Sheila and Katherine Lyon-sisters missing since 1975 - #1

[Richard]

...McDonalds recently began "outsourcing" their drive-through ordering in much of the country-- the voice you hear will usually have a standard American accent, but that person isn't inside the restaurant-- they're in a call center, sometimes hundreds of miles away, keying the order over the internet where it is read back at the restuarant where you're ordering--this reduces errors. Who do you think McDonalds is going to hire for minimum wage these days? ...

Two flaws in this great idea:
1. Computer uplinks will not always be working or might have a delay. You might get some order that the guy two cars ahead of you asked for.
2. The same people that can't speak English or make change usually can't read, either! Maybe the computer screen will draw pictures for them.

I worked for McDonalds back in 1970 as a "Counter Man/Cashier", and have seen the quality of personnel they hire go downhill over the years. We used to have a window between us and the customers (back then there was no inside dining), and I got to be pretty good at reading lips in various accents and dialects. Today you usually have to tell the person at the counter more than once what you want, and half the time they still get it wrong. And if the computer didn't tell them what change to give you, and even count out the coins, they would be completely lost.

 

[Kensingtonnative]

Not to get off of the subject of what this is about, but I never said Kensington is a Hell Hole. I was just saying it is not the same as it was 30 years ago. I am very well aware that things change. As for the outsourcing, I was just at that McDonald's in July, it was a live human being I dealt with the whole time. I am not blaming the workers, I know they are hard working decent people, it is the management who put them there. It is frustrating living in a country where the official language is English, but you can't find someone who understands you. (My father and his parents and siblings came to this country as immigrants - so I'm not predjudiced, but they learned to assimilate) Kenmont has always been called Kenmont. Wheaton Woods was a pool in an entirely different neighborhood. I am glad that Einstein has much improved, but again I was pointing out that it is not the same as it was when I graduated. You have lived there 20 years, I lived there my whole life up until 3 years ago (that's 36 years) and my family is still there, I think I'm quite qualified to say the town I grew up in, in many ways is unrecognizable.

Please, from this point on, lets just keep our postings about the subject at hand, shall we?

 

[Richard]

Kensington and Wheaton have changed significantly over the past 30 years. Not so much in where houses, swimming pools, and roads are located, but they have changed in many ways just as they have throughout the whole country.

About a year ago, I visited the town where I grew up as a kid from age 1 to age 11. I had not seen it in 35 years. I would say that about 90 percent of the houses that stood when I was a child were still there, but instead of being mostly painted white, with a few brick houses here and there (with white trim) all were painted every imaginable color. The yards were all nicely trimmed and had shrubbery, flowers, and garden decorations everywhere. Of course, back when I was kid, there were a few homes that had nice gardens, but mostly it was just lawns to mow and walk across. Every house seemed to have three or four vehicles associated with it, and it seemed that at least one SUV or Pick Up Truck was needed for every residence. I don't recall anyone in town owning a Pick Up back in the 1950's. Back then a home had one telephone attatched by a cord to the wall, one family car, and one television set.

Most of the downtown buildings were still there as well, but the business of the town had changed compeltely. Now everyone goes to a mall somewhere to buy clothing, groceries, appliances, etc. and as a result, all of the individually owned businesses of that nature had disappeared. One now can find scented candle shops, art stores, and a lot of restaurants where other businesses once stood. Where the "outskirts" of town were 30 or 40 years ago are the National franchise fast food places and large corporation owned Gas stations, etc that you can see in any town in the country today.

I found on my visit that on the surface it was the same town, and very nicely preserved in many ways, but what I noticed as the biggest change was that there were no people to be seen anywhere. And no kids. It was August, and my memories of that time of year were that there were always people out on porches or putting up laundry, or mowing grass, out walking or visiting with neighbors outside. Above all, kids were playing outside everywhere - riding bikes, playing baseball, running. Not today. Air Conditioning, Cable TV, Video Games, and the Internet all seem to keep everyone inside their own house. Walking around that town, I was completely alone.

Back in the 1950's and 60's, and into the 1970's, everybody knew who their neighbors were and whose kids were whose. If you did something you shouldn't, you could bet that your mother probably knew about it before you got home. I can't say that my mother did not worry about where we were or where we went, but I think that mothers today must have a lot more apprehension about letting children go out on their own.

