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

[Fukiyama]

I wonder if Richard Allen Welch ever owned a beige or tan colored 1970 Ford Station Wagon. On April 7, 1975 a credible witness (an employee at IBM) reported to Mont County Police that he saw two girls gagged and bound in the back seat of a tan Ford station wagon. He remembered that one girl raised her head and was wearing gold wire rimmed glasses and resembled Sheila Lyon. He said the driver seemed nervous and ran a red light. This was in Manassas, Virginia and the car had Maryland tags. The witness now lives in Cary, North Carolina. I found a recent article on the internet about his account of that incident.

Posted as well in reply to you in the other thread:

The gentleman featured in the Cary newspaper article has posted here at WS in the past. In his posts, he goes into quite a bit of detail regarding his thoughts on the make and model of the station wagon.

A link to all his posts:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/search.php?searchid=937380

 

[steveP120]

I don't know what security guards worked in Wheaton in the 1970s,
but today the commercial district of Wheaton is very small; I just walked through it in ten minutes.
It was slightly smaller, fewer buildings, in the 1970s.
The mall today has it's own guards. One bank has a security guard. Some stores have security.
An office building or two might have a guard a the front but I have not seen them often.
Today, many of the security "uniforms" are just a windbreaker jacket with "security on it" or a polo-type shirt, I think done not to scare customers. In the past, there were more police-like uniforms.
The photo of the elder Welch with Santa suggests he worked at the mall? But Wheaton is so small he could have just walked over to the mall for lunch, as many people do today.

 

[Richard]

...
... The photo of the elder Welch with Santa suggests he worked at the mall? But Wheaton is so small he could have just walked over to the mall for lunch, as many people do today.

I disagree. I don't think that the Santa was the one at the Mall. It is more likely that he was at some sort of office party. Security guard Welch is wearing a long sleeve shirt and tie, but no coat.

Security guards wore jackets with their winter uniforms. In fact, anyone visiting Santa at the Mall would be wearing a coat outside in December. Remember that the Easter Bunny and Santa displays were in Mall Center which, although under an overhang, was exposed to the outside temperature.

Richard Welch may have been working at a business that was a secure facility. He might have spent most of his day inside the building. At an office Christmas Party, he would have stopped in for a while and had his photo taken with Santa.

 

[crcurrie]

Has Marshall Dietz, the witness who believes he saw Sheila being driven away from Manassas shortly after the girls' disappearance, commented on the possibility of Richard Welch being the driver? In an older post, he wrote that the driver's nose was misshapen, as one might interpret Richard's based on the photos we've seen. I haven't seen any photographic evidence of a ducktail haircut yet, which Dietz claims the driver was wearing.

On the other hand, here is a photo of Richard's brother, Luke (also known as "Shorty"), taken about a decade before the girls' disappearance:



Shorty died, I believe, in the late 1970s, in a motorcycle accident. He also lived in Hyattsville, in Richard's household, during the 1970s. Of course, his hairstyle could well have changed from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. If there was a family conspiracy of the Hyattsville Welches, it's possible that Shorty was also involved.

 

[Fukiyama]

crcurrie: As far as I know, the last comments on the case Marshall Dietz has made in public were in the Cary newspaper article from before the Welch angle transitioned into a general search of Taylor Mountain. So who knows if he knows anything about Lloyd Welch's family.

 

[Historydetective63]

Edna Welch is the step-mother of Lloyd Lee Welch not his mother. His mother apparently died in a car accident in which his father was driving and Lloyd was a child. This was reported in the paper by his step-sister back in February 2014.

 

[CanManEh]

So its nice to hear that they have some pretty good evidence on these POI's .Sounding like this case may finally be getting the awnsers to solve this case after all this time....Great news...

 

[Historydetective63]

Hi, where did this info come from?

Has Marshall Dietz, the witness who believes he saw Sheila being driven away from Manassas shortly after the girls' disappearance, commented on the possibility of Richard Welch being the driver? In an older post, he wrote that the driver's nose was misshapen, as one might interpret Richard's based on the photos we've seen. I haven't seen any photographic evidence of a ducktail haircut yet, which Dietz claims the driver was wearing.

