I did read the Washington Star interview, and it's very informative....
... The oldest boy was at the mall ? He saw his sisters twice, once with the Easter Bunny, and once eating pizza ? So, he didn't play basketball ? I wonder when he left the mall ?
Lastly, Mrs. Lyon said that she was angry,rather than scared, when the girls didn't show up at suppertime. I wonder if they had stayed out past the time they should have before ? They were on spring break... MOO
The story of Sheila and Kate being seen "in the Orange Bowl eating pizza" by their older brother Jay was something that I had seen in a Washington Post article and then repeated years ago in my initial case summary. That summary was picked up by numerous websites and repeated over and over again, but I have never been able to confirm the story of Jay seeing them eating pizza, and I have come to doubt that part myself.
I feel that it started with a newspaper reporter jumbling up two facts - one that the girls went to the Mall with the stated INTENTION of eating pizza at the Orange Bowl - and two that Jay had seen them at the Mall that day.
When you read the Washington Star article, note that Jay says nothing to that reporter about seeing them eat pizza. He is quoted in several articles as to seeing them at the Mall center near the fountain by the Easter Bunny display.
The Orange Bowl was a pizza "take out" place which had some stools or counters for eating pizza, but it was not a "sit down" restaurant. Usually, people bought pizza by the slice and either walked around eating it, or sat down on one of the planter/benches outside. The Orange Bowl was located between the Montgomery Wards end store and the Mall Center. There is a photo in one of the topic threads which depicts the area from the fountain looking west toward Wards. The Orange Bowl is about halfway down on the right and you can actually see the planters mentioned.
It was "Jimmy" and his buddy who claimed to have seen the girls near the Orange Bowl talking to the Tape Recorder Man. But that was near a planter/bench in the courtyard area across from the Orange Bowl, and the girls departed from there toward Mall Center immediately afterward. Again, no mention of them being seen "eating Pizza".
You correctly state what Mrs. Lyon said to Ms. Kuhn, the Washington Star reporter. She was angry with the girls because they were not home at supper time, but as it got later and later, her anger gave way to worry and fear.