 

[joellegirl]

Very well said, Richard. I was born in 1967 and I have memories very similar as you have described of my hometown and my childhood. All of the neighbors knowing one another, running in and out of each other's houses, exploring the neighborhood, playing" Kick the Can". My parents were more over protective than most, yet I still had way more freedom than I let my children have. My children are all under the age of 5 1/2 and when they go outside here it's in our backyard (with swingset etc and me or my husband out there)riding toys on the driveway or a walk to the park with us.. I notice older children running around (without their parents on their heels), say age 8 or so. I'm not sure when I will feel comfortable letting mine do that. I must say the neighborhood I live in is a rare one-it actually is as close as you can get to the neighborhoods of the 50's. 60's and 70s. I do know most of my neighbors. I get the mail and paper for them when they are away, we watch each other houses. We have a annual picnic every summer.Children play in each other yards, but they are older and I don't see it as much as we did when we were young.. I do see them riding bikes, but it is much closer to their homes, not far off on the next block. After the bus picks up my kindergartener, I stay with the middle school neighbor girls while they wait for their bus,(same bus stop) so they aren't alone. Their mothers, who have to work, appreciate that I do that.

Of course as we all know from reading about all these cold cases, is bad things did happen when we were children, abductions aren't something that started with Elizabeth Smart. Janice Pockett was just a year and half older than me, and like her, I rode my bike around the neighborhood. The Lyon's sisters were just 3 and 5 years older than me and we used to walk to the store a few blocks away, just like them.. Never alone until much older, but the Lyons sisters weren't "alone" either. There were two of them and it still happened.

This summer while on vacation in Maryland, I visited the old Wheaton Plaza and the saw the house and neighborhood the Lyon's sisters lived and the street they were last seen. The neighborhood still seemed well kept, just no one was around and it was a nice Sunday in July. The mall was a little run down but not too bad, though I didn't see the whole thing and I know it looks nothing like it did in 1975.. Seemed pretty crowded as we drove through the parking lots. Very interesting to see the area, though.

 

[sleuthin4fun]

I don't know about the rest of you but, it makes me sad that our children will never really experience the carefree days of youth. I grew up in Virginia. When the Lyon sisters were abducted I was 10 years old. I lived in a nice neighborhood on a culdesac. There were children everywhere. We spent all of our time outside. We rode bikes, built forts in the woods, went fishing at a nearby lake and even walked about a mile for pizza. As children we spent our evenings catching fireflys and playing kick ball. We were outside way after dark. Never did I feel afraid or unsafe. It is such a tragedy that children these days don't know what it really feels like to be young and carefree.

 

[joellegirl]

I don't know about the rest of you but, it makes me sad that our children will never really experience the carefree days of youth. I grew up in Virginia. When the Lyon sisters were abducted I was 10 years old. I lived in a nice neighborhood on a culdesac. There were children everywhere. We spent all of our time outside. We rode bikes, built forts in the woods, went fishing at a nearby lake and even walked about a mile for pizza. As children we spent our evenings catching fireflys and playing kick ball. We were outside way after dark. Never did I feel afraid or unsafe. It is such a tragedy that children these days don't know what it really feels like to be young and carefree.

I completely agree. I feel bad that my children probably won't have as carefree childhood as I did. I try to make it up by letting them have lots of outside time and they seem happy so far. They were out after dark catching fireflys this past summer, but it was in our yard, not two houses down as it may have been in my childhood.I know what you mean about exploring the nearby creek, walking to a friends house a block away, riding bikes to the store to buy candy...I remember us playing in the nearby cornfield for hours,hiding and making forts! My brother and his friends all camping out in tents in the empty lot across the street.I try to keep this all in mind, but it is so hard. Mine are still quite young, but when they are 8 or 9 or 10 I don't think they will be content with only their yard or the very next one. I will take it as it comes. We are just so much more aware these days, that is the difference. Can you imagine if Fox News was around when the Lyon's girls vanished?

I know we heard of bad stuff then, and it may have made us afraid for a while, but then we went back to our old ways. Today it is just one story after another, every night. We are bombarded with how unsafe a world it is for our children( and it wasn't as safe as we thought back then as we've all said). Very sad, I agree.

 

[Mr. E]

As has already been stated, I think our world has changed, but bad things happened even when we were kids and played happily in our neighborhoods, seemingly without worry. Today, with internet and cable and 24-hr news stations, we know what is happening in towns across the nation -- across the world. So if a child is abducted and missing, even if it is nowhere near us, we know.