On the other hand, here is a photo of Richard's brother, Luke (also known as "Shorty"), taken about a decade before the girls' disappearance:

View attachment 60579

Shorty died, I believe, in the late 1970s, in a motorcycle accident. He also lived in Hyattsville, in Richard's household, during the 1970s. Of course, his hairstyle could well have changed from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. If there was a family conspiracy of the Hyattsville Welches, it's possible that Shorty was also involved.

 

[Motherof5]

Has Marshall Dietz, the witness who believes he saw Sheila being driven away from Manassas shortly after the girls' disappearance, commented on the possibility of Richard Welch being the driver? In an older post, he wrote that the driver's nose was misshapen, as one might interpret Richard's based on the photos we've seen. I haven't seen any photographic evidence of a ducktail haircut yet, which Dietz claims the driver was wearing.

On the other hand, here is a photo of Richard's brother, Luke (also known as "Shorty"), taken about a decade before the girls' disappearance:

View attachment 60579

Shorty died, I believe, in the late 1970s, in a motorcycle accident. He also lived in Hyattsville, in Richard's household, during the 1970s. Of course, his hairstyle could well have changed from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. If there was a family conspiracy of the Hyattsville Welches, it's possible that Shorty was also involved.

But LE is saying that people who were involved are still alive today.


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[simplifymylife2014]

If this whole thing is possibly a group/family operation with perhaps even others who were involved or joined that the family members knew, it is possible that all of this had it's roots or beginnings with ones who have passed away.
However, even though ones passed away, if they originated from at least 2 different locations or states, it appears very likely that the surviving group operation continued until, one by one different ones have been caught and imprisoned. Other accomplices could be family members, friends or neighbors who heard about or even SAW what was going on and did NOT speak up.

 

[Motherof5]

crcurrie: As far as I know, the last comments on the case Marshall Dietz has made in public were in the Cary newspaper article from before the Welch angle transitioned into a general search of Taylor Mountain. So who knows if he knows anything about Lloyd Welch's family.

This is from a post where another member asked Mdietz a question and his response follows.


? If you have an idea where the girls are,

Not ‘if’? I do.

But to gain the cooperation of those that know or those that have the evidence necessary to locate them is to invite a turf ‘control’ war. I said, I don’t trust those agencies that screwed this up. The girls will be found sooner or later or by those that follow. I have personally been to the VA county where they were taken a half-dozen times and have contacted those that have the means to find out ‘what’ happened, The ‘problem’ is that ‘we’ cannot find out what is ‘already’ known or suspected. As sure as the gates of heaven will open on that day, ‘those-in-the-know’ are not going to publically share the Lyons file. The close as I expect to get them is the image of the three evidence boxes in the Montgomery County Police cold-case trailer shown by NBC Washington.


Sooo Mdietz isn't just claiming that he saw the girls, he's claiming that he knows where they are!! Now does it make sense to anyone that a man who claims to have seen these girls and who claims to know where they are...to just not come forward and tell LE where they are? No,it doesn't. He doesn't want to invite a "turf control war".His account is strange to say the least. I'm not buying it.

 

[simplifymylife2014]

So, in other words, with this particular case, perhaps the main abductors and accomplices and witnesses of the case are still alive. I think it is all going to come out little by little, all of the people involved in this case and then the unloading of all of the connected cases. I believe one of LE said that when they are all done, there are going to be many more solved cold cases from their investigations in both states.

 

[simplifymylife2014]

Motherof5:
These comments from M. Dietz are from what thread(s) on here?

 

[Motherof5]

Motherof5:
These comments from M. Dietz are from what thread(s) on here?

Try this link for his posts. Also, it's very odd that he says that Mary Lyon's girls aren't coming home and that Mary deserves no less than our best effort. What about John Lyon? He lost his children as well.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/search.php?searchid=984270

 

[WaynezWorld]

I think we are going to have to wait until this grand jury moves on an indictment. No telling how long this could take, but I am leaning toward thinking it is eminent.

The quote from the relative that LE is "turning relatives against each other" would indicate the possibility that Lloyd Welch has implicated his uncle Richard Welch.

