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

[thefirstman]

Mike DeBardeleben's life in a timeline.

Most significantly - not in jail nor accounted for in March of 1975.
Also please note that he has one daughter about the same age as Sheila and has another child (boy or girl?) in which he "forced" his wife to give up for adoption that would have been roughly the same age as Kate.

Was known to be an anniversary perpetrator - that is committed heinous crimes right around April of each year he was not incarcerated. Actually it appears he committed two separate crimes each spring. This Lyon sisters would then fit in as the first and a pistol whipping of a woman would be a second in March - April - May 1975.

Convicted car thief - police impersonator to lure women into the most sadistic of crimes - was known as the Mall Passer for his counterfeiting behavior which included passing fake 20's at malls - tape recorded his victims - was often in VA and Maryland and DC area.


03/20/1940 0 Born in Little Rock, Arkansas
1945 5 Moved to Austin, Texas. Father shipped to South Pacific for 9 months
1949 9 Family moved from Kentucky to Frankfurt, Germany
1950 10 Family moved again
1956 16 Physically assaulted his mother
09/08/1956 16 Purchased two handguns and ammo with a friend
09/21/1956 16 First arrest; felony arrest for concealed weapon. Soon after first arrest, arrested several
times on charges from theft, sodomy, attempted murder, and kidnapping
05/13/1957 17 Reckless driving offense
Spring
1957 17 Expelled from Peter Schuyler High School
06/26/1957 17 Joined the air force. Shipped to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas
03/1958 18 Court-martialed for variety of offenses: wearing “Improper Insignia and Improper
Uniform” and disorderly behavior. Sentenced to 2 months in Stockade and $155 in pay
forfeited
06/1958 18 Cited for “Unauthorized Absence from Bed Check,” “Breaking Restrictions” twice,
and “Disrespectful to Superiors.” Ordered to visit air force psychiatrist
08/1958 18 Discharged from air force “Under Other Than Honorable Conditions,” and moved to
Fort Worth, Texas with family
01/1959 18 Enrolled at R.L. Paschal High School
03/1959 18/19 Expelled from high school
08/1959 19 Married Linda Weir
08/1959 19 3 weeks later, separated from Linda Weir.
10/5/1959 19 Attempted robbery with accomplice
10/1959 19 2 weeks later, arrested for string of auto thefts. Sentenced to 5 years probation
11/1959 19 Premature daughter stillborn
12/1959 19 Meets Charlotte Weber, 17
03/1960 19/20 Charlotte gets pregnant
06/09/1960 20 Marries Charlotte
12/12/1960 20 Daughter Bethene born
No date 20/21 Charlotte becomes pregnant, forced to give baby up for adoption
08/1961 21 Younger brother, Ralph commits suicide
09/1961 21 Divorced
Summer
1961 21 Enrolls at Texas Christian University without HS diploma and then at North Texas
State University
09/1962 22 Probation for auto theft revoked and sent to Texas State Prison at Huntsville
05/1963 23 Released from prison and lives with parents
03/1964 24 Father files complaint on Mike and is sent to Western State Hospital in Staunton, VA
05/16/1964 24 Comes back home
09/1964 24 Marries Wanda Faye Davis
1965 25 Wanda begins to accompany Mike in criminal acts
1966 26 Charged with assault, sodomy, kidnapping of young girl, but later charges are dropped
04/25/1969 29 Faye is accomplice in kidnap-extortion
No date 29 Faye becomes pregnant, but miscarries when Mike pushes her down the stairs
Aug/1969 29 Faye becomes pregnant, divorce
01/02/1970 29 Daughter, Lindsey born
07/10/1970 30 Marries Caryn, 18
No date N/A Returns to college at George Mason University
04/1971 31 Murders realtor, Terry McDonald
1975 35 Pistol-whips Phillipa Voliner
1976 36 Divorced
1976 36 Caught for counterfeiting for first time
1978 38 Crime Information Center believes Mike is dead
05/05/1978 38 Released to a D.C. halfway house after serving 23 months of his 1976 counterfeiting
sentence in the Federal Penitentiary in Danbury, Connecticut
06/1978 38 Moved to Arlington, VA, took barbering job
07/1978 38 Bought ’77 Thunderbird, which is believed to have been used in the abduction of
nursing student, Lucy Alexander, 19
09/04/1978 38 Posed as a cop to abduct Lucy Alexander. He also raped, sodomized, and forced her to
fallate him repeatedly. She was forced to call him “Daddy” Raped at least 4 times,
performed fallatio 4-5 times over 18 hours
09/05/1978 38 Released Lucy into isolated area known as Hardscrabble, east of Georgetown,
Delaware
02/04/1979 38 Fayetteville, N.C. introduced self as “Al Wise” to Elizabeth Mason, 31 and pretended
to be interested in buying a house. Attacked and assaulted her with an automatic
handgun, tied and gagged, and strangled until unconscious, then stole her car

 

[thefirstman]

I said this months ago - whoever did this crime was practicing and perfecting the TRM piece of it. Going to malls and interviewing girls was a piece of the puzzle to gain information on his potential victims to lure them in later while wearing another disguise.

DeBardeleben photographed himself forcing women to give him falatio. In the photos (which I have not seen but have read there description) he placed photos on the ground of previous attacks on women doing the same act. Forensic psychologists have determined that DeBardeleben was most likely "perfecting" the current sadistic sexual act by referencing previous one's as he goes.

