MD MD - Pamela Conyers, 16, Glen Burnie, 16 Oct 1970

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Other incidents at the mall and a nearby shopping center in the same time period. These only mention one man. Donald Willard was the older of the two, he was about 34 in 1970, so it sounds more like him, unless there was another guy doing this along with them (maybe not Pamela's murder as no further DNA evidence has been mentioned). These could be unrelated..but probably not, especially the incident at the mall. I wonder if the woman mentioned above is still living.

For what it's worth, I have doubts that everything AA County said about this Donald Willard fellow was accurate.

I don't think he was 34 in 1970, which would have made him 12 or 13 years older than Williams. I think they were 10 months apart, with Williams being the oldest.

I can't find any record at all of a Donald Willard that age in Maryland. However, there was a Donald Willard that was born on 27 Oct 1949 and died on 10 Jul 2010 - roughly the same time the police said he died. In 1950, his family lived on "Creek Blvd Beech Ave" in AA County - Pasadena, where Forrest lived. His addresses as an adult were in Rockville and Kensington, both in Montgomery County.

It's harder to find info this guy than it was Williams, probably because he came from a smaller family, was never married, and had no kids, whereas Williams had 10 siblings, 2 wives, and 3 kids. He died literally alone; they just kinda going him. His cause of death was hyperthermia and ruled an accident; apparently he had no AC and cooked himself to death. After that, his niece was the informant ; no obituary , cremated. Much like Forrest, the guy just seems like a real loser.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

A Photo of Pamela Lynn Conyers can be seen by clicking on the below link.

Case Summary:

On October 20, 1970, the body of PAMELA LYNN CONYERS was discovered in a wooded area located between the eastbound and westbound lanes of Maryland Route 177 extended, which at the time was under construction (currently Route 100 near the Waterford Road/Route 648 overpass).

Vital Statistics and Details:

PAMELA LYNN CONYERS was a white female, 16 years of age, 5' 2" tall, weighing approximately 105 pounds. On October 16, 1970, Pamela attended the homecoming bonfire/pep rally at Glen Burnie High School. Later that evening, Pamela drove her family's 1967 Dodge Monaco to the Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland. This is the last place that Pamela was seen alive.
The case is still open and is being actively investigated by detectives from the Anne Arundel County Police Department's Homicide Unit, Cold Case Squad. Detectives are seeking information from additional witnesses.Anyone who has information regarding the homicide of Pamela Lynn Conyers, or anyone with information pertaining to her death or pertaining to the identification of witnesses or suspects, please call:

Anne Arundel County Police
Homicide Unit - Cold Case Squad
(410) 222-3456or callMetro Crime Stoppers
(410) 276-8888

You do not have to give your name, anonymity guaranteed

LINK:

http://www.aacounty.org/Police/ColdCases/Conyers.cfm

New to Websleuths and I'm probably an amateur compared to many here.

I had never heard of this case until January of this year, and stumbled across it by accident. I was getting new photo hint suggestions on Ancestry for a relative that was little more than a name in my tree. Normally, I might've glossed over them, but these photos caught my attention.

They were mugshots. Forrest Clyde Williams III was the 2nd cousin of my grandmother.

Discovering the case was a gut-punch, both because of the evil brutality of the murder and the fact that it was a fairly close relative, one that I didn't know. I'm pretty sure my grandmother knew his mother, Doris Hipes (who would've been 1st cousins with my great-grandmother); she spoke of an "Aunt Dot", which would've made sense because the age difference was more that of an Aunt and niece. My grandmother died in April of last year, one month after Williams was announced as a suspect. Luckily, the case didn't make headlines in WV, because she would've been devastated.

