Potential Suspects and Persons of Interest

[siriunsun]

You are very observant RichardLewis and may be SPOT-ON with what you have said!

Could he have chosen to remain silent, so as not to incriminate himself or could he be waiting for a lawyer to represent him?

I agree that the part about allowing his wife to face prison time--is PRETTY TELLING!!

I have a name for that quirk: Terri Horman Syndrome!

 

[Richard]

Ray Mileski's and Lloyd Welch's stories... Similarities

The Washington Post article about Lloyd Welch and his story of walking in on his uncle while in the act of molesting one of the Lyon sisters is disturbing in several ways.

As evil or as odd as it sounds (whether true or concocted), it is eeirily similar to a story related by an informant who provided information about Raymond Mileski and the Lyon sisters case about 14 years ago.

I have mentioned this in previous posts, but will restate it here. The information was received by a point-of-contact for a "missing persons" website which featured an early version of my case summary. The person who received the information spoke several times with the informant by phone. The information was relayed to me to verify and to pass on to Montgomery County Police. I was able to verify many details of what was said by the informant and I did formally pass it all on to MCP in writing.

The information was mostly second hand, but it mentioned how Raymond Mileski "walked in" on a person that he shared the rental of a building with, and caught him in the act of molesting one of the Lyon sisters. This allegedly took place somewhere in Prince Georges County, and the person named as the abductor of the Lyon Sisters did have connections to Hyattsville. I will not reveal the name of the alleged abductor, but it was not Welch. The person named had an extensive criminal background, but no previous or subsequent charges (that I could find) relating to crimes against children.

Mileski, himself, in two letters from prison stated that he knew who the abductor or the Lyon sisters was and that he had met him "in the pen" (penitentiary). He referred to this person as "C.D."

Mileski was convicted of the November 1977 murder of his son and wife inside his Suitland, Maryland home. Mileski had worked as a Kitchen Cabinet repair/renovation specialist and he had a white van to transport his cabinets and tools to and from private residences and his workshop. The informant described a separate place from Mileski's home as his workshop.

Mileski offered to provide MCP with information in return for a transfer from his Baltimore Prison to the Western Correctional facility. He was in poor health at the time and confined to a wheel chair. Whether or not MCP ever bothered to interview him, I do not know, but Mileski did get his transfer and died in the new prison a year later.

Mileski is the only potential suspect/person of interest - other than Lloyd Welch - who actually claimed to know something about the Lyon sisters and their disappearance. And there are several very close similarities.

Besides both Mileski and Welch being inmates in the Maryland prison system (Lloyd was in a Maryland prison years before his current stretch in Deleware), there is the fact that both were from Prince Georges County, MD.

Mileski had three sons, the oldest was about the same age as Lloyd Welch, Jr. Mileski was also in the habit of taking in other boys in their late teens to live in his house and to work for him in his Cabinet business. It was the last of these boys who was credited as relaying much of the information concerning Mileski and the Lyon sisters to the informant.

Another element in the Mileski story was that he allegedly helped bury the girls in a rural area in Maryland. MCP searched his former Suitland, MD house and dug up his back yard in an attempt to find evidence (just like they did on the Welch property in MD and VA).

Mileski, in his letters stated that the girls' bodies could be found in an area containing acerage, and a cabin, like a place where one might go to fish or hunt. Could he have been describing the Welch property? Or could he have been relaying something that Lloyd Welch or another inmate might have told him?

The essence of Lloyd Welch's stories seems to be one of him being in the know, but on the outside looking in at someone else who was the responsible perpetrator. He knows what happened, but had nothing whatsoever to do with it himself. At least that may be what he believes. This is almost exactly the same theme which I picked up in reading Mileski's letters. Is this all just coincidence or could there be a connection?

 

[simplifymylife2014]

Yes, it's that LENGTHY telephone call between RAW1 and TW2 that caught my eye as well.

Well, when you look at 38 YEARS GOING BY WITHOUT THE LAST NAME WELCH being brought into the public's eye, IT DOES SEEM LOGICAL that they WOULDN'T NEED A LENGTHLY PHONE CALL, UNTIL--
BAM!! LLW2's NAME IS MENTIONED PUBLICLY AND NOW RAW1 and TW2 and PW MOST LIKELY WERE AFRAID of the WHOLE STORY COMING OUT!!!