This is congruent with the psychological profile of a person trying to perfect his crime. Newspapers indicate that TRM was at Wheaton Plaza on March 24, 1975 (the day before the girls went missing) and on many other previous occasions at other malls.

The practicing or perfecting behavior is indicative of narcissism that is congruent with hiding in plain site and believing himself to be impervious to being caught.

Also the bent license plate in the car spotted in April with the possibility of the girls in the car would be congruent with his risk taking behaviors and his cunning in making his vehicle less easily identifiable.

If this guy did it, and those were the girls in the car, he may have been trying to dump them off alive somewhere, as he had done that before and after with other victims. It may have been enough to have succeeded for some time in living out his sadistic fantasies and then letting the girls go, but all the media and public attention was too threatening and he believed himself to be forced to make another (G-d forbid) decision.

 

[joellegirl]

Ginsack, just want to also thank you for your posts and hope you will continue to post. I find personal accounts very interesting.

 

[thefirstman]

YouTube - James M. DeBardeleben (10 of 10)

I googled Youtube debardeleben and I watched a 100 minute program on the guy.

Newspaper reports from the post in 1975 indicated that police asked others who indicated having seen the TRM noted that he used 3x5 index cards that had a typed out statement that he wished the potential speaker to read into the microphone. The documentary indicated DeBardeleben extensive use of such index cards as part of his crime process.

A book written about him and his crimes "Beyond Cruel" describes all sorts of crimes in Wheaton - including stalking a bank manager, holding his wife at gunpoint in her home, and calling the manager and demanding $60,000. He told the man to drop the $ in a bathroom at Wheaton Library or he'd kill his wife. When the manager got to his car he found a note that told him to reach under his car and put the money in a paper bag planted under the car, drive to the adjacent parking lot of Giant grocery store (Wheaton plaza?) and drop the money under the car and then walk away. His wife (at the time) retrieved the $ and they drove to southern VA and buried some 20 or 30K in some jars.

Also the book describes a crime spree through the Wheaton area targeting elderly women with a "Secret Service" banking scam. It worked some 20 to 30 times.

The youtube program describes well this beasts use of police impersonation to kidnap and rape, brutalize and murder girls/women. By my guess the Lyon sisters and TRM scheme was an early iteration of his police impersonation.

What is striking to me right now, is that I have yet to hear this cruel murderers name associated in anyway with this crime. I cannot figure out yet why not.

Also I believe that if authorities asked the wife (one of five in his life) at the time of the crime - 1975 - she would tell all. She knows what happened and probably where to find the girl's remains.

 

[Fukiyama]

Has the FBI ever been discussed as possibly taking a role in the case?

I realize that
1. There's no physical evidence that the girls were kidnapped
2. There's no physical evidence that the girls were taken across state lines

Even so, I would be interested in finding out if MCP considered asking the Feds for assistance considering Kensington is in the greater D.C. area and is conveniently located for grabbing someone and quickly getting out of the state south to Virginia or north to Pennsylvania.

 

[Balthazar]

I want to note that this fellow, Debardeleben was living in Ft. Worth, Texas with his third wife Caryn in 1974 on Spurgeon St. - at the time of the Missing Ft. Worth Trio case. That is not very far from Seminary South Mall - which was the ONLY mall in Ft. Worth at the time. In the Missing Trio case 3 young women disappeared from a shopping mall on December 23, 1974 and have never been found or heard from since. I am begining to believe that the Lyon case and the Missing Trio case may be linked.

 

[thefirstman]

If your (Princess Rose) theory is correct - and you have very compelling circumstantial evidence. What we now know about DeBardeleben, his psychological profile, his geographical location - his way of using police, or security badges he is a VERY likely candidate to have committed the missing trio case. Such a tragedy.

If he did then he has no problem KNOWING he can get away with a TRIPLE kidnapping in broad daylight.

If it was him, one of his next moves was to taunt the police. DeBardeleben's was to society what anti-matter is to matter. Malls were symbolic of some kind of belonging to a culture that embraces relative affluence, convenience, neighborliness. DeBardeleben is driven by an opposite energy of disdain, disgust, rage, hate and utter contempt for the structure of this world.

He wants to taunt the police and KNOWS he can still get away with it. He watches the behavior and attitude of most people at that time and noticed how easy it is to pray on girls of a certain age. He's good at it and light years ahead of the police and most people in terms of their ability to track him, catch him and hold him with real evidence.

Most everyday people tolerate his bizarre, outrageous, strange behavior - some of it bold, inappropriate, and predator like. He understood how and when to take advantage of vulnerable, unsuspecting, inexperienced girls while they were away from their families.

His arrogance compels him to do a crime that would entail some notion of hiding in plane site. So he decided to tape record in broad daylight. We already know that he could kidnap without tape recording. In fact, it is arguable that the tape recording hinders his capacity to kidnap a victim. In this scenario, deduction shows he is using the tape recorder exclusively to taunt the cops.

If he was taunting the cops, then the first 10 times he did the Tape Recorder Man act he had no intention of kidnapping on those particular days. When he was ready he went to the next level.

The origins of his crime come from an earlier times when he has observed so many youngsters and teenagers in this neighborhood cutting through places to get the mall. He knows the area well, or even very well. He may have observed long enough to have knows some of the faces of the kids in the neighborhood.

He saw his chance with the Lyon sisters walking towards the mall at 11AM. He is sitting in his car and he tells them to keep walking slowly. He shows them a badge. He tells them that he is a secret service agent. "Are you guys headed to the Wheaton Plaza?" He and his colleagues are working on a case, and they are SO close to catching this dirtbag. All evidence points to him being their in the next few days. So maybe he'll show up today.