Since discovering the case, I've tried finding out as much as possible about it, with minimal success. I do suspect that not everything that AA County said about the other suspect, Donald Willard, was accurate (I detailed why in a reply in this thread), which could make it more difficult for them to get more information about him. I don't think he was 12-13 years older than Williams, I think he was 10 months younger. The information they gave about Williams was more accurate, but not entirely. He wasn't REALLY a carpenter, more of a secretary for the local union. For a few years before the murder, he would post a short condolence in the paper any time one of them died, probably a few every month; the last one with his name was on July 4th, 1969, 15 months before the murder of Pamela Conyers but 3 months before Joyce Malecki was abducted from the same mall. Malecki was exhumed for evidence this past December, and I think the parallels between these two cases are closer than the ones between Malecki and/or Sister Cesnik and/or Grace Montanye. I also think it would be easier for a serial killer to live life without ever feeling a shred of remorse than someone who committed one murder, especially one as horrific as this one. I would think that Williams (and/or Willard) would've had loose lips at least once. We'll see, though.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Second suspect announced in 1970s cold case murder of Maryland teenager Pamela Lynn Conyers

Detectives said last year they have not ruled out that others were involved in the death of Pamela Lynn Conyers.

www.cbsnews.com

By Rohan Mattu March 18, 2024
View attachment 491321
Donald Willard, Left, Forrest Clyde, RightANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY POLICE
'Police asked residents to review photos provided of the suspects to determine if they had ever interacted with them. Both men were hunters and were known to frequent The Mountain Bar on Mountain Road in Pasadena.

An investigation is ongoing, and police ask any residents who may have worked with them, hunted with them or talked with them to report it.

"There is no information that's too small," a police spokesperson said. "It's all significant to us."

Anyone with information on the murder is asked to call AACPD tip line at 410-222-4731.

Yeah, I think they have Willard's age wrong. I think he was 10 months younger than Williams, not 12-13 years older.

 

[Betty P]

New to Websleuths and I'm probably an amateur compared to many here.

I had never heard of this case until January of this year, and stumbled across it by accident. I was getting new photo hint suggestions on Ancestry for a relative that was little more than a name in my tree. Normally, I might've glossed over them, but these photos caught my attention.

They were mugshots. Forrest Clyde Williams III was the 2nd cousin of my grandmother.

Discovering the case was a gut-punch, both because of the evil brutality of the murder and the fact that it was a fairly close relative, one that I didn't know. I'm pretty sure my grandmother knew his mother, Doris Hipes (who would've been 1st cousins with my great-grandmother); she spoke of an "Aunt Dot", which would've made sense because the age difference was more that of an Aunt and niece. My grandmother died in April of last year, one month after Williams was announced as a suspect. Luckily, the case didn't make headlines in WV, because she would've been devastated.

Since discovering the case, I've tried finding out as much as possible about it, with minimal success. I do suspect that not everything that AA County said about the other suspect, Donald Willard, was accurate (I detailed why in a reply in this thread), which could make it more difficult for them to get more information about him. I don't think he was 12-13 years older than Williams, I think he was 10 months younger. The information they gave about Williams was more accurate, but not entirely. He wasn't REALLY a carpenter, more of a secretary for the local union. For a few years before the murder, he would post a short condolence in the paper any time one of them died, probably a few every month; the last one with his name was on July 4th, 1969, 15 months before the murder of Pamela Conyers but 3 months before Joyce Malecki was abducted from the same mall. Malecki was exhumed for evidence this past December, and I think the parallels between these two cases are closer than the ones between Malecki and/or Sister Cesnik and/or Grace Montanye. I also think it would be easier for a serial killer to live life without ever feeling a shred of remorse than someone who committed one murder, especially one as horrific as this one. I would think that Williams (and/or Willard) would've had loose lips at least once. We'll see, though.

That's so interesting. Sorry you found this out while researching your family tree. Genealogy is a fascinating hobby, but it can have some surprises. I've heard the same thing lately about Joyce Malecki, it will be interesting to see if anything turns up in that investigation.

Welcome to Websleuths! There are quite a few genealogists here.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

That's so interesting. Sorry you found this out while researching your family tree. Genealogy is a fascinating hobby, but it can have some surprises. I've heard the same thing lately about Joyce Malecki, it will be interesting to see if anything turns up in that investigation.

Welcome to Websleuths! There are quite a few genealogists here.

Thanks!

Yeah, until now I just figured that not everything I came across would be great. Cheaters with illegitimate kids, slave-owners, they just come with the territory. I found out that my great-grandfather was a bad driver and killed someone who pulled over to change a tire, but our opinion of him couldn't have been much lower anyway. A distant cousin told me about child molesters in her line of the family. I came across a 5th cousin who bludgeoned his mother with a hammer while she was asleep, decapitated and dismembered her, then went to his room and played Xbox. But the Pamela Conyers case disturbed me way worse than even that one, due to the age of the victim, the fact that she was awake for everything that happened before and during, the randomness, the length of time the suspects lived their lives without telling anyone, how close of a relative the suspect was, etc (plus there was obviously mental illness involved in the other).

