Welch a car (for a lawful reason that later turned out to be a fabrication) or noticed that he was dirty like from digging a hole or an unexpected trip (it's 3 or 4 hours away each way) to visit Taylor mountain.

If his uncle, the named second person of interest, was working in Wheaton that day, that would be the obvious person to go to for help, such as a car or cash. If Lloyd Welch had any brains, it's likely that he would try to obtain help under false pretenses than take the chance his uncle would go to the police, and if he cared about his uncle, not involve him in a crime. But it's also possible that he was in such a state of shock having lost it and killed two girls, that blabbed everything, and a slightly smarter person helped cover up the crime; a person who must now be very pissed that Welch did not take his second-chance at a noncriminal life.

Or Welch could have got help elsewhere. Or anything could have happened.

 

[Historydetective63]

I noticed at the bottom of this article I've posted below, the 10/16 photo has him standing beside a station wagon.

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/bed...s-conference-about-lyon-sisters-case/28368986

I noticed that photo also. It does appear that Richard Allen Welch is standing next to a blue station wagon with faux wood trim, a blue interior and a roof rack. Mdietz posted somewhere on here that the car he saw on April 7, 1975 was a station wagon with faux wood trim, a blue interior, and the exterior was a cream color but appeared to have been repainted. Interesting.