"See this" and he shows them a microphone. "This is not a normal tape recorder. Its more like a walkie talkie, only better because it transmits and records all at once."

"If I have to talk to my partner Agent James Donohoe
I might need you two guys to act like you are being interviewed by me. When I talking into the mic my cover is not blown. If you guys see me that means I need your help and just come over and say a few words into the mic".

Girls are feeling cool while at the mall, laying low, getting their 15 minutes of fame - maybe they will get a chance to help the cops catch a really bad dude.

They have the encounter with TRM, and they proceed to speak into the microphone -

DeBardeleben leaves the mall. He goes back to the point where he originally saw the two walking earlier that day.

He exclaims, "We got him! Oh my god you guys helped us so much. My partner really wants to meet you guys, do you have 2 seconds. Suspect has been handed over and if you don't mind we could use to verify how to get in touch with you for our records. We can go right over to the Randolph Road station. In fact I'll put my siren on and we'll get their fast. We'll call your parents and have them bring you guys home. All the officers will get a chance to thank you two! Man this is an incredible day, thank you guys - you have no idea!"

 

[justthinkin]

Hi TFM,

Princess Rose hasn't answered you yet, but I thought I'd stick my 2 cents worth in.

Interesting and plausible theory you've got there concerning the Lyon girls.

My last post on the 3 girls in Ft. Worth tells what we're trying to run down which may or may not tie in with Debardeleben, but it's well worth a shot. We have next to zip in the way of info on the girls disappearance, but Debardeleben is currently our best potential suspect.

It would really be something if turns out the Lyon girls and the three in Ft. Worth were abducted by the same guy. It's a stretch, but we shall see.

 

[Soulmagent]

Soulmagent-

did your grandfather live in Wheaton or in the area? you mentioned your mother's family did, but I think you said this grandfather was on your dad's side. Sorry if I have missed something here.

Sorry It took me so long to respond ,yes he did live in wheaton at the time.

 

[Balthazar]

One of the things about Debardeleben is that he sometimes commits crimes against women who bear a resemblance to someone in his life. He murdered the realtor Terry McDonald because she looked like his mom. I was looking at Sheila and Kathy Lyon and I noticed that both of these girls look strikingly similar to Lisa Renee Wilson of the missing trio case - Lisa looks like an older version of these girls.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/wilson_lisa.html

There is also a striking resemblance between Lisa Renee Wilson and the Lyon Girls to another Debardeleben victim Laurie Colbert-Hubbard - her photo was in the Beyond Cruel book by Stephen G. Michaud. Colbert-Hubbard looks like a slightly older Lisa Renee Wilson.

Debardeleben's first daughter was born in 1961, similar timeframe to all these girls/women. I have no idea what she looks like, however. His first wife was a brunette. Other wives, there are no photos of - in the book.

 

[thefirstman]

Impostor Sought by State Police
By Courtland MilloyWashington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post (1974-Current file); Sep 19, 1975;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Washington Post (1877 - 1993)
pg. C1

The above newspaper article published in the post Sept of 1975 about a police impersonator who pulled over a truck driver. He had a green 74 Chrysler with a siren in the grill. He supposedly attempted a "homosexual" crime. The truck driver was reported to have beat the police impersonator with a night stick that the trucker had in his cab. (Anyone can obtain the same article by going to the Washington Post Archives online http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/search.html).

Please note my transcribing of the last paragraph of said article:

Gibbs (police officer and spokesperson) added that the incident with the truck driver is the only problem of its type that state police have heard of since the special crackdown (speed traps by unmarked police vehicle along the I95 corridor from DC beltway up to Baltimore) began. It also was the first such incident reported to the police since the disappearance in February of three State Police uniforms from a dry cleaning firm in Baltimore police said.

The circumstantial evidence is here to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that I have yet see done here or anywhere.

I do NOT believe that the criminal in this Washington Post article was TRM nor did he have ANYTHING to do with the missing Lyon sisters. I believe that the criminal who kidnapped the Lyon girls SOLD the uniforms to another (the guy in this article) who was interested in doing other crimes AFTER he got away with the kidnapping of the Lyon girls.

I believe that TRM dressed as a Maryland state cop down in the Kensington neighborhood. He spied the perfect victims for his crime. Two unaccompanied young girls walking to the plaza. When the Lyon sisters came upon TRM dressed as Maryland State officer they were fooled into a ruse that invited them to "Help" officer Rook pull of an undercover conversation with officer Rook's partner. The girls willingness to speak into a microphone "helps" the officer maintain his cover. Officer Rook's ruse could have easily have been that he needed to change into civilian clothes, and then go up to the Wheaton plaza. There he may have to have a conversation with his police partner, in the middle of the mall. The State, local and Secret Service were after a sought after counterfeiter who may frequent the Wheaton Plaza that day. Officer Rook needed to speak to other officers through this cleverly disguised walkie talkie system to make them aware of the phantom criminal's movements and whereabouts. The Lyon girls could simply pretend like they were being interviewed, if TRM shows up later that day at the mall and "needs" their help.

Fast forward 1.5 to 2 hours later up at the Wheaton plaza, the girls spoke to TRM upon making contact with him. The encounter was brief. TRM was reported to have spoken to the Lyon girls and the Lyon girls only that day. He speaks to them and packs up and leaves pretty quickly. TRM spied Jimmy and his friend noticing the bizarre moments of the TRM interview.