I, too, used to play outside and not have my parents supervising my every move. The rule in our house was that we had to be in before dark. We used to have discussions about what "dark" was -- pitch black? dusk? We'd walk to the candy store -- having to cross a busy street to get there -- alone (with brothers, sisters, friends, but no adults). We walked to school alone. I remember walking home from kindergarten at noon! My mom would be waiting for me at home, watching her soaps.

I remember at my grandparents' house one summer, a car stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride. I was about 9. My grandparents lived in a secluded mountain area. There was no one else around. I was walking from where I had been swimming (alone) in their creek. I said no to the ride; the driver and passenger, a woman and man I thought were old, but were probably in their late 30s, persisted and persisted. Finally I pointed to my grandparents' house, which was just a few yards away but hidden behind some trees. I said, "I'm just going there," and they sped away. Probably innocent, but who knows. Why try to give a 9yo kid a ride on a secluded road? Especially after the kid says no the first time?

A few years later Ricky Barnett disappeared from a nearby town. My grandpa always thought he wandered away and animals got him. I always thought somebody just took him . . .

 

[smile22]

As has already been stated, I think our world has changed, but bad things happened even when we were kids and played happily in our neighborhoods, seemingly without worry. Today, with internet and cable and 24-hr news stations, we know what is happening in towns across the nation -- across the world. So if a child is abducted and missing, even if it is nowhere near us, we know.

I, too, used to play outside and not have my parents supervising my every move. The rule in our house was that we had to be in before dark. We used to have discussions about what "dark" was -- pitch black? dusk? We'd walk to the candy store -- having to cross a busy street to get there -- alone (with brothers, sisters, friends, but no adults). We walked to school alone. I remember walking home from kindergarten at noon! My mom would be waiting for me at home, watching her soaps.

I remember at my grandparents' house one summer, a car stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride. I was about 9. My grandparents lived in a secluded mountain area. There was no one else around. I was walking from where I had been swimming (alone) in their creek. I said no to the ride; the driver and passenger, a woman and man I thought were old, but were probably in their late 30s, persisted and persisted. Finally I pointed to my grandparents' house, which was just a few yards away but hidden behind some trees. I said, "I'm just going there," and they sped away. Probably innocent, but who knows. Why try to give a 9yo kid a ride on a secluded road? Especially after the kid says no the first time?

A few years later Ricky Barnett disappeared from a nearby town. My grandpa always thought he wandered away and animals got him. I always thought somebody just took him . . .

your just lucky one of them didnt get out of the car if they intended to hurt you and grab you i guess they werent pros at it.my parents are from that time ( im 24) and told me that they would sleep with the doors unlocked and they would go places with friends and it was like they never had to worry. now you cant even let ur child go somwhere without adults watching you

 

[mere]

I grew up in New Jersey in the early 80s and even then we would roam the neighborhood. Your parents never felt that they had to be watching you because there was always neighbors outside. On the other hand we were always warned of strangers. I even remember having a board game called Don't Talk To Strangers. I lived in a safe neighborhood, but there was a man spotted several times trying to lure neighborhood kids into his van. Nothing ever happened though. The kids knew to say no and run to find an adult.

 

[mere]

The fact that no trace of the girls has turned up in the past 30 years has frustrated police and investigators. There were some very intensive searches conducted in 1975 in the days, weeks, and months following the girls disappearance. The newspapers are full of stories about those searches, although they do not always specify what areas exactly were searched. Police files probably contain more detailed maps and reports of areas searched, but that in itself is speculation.

The Washington DC metropolitan area, which includes Counties in Maryland and Northern Virginia actually has many rural and remote wooded areas where someone could dispose of a body. The suburbs continue to expand and development is destroying much rural farm land, but there are still a lot natural wooded areas, wetlands, and parks throughout the area.

A look at many of the John/Jane Doe cases throughout the country indicates that most of those unidentified bodies were NOT buried, but rather simply left where they died, or dumped in remote areas. Some of them (but definitely a minority of the cases) were buried in shallow graves.

The case for which Fred Coffey was convicted involved a little girl whose body was left in the open in a wooded area, near a body of water. This was also the case in a few other cases in which he is the prime suspect. That, however, does not preclude the possibility that he might have buried other victims.

What you are saying is that if a victim is buried it is not likely they would ever be found?

 

[Richard]

What you are saying is that if a victim is buried it is not likely they would ever be found?

