The case of the missing Lyon sisters
A sex offender called a “person of interest” says he left a mall with the girls and saw his uncle sexually abusing one of them....
By Dan Morse February 20 at 10:59 PM
A sex offender named as a “person of interest” in the 1975 disappearance of two young sisters in Montgomery County has told detectives that he left a shopping mall with them the day they went missing and that he later saw his uncle sexually assaulting one of the girls, according to police affidavits recently unsealed.
The court papers detail for the first time how a decades-old cold case picked up momentum over the past year, with detectives focusing on a family that has roots in suburban Maryland and rural Virginia.
Neither the convicted sex offender, Lloyd Welch, 58, nor his uncle, Richard Welch, 69, has been charged in the case. In an earlier letter to The Washington Post, Lloyd Welch said he had “nothing to do” with the disappearance of Sheila Lyon, 12, and Katherine Lyon, 10. ...
... Montgomery Police Chief Tom Manger said Friday. “We believe that there are people, including family members of Dick and Lloyd Welch, who have information that would further this investigation.”...
... How Lloyd Welch surfaced in the case is detailed for the first time in the filings.
In May 2013, cold-case detectives came across a report of an interview investigators had with Lloyd Welch a short time after the sisters disappeared. It told an odd story....
...On April 1, 1975 — seven days after the girls vanished — Lloyd Welch, 18 at the time, went to Wheaton Plaza and told a security guard that he’d seen the sisters get into a car with a man and leave. Detectives were called in and gave Welch a polygraph test. The results “deemed that Lloyd Welch was being untruthful in the interview,” according to the affidavits.
The affidavits did not say whether authorities continued to look into Welch, although police officials have said he had not been considered a suspect during the initial investigation.
The detectives on the case in 2013 set out to learn more about Welch. He had been arrested in 1977 in Montgomery in a burglary case. His mug shot from that arrest bore a “strong likeness” to a composite sketch in the Lyon sisters case, according to the affidavits. That sketch had been drawn in 1975 based on a witness’s description of a man at Wheaton Plaza who was staring at the girls and following them....
...In Lloyd Welch’s interviews with detectives, he said his uncle, Richard Welch, was involved in kidnapping the girls, according to the affidavits. He also said that another relative, a juvenile, was with them in the car that day. Lloyd Welch said he was dropped off near his home, and his two relatives continued on with the girls.Lloyd Welch also said that the next day, he went to the home of Richard Welch and saw his uncle sexually abusing one of the sisters, according to the affidavit.
“Lloyd Welch claims that he left the residence and never saw the Lyons sisters again,” detectives wrote...
....Anyone with information about the case can call Montgomery County police at 240-773-5070. A reward of up to $17,000 is available. ...
Source:
Police: In 1975 cold case, sex offender says he left mall with Lyon sisters - The Washington Post
LINK:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...dc5a4c-b872-11e4-a200-c008a01a6692_story.html