Once TRM leaves the mall, he waits in Kensington at the exact location he saw the girls on their way to the mall. He rejoices with them and insists they get in the car to go back up to the plaza and check in with the make-shift police gathering "just in case legal needs something from you later. It will only take 3 to 5 minutes. When the Lyon sisters got into this predators car they thought they were getting into a Maryland State troopers car. He probably had to move his Stetson hat out of the way to make room for the girls. TRM's Maryland State police uniform hanging on a hanger neatly in the back.

TRM knew the behavior of kids in Kensington well, and he knew the paths to the plaza and how kids used them. The TRM also knew the streets of that neighborhood like the back of his hand.

He had a car that looked like a police vehicle (1971 Chrysler) a CB radio with antennas, a license plate sign "For Official Use Only", a siren, and other paraphernalia that might make him look "official".

TRM began his menacing and perverted behavior in February of 1975 - same time the uniforms were stolen from a dry cleaners. With possession of Maryland State police uniforms he had clarity about how to commit the crime, his behavior could have been seen as mocking the police and the community in advance of his crimes.

The TRM ruse also creates maximum confusion after the crime.

Facts about TRM not necessarily highlighted on this post or TRM thread:

All newspaper articles that I have read and seen declare that TRM was roundly rejected by most every girl/woman he spoke to prior to the Lyon girls on 3-25-75.

Those who saw TRM (and I have spoken to one) have stated that he acted sexually menacing. To paraphrase the man I spoke to who saw TRM on two occasions stated that "when I saw TRM I told my girlfriend at the time "that man is a baby snatcher". When pressed further about what he might have meant by "baby snatcher" he said it was clear to him that this person had evil intentions and his presence and demeanor would indicate the potential of sexual crimes.

Prior to 3-25-1975 TRM was reported by girls/women as having done nothing illegal, he never tried to lure any of the girls/women he came into contact with away from the malls where he was seen. He did not try to expose himself, never said anything untoward. Yet those who saw him and interacted with him remembered him for being bizarre and menacing and potentially worse. When they saw him in the paper the calls poured in, so much so that the MCPD had to bring in extra manpower to handle the calls. That speaks to his presence and behavior as highly troubling and suspect - in the face of the FACTS that he NEVER tried to lure any woman away.

This theory becomes a highly plausible theory when trying to fit in all the subtle pieces of information that are known in this case.

One of the most compelling pieces of the theory is that their was a criminal DeBardeleben known for his police ruses and for being a sexual sadist of the worst kind. So not only do all of the Lyon girls' behavior make this theory highly plausible, having a criminal that was so well acquainted with the area, known for wanting to mock the police and community, fitting the physical description including the TRM sketch.

DeBardeleben does have facial hair ( pictures of him in the Discovery channel documentary show photos of him with a goatie) as those who saw him prior to 3-25-75 reported the TRM had whiskers.

DeBardeleben committed a crime on February 5, 1981 against Lori Cobert. This crime had some unusual elements when looking at his overall history of crime behavior . He pulls her over using a police ruse in front of the IBM building in Manassas VA and forces her to perform fellatio on him. Note that the Lyon sister were spied by an IBM executive in Manassas on April 7, 1975 gagged and bound in the back of a Ford Station wagon. What was unusual for DeBardeleben was how quickly he released Cobert that night. This would indicate that he would want his crime (not who did it) to be known by the police.

I have 2 other things as well. I wonder if February 5, 1975 was the date that the Maryland State police uniforms were stolen. I've also noticed that a Washington post article dated on or about April 6, 1975 told of the Lyon family having a Ford Station wagon. I wonder if the kidnapper was mocking this reality by using a Ford station wagon to be seen - just for a flash.

 

[Fukiyama]

A well-informed speculation on how the crime could have gone down. DeBardeleben seems to have taken the place of Coffey and others as the top suspect lately. A few comments:

Facts about TRM not necessarily highlighted on this post or TRM thread:
[...]

Those who saw TRM (and I have spoken to one) have stated that he acted sexually menacing. To paraphrase the man I spoke to who saw TRM on two occasions stated that "when I saw TRM I told my girlfriend at the time "that man is a baby snatcher". When pressed further about what he might have meant by "baby snatcher" he said it was clear to him that this person had evil intentions and his presence and demeanor would indicate the potential of sexual crimes.

Would that be the poster here at WS named Jeb? He's mentioned his recollections here in the past.

DeBardeleben committed a crime on February 5, 1981 against Lori Cobert. This crime had some unusual elements when looking at his overall history of crime behavior . He pulls her over using a police ruse in front of the IBM building in Manassas VA and forces her to perform fellatio on him. Note that the Lyon sister were spied by an IBM executive in Manassas on April 7, 1975 gagged and bound in the back of a Ford Station wagon.

Do you think then the police were/are wrong to have discounted the alleged sighting of the girls in the back of the station wagon?

 

[thefirstman]

Suffice it to say that Jeb's writings that are his personal, eye witness testimony on this site would be very congruent with what I am stating here.

To the extent that MCPD have discounted the April 7, 1975 Ford Station wagon sighting: I ask why?

They believed it the day it happened. They believed it enough to publish it in newspaper articles and reported about it in newspapers and the news for years afterword. They believed it enough to do a massive hunt of Maryland state license plates and further other states with similar color patterns in the hopes of making a match. They published that the witness was an IBM executive within days of the reported sighting, I am guessing so that they could boost credibility with the public that what was being stated was true or accurate.