No, I am not saying that at all. I only mean that most bodies of John and Jane Does are found on the surface, rather than by digging up a grave.

While burial may hide the victim from the casual passer by, it does preserve the remains better, as it keeps preditors and the elements from scattering them. The problem is that after only a short time, the gravesite looks pretty much like all the surrounding land. This makes it extremely hard to find. Those John and Jane Does who are found in shallow graves are usually found "accidentally" by workers digging a utility trench, or foundation.

There are methods which can be used to locate graves, such as aerial infrared photography, cadaver dogs, in-ground radar, dowsing, and probing. Sometimes a grave can be seen visually as a sunken area, a mound, or a difference in vegetation. These methods, in and of themselves, usually are not considered sufficient evidence necessary to obtain a search warrant.

Such methods give indications of anomalies which MIGHT be a grave, or might be something else. Unfortunately, sometimes follow-up methods used to try to confirm a possible grave are not always reliable.

As an example, land developers and builders might be confronted by persons who claim that there is an old unmarked cemetery on the property. The developer must conduct tests to confirm whether or not there are graves in the area where he wishes to dig or build. A standard practice is to hire an archaeoligist with a bulldozer to scrape the surface of the land and look for "grave shafts". The theory is that when the grave was dug, a disturbance was created, and the soil which is put back is of different color or substance from soil near the surface. Thus, when peeling back the top soil, a clear indication of a rectangular grave shaft should be evident.

This works sometimes, but not always. Recently, when speaking with an Archaeologist about this subject, he mentioned a case in the past year where in-ground radar indicated a strong anomaly. Probing indicated a possible coffin about four or five feet down. During the entire dig, there was no evidence of any stratification of soil and no indication that there was any kind of a "grave shaft". Upon hitting what appeared to be a hollow sounding coffin, they found a box which had a plastic bag attatched with duct tape, and inside the bag was a handwritten note.

The note was dated 1995, and it stated that this was the body of a pet dog. It requested that, if located, it be re-buried somewhere else. So, here was a case where the grave had been there for just under ten years, but there was absolutely no evidence of the grave until they actually dug up the coffin.

The state of preservation of a body when exhumed from a grave will vary considerably, depending on many factors. First and formost is the condition of the grave itself - such as type of soil and presence or absence of water. The depth of the grave, presence or absence of trees or other plants, presence of burrowing animals, type of insects present, etc all have an effect on the body. When body is wrapped in a carpet, tarp, or blanket, or if it is in a container of some type, remains and possible evidence are better preserved.

An interesting historical commentary on this can be found in the report of Dr. Samuel Weaver to the Governor of Pennsylvania upon the removal of Union Soldiers from Gettysburg battlefield and hospital graves to the new (in 1863) Soldiers Cemetery in Gettysburg. Samuel Weaver supervised all of the grave openings and reinterrments personally. He made attempts to identify some 5,098 Union soldiers, as well as many Confederate soldiers, who were usually reburied in their same battlefield grave when discovered. His report includes condition of many bodies, descriptions of items found, etc. He notes that some bodies were remarkably well preserved and recognizable, while in the same amount of time, others were completely skeletonized.

In regard to the Lyon Sisters, I feel very strongly that the case can still be solved, and have hope that the girls will some day be found.

 

[mere]

Lets say skeletal remains were found, but cause of death could not be determined. It could be listed as suspicious vs. homicide. At that point would the investigation come to a close?

 

[shadowangel]

That would depend on several factors-departmental policy, the circumstances of the recovery...In most cases, such remains would be listed as "cause of death undetermined", and the case would remain open. Indefinitely. However, the trend is for departments to close these cases after a set period unless there is some indication of foul play. Skeletal remains found in a shallow grave, of fairly recent vintage, with an undetermined cause of death, would most likely be carried as open.

 

[mere]

No, I am not saying that at all. I only mean that most bodies of John and Jane Does are found on the surface, rather than by digging up a grave.

While burial may hide the victim from the casual passer by, it does preserve the remains better, as it keeps preditors and the elements from scattering them. The problem is that after only a short time, the gravesite looks pretty much like all the surrounding land. This makes it extremely hard to find. Those John and Jane Does who are found in shallow graves are usually found "accidentally" by workers digging a utility trench, or foundation.

