Lloyd Welch is Person of Interest

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So far it is still scheduled for next Tuesday, September 12. Although, if we have learned anything from this case and the slippery characters involved, it is to expect the unexpected. Earth could be destroyed by an asteroid before justice is served in this case.

btw, the defense requested a change of venue. Where will the trial be held? (if there actually is one...) I just have a sense that something is afoot; it has been soooo eerily quiet (even aside from the case specific details affected by the court gag order).
 
I think the change of venue request was denied. Something that may be afoot is a plea agreement. Sometimes, when it gets quiet right before a case goes to trial, it is because the defendant is about to plea. I would be a little bit surprised if that was the case here, though. I do not believe LLW would plea and accept a sentence without taking someone else down in the process.
 
WASHINGTON — Forty-two years after the mysterious disappearance of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and her 10-year-old sister Katherine from Wheaton Plaza in Montgomery County, Maryland, the man charged with abducting, killing and burning their remains in a remote county in the mountains of Virginia goes on trial next week.

Lloyd Lee Welch, 60, will stand trial in Bedford County on two counts of first-degree felony murder during an abduction with intent to defile, beginning Sept. 12.

According to court filings reviewed by WTOP, prosecutors have subpoenaed a friend of the Lyon sisters — the daughters of WMAL radio broadcaster John Lyon and his wife, Mary — who saw the girls at the plaza, talking with a man thought to be Welch, shortly before they vanished.

Other witnesses will testify about blood recovered from the basement of a home Welch lived in at the time the Lyons disappeared, as well as Welch’s unexpected appearance on Taylor’s Mountain, in remote Thaxton, Virginia, where prosecutors believe the girls’ bodies were burned.

Welch was indicted by a multi-jurisdictional grand jury in July 2015

If convicted, Welch could face the death penalty.

http://wtop.com/local/2017/09/lyon-sisters-case-lloyd-lee-welch/
 
Sorry, can't get a link to work, but the Wash Post is reporting that Welch is poised to plead guilty.

Certainly hope this plea will include something that lets the Lyon family really know what happened.


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Here is the story:

WASHINGTON — The man charged with the abduction and murder of 12-year-old Sheila and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon is expected to enter a guilty plea in the decades-old case, according to sources familiar with negotiations.

Lloyd Lee Welch was set to go on trial on Tuesday for the girls’ murders in Bedford County, Virginia — 240 miles away from Wheaton Plaza, where the young sisters were last seen on March 25, 1975.

Court officials in Bedford said that Welch’s request for a jury trial has been withdrawn, and several sources said Welch, 60, is set to admit that he killed the girls, as well as a series of sexual assaults on a young girl in Prince William County.

WTOP has learned that as part of the plea arrangement, Welch will plead guilty to two counts of first-degree felony murder and agree to a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole, rather than risk a trial in which he could be sentenced to death.

In addition, as part of a global plea, Welch will plead guilty to resolve a 1996 rape and several sexual assaults of a young girl in Prince William County.

Plea negotiations have been underway for months.

Prosecutors and Welch’s defense attorneys declined to confirm or deny that he planned to enter a global plea Tuesday.

Stay with WTOP for updates on this developing story
 
Here is the story:

WASHINGTON — The man charged with the abduction and murder of 12-year-old Sheila and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon is expected to enter a guilty plea in the decades-old case, according to sources familiar with negotiations.

Lloyd Lee Welch was set to go on trial on Tuesday for the girls’ murders in Bedford County, Virginia — 240 miles away from Wheaton Plaza, where the young sisters were last seen on March 25, 1975.

Court officials in Bedford said that Welch’s request for a jury trial has been withdrawn, and several sources said Welch, 60, is set to admit that he killed the girls, as well as a series of sexual assaults on a young girl in Prince William County.

WTOP has learned that as part of the plea arrangement, Welch will plead guilty to two counts of first-degree felony murder and agree to a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole, rather than risk a trial in which he could be sentenced to death.