I think that the witness may have described details about the girls that compelled the MCPD to believe it to be a true sighting.

As sad as this may be to say, most of us loathe to think that the girls were kept alive from March 25 to April 7 (if their fate was to never be seen or heard of again) in the hands of a sexual predator.

There are some things about Coffey that IMO strongly work against him as a meaningful suspect to be the perpetrator of this crime.

MCPD had NOTHING on Coffey until 1987 when his criminal behavior toward children came to the surface in NC. They had no crime theory that pointed in his direction. The MCPD had little to go on no matter what so that is not enough.

Witnesses to TRM could not place Coffey at Wheaton plaza nor reliably identify him. Coffey was in custody 12 years after the Lyon sisters went missing so many eye witnesses must have been alive and available to confer with. Nothing could be established.

If we profile Coffey he does not come out as a likely suspect. He was an opportunistic predator, which is different then a highly premeditated criminal. Coffey went after people he had some kind of connection with, and he would use simple ruses to lure children into his lair.

FACT: TRM was NOT a ruse to lure girls/women away from a mall. That was part of what was so confounding about TRM.

Whoever committed this crime was extremely premeditated. He was likely highly meticulous. He likely worked alone. He likely planned the crime out weeks or months or years in advance. He was likely highly organized. When he struck he was extremely lethal.

In 1975 and today, the public and MCPD were left with so little and yet a great deal. It was a masterful crime. It was a multi-layered crime that was loaded with sadism.

Coffey was convicted of luring a 9 or 10 year old girl away from her home with a fishing rod "lets go fishing". When he had her alone in a van she most likely rebuffed his advances to do sexual crimes upon her. For this he beat her to death (God rest her soul). The body was dumped by a lake and found shortly thereafter. Coffey was seen with said girl the day she was murdered and described by others. Coffey was convicted, I believe, based on fiber evidence found in his vehicle that matched fibers from the victim's couch.

Coffey was a sloppy, opportunistic predator, who benefited like so many serial killers of his day, from a massive lack of police communication and information data banks (no computer systems to link meaningful elements of crime data).

The Lyon girls case was/is so striking in that it was a multiple kidnapping in broad day light, (with a strong possibility that the perpetrator taunted the public and police by hiding in plain sight, TRM) which had no witnesses, girls have never been heard or seen since, no bodies have ever been found. The girls were preyed upon at a busy mall (reports were that the mall was packed that day) during a holiday season (just before Easter 1975).

The Lyon girls were like most of us kids in those days, they were somewhat savvy, self-reliant girls who were aware that being alone had its share of dangers. IMO they likely were not going to get into a car with anyone unless they knew them, but even then, they are walking to and from the mall and they know they are not supposed to do even this.

The other possibility was to take a ride with a police officer.

MCPD never had a sexual psychopath surface in their ranks (as far as I know) and nor has anyone in the community around the girls or their family ever surfaced as a suspect.

A police impersonator would be the next logical exploration. That said it would appear that the MCPD NEVER had a working police impersonation theory about the case. If they had the would have been ALL OVER DeBardeleben. Face it, when he was arrested in 84 and tried for police impersonation crimes in Northern VA, Frederick MD, Ocean City, and so on the MCPD made no mention of him as a person of interest in this case. The years of 83 to 86 when he was arrested tried and convicted for a bountiful of police impersonation crimes in and around the DC area, he was NOT explored as a Lyon sisters crime suspect.

At that time MCPD could have easily tied him to the area at the time. They could have tied him to the Fort Worth area where the Missing Trio case came to be on Dec 23, 1974. Here they would have had a suspect that they could have put in a line-up to see if those who saw TRM could have identified him.

Making matters more compelling, DeBardeleben was tried and released by a judge in Prince George's county in 1966 for kidnapping, raping, and sodomizing a young girl. A PG county judge let him and his accomplice (his wife Faye's cousin) off because "the girl willingly got into the car with them".

Most everyday citizens (including me until more recently) fail to fully appreciate what it means that the bodies have never been found. Also to take two wholesome girls off the neighborhood streets of Kensington in broad daylight was an extremely complex task (especially without a police ruse).

Plus you have the sketches. The MCPD have discounted the Sketches and I see why. To them, I imagine, that they have been inundated for 34 years with emphatic citizens who "KNOW" that the sketch was their ex-boyfriend, cousin or whomever in their life. But that does not make the sketches worthless.

What is striking to me is the differences between sketch 1 and 2. Mostly because sketch 2 had so many more people that gave the police artist information as to details of the TRM's face. Sketch 2 revealed an attempt at sketching a facial anomaly around the nose (consistent with DeBardeleben and a surgery that he had at around 12 years of age). Sketch 2 reveals that the TRM's eyes are not level with each other on his face (consistent with DeBardeleben). Sketch 2 makes it look like TRM has something in his mouth (DeBardeleben had/has false teeth and he had a history of acting as a sexual predator with his false teeth in his mouth).

 

[Fukiyama]

The thing that has most impressed me on the research done on Coffey is how well his footsteps have been traced, not just arrest to arrest, but job to job, etc. I don't know anything at all about him aside from what I've read here at WS; do you have anything like that for DeBardeleben?

Have you been in touch with MCPD? I would say perhaps it's time to take the next step and either prove as much as possible or disprove DeBardeleben's involvement.

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

Suffice it to say that Jeb's writings that are his personal, eye witness testimony on this site would be very congruent with what I am stating here.