 

[simplifymylife2014]

VERY INTERESTING AND FASCINATING COMPARISONS Richard--about Mileski and LLW2!!

THANK YOU for that!!
There may be INDEED a CONNECTION!!

 

[j123]

Richard, just to clarify; the second-hand informant about Mileski named an abductor, while Milseki himself referred to this person as "C.D." Does C.D. not make sense as an alias for the named person?

 

[Lanatara]

Good thought, maybe C. D. is an alias for the named person. Maybe it is short for Carnival Dude or something like that. Carny Dude? LLW worked in the Carnivals.

 

[steveP120]

Ray Mileski's and Lloyd Welch's stories... Similarities

The Washington Post article about Lloyd Welch and his story of walking in on his uncle while in the act of molesting one of the Lyon sisters is disturbing in several ways.

As evil or as odd as it sounds (whether true or concocted), it is eeirily similar to a story related by an informant who provided information about Raymond Mileski and the Lyon sisters case about 14 years ago.

I individually doubt any of these jailhouse stories such as Mileski's or the jailhouse informant's story against Lloyd Welch on the bottom of page one of the search-warrant affidavit:

http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/wset/SKMBT_60115022314160.pdf

To believe any of these stories, I would need the same story from multiple inmates before the information was in the news.
It's a long shot, but if Welch was telling the same story in a Maryland prison in the 1980s, it would support his later 2014 testimony, well one version of his 2014 testimony.
And even then, even if several inmates said Welch said something, there is the problem Welch's credibility. I doubt any of the inmates Welch talked to believed him, just as his step-mother, girlfriend, and police he talked to in 1975 did not believe him.

 

[Fukiyama]

I'm confused about Mileski, Richard. His information regarding CD was second hand or did he know CD personally and the info you got from the informant about the Lyon sisters was second hand through Mileski?

 

[Richard]

Clarification regarding the Mileski post...

My information regarding Mileski came from several sources.

First, I was aware of the April 1982 search of his Suitland, Maryland address from Washington Post newspaper reports. Those articles stated that Montgomery County Police (MCP) obtained information from penitentiary inmates which linked Mileski to the Lyon case. They obtained search warrants and dug small test holes in the back yard of a house at 5816 Suitland Road in Prince Georges County. MCP stated that they found only "bird bones" The articles stated that the home's former owner, Raymond R. Mileski (age 46 in 1982) was serving a 40 year sentence in the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore.

Further research turned up details of how, in November 1977, Mileski had shot and killed his oldest son and then his wife in the basement of their Suitland home.

I included mention of Mileski in my case summary about Sheila and Kate Lyon for a new missing person website in 1999. When that short-lived website closed, the owner transferred all his case summaries to another website which is now called Maryland Missing. The first website owner mentioned was included as the Point of Contact (POC) for the Lyon case on the Maryland Missing website.

The second source of information regarding Mileski was a confidential informant who saw the case summary on the site and contacted the POC in January 2001, with a rather long story about Mileski, much of which was second hand information. This is where the story about Mileski's "walking in" on the alleged abductor/molester came from. That alleged abductor/molester was named by the informant. It was stated by the informant that Mileski became involved with the case at the point of this alleged "walking in", and that he assisted in burying the girls in an open gravel pit area near his Suitland home (but not in his yard).

The POC was not as knowledgable of the case as I was, and so he related to me all of the information to determine if any of it could be verified before it was turned over to MCP. I was able to verify many points in the story and could tell that it was from a source different than the 1982 prison inmates. I felt that much of the information was credible and that the informant was sincere. By that I mean that the informant was honestly relaying the story as he/she heard it, and that the story contained the names of real persons and events which I could verify.

What I could NOT verify was how the origional eyewitness/source had obtained the information (connecting Mileski and the Abductor) or whether it was first hand or (farther removed) rumor/hearsay. The story about Mileski and the Lyon sisters came TO the informant on different occasions from someone close to Mileski who related at least some of the story about December 1977 (immediately after the Mileski family murders) and some of it possibly after 1982 (the property search).

