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

[joellegirl]

Any theories? Well, once thing I noticed is the area is more wooded than I pictured, not sure how it was then but probably not much different. The streets were very quiet, not alot of people around. Of course I have no idea of the activity level in the neighborhood in March 1975, but if the abductors were able to get the girls in a car quickly, I could see how it may have happened with no one noticing--no one in their yards, no one looking out their window at that point. I am going with the report that the girls were last seen walking along Drumm Ave, which even though there are alot of houses around, it was quiet. Even if they disappeared at the mall, with all the people around, they still could have been abducted with out anyone noticing. Most people are going about their business, distracted with all the sights and sounds of the mall etc. Unless the girls screamed,kick and fought or did something to break people out of their "shopping trance" their abduction could have gone unnoticed. I know it sounds hard to believe but there are so many cases of people vanishing in places one would think someone should have seen something. The same with Beverly Potts, who vanished from a crowded park the evening of Aug 24,1951 in Cleveland. My theory with her is she made it safely out of the park, but was abducted while walking home down her darkly lit street, most likely by a neighbor.




I guess I don't have any profoundly new theories. Maybe more will come as I process all that I saw in my mind and study my pictures more. It just is very interesting to see where these tragic events happened, where everything seems so normal and ordinary. Makes you realize nowhere is completley safe, no matter how safe it seems.

 

[georgesgirl]

Directly behind Wheaton Plaza it was all woods in 1975 where the townhouses are now. Even if people were in their yards and if the TRM pulled up, since they had talked to him at the Plaza before, he was no longer a stranger. He could have easily convinced them to get in the car. If there were any witnesses, they would have thought it was a friend or relative who was picking them up for an innocent reason.

 

[Richard]

Directly behind Wheaton Plaza it was all woods in 1975 where the townhouses are now. Even if people were in their yards and if the TRM pulled up, since they had talked to him at the Plaza before, he was no longer a stranger. He could have easily convinced them to get in the car. If there were any witnesses, they would have thought it was a friend or relative who was picking them up for an innocent reason.

You make a very good point. The hard thing to try to understand is an abductor getting not one, but two girls to go with him in his vehicle. A forceful grab would have required more than one person, whereas a guise to get them to enter his vehicle willingly would have been easier for a single abductor. The actions of Tape Recorder Man may well have been simply a guise to learn something about possible victims and put them at ease. Later, he could have called their names out on a seemingly safe residential street and offered them a ride - or perhaps he might have told them that he knew their parents and wanted to stop by and visit them, but had not been able to find their house, etc. You are probably correct to suspect the TRM as the abductor of the girls.

 

[Jeb]

Even though this avenue has probably been checked, we should check with Montgomery County police to be sure.

It's possible that the plates were stolen (although bending a plate to that extreme seems a deliberate act of concealment). If the car was stolen, a police report should exist, unless it was destroyed over the years.

A quote from the Evening Capital dated 03/24/1980:

"Although police had the first four digits of the license plate - DMT6 - the search was hampered by the fact that 1975 was the first time in five years new plates had been issued and the numbers had not yet been recorded into the police department's computer. As a result, police were forced to check hundreds of possible number combinations by hand."

If the plate numbers were eventually entered into the computer records, either the witness got it wrong, a mistake was made, crucial information was lost in this process, or information was destroyed/forgotten.

Rick Kretschmer, a license plate collecter who grew up about 15 miles from Wheaton in the 70's, told me via email:

"So the DMT 600 series plate was without question a red-on-white plate issued during the month of March 1975. But since every single passenger car in the entire state had been issued new red-on-white plates during March 1975, there is no way to know from this license plate how long the vehicle had actually been registered in Maryland.