To the extent that MCPD have discounted the April 7, 1975 Ford Station wagon sighting: I ask why?

They believed it the day it happened. They believed it enough to publish it in newspaper articles and reported about it in newspapers and the news for years afterword. They believed it enough to do a massive hunt of Maryland and other similar license plates in the hopes of making a match. They published that the witness was an IBM executive within days of the reported sighting, I am guessing so that they could boost credibility with the public that what was being stated was true.

I think that the witness may have described details about the girls that compelled the MCPD to believe it to be a true sighting.

As sad as this may be to say, most of us loathe to think that the girls were kept alive from March 25 to April 7 (if their fate was to never be seen or heard of again) in the hands of a sexual predator.

There are some things about Coffey that IMO strongly work against him as a meaningful suspect to be the perpetrator of this crime.

MCPD had NOTHING on Coffey until 1987 when his criminal behavior toward children came to the surface in NC. They had no crime theory that pointed in his direction. The MCPD had little to go on no matter what so that is not enough.

Witnesses to TRM could not place Coffey at Wheaton plaza nor reliably identify him.

If we profile Coffey he does not come out as a likely suspect. He was an opportunistic predator, which is different then a highly premeditated criminal. Coffey went after people he had some kind of connection with, and he would use simple ruses to lure children into his lair.

FACT: TRM was NOT a ruse to lure girls/women away from a mall. That was part of what was so confounding about TRM.

Whoever committed this crime was extremely premeditated. He was likely highly meticulous. He likely worked alone. He likely planned the crime out weeks or months or years in advance. He was likely highly organized. When he struck he was extremely lethal.

In 1975 and today, the public and MCPD were left with so little and yet a great deal. It was a masterful crime. It was seeping with sadism.

Coffey was convicted of luring a 9 or 10 year old girl away from her home with a fishing rod "lets go fishing". When he had her alone in a van she most likely rebuffed his advances to do sexual crimes upon her. For this he beat her to death (God rest her soul). The body was dumped by a lake and found shortly thereafter. Coffey was seen with said girl the day she was murdered and described by others. Coffey was convicted, I believe, based on fiber evidence on found in his vehicle that matched fibers from the victim's couch.

Coffey was a sloppy, opportunistic predator, who benefited like so many serial killers of his day, from a massive lack of police communication and information data banks.

The Lyon girls case was/is so striking in that it was a multiple kidnapping in broad day light, (with a strong possibility that the perpetrator taunted the public and police by hiding in plain sight, TRM) which had no witnesses, girls have never been heard or seen since, no bodies have ever been found. The girls were preyed upon at a busy mall (reports were that the mall was packed that day) during a holiday season (just before Easter 1975).

The Lyon girls were like most of us kids in those days, they were somewhat savvy, self-reliant girls who were aware that being alone had its share of dangers. IMO they likely were not going to get into a car with anyone unless they knew them (but even then, they are walking to and from the mall and they know they are not supposed to do even this) or if its a police officer.
MCPD never had a sexual psychopath surface in their ranks (as far as I know) and nor has anyone in the community around the girls or their family ever surfaced as a candidate.

A police impersonator would be the next logical exploration. That said it would appear that the MCPD NEVER had a working police impersonation theory about the case. If they had the would have been ALL OVER DeBardeleben. Face it, when he was arrested in 84 and tried for police impersonation crimes in Northern VA, Frederick MD, Ocean City, and so on the MCPD made no mention of him as a person of interest in this case.

DeBardeleben was tried and released by a judge in Prince George's county in 1966 for kidnapping, raping, and sodomizing a young girl. A PG county judge let him and his accomplice (his wife Faye's cousin) off because "the girl willingly got into the car with them".

Most everyday citizens (including me until more recently) fail to fully appreciate what it means that the bodies have never been found. Also to take two wholesome girls off the street in broad daylight was an extremely complex task (especially without a police ruse).

Plus you have the sketches. The MCPD discount the Sketches and I see why. To them, I imagine, that they have been inundated for 34 years with emphatic citizens who KNOW that the sketch was their ex-boyfriend, cousin or whomever in their life. But that does not make the sketches worthless. What is striking to me is the differences between sketch 1 and 2. Sketch 2 reveals an attempt at a facial anomaly around the nose (consistent with DeBardeleben). Sketch 2 reveals that the TRM's eyes are not level with each other (consistent with DeBardeleben). Sketch 2 makes it look like TRM has something in his mouth (DeBardeleben had/has false teeth and he had a history of acting as a sexual predator with his false teeth in his mouth).

quote..Whoever committed this crime was extremely premeditated. He was likely highly meticulous. He likely worked alone. He likely planned the crime out weeks or months or years in advance. He was likely highly organized. When he struck he was extremely lethal...End of quote.

I agree with this 100 percent.
the only thing that bothers me would be the distance he traveled after taking the girls........I don't believe it was some place FAR away.
the farther he had the travel, the more likely something could go wrong, such as breakdown, pulled over for some routine traffic stop etc.
he wanted to get to where he was going as soon as possible.
he already knew in advance if the road he would be traveling had any road blocks, construction going on etc.
he probably had two places in mind, though uncertain,
One would be the play ground, and the other the dumping ground.
the playground would probably had been some private property.
such as his or a relatives, or perhaps even vacant property close by his home.....BUT not his main residence.
a place where he would not be bothered by neighbors, or unexpected visitors etc....
I dot believe these two were killed soon after, but kept there for couple of days at least.
I am pretty sure though, this monster kept a record of the event on tape, video, pictures etc, to relive it in the further.