In addition, as part of a global plea, Welch will plead guilty to resolve a 1996 rape and several sexual assaults of a young girl in Prince William County.

Plea negotiations have been underway for months.

Prosecutors and Welch’s defense attorneys declined to confirm or deny that he planned to enter a global plea Tuesday.

Stay with WTOP for updates on this developing story

Wow, I am surprised. What a relief this must be for their family. RIP beautiful little girls.
 
Amazing! I hope he is honest and can help locate the bodies.

I hope so too but he does not have the best track record with telling the truth. I don't know how I feel about it but hope the plea deal is being done with the Lyon family's approval.

Thank you for all the updates.
 
The phenomenon of false confessions have always puzzled me. I think LLW has given about a half dozen different versions of what happened to those poor girls.

His motive for lying may have been to downplay his own involvement and blame others. It is quite possible no family members were involved and that he implicated them out of spite.

He has lied at least once, and may lie again. No respectable prosecutor would accept the plea if they did not believe him to be telling the truth.

I am anxious to see the terms of the plea deal. I think it will all be made public as a statement of facts that includes his confession. I think it would be imperative as part of the plea to take him out of jail and on to that mountain to try to pinpoint the exact location of those bodies.

I am so very glad that the family will not be forced to suffer through a trial, a very small relief for all they have endured. So sad that the potential and the long lives of these angels was stolen by this banal, soulless loser.
 
The phenomenon of false confessions have always puzzled me. I think LLW has given about a half dozen different versions of what happened to those poor girls.

His motive for lying may have been to downplay his own involvement and blame others. It is quite possible no family members were involved and that he implicated them out of spite.

He has lied at least once, and may lie again. No respectable prosecutor would accept the plea if they did not believe him to be telling the truth.

I am anxious to see the terms of the plea deal. I think it will all be made public as a statement of facts that includes his confession. I think it would be imperative as part of the plea to take him out of jail and on to that mountain to try to pinpoint the exact location of those bodies.

I am so very glad that the family will not be forced to suffer through a trial, a very small relief for all they have endured. So sad that the potential and the long lives of these angels was stolen by this banal, soulless loser.

I'm very glad that the Lyon family will hopefully be spared a trial they have suffered enough. Is there any hope of finding any of the girls remains or is that impossible at this stage?
 
. Is there any hope of finding any of the girls remains or is that impossible at this stage?

I think this is going to be tough. There was a forensic dig in at least one location and there was a tooth found (which was then lost!) I think there is the possibility that LLW knows the exact location and it would be part of his plea agreement that he cooperate and be truthful with investigators. In my opinion, this would have to include a good faith effort to recover the remains.

Keep in mind also that very little of the physical evidence or the complete statements of relatives have been made public. The prosecutors may have had an ace in the hole and another up their sleeves that was going to be revealed next week. LLW would be out of prison in another 7 or 8 years and I cannot imagine he would not risk a trial if he thought he could beat this case.
 
Unless there is some reason to seal it or maybe parts of it, the plea agreement becomes part of the public record. You'll be able to see it.

In my opinion, this is all about the family and giving them peace. Not only do I think they approved this plea agreement, I think they encouraged it.
 
I think it is about giving a lot of people peace! We all know that there is no way Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. could have committed this crime alone. When he pleads guilty and takes the blame, the case is considered solved--will LE continue to look of the others who participated with him? Of course not! LLW will spend the rest of his life in prison (which he probably would have anyway) and the other "monsters" will walk free! Does that make anyone feel safer? It shouldn't! This is one time I hope LLW does go back on his word UNLESS he is also giving up all the other names involved in this sordid mess! We may have to trust God to get the rest and give the FAMILY the true piece they deserve!
 