There are methods which can be used to locate graves, such as aerial infrared photography, cadaver dogs, in-ground radar, dowsing, and probing. Sometimes a grave can be seen visually as a sunken area, a mound, or a difference in vegetation. These methods, in and of themselves, usually are not considered sufficient evidence necessary to obtain a search warrant.

Such methods give indications of anomalies which MIGHT be a grave, or might be something else. Unfortunately, sometimes follow-up methods used to try to confirm a possible grave are not always reliable.

As an example, land developers and builders might be confronted by persons who claim that there is an old unmarked cemetery on the property. The developer must conduct tests to confirm whether or not there are graves in the area where he wishes to dig or build. A standard practice is to hire an archaeoligist with a bulldozer to scrape the surface of the land and look for "grave shafts". The theory is that when the grave was dug, a disturbance was created, and the soil which is put back is of different color or substance from soil near the surface. Thus, when peeling back the top soil, a clear indication of a rectangular grave shaft should be evident.

This works sometimes, but not always. Recently, when speaking with an Archaeologist about this subject, he mentioned a case in the past year where in-ground radar indicated a strong anomaly. Probing indicated a possible coffin about four or five feet down. During the entire dig, there was no evidence of any stratification of soil and no indication that there was any kind of a "grave shaft". Upon hitting what appeared to be a hollow sounding coffin, they found a box which had a plastic bag attatched with duct tape, and inside the bag was a handwritten note.

The note was dated 1995, and it stated that this was the body of a pet dog. It requested that, if located, it be re-buried somewhere else. So, here was a case where the grave had been there for just under ten years, but there was absolutely no evidence of the grave until they actually dug up the coffin.

The state of preservation of a body when exhumed from a grave will vary considerably, depending on many factors. First and formost is the condition of the grave itself - such as type of soil and presence or absence of water. The depth of the grave, presence or absence of trees or other plants, presence of burrowing animals, type of insects present, etc all have an effect on the body. When body is wrapped in a carpet, tarp, or blanket, or if it is in a container of some type, remains and possible evidence are better preserved.

An interesting historical commentary on this can be found in the report of Dr. Samuel Weaver to the Governor of Pennsylvania upon the removal of Union Soldiers from Gettysburg battlefield and hospital graves to the new (in 1863) Soldiers Cemetery in Gettysburg. Samuel Weaver supervised all of the grave openings and reinterrments personally. He made attempts to identify some 5,098 Union soldiers, as well as many Confederate soldiers, who were usually reburied in their same battlefield grave when discovered. His report includes condition of many bodies, descriptions of items found, etc. He notes that some bodies were remarkably well preserved and recognizable, while in the same amount of time, others were completely skeletonized.

In regard to the Lyon Sisters, I feel very strongly that the case can still be solved, and have hope that the girls will some day be found.

Thanks Shadowangel. For this case to be solved what would need to happen?
What kind of physical evidence could still exist after all these years?

 

[shadowangel]

The only things I can forsee happening...A credible confession leading to the remains; locating the remains, with some strong indication (ie, the remains being found buried under someone's shed) of who the killer was or is; clothing being located with some DNA (it is possible) still intact; or someone confessing with knowledge of details that the police never released (ie, one of the girls had began menstruating); the finding of photos linking an individual to the crime. Not too many other scenarios, and as in all other cases all depend on the locating of some as-yet unknown evidence.

 

[docwho3]

I found an entry in a live journal that disturbed me a bit since it involved "a dream" of using a tape recorder to kidnap & rape people. It reminded me of those profile lessons I read on another site that said that some serial types have fantasies of a similar nature. Scroll down to where a post begins with "i just had a rather demented dream."

Of course it could just be the plot from some old movie or book I haven't seen. I include the link in case anyone thinks it might be of use.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jamiroquai/

 

[Richard]

The only things I can forsee happening...A credible confession leading to the remains; locating the remains, with some strong indication (ie, the remains being found buried under someone's shed) of who the killer was or is; clothing being located with some DNA (it is possible) still intact; or someone confessing with knowledge of details that the police never released (ie, one of the girls had began menstruating); the finding of photos linking an individual to the crime. Not too many other scenarios, and as in all other cases all depend on the locating of some as-yet unknown evidence.

It is also entirely possible that evidence which was gathered against a suspect in a similar case might turn out to also contain evidence in the Lyon case. Sometimes a relative or acquaintence of the perpetrator might run across items, photos, tapes, etc which can lead to an arrest.