I am going to assume back then, LE checked to see if any of the possible persons of interest had access to any type of private property, either there own, neighbors, or relative, something to provide privacy.

afterthought.
back in 74 there were credit cards used for gas etc, i wonder if it was possible back then, to check for a paper trail, to see if any POI, especially those sightings, use a card in there travels?

ALL MOO AND SPECULATIONS ON MY PART.



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[thefirstman]

As far as travel distance goes I have a few responses.

First DeBardeleben had a well documented crime history of using police ruses to kidnap victims and keep them for some period of time in remote safe houses. He set up elaborate alarm systems, and used I hooks to secure his victims to the ground. Many who have survived the ordeal reported traveling long distances or hours in the car while being gagged and bound.

In 1975 the beltway rush hour can be compared to what it might be like to get on the beltway today at about 2 in the morning in the middle of August. Even when it was a "bad" traffic day things moved pretty well. Their was just so much less congestion in the area.

DeBardeleben used at least 20 aliases (probably more like 40). He only had to rent a farm house in Manassas or Germantown Maryland or just about anywhere else here in Maryland and Virginia that would take 20 to 40 minutes to get to and would be completely remote back in those days.

Its hard to imagine how much the DC area has changed in the past 30 to 35 years. The area has sprouted urban pockets in areas where it was considered remote farm land.

With the Lyon sisters in his car, like I am hypothesizing, he was a 35 year old man with 2 children aged 11 and 13 in his car. A few more lies to keep them calm could easily temper their reactivity. He could feign a police call on his CB and act as if he was just doing some business first, or if they got it that he was not an officer, a gun goes a long way. He could re-assure them that he only wants ransom dollars and he does not want to hurt them.

 

[thefirstman]

The thing that has most impressed me on the research done on Coffey is how well his footsteps have been traced, not just arrest to arrest, but job to job, etc. I don't know anything at all about him aside from what I've read here at WS; do you have anything like that for DeBardeleben?

Have you been in touch with MCPD? I would say perhaps it's time to take the next step and either prove as much as possible or disprove DeBardeleben's involvement.

Look at the youtube link of a Discovery channel documentary of the guy. Also I posted a Radford College students annotation of DeBardeleben's whereabouts. Furthermore a book (Beyond Cruel, by Stephen Michaud) was written to detail his life of crime.

He married his 4th wife "Caryn" (not her real name) exactly 3 miles from the Lyon family home in 1970 in a Church in Silver Spring. He performed kidnappings, extortion and bank robberies in Wheaton. He bought his counterfeiting press that was discovered at his base in Northern VA that landed him in prison in 1976 in Wheaton.

His parents moved to Arlington in 1960 from Fort Worth. So the DC area and Fort Worth Texas became his two centers for crime early in his criminal career.

I have made contact with the brother of one of the girls victimized in Fort Worth on Dec 23, 1974 termed the Missing Trio case. He has a website missingtrio.com and asked for help on the site. I thought it was appropriate to inform him of the dots connected here in this crime theory.

I have told the MCPD and I have gotten very little in return. It is difficult to know what this might mean. I have tried to do my part and will continue to do so until it can be established that those who need to make the decisions to explore more or not have seen this crime theory.

I believe the Secret Service hold the 1971 Chrysler that the Lyon sisters were kidnapped and taken in on March 25, 1975. DeBardeleben used said car for his Lori Cobert crime on February 5, 1981 in front of the IBM building in Manassas. He was also caught 2 and 1/2 years later in this same car.

A car thief, a counterfeiter, an extortionist who had access to cash we must ask: Why was he driving a 12 year old car around the country?

This was a guy who did anniversary crimes, kept "trophies" from his victims, created layers of crimes as a way to add thrill and excitement and to relive his crimes.

I think DNA or other evidence of the Lyon girls exists right now in the possession of the Secret Service.

In the meantime it is worthwhile to keep this crime theory out in the public square in order to potentially gather other relevant pieces or fragments that might point in a direction toward or away from this theory.

 

[LillyRush]

Well, I think the outcome of the Jaycee Dugard case - and others in recent years - certainly presents a whole new possibility for what could have happened to the Lyons sisters. I'm not saying I believe that entirely, but just saying it's possible! Wasn't there a sighting in a grocery store or somewhere based on the age progression photo of one of the sisters? Ya never know!

 

[justthinkin]

thefirstman,

Have you asked the MCPD if they've compared photos of the Lyon girls with those of women and girls found in Debardeleben's possession? If they have not, they need to do so.

It was the time line you posted here, that made me click on Debardeleben for the girls missing from Ft. Worth, and possibly some earlier disappearances there from that same general area.

 

[Richard]

Firstman,

You have done quite a bit of research as your posts and theories show. I have a few comments on some of the points you make in your recent posting:

...
To the extent that MCPD have discounted the April 7, 1975 Ford Station wagon sighting: I ask why?

They believed it the day it happened. They believed it enough to publish it in newspaper articles and reported about it in newspapers and the news for years afterword. They believed it enough to do a massive hunt of Maryland state license plates and further other states with similar color patterns in the hopes of making a match. They published that the witness was an IBM executive within days of the reported sighting, I am guessing so that they could boost credibility with the public that what was being stated was true or accurate.

I think that the witness may have described details about the girls that compelled the MCPD to believe it to be a true sighting.... ).