I think it is about giving a lot of people peace! We all know that there is no way Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. could have committed this crime alone. When he pleads guilty and takes the blame, the case is considered solved--will LE continue to look of the others who participated with him? Of course not! LLW will spend the rest of his life in prison (which he probably would have anyway) and the other "monsters" will walk free! Does that make anyone feel safer? It shouldn't! This is one time I hope LLW does go back on his word UNLESS he is also giving up all the other names involved in this sordid mess! We may have to trust God to get the rest and give the FAMILY the true piece they deserve!
I don't think the plea agreement this Tuesday will be the end to this. Other chips will fall. I think that VA LE will have gone as far as they can with what they have against LLW2. He had too much going against him and probably made the correct decision to plead out and spare his life. LLW2 was the one who placed himself at Wheaton Plaza and brought the bloody duffel bags to VA, so they have him dead to rights. The others weren't so conspicuous or stupid. The recommendation to plead was the decision by committee of his multiple attorneys, private investigators, psychologists, death penalty experts, consultants, etc... At the end of the day after gathering up all the information (and spending several hundred thousand dollars of tax payer's money) I'm sure they sat him down and said "You've screwed yourself, and we can't save you." Also, MD and VA LE did an outstanding job putting together the tentative penalty phase evidence and testimony against LLW2. Just an insurmountable wall of overwhelming reasons to sentence LLW2 to death if he was convicted. I think the specter of that loomed large and hung heavy over LLW2 and his team.

There are so many other pieces to this puzzle that were outside of Virginia. We'll see what Maryland has to say about RAW1, maybe not for murder, but something. Not having enough compelling evidence to charge someone with murder is not the same as them being entirely innocent. As for the rest, I suspect there were several others and they are dead. Maybe a few just within the past few years. Perhaps a cousin and an uncle in-law of LLW2.

I don't think its all over yet for LLW2 either. We may even hear from some other states who will want to take a harder look at LLW2 for some of their cold cases. I think they have been silent as the VA case against LLW2 proceeded, because they did not want to muck anything up for VA LE.
 
Let's hope judgment day brings some real answers. I am happy to have this monster off the streets, but I will be somewhat dismayed if that involves an Alford Plea that does not provide body locations and significant closure for the family and friends of these poor girls.

I am very curious if his plea will require his testimony against other possible perpetrators.
 
<RSBM>

I am so very glad that the family will not be forced to suffer through a trial, a very small relief for all they have endured. So sad that the potential and the long lives of these angels was stolen by this banal, soulless loser.

:goodpost: Your 100% spot on post, and specifically these two sentences, are my nominee for Post of the Day. So well stated IMO.
 
I don't think the plea agreement this Tuesday will be the end to this. Other chips will fall. I think that VA LE will have gone as far as they can with what they have against LLW2. He had too much going against him and probably made the correct decision to plead out and spare his life. LLW2 was the one who placed himself at Wheaton Plaza and brought the bloody duffel bags to VA, so they have him dead to rights. The others weren't so conspicuous or stupid. The recommendation to plead was the decision by committee of his multiple attorneys, private investigators, psychologists, death penalty experts, consultants, etc... At the end of the day after gathering up all the information (and spending several hundred thousand dollars of tax payer's money) I'm sure they sat him down and said "You've screwed yourself, and we can't save you." Also, MD and VA LE did an outstanding job putting together the tentative penalty phase evidence and testimony against LLW2. Just an insurmountable wall of overwhelming reasons to sentence LLW2 to death if he was convicted. I think the specter of that loomed large and hung heavy over LLW2 and his team.

There are so many other pieces to this puzzle that were outside of Virginia. We'll see what Maryland has to say about RAW1, maybe not for murder, but something. Not having enough compelling evidence to charge someone with murder is not the same as them being entirely innocent. As for the rest, I suspect there were several others and they are dead. Maybe a few just within the past few years. Perhaps a cousin and an uncle in-law of LLW2.

I don't think its all over yet for LLW2 either. We may even hear from some other states who will want to take a harder look at LLW2 for some of their cold cases. I think they have been silent as the VA case against LLW2 proceeded, because they did not want to muck anything up for VA LE.


I think that you meant Maryland LE specifically Montgomery County, Md.
 
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