A confession would be nice, but usually they don't just happen - rather, they have to be sought and bargained for. For instance, if a suspect were to be facing the death penalty in another crime, he might be offered a deal of a Life sentence in exchange for full disclosure in other cases.

 

[Richard]

I spoke with Mongomery County Police investigators recently regarding the case of the missing Lyon Sisters. They were interested in some of the information that I had found, and were very open in answering my questions.

While they did not volunteer a lot of extra information, they did discuss a couple of things that had been mentioned in this forum, particularly about the Tape Recorder Man, and about a newspaper report and description of an alleged suspect vehicle.

They feel that the Tape Recorder Man, may very well be a significant factor in the case. Although other clues and leads were pursued over the years, he has always remained a focus of their investigation.

I asked about the reported sightings of TRM in Prince Georges County, Maryland just prior to the Lyon girls disappearance, and was told that in April 1975, after those sightings were reported in the papers, an individual came forward and "confessed" to having been at the shopping centers in PG county with a tape recorder trying to get girls to speak into his microphone.

HOWEVER, he claimed to never have done that in Montgomery County. And he had a perfect alibi for not being at Wheaton Plaza on the date and time of the Lyon sisters' disappearance: He was involved in a traffic accident with a government vehicle and in the hospital at that time.

Investigators never released that information to the press. This individual was a family man with a wife and children, and he claimed to be embarrassed about what he had done, and did not want to endanger his family by having the word get out.

An interesting story, but was it true? Were there really TWO lone nuts out there doing exactly the same thing with tape recorders? Who looked and dressed alike? If so, it has to be classified as an amazing coincidence.

Or was this guy someone who - for whatever reason - liked to confess, just for thrills? Maybe he wanted to throw the police off track, by confessing to the PG sightings, knowing that he had a solid alibi for 25 March 1975? Newspapers reported that MCP investigators interviewed between one and three men in Prince Georges County in relation to the PG TRM reported sightings, but that by the end of the day, they had ruled them out as suspects. Was this man one of those interviewed that day?

Tape Recorder Man was described by witnesses at Wheaton Plaza who saw him talking with Kate and Sheila on that fateful day. Other witnesses later confirmed that they, too, had seen him there and elsewhere on other occasions. In fact, those calling from Prince George's county were pretty certain that the man in the sketch was the same one that they had seen.

A big question (not yet answered) would be; Did police ever show the "PG TRM Confesser" or his photo to any of those witnesses who had seen someone they believed to be the Tape Recorder Man at Iverson Mall or Marlow Heights, or Bowie Shopping Centers?

The other matter which the investigators addressed was the suspect vehicle, described in papers as a "Blue Ford Falcon Station Wagon covered in stickers."

Although this vehicle was reported in the Washington Post in the same story as the reported sightings of TRM, it evidently came from a separate incident which was not reported in the papers. A tip came to police early in the investigation (along with many others) about a woman driving such a vehicle with two girls who resembled the Lyon sisters. Shortly after the vehicle description was published in the papers, the woman was identified and the girls seen with her were her own daughters.

So, it would appear that the two separate stories were somehow merged when Montgomery County Police briefed Iverson Mall Security, and when the Washington Post reporter subsequently interviewed the Mall's Chief of Security.

 

[docwho3]

Nice work. Thank you for helping with much needed info.

. . .An interesting story, but was it true? Were there really TWO lone nuts out there doing exactly the same thing with tape recorders? Who looked and dressed alike? If so, it has to be classified as an amazing coincidence. . .

Or two men working together is possible. I seem to remember a serial killer out on the west coast that was really two people working together. Although not with this much of an imaginative plan.

. . .A big question (not yet answered) would be; Did police ever show the "PG TRM Confesser" or his photo to any of those witnesses who had seen someone they believed to be the Tape Recorder Man at Iverson Mall or Marlow Heights, or Bowie Shopping Centers?

Good question. Perhaps you need to recontact the investigators at some point & ask?

 

[Marilynilpa]

Or two men working together is possible. I seem to remember a serial killer out on the west coast that was really two people working together. Although not with this much of an imaginative plan.

I was thinking the same thing, there could have been two men in on this together. The whole tape recorder thing is weird, so it seems highly improbable that two men were doing this, independent of each other, in the same geographic area.

Did this "family man" offer any explanation for why he approached these girls with his tape recorder? What was the ultimate goal for him?

People are strange.