Of course I cannot speak for the Montgomery County Police, but I have spoken with a number of the officers assigned to the Lyon case. Basically, as it had been stated to me, MCP investigated each tip thoroughly and much man power was expended in this effort to track down the car described by the IBM man as a 1968 tan Ford Station Wagon with the Maryland tag DMT-6xx. They were unable to locate the car and checked out all 100 vehicles with that plate number.

The IBM executive was interviewed a number of times in 1975, and possibly in later years. He never changed his story in any way and stated that he was only trying to help. He did get somewhat irritated when contacted so many times for police interviews, but was always forthcoming and unwavering in his statements.

Now as to whether to believe this to be a "true" sighting is another story. The IBM man was sincere and truthful in what he described seeing. But it is possible that he was mistaken in what he saw. For instance, other sightings were tracked down to being a mother or father with their children who were of the same age and general discription of the Lyon Girls. And there is also the possibility of someone perpetrating a hoax, pretending to be the abductor. There were a number of hoaxes which police had to deal with during this investigation.



[/quote]... There are some things about Coffey that IMO strongly work against him as a meaningful suspect to be the perpetrator of this crime.

MCPD had NOTHING on Coffey until 1987 when his criminal behavior toward children came to the surface in NC. They had no crime theory that pointed in his direction. The MCPD had little to go on no matter what so that is not enough.

Witnesses to TRM could not place Coffey at Wheaton plaza nor reliably identify him. Coffey was in custody 12 years after the Lyon sisters went missing so many eye witnesses must have been alive and available to confer with. Nothing could be established.

If we profile Coffey he does not come out as a likely suspect. He was an opportunistic predator, which is different then a highly premeditated criminal. Coffey went after people he had some kind of connection with, and he would use simple ruses to lure children into his lair. ...

Coffey was a sloppy, opportunistic predator, who benefited like so many serial killers of his day, from a massive lack of police communication and information data banks (no computer systems to link meaningful elements of crime data).

[/quote]

I think that you underestimate Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. And it is likely that many police investigators have underestimated him as well. What you see of him is the tip of the iceberg. Yes, he was convicted of only one child murder, that of 10 year old Amanda Ray - BUT it took those investigators EIGHT years to catch him and convict him of it.

It is well known that many times police investigators KNOW who committed a certain crime, but do not have the necessary EVIDENCE to make an arrest and a case for conviction. This is true of Mr. Coffey in the child murder cases of Travis Shane King age 8 (1986) and Neely Smith age 5 (1982). While Coffey was probably an "opportunistic" killer, he was very well organized and left no evidence behind most of the time.

Coffey was convicted of several incidents involving innappropriate sexual conduct with at least five different children. However, he admitted to a Court appointed Psychiatrist to having molested in excess of 100 children by the time of his 1986 arrest. How many other children did he also kill?

[/quote]
Plus you have the sketches. The MCPD have discounted the Sketches and I see why. To them, I imagine, that they have been inundated for 34 years with emphatic citizens who "KNOW" that the sketch was their ex-boyfriend, cousin or whomever in their life. But that does not make the sketches worthless.

What is striking to me is the differences between sketch 1 and 2. Mostly because sketch 2 had so many more people that gave the police artist information as to details of the TRM's face. Sketch 2 revealed an attempt at sketching a facial anomaly around the nose (consistent with DeBardeleben and a surgery that he had at around 12 years of age). Sketch 2 reveals that the TRM's eyes are not level with each other on his face (consistent with DeBardeleben). Sketch 2 makes it look like TRM has something in his mouth (DeBardeleben had/has false teeth and he had a history of acting as a sexual predator with his false teeth in his mouth).[/quote]

I have spoken at length about the sketches in past postings, but just a couple of comments here. The first sketch was made on Friday, 28 March 1975 By Police officer Morton working with a 13 year old boy whom they called "Jimmy" in the press (not his real name). It was based on his recollection of having seen Sheila and Katherine Lyon speaking to an unknown man and into his tape recorder shortly before they disappeared.

This sketch was shown to certain persons at Wheaton Plaza the following day in an attempt to learn who the man was. They had no luck, as nobody they showed the sketch to had seen him. Next, they released the sketch to the news media. It appeared in all the papers and on all the TV channels, and then the deluge of calls came in - some thinking it might be this person or that, others just wanting to offer best wishes in finding him, and some - about 15 by my estimate called to state that they had seen such a man at times Previous to 25 March 1975. Some sightings were supposed to have been at Wheaton Plaza on earlier dates and some at other malls.

It was in talking with these persons that police came up with the modified sketch. All were asked if the man they saw looked like the sketch and were offered an opportunity to make suggestions for changes. Most said that the sketch was pretty accurate. But none of these TRM sighters knew who the man was and none had seen him before.

Officer Morton made the second sketch by only slightly modifying the first sketch and the only change was to the mouth and chin area. The rest of the sketch was the same. He did not even make a new number or date on the second releas of the sketch. It was still dated 28 March 75.

The differences that might appear between the two sketches seen posted on the Doenetwork are from the process in getting them on the internet. I first copied these sketches from microfilm files of newspapers. The sketches were of different sizes, and there was much blurring and bleed through of print. Getting the best quality print of each one, I used a photo copier to get them to a larger size and then scanned them into a computer and sent them to Doenet.

The police stopped releasing any copies of these sketches by the end of April 1975, although news media had them in their files and would sometimes put them on TV on anniversary programs about the girls disappearance.