"I was thinking more about the DMT 600 series of plates being issued in multiple cities. It's certainly possible that these were sent out via mail rather than issued over the counter. Plates were issued both ways. I was focused on the over-the-counter method; if this series of plates was issued over the counter at an MVA office I would think that they would have all been issued in one place. However, many people sent their renewal applications by mail to the Glen Burnie HQ and received their plates back in the mail. If the box(es) of DMT 600 series plates were distributed this way, they probably would have been sent to motorists all over the state, not just to Baltimore, Cumberland, and Hagerstown. Perhaps there were plates issued to three different 1968 Ford station wagons in this series of 100 plates, located in these three cities. Maybe the cops just investigated these three vehicles, rather than all 100 vehicles in this series. If the bad guys had stolen the plate, it probably would have been reported. But if they simply switched it with the plate from another vehicle they had access to, no one would be the wiser."

I had contacted the Maryland Motor Vehicle office to inquire about these records, but was told that they would only talk to LE.

I wonder what types of cars were being driven by members of Fred Howard Coffey's family or by his friends/associates during this period?

Fronk

This was a red on white tag. N.Carolina also had the same color tags for that year. Did MCP check out the N. Carolina tags of the DMT series? Fred COFFEY may have had N. Carolina tags at that time, since he has spent much of his life there.

 

[Richard]

This was a red on white tag. N.Carolina also had the same color tags for that year. Did MCP check out the N. Carolina tags of the DMT series? Fred COFFEY may have had N. Carolina tags at that time, since he has spent much of his life there.

That is a good question and observation. Coffey had served in the Navy for 12 years from 1962 to September 1974. As an active duty service man, he could have registered his vehicle in one of several different states;
- Any state that he claimed as his home state of residence at the start of each enlistment.
- Any state that he was stationed in during those 12 years.

Coffey was stationed in the Norfolk, VA area for his first duty station, and again during his last duty station. It is known that he was living in the Virginia Beach, VA area just before and just after his Maryland stay. I believe that he claimed Bristol, VA as his home too.

It is known that Coffey was in North Carolina from about 1979 on, and may have had previous connections to that state as well.

Coffey had a van from at least 1979 until his arrest in 1987. Fiber and animal hairs were obtained from that van linking him to the murder of 10 year-old Amanda Ray. Not known when he first obtained that vehicle, or if he had it while in Maryland. It would be nice to know where it had been registered, and when & where he obtained it.

 

[Usher737]

If he did have that van in MD, he could have used it to abduct the Lyons sisters.

 

[Jeb]

If the MCP were unable, or haven`t investigated the DMT tags of NC. for that year,then we`ll never know. I doubt if the abductor would have been riding around with the 2 girls in his vehicle 2 wks. or so after the abduction. However, the news stations at that time, stated sightings in Alexandria, & the Dulles road. The 2 sightings I just quoted, only mentioned the beige station wagon, & nothing about the 2 girls. Also, if Fred Coffey is the man, then where were the 2 girls on 1Apr75 while Coffey was applying for the job at Vitro? One more thing of concern. Richard quoted 2 boys missing from NJ.,7Apr75. Is this a coincidence that the station wagon was spoted with the 2 victims 7Apr75 in Va? Maybe the witness was mistaken, & saw 2 boys in the station wagon.

 

[Richard]

If the MCP were unable, or haven`t investigated the DMT tags of NC. for that year,then we`ll never know. I doubt if the abductor would have been riding around with the 2 girls in his vehicle 2 wks. or so after the abduction. However, the news stations at that time, stated sightings in Alexandria, & the Dulles road. The 2 sightings I just quoted, only mentioned the beige station wagon, & nothing about the 2 girls. Also, if Fred Coffey is the man, then where were the 2 girls on 1Apr75 while Coffey was applying for the job at Vitro? One more thing of concern. Richard quoted 2 boys missing from NJ.,7Apr75. Is this a coincidence that the station wagon was spoted with the 2 victims 7Apr75 in Va? Maybe the witness was mistaken, & saw 2 boys in the station wagon.