After reading a little deeper, I am not sure what to make from the comments from Mr. Dietz. He claims to have seen one of the Lyons girls in the back of a station wagon, even close enough to see the color of her eyes? He also claims the girl he saw was still wearing her wire frame glasses? Abducted, tied up but still wearing her glasses?

At best I hope this man is just mistaken. It just all seems way too obvious. If you try to fit this in to an "abducted and driven to Taylor Mountain" scenario, I don' think the route makes much sense, particularly the route and the claim the station wagon headed north on 234, which would likely be to get back onto I-66. Being in that part of Manassas would be too far south a detour from I-66 to get gas.

 

[Fukiyama]

Sooo Mdietz isn't just claiming that he saw the girls, he's claiming that he knows where they are!! Now does it make sense to anyone that a man who claims to have seen these girls and who claims to know where they are...to just not come forward and tell LE where they are? No,it doesn't. He doesn't want to invite a "turf control war".His account is strange to say the least. I'm not buying it.

The point you raise was raised at the time Mdietz was posting and was eventually clarified. So take it all for it's worth.

Regarding his experience with the station wagon in its totality, he is of course not the only witness to a station wagon with a girl/girls in the back that morning. He may be overstating or exaggerating, but people saw SOMETHING that morning that I'm interested in seeing explained, even if it has nothing to do with the Lyon sisters. Of course, if it does have nothing to do with them, it will just disappear into the mists of time.

 

[Richard]

Grand Jury

Officials in Bedford County announced last week that a Grand Jury would be convened on or after Monday 6 October 2014.

That Jury would first have to be screened, chosen, and sworn. After that, there would be a number of legal issues to consider and brief, including the establishment of Jurisdiction in the case. The case and evidence would be presented and witnesses called. Eventually a decision would be made by the jury concerning what recommendations it should make for further disposition of the case.

If persons are named to be charged, they would have the right to appear before the grand jury with legal counsel.

There may be some jurisdictional issues to work out between Montgomery County, the State of Maryland, Bedford County, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Possibly even some Federal issues as well.

This will all take some time if done properly.

 

[Motherof5]

The point you raise was raised at the time Mdietz was posting and was eventually clarified. So take it all for it's worth.

Regarding his experience with the station wagon in its totality, he is of course not the only witness to a station wagon with a girl/girls in the back that morning. He may be overstating or exaggerating, but people saw SOMETHING that morning that I'm interested in seeing explained, even if it has nothing to do with the Lyon sisters. Of course, if it does have nothing to do with them, it will just disappear into the mists of time.

But overstating and exaggerating isn't giving a truthful account and it doesn't help in finding people or solving cases. It just adds confusion. "Jimmy's" account of the TRM sounds more credible than mdietz's account IMO. Mdietz adds to his account every time he gives it. I'm just saying that for me, it sounds more like a crime novel than an actual sighting. JMO


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[tamora1]

I've been thinking about this case a lot--maybe too much. This might not be relevant, but I just needed to get it off my chest.

Today I saw a commercial for the "Julie Albright" American Girl doll. The character has super-long blonde hair and is supposed to give a "1974" vibe. Seeing that bright doll-smile reminded me suddenly of Sheila Lyons. How weird and jarring to have a thought like that while watching commercials during kids' cartoons. Really wish all the searching was over; those little girls disappeared the year I was born, and it's far past time for them to come home.

 

[AAWJ]

Has Marshall Dietz, the witness who believes he saw Sheila being driven away from Manassas shortly after the girls' disappearance, commented on the possibility of Richard Welch being the driver? In an older post, he wrote that the driver's nose was misshapen, as one might interpret Richard's based on the photos we've seen. I haven't seen any photographic evidence of a ducktail haircut yet, which Dietz claims the driver was wearing.

On the other hand, here is a photo of Richard's brother, Luke (also known as "Shorty"), taken about a decade before the girls' disappearance:

View attachment 60579

Shorty died, I believe, in the late 1970s, in a motorcycle accident. He also lived in Hyattsville, in Richard's household, during the 1970s. Of course, his hairstyle could well have changed from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. If there was a family conspiracy of the Hyattsville Welches, it's possible that Shorty was also involved.

Hello there. Where did you get your information on Luke Welch?