I passed on all I had to the (then) MCP case officer in writing.

When the MCP case officer did not acknowledge the information or call either of us back, The website POC assumed (correctly or not) that MCP was not interested in pursuing the matter, and he took it upon himself (without informing me or MCP) to write directly to Raymond Mileski in prison.

It was from this contact that Mileski, himself, responded in writing in February of 2001.. After an initial exchange of short introductory letters, Mileski responded to detailed questions with a 15 page letter covering his version of things. It was in this long letter that he claimed to have met the abductor/murderer, whom he called "C.D." in prison. Mileski did not admit to having participated in anything, but he did claim intimate knowledge which he offered to give in return for a prison transfer. He offered vague information regarding where one might find the girls' bodies.

The MCP case officer learned of the correspondence from the prison warden and he then DID contact the POC to threaten him with charges of interferrence in an on-going investigation. It is not known if he ever collected the long Mileski letter or if he ever interviewed Mileski.

Mileski did receive the prison transfer that he wanted, but I do not know if it was as a result of any kind of testimony agreement or just a matter of course. He was in failing health and confined to a wheelchair at the time. He was actively engaged in a number of law suits in which he sued the state for a variety of things. He died in prison in 2002.

My information about Mileski is somewhat disjointed because it did not all come from the same sources. I cannot connect the name "C.D." with any other potential suspects. I have been unable to connect the person named by the confidential informant with any other potential suspects either.

The similarities that I noted in my earlier post, however, are quite disturbing. Hopefully MCP investigators did interview Mileski and if so, will review the information he might have given them.

Prison inmates are probably the worst witnesses and biggest liars available. The question will always come up regarding their reliability and motives - as well it should. I have my personal doubts about the truth of any of it (both in regard to Mileski and Welch). But when two stories, separated by so much time and distance contain so many similarities, one has to wonder.

Time and again, clues have come from Prince Georges County, Maryland and each time they were given cursory attention by MCP or explained away quickly and then ignored. This was the case with Lloyd Welch. Now, after almost 40 years, all of their efforts are focussed on Hyattsville, Maryland in Prince Georges County.

It cannot all be coincidence.

 

[Fukiyama]

Thanks for laying all that out, Richard.

 

[simplifymylife2014]

1)Richard, do you recommend a particular way that you feel is most beneficial to all of the agencies--but ESPECIALLY the FBI, such as TYPING OUT YOUR RESEARCH?

2) Did you MAIL THEM BY US MAIL, your research?

3) How do you do it now--since there is the internet, etc...?

4) I want to type out nice, organized summaries of most of my research and I know you are one of the best persons to ask.

 

[Richard]

1)Richard, do you recommend a particular way that you feel is most beneficial to all of the agencies--but ESPECIALLY the FBI, such as TYPING OUT YOUR RESEARCH?

2) Did you MAIL THEM BY US MAIL, your research?

3) How do you do it now--since there is the internet, etc...?

4) I want to type out nice, organized summaries of most of my research and I know you are one of the best persons to ask.

I guess, I have used "all of the above" in the past. The best way would depend on what is available with each agency and the urgency of the information to be given.

The FBI does not have any place that lists e-mail points of contact, but they do have their own website with a "tip line" connection. There are several problems with it:

First is that they want your life story before you can submit any kind of tip information.

Second, you are limited as to how much information you can send.

Third, once you send it, you have no copy of what you sent (unless you saved it somewhere else).

And fourth, you will never hear back from them as to whether they got it or even bothered to read it.

There are some phone numbers for a general FBI switch that you could call to ask for a contact and an e-mail address.

When I have sent detailed information to various cold case investigators, I usually try to make contact with them by phone first. I explain who I am and what I have briefly, then I ask them for their e-mail address and send the details that way.

Investigators are usually receptive and easy to talk to, and they appreciate the heads up personally before you send a load of information to them.

It is possible, of course, to send a lot of documents or photos, etc. by US Mail, but I would always make personal contact by phone or email first, so that the specific investigators know to watch for it and are not "blind sided" by their chief with an unexpected package and a lot of questions.

 

[simplifymylife2014]

Thanks Richard.
That was very helpful.