News releases from Montgomery County Police at the time indicated that they were in the process of checking other states - specifically including NC - for possible matches to the plates reported to be on the Beige Station Wagon.

You make a very valid point regarding the missing boys possibly being the children seen in the Beige Ford Station Wagon in Manassas. One would have to check on the time line of when the boys were last seen, and when the car was sighted to see if it is feasable.

The newspapers and TV picked up on that story and focussed everyones attention on it. Truckers and CB radio enthusiasts kept eyes out for it, and even pulled over persons driving cars of that description.

It is interesting to note that there was an earlier report of a suspected vehicle in the Washington Post, and that vehicle - also a Ford Station Wagon was only mentioned one time before all the hullabaloo about the Beige Ford Station Wagon started. That earlier report appeared in the last paragraph of a Post story on Friday, 4 April 1975 (page A-16). The story was about witness responses to other sightings of Tape Recorder Man, following release of the sketch, and how a second, revised sketch had been released. A reporter had interviewed Capt Charles Goddard, who headed a 16 man security force at Iverson Mall in Prince Georges County - where witnesses had claimed to have seen Tape Recorder Man on 22 March. Goddard stated that they were on the lookout for the suspect in the sketch, but they had not seen or detained anyone.

Goddard then added that "Montgomery County Police had told him, in connection with the Lyon search, to be on the lookout for a blue Falcon station wagon covered with stickers and slogans, including a bumper sticker from Walt Disney's Florida resort known as Disneyworld."

There was never any explanation why this Blue Falcon (a Ford model) was being sought.

Regarding Fred Coffey's employment with Vitro: He did interview with them on 1 April 1975, and was subsequently hired by them. He did not, however, begin work until 24 April 1975. It is possible and indeed likely that he also applied and interviewed for similar work at other places in the interim. It would be interesting to know if he was in New Jersey on or about 7 April.

The full title of his employer was: Vitro Laboratories Division of Automation Industries Inc. In 1975, their offices were located at 13900 Connecticut Ave, Silver Spring, MD. They specialized in Defense Contracting for the Navy.

 

[Richard]

Goddard then added that "Montgomery County Police had told him, in connection with the Lyon search, to be on the lookout for a blue Falcon station wagon covered with stickers and slogans, including a bumper sticker from Walt Disney's Florida resort known as Disneyworld."

There was never any explanation why this Blue Falcon (a Ford model) was being sought.

A friend of mine who has researched and restored several Ford Falcons over the years sent me the following information regarding Ford Falcon Station Wagons:

Falcon was made from 60 to 73 and had satation wagons every year.The last Falcons made tho were on the Torino body style.

The 68 was probobly the least polular Falcon because of it's larger design. It does resemble Fords of other models.

The SW was built on the Fairlane chassis since 66 . There was a sameness on the rear. They used the same front sheet metal on all 68s.

If the blue Falcon Station Wagon actually belonged to the TRM suspect, then it is quite possible that the subsequent sighting of a Beige 1968 Ford Station Wagon could have been the same car - either repainted, or perhaps with a replacement tailgate, or covered in road dust, giving it a "beige" appearance.

 

[shadowangel]

Richard-I'm just thinking out loud here...Did any of the children who spoke to the Tape Recorder Man mention any type of accent? I'm wondering if the "DTM" plate could be a diplomatic plate. In most states, they carry the format "D" for diplomat, then a two-letter code for the country (the codes had nothing to do with the country's name, to keep the diplomats from being targeted-as I remember, the Soviet Union was "FC"). The person being a Foreign National would fit some of what's known...For example, approaching the girls he spoke to, the conversation could go "My English isn't very good, could you record a message for me?" It would explain how he seemingly disappeared, and could explain why the person was not known in the community.