It's great that Pamela's family has answers, but I have mixed feelings about law enforcement using DNA from genealogy websites. I do think there are privacy issues that shouldn't be dismissed for the perceived greater-good. AA County's victory lap I think could've been handled better. They discussed how they came across DNA from family members (I'm 90% sure who the first one they discovered was), but at no point did they mention that Williams still has a family in the area who are probably devastated now. Not that they SHOULD'VE mentioned them, but it shows how much of an afterthought they were by announcing it so publicly. Hopefully people have left them alone about it. Had he been alive, he would've been given the presumption of innocence (not that I have any doubt of his involvement), but since he's dead, they can speak about him with as much certainty as they want. It can't be fair to his family to have her father declared a murderer without due process. But that's on the police. Forrest's actions speak for themselves.

After looking at the "canonical four" unsolved murders in the area around that time, I think it's MOST likely (emphasis on "most", because we really have no idea) that Conyers and Malecki had the same murderer(s). Same mall. Similar MO. Creepy that Forrest stopped appearing in the newspaper as the secretary for the carpenter's union a few months before Malecki went missing. I don't see much that Malecki and Sister Cathy's murders had in common other than the number of days apart. Geographically, Conyers, Malecki, Williams, and Willard were all in the suburbs east of Baltimore, closer to Annapolis... Glen Burnie/Pasadena. Sister Cathy lived and disappeared from the western suburbs, along the Baltimore City/County line. If there's any truth to "The Keepers", there's certainly no connection between Conyers and Sister Cathy's murders. Forrest's family are all Southern WASPs who would've had no reason to associate with the clergy. (Not sure about Willard.) As for Grace Montanye, the MO seems completely different. As horrific as the other murders were (not saying one was any less than the other), Montanye's seems far more sadistic.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Curious. Did nobody question everyone who worked at the construction site? That's the only reason Willard had access and knew the area. There were probably a lot of workers, although it doesn't sound like they did round-the-clock construction, so maybe not too many.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Other incidents at the mall and a nearby shopping center in the same time period. These only mention one man. Donald Willard was the older of the two, he was about 34 in 1970, so it sounds more like him, unless there was another guy doing this along with them (maybe not Pamela's murder as no further DNA evidence has been mentioned). These could be unrelated..but probably not, especially the incident at the mall. I wonder if the woman mentioned above is still living.

I think they were both blonde, so it might not be either.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

I still wonder about Lloyd Welch. Could he have known FCW?

There's never been a connection made. The only parallels to the Conyers case are that the Lyon sisters were from Montgomery County, MD (like Willard) and their likely remains were found in Bedford County, VA, one county over from Botetourt County, where Forrest lived before moving to Anne Arundel County, MD as a teenager and after moving back in the late-70s/early-80s. But those are extremely loose connections.

 

[Richard]

I still wonder about Lloyd Welch. Could he have known FCW?

There's never been a connection made. The only parallels to the Conyers case are that the Lyon sisters were from Montgomery County, MD (like Willard) and their likely remains were found in Bedford County, VA, one county over from Botetourt County, where Forrest lived before moving to Anne Arundel County, MD as a teenager and after moving back in the late-70s/early-80s. But those are extremely loose connections.

Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. would have been only about 12 or 13 years old at the time of Pamela's abduction and murder in 1970.

Welch certainly started his criminal career early, and had family members who trained and used him, but it is doubtful that he was the perpetrator of the attack on Pamela.

 

[DD Byrd]

Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. would have been only about 12 or 13 years old at the time of Pamela's abduction and murder in 1970.

Welch certainly started his criminal career early, and had family members who trained and used him, but it is doubtful that he was the perpetrator of the attack on Pamela.

I'm talking about Sr., not Jr.

 

[summergirl1]

I think they were both blonde, so it might not be either.

There's no photo of Willard when he was younger, but he looks like he possibly had hair that might have been described as very light brown/ dirty blonde when he was younger. Perhaps very light brown/dark blonde was meant. But it could have been someone else. Williams in the younger photos of him looks to have had hair that probably couldn't be described as light brown when he was younger.