 

[Richard]

Arthur Frederick "Freddie" Goode III

Arthur Frederick Goode III was the first "potential individual of interest" that I mentioned in this thread when I started it back in 2006.

He was a young person of somewhat diminished mental capacity, but of a large capacity for evil. Goode lived with his family in HYATTSVILLE, MD in 1975. He would turn 21 years old on 28 March of that year and in that month alone was charged with 5 sexual offenses against a child.

Goode tended to favor young boys about 9 to 11 years old as his victims. One has to wonder how he became a violent pedophile at such a young age. As a teenager he had been charged on at least three separate occasions for molesting young boys.

Goode traveled between Maryland and Florida. In March 1976, he abducted and murdered a Florida boy, then took a bus to Baltimore, Maryland. There he abducted a young 11 year-old boy whom he used to help lure a 9 year old Virginia boy, whom he molested and murdered in front of the 11 year old. Goode was captured in Virginia and the 11 year old rescued on 24 March 1976.

It is not known for certain where Goode was on 25 March 1975 or if he had anything to do with the disappearance of the Lyon sisters, but he was definitely in Maryland then and not confined in jail or a mental institution at the time.

It is also known (now) that an unidentified young man with long hair was seen following and bothering the Lyon sisters at Wheaton Plaza the day they disappeared. Could that LHM have been Arthur Frederick Goode? Goode had long hair at the time and photos of him could resemble the LHM sketch.

Note that Goode did not drive and got around mostly by bus or bicycle (or walking). I never considered him a strong candidate as a sole abductor or the Lyon Sisters, but if one considers him as a possible team member, his potential as a perpetrator in this case grows a bit stronger.

Could he have been himself a a young victim who later was enlisted to assist in locating and abducting others (a tactic he employed later with the 11 year old boy)? Note the similarity in Goode's actual use of the 11 year old boy, and Lloyd Welch's claim that an 11 year old boy was in the car with his uncle and the Lyon sisters. Was this a coincidence? Or did Lloyd happen to know of the 1976 Goode case and merge some facts with his story about the Lyon sisters?

Could Goode have had some connection to the Welches of the same town (Hyattsville)?

Whether or not Goode was connected in any way with the Welch Persons of Interest, he was an active pedophile in the area at the time of the girls' disappearance.

Here is a link to my origional post (#2 of this thread) on Arthur Frederick Goode III:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?35536-Potential-Suspects-and-Persons-of-Interest

Here are some links to related articles on Goode some have photos of him:

http://charlotte.floridaweekly.com/...ews/THE_ULTIMATE_PERSONIFICATION_OF_EVIL.html

http://murderpedia.org/male.G/g1/goode-arthur.htm

http://www.examiner.com/article/arthur-frederick-goode-iii-a-serial-killer-profile

 

[siriunsun]

I suppose authorities could always ask the eleven year old boy, if it appears relevant to them.

 

[Richard]

That 11-year-old boy was a main witness for the prosecution at Goode's murder trials. (see link to Florida Weekly article). Goode was convicted and sentenced to Life in Prison in Virginia, then extradited to Florida where he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He was executed in 1984.

 

[siriunsun]

Probably no connection to the Lyon sisters, then.

 

[Motherof5]

Your questions cover a wide area and there is no finite answer to them. Rather, perhaps there could be a long open discussion on each. The comments which follow are only my own ideas, and not meant to be definitive answers.

1. I think that Law Enforcement has the ability and the responsibility to consider anyone as a potential suspect or person of interest in the course of their investigation into the disappearance of the Lyon sisters. However, they have to consider very carefully how, why, or when they would PUBLICLY NAME someone a POI or suspect - this for a number of reasons.

I personally feel that LE has overstepped the line by implying in their press statements the the entire Welch family was involved in the abduction and murder of the Lyon sisters. They have only named Lloyd Welch and his uncle Richard Welch as "Persons of Interest" but have presented no evidence to date. I believe that if they had named them as "Suspects" they would have been required to charge them within a certain amount of time.

LE probably believes that other family members are with holding information or hindering their investigation, but they have not specifically named any other family members in this case.