 

[Richard]

Richard-I'm just thinking out loud here...Did any of the children who spoke to the Tape Recorder Man mention any type of accent? I'm wondering if the "DTM" plate could be a diplomatic plate. In most states, they carry the format "D" for diplomat, then a two-letter code for the country (the codes had nothing to do with the country's name, to keep the diplomats from being targeted-as I remember, the Soviet Union was "FC"). The person being a Foreign National would fit some of what's known...For example, approaching the girls he spoke to, the conversation could go "My English isn't very good, could you record a message for me?" It would explain how he seemingly disappeared, and could explain why the person was not known in the community.

That is an interesting thought. I note that you are linking two separate incidents which may or may not have been linked in reality. First is the Tape Recorder Man character seen at a number of malls and shopping centers prior to the Lyon Sisters 25 March 1975 disappearance, and second is a reported sighting of two children on 7 April 1975 in a 1968 Ford Station Wagon traveling through Manassas, VA.

I have not heard of anyone saying that Tape Recorder Man had any kind of accent, and I would think that something like a foreign accent would have made him stand out. The only direct witness accounts that I have seen state that they could not hear much of what he was saying to Sheila and Katherine, except for one question overheard asking them if they liked sports. A sales girl at one of the Prince Georges County malls remembered being told something by TRM like, "Gee you have a nice voice. I like the sound of a woman's voice. Would you read an answering machine message for me." She and other girls approached in a similar manner all said that they declined his offer, but none mentioned any foreign accents.

TRM was actually seen at a number of different shopping centers talking to young girls - usually in the afternoon hours. Sightings of TRM (or of an individual who resembled the TRM sketch) occurred at Wheaton Plaza on 28 Feb, 1 March, 24 March, and 25 March. He was seen at Iverson Mall and Marlow Heights shopping center (adjacent malls in Prince Georges County) on 22 March. He was seen at the Sears Store in White Oak shopping center (Montgomery county) in February or March, and at a mall in Bowie, MD on an undisclosed date prior to 25 March. TRM got around and likely owned a vehicle of some sort.

When the Lyon Sisters disappeared, so did Tape Recorder Man. If this character was a harmless guy, wouldn't he have been seen doing his thing in the days which followed? Remember that the girls disappearance was widely reported, but still there was a lag time between when the girls vanished and the press jumping on the story. Also, the story of police looking for the TRM suspect was not in any papers until a whole week had passed. Then all the witnesses who had seen TRM came forward with stories - but NONE of them had seen him after the afternoon of 25 March. And with the entire area looking for the TRM in the days and weeks which followed, he never surfaced.

I do not mean to imply that the perpetrator actually left the area immediately - he may have left town, or not - but he certainly never appeared again
in his role as TRM.

Regarding Diplomatic plates, I wonder if any embassy would have had a 7 year-old Ford Station Wagon as part of their diplomatic motor pool fleet.

 

[shadowangel]

I may believe in ghosts, UFOs, and the tooth fairy, but one thing I don't believe in is coincidence. What this person was doing is classic victim fishing...from Megan Kanka's killer who lured her with promises of playing with his new puppy, to Ted Bundy and his use of a fake cast to garner sympathy, pedophiles and the like are..."creative".
I have to wonder if the Lyons were a target, or at least the inspiration for what this man was doing. Their father was well-known, could the TR Man have been using a ruse involving a message for use on the radio?
As to the diplomatic plates, aren't they also issued to privately-owned vehicles? There is also the possibility that the plate was stolen, would the individual consulate bother to report it? I'm just thinking of the proximity to DC, diplomatic plates have to be a fairly common sight...

 

[Richard]

I may believe in ghosts, UFOs, and the tooth fairy, but one thing I don't believe in is coincidence. What this person was doing is classic victim fishing...from Megan Kanka's killer who lured her with promises of playing with his new puppy, to Ted Bundy and his use of a fake cast to garner sympathy, pedophiles and the like are..."creative".
I have to wonder if the Lyons were a target, or at least the inspiration for what this man was doing. Their father was well-known, could the TR Man have been using a ruse involving a message for use on the radio?
As to the diplomatic plates, aren't they also issued to privately-owned vehicles? There is also the possibility that the plate was stolen, would the individual consulate bother to report it? I'm just thinking of the proximity to DC, diplomatic plates have to be a fairly common sight...

I personally think that you are correct about TRM fishing for victims. He may have used other ruses and methods as well, but in his role as Tape Recorder Man, he was definitely making contact with young girls, and seemingly in a regular pattern. I think that if police were to go through all of their witness statements and put together a time-line, description, and profile of this suspect, they will have a very clear picture of him.

A big question in the Lyon Case is whether the girls were specifically targeted, or if they might have been random victims. Only the perpetrator knows the true answer to that. TRM was seen speaking to girls of different ages from about four years old, up to 16 or 17 years of age. Maybe he had a specific age or look in mind, but I tend to think that he was looking more for the circumstances and opportunity being to his liking before he acted.

I live in Maryland, and can tell you that we do see Diplomatic plates, but they are much more in evidence in downtown "DC". I do not know what their format or pattern or color was in 1975, however, and cannot say if they fit the description given of three letters followed by three numbers and in the color of Red on white. Maryland did have that color and format in 1975, as did several other states.

 

[shadowangel]

I can't find any information on diplomatic codes from that time period...The code "TM" is now the code for Iceland. (Well, I was just thinking out loud anyway...) However, the plate format was correct, 3 letters, a break, then 3 numbers. BTW, do you know the age of consent in Iceland for a girl is 14????

In March of '86, LE announced that they were looking into a 41 year-old suspect who may have been in the area who had a long record of arrests involving children. Would this have been Hadden Clark?

 

[Richard]

In March of '86, LE announced that they were looking into a 41 year-old suspect who may have been in the area who had a long record of arrests involving children. Would this have been Hadden Clark?

Hadden Clark would have been in his mid 30's in 1986, and that was about the time that he kidnapped and murdered little Michele Dorr. He was considered a possible suspect in Michelle's disappearance early on, but not because of any known crimes against other children - only because he lived a couple doors down from her. He was indeed from Montgomery County, Maryland and would have been in his early 20's when the Lyon Sisters disappeared.

It is more likely that the newspaper article was referring to MCP interest in Fred Howard Coffey Jr, who turned 41 in March 1986, and who, by that time, had several convictions for molesting children in Virginia and North Carolina. In 1987, Coffey was being tried for the murder of 10-year-old Amanda Ray in NC, and MCP interest in him was much increased.

Coffey was indeed in the Wheaton, Maryland area in Spring of 1975. He interviewed for a job with Vitro Laboratories on 1 April 1975, began work with them later that month, and left suddenly in late July 1975.

 

[shadowangel]

Thanks for clearing that up. I read your profiles on some of the primary characters. I read up on Clark, and his involvement in Dorr's death and also the death of a 22 year-old (?) from New England (I didn't take my usual notes, but I'm sure you know who this young girl was). Both he and Coffey are scary characters...Clark claimed more victims in the New England area, did anything come of these claims?

An interesting sideline to the disappearance of Michelle Dorr...news reports stated the father suffered a "psychotic episode" and claimed he killed Michelle. Carl Dorr was seperated from his wife, and little Michelle was visiting him-she disappeared while playing in a wading pool outside while Carl was inside watching football.

 

[Mr. E]

I think the father confessed because of the intensive interviewing he endured. At first he lied about the last time that he saw Michelle. He was so beaten down by the police interrogations that he finally said, "Ok, if you said I did it, maybe I did it." Imagining the guilt and worry and craziness over Michelle that he was feeling at the time, it doesn't surprise me that he said that.

Sorry to go off topic.