2. Persons posting on internet sites, or reporting in newspapers, etc. are not under the same constraints as a Law Enforcement Agency in some ways, but certainly could be held responsible for libel or slander against someone, just as LE could be. Just because LE names someone as a Person of Interest, does not mean that the person actually committed a crime, but a reporter can state as a fact that the person has been named as a POI without the reporter/writer being held culpable of libel (unless he/she adds a lot of speculation or untrue information beyond what LE has stated).

A writer, reporter, website poster, could also name someone as a potential suspect in a crime, even if LE has never mentioned them as a suspect or POI. BUT... one would have to be very careful of this sort of thing. I personally have named a number of potential suspects in this case but when I have done this, it is based on the fact that the person was convicted of serious crimes, or (in one case) killed in the act of committing multiple murders. I do know of some other persons who have been considered by LE as potential suspects, but I have never named them in my posts, because they do not have criminal records of capital crimes or crimes against children.

3. A dead person could be named as a POI or as a suspect by LE, if they believe he or she was involved in a crime that they are trying to solve. This is certainly true of a number of recently solved cases. They cannot, however, be charged with anything after their death.

I disagree. I have never felt that LE implied that the entire Welch family was involved. They've said "other family members" and that does not equal the entire family. As far as LE naming POI's without presenting evidence...they are not required to present anything to the public during an ongoing investigation. They must have shown some type of evidence to the Grand Jury in order for them to keep returning to the mountain and digging. I think LE is on the right track.

 

[Richard]

Here are some excerpts from Fred Howard Coffey's 1994 appeal of his death sentence for the brutal murder of 10 year-old Amanda Ray in 1979 . See the entire document by clicking on the link.

---------------------------------------------------------------
On 16 February 1987 defendant (Fred Howard Coffey, Jr.) was indicted for the first degree murder of ten-year-old Amanda Ray, who died on 18 July 1979. Defendant was convicted at trial on theories of premeditation and deliberation and felony murder, based on the underlying felony of kidnapping.

After a sentencing hearing following this trial, the jury recommended a death sentence, and judgment was so entered in October 1987.

On appeal to this Court, we found no error in the guilt proceeding, but we ordered a new sentencing hearing because the verdict form employed by the jury did not include an issue as to whether the mitigating circumstances were insufficient to outweigh the aggravating circumstances, ...

On re-sentencing, a second jury also recommended the death sentence. The trial court again entered judgment sentencing defendant to death, and defendant appeals from that judgment.

At the resentencing proceeding the State reiterated the facts surrounding the murder.
The body of ten-year-old Amanda Ray was found in a wooded area near a lake in Mecklenburg County on 19 July 1979. An autopsy revealed that she had a black eye and bruises and that she died of asphyxiation. ...

... The (previous) convictions which were introduced were:

- convictions in 1974 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for two counts of indecent exposure and one count of indecent liberties involving three children;

- and convictions in 1986 in Caldwell County, North Carolina, for nine counts of indecent liberties with children involving three different children.
... After the presentation of evidence the trial judge submitted two aggravating circumstances:
(1) the death occurred while the defendant was engaged in a kidnapping, and
(2) the death was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.
...It was at the end of Coffey's third trial, after he was again (as he was each time) convicted of Amanda's murder, that he was sentenced to Life In Prison vice the Death Penalty. This was because two of the twelve jurors would not vote for the Death Penalty....

Fred Howard Coffey Jr. is again up for Parole. His case will be considered on 1 May 2015.

Coffey has been discussed in these threads as a potential suspect in the Lyon Case and others. He was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Amanda Ray(10), and is the only suspect in the murders of Travis Shane King (age 8) and Neely Smith (5).

He has been denied parole on every occasion over the past 20 years (since 1995).

Coffey just turned 70 years old on 20 March.

Since his last hearing in 2012, Coffey has had only one infraction - For a "sexual act".

Anyone who wishes can write a letter to the North Carolina Parol Board with their recommendations for or against him receiving parole.

Send your correspondence regarding Fred Howard Coffey, Jr., DOC# 0081135
to:

Chairman
NC Post Release Supervision & Parole Commission
P.O. Box 29540
Raleigh, NC 27626-0540

 

[simplifymylife2014]

That is a scary thought about Coffey's parole!

Just in a factual statement, there are a lot of people with that last name in places where the POI's and their relatives live and have lived at.