 

[Richard]

I think the father confessed because of the intensive interviewing he endured. At first he lied about the last time that he saw Michelle. He was so beaten down by the police interrogations that he finally said, "Ok, if you said I did it, maybe I did it." Imagining the guilt and worry and craziness over Michelle that he was feeling at the time, it doesn't surprise me that he said that. Sorry to go off topic.

Mr. Dorr was subjected to very intense interrogation and was obviously under a lot of stress following his daughter's disappearance. Later investigation pointed to the perpetrator being Haden Clark, who was in prison for the later abduction and murder of a young woman.

Clark was prosecuted, based on traces of Michelle's blood found in the house two doors down from her residence - a house in which Haden Clark had lived with his brother's family at the time of her disappearance. In a rare instance where a person was prosecuted for murder without a body, Clark was found guilty. Prior to sentencing, he led Montgomery County Police to where he had buried Michelle's body 12 years before.

During and after Clark's trial, a person who provided much support to Mr. Dorr was John Lyon, father of Sheila and Kate.

 

[Kensingtonnative]

I found this site on a whim and found the subject of the Lyon Sisters. I am from Kensington and lived there most of my life. I graduated high school with Sheila and Kate's brother Joe. The Lyon family and my family went to the same pool. I even attended the same elementary school up until 2nd grade with the Lyon siblings. I remember when they were kidnapped. Our suddenly "innocent" town was gone. Our parents kept a close eye on us. It was even harder for the families like mine that knew the Lyons because it hit a lot closer to home than just happening in the same town. It still haunts me sometimes, mostly when dealing with my own kids because I try to be so careful with them. I moved from Kensington 3 years ago to Charlotte - coincidentally where one of the main suspects happens to have kidnapped and molested a child. Kensington and Wheaton are no longer the same as they were 30 years ago. Neighbors are too busy with their lives to get to know each other. Wheaton Plaza (Now Westfield Shoppingtown or whatever at Wheaton) is full of gangs. Einstein HS which was a very average high school is now one of the bottom 3 and more than 40% of the student population is on the reduced meals program. You're lucky if you can get an english speaking server at the McDonalds across the street from Wheaton Plaza and crime overall is no longer a stranger to Kensington itself. Heck, it even made national news with the sniper attacks 3 years ago. I get very sad when I go back home to visit because it's not the same place. I don't know what's become of Joe. We had our 20 year HS reunion last year, but he didn't attend. I remember him as very quiet in HS. I don't know whether that was just who he was or whether it was a sadness that hung over he and his family after his sisters disappeared. I always wanted to tell him how sorry I was, but back then you just kept it to yourself. Our parents may have been more cautious about where we went, but no one, not them, the schools, anyone ever really talked about it. I keep hoping the family could have some closure, even just finding skeletal remains so they can bury them. I would really love to hear some day that they have been found alive. That the person who took them raised them telling them some story about their parents not wanting them anymore or something stupid like that, and they have been living on the west coast all of this time unaware of the drama that took place 30 years ago in that small obscure town just outside of one of the world's most powerful cities. Here's hoping to happy and unbelievable endings!

 

[h0db]

I live in Kensington now, have for the past 20 years, and both my kids go to Einstein HS. Yes, the area has become more diverse, but it's not quite the hell hole you seem to think. Einstein HS is much improved in just the past five years, in the upper half now on standardized test in one of the best school systems in the country--rated 318 nationwide in the recent Newsweek survey based on the number of kids taking AP exams. This year, Einstein HS instituted their International [size=-1]Baccalaureate[/size] program. There are a lot of hispanic immigrants in the area now, but this is true across much of the country, and the vast majority seem to be among the hardest working, most decent people you'll ever meet.

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?

As for the rest, well, welcome to the 21st Century in the US of A. It's true that you can't go home again. Rest assured, however, that we still have strong communities and neighborhoods--and Kenmont pool is still a great place to meet your neighbors (formerly Wheaton Woods, I think, but it's the community pool right next to Wheaton plaza--nobody calls it Westfields whatever...