The girls were abducted then what?

[thefirstman]

Marshall, responding to your understated theories about LE's possible lack of motivation to solve the case I believe the following:

MCP made a calculated decision to (as poor and reprehensible as it was now that we have the clarity of hindsight) to not pursue you in 1975 because they must have feared losing control of the case to the FBI.

It was a turf war. You would have corroborated beyond any doubt the veracity of the sighting in April of 75. The case may have then belonged to the FBI. It could even be that the family did not want this. They may have felt more comfortable with the men they knew in the MCPD and felt the best way to secure their daughters return was to stay with the men they knew. We all, tragically, know how that worked out.

Once they buried that sighting - possibly written off as a hoax other layers are created.

Some of the possible layers have been highlighted on this thread - like lack of cooperation from neighboring VA counties due to financial or territorial restraints.

As far as how you contacted the family - you did the right thing - the only thing you could do. That said they must have had dozens if not 100's of people contacting them. Mostly people with the best of intentions, some not, and after a while they have had to make some decisions to shield themselves from the nightmares of getting involved in false leads, false hopes, and worse.

So while I do take seriously the understated suggestion that you are making that it may be that the perpetrator(s) may use religion as a cloak for sinister, sadistic crimes - I think the explanations for LE's behavior lie elsewhere.

MCP wanted the case for their own reasons and the family may have wanted this. You and your eye witness account may have made that impossible at the time. Once LE moved away from you and your testimony LE had nothing. Then layers are created around territoriality, lost opportunities, time lapses, and the like.

 

[Richard]

Firstman,

You are correct to state that this case is and has always been one in the jurisdiction of the Montgomery County Police.

However, in 1975, no single event or series of events would have mandated FBI involvement. There is an interesting discussion concerning child abductions on the official FBI website. To quote briefly:

... In 1932, Congress gave the FBI jurisdiction under the “Lindbergh Law” to immediately investigate any reported mysterious disappearance or kidnapping involving a child of “tender age”—usually 12 or younger. And just to be clear, ... there does NOT have to be a ransom demand and the child does NOT have to cross state lines or be missing for 24 hours.

Source:
Federal Bureau of Investigation - Crimes Against Children - Non-Family Child Abductions

LINK:

http://www2.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/kidnap.htm


In the case of the Lyon Sisters, the FBI actually did participate and assist in the investigation, but they did not take it over from MCP.

There was in fact at least one ransom demand. The girls were certainly missing for over 24 hours, and the fact that Wheaton, Maryland is so close to Washington DC, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, a logical conclusion would be that they may have been taken out of state. Certainly the alleged sighting of the girls in a Ford Station Wagon in Manassas, VA could also be a factor. Any or all of these factors could have been cited by the FBI or MCP to give the FBI jurisdiction in the case.

 

[thefirstman]

Richard,

Thanks for the response.

I was/am aware that Montgomery County Police have always had jurisdiction in the case.

I was aware of the ransom note and remember in real time (I was 9 years old at the time) pertaining to the Annapolis court house drama.

I did not know for sure about the FBI's involvement until recent confirmation on this thread.

Marshall's understated contention could be interpreted as one in which conspirational aspects of the case existed from earliest stages. I am simply attempting to offer alternative explanations to MCPD's lack of contact to Marshall after the sighting in Manassass in early April 1975.

If MCPD's lack of interest in having Marshall interviewed were "political" or motivated by the departments desire to maintain control of the case, it expands the frame of the possible motivations of the people and institutions involved in examining the case.

 

[thefirstman]

The article below I got from the Washington Post archives. I had a theory that the Lyon girls were possible taken from the streets of Kensington from a police impersonator. I was curious to know if the Post had archived any articles pertaining to police impersonating that would fit the time line in question.
(In my post above I stated the incorrect date of the article I transcribed below. The correct date of the crime in the article was Feb of 1975 where in the last paragraph of the below article stated that a dry cleaners in Baltimore was robbed of said uniforms).


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

Maryland State Police are searching for a man believed to be impersonating a trooper. Police said that the alleged impostor was severely beaten when he halted a truck driver and said he was speeding.
The man wore a uniform similar to the one used by state troopers and used a siren and red flashing lights concealed in the grill of his 1974 dark green Chrsyler to halt the truck driver police said.
"Indications are that the impersonator is homosexual" according to the police bulletin. "The truck driver" state police man Walter Johnson said yesterday "said the man began acting real funny. The driver had a night stick with him and beat the man up pretty bad" said Johnson.
The driver was stopped by the alleged impostor along the John F Kennedy Highway (Interstate 95) near Baltimore at 0:30 PM on the night of Sept 9. The driver told the police later that the man dressed in the troopers uniform accused him of speeding and asked him to sit in the patrol car while a summons was filled out.
The alleged impostor was described as a white male in his mid 20's 5 feet 11, 170 pounds and had a tatoo on his right forarm that read "Black Panther". His name tag read "Rook" police said.
The trooper wore a tan uniform with a black waist belt and holster, police said. The make of the gun he wore could not be determined, police said the truck driver told them.
The man also wore several ornaments on his collar, according to police, and he had a 23 channel citizens' radio with two outside antennas connected to it.
Printed in black on an orange background were the words "official use" over the top of a Maryland license plate with an unknown number, police said. The front seat held a black summons book, a brief case and a tan colored Stetson hat, police said.
Since Maryland started a special crack down on speeders in August, using numerous unmarked cars, some citizens have expressed concerns that they might be stopped by someone other than a state trooper.
According to state police LT Lawrence Gibbs "if there is any speculation that a person is not a police man - that he cannot identify himself - there is no need to stop".
Gibbs added that the incident with the truck driver is the only one of its type since State police since the speeding crackdown began. It was also the first incident reported to police since the disappearance in February of 3 state police uniforms from a dry cleaning firm in Baltimore.
Three months later, in April, nearly $10,000 worth of police badges and other ornaments were stolen from a Baltimore manufacturing company.

 

[Richard]

Firstman, thanks for the Article. I had not seen this one before, and it certainly provides food for thought.

I recall seeing an early article which quoted Mrs. Mary Lyon, mother of Sheila and Kate, as stating that she could imagine the girls being tricked into a car by someone showing them a police badge. She did not state this as having come from police investigators, but rather as her own possible theory.

I wonder if the theft of the Maryland State Police uniforms, mentioned in the article, was in conjunction with a larger scale robbery/burglary, or if they were the specific target of the theft?

Sounds like this particular guy bit off more than he could chew with the trucker.

The scheme to dress as a Law Enforcement Officer is something that is seen from time to time in various states. Actually, it would not be hard (then or now) for some one to come up with a pretty close copy of any police uniform - and leagally too. Back in the mid 1970's, I remember visiting a very large uniform store in Tijuana, Mexico where absolutely ANY kind of uniform, badge, and insignia could be had for a very reasonable price.

One of the potential "Persons of Interest" discussed in this case was a guy by the name of Michael Pearch. In April of 1975, Pearch donned an Army field jacket, a rucksack full of ammo, a large knife, and a .45 Automatic pistol, and began a mass shooting spree which he started at Wheaton Plaza. His spree ended when a Montgomery County Police Officer shot him dead with a 12 guage shotgun blast.

Pearch probably had some mental and emotional problems, but was never in any kind of legal trouble until the shootings began. He lived on Dennis Ave, only a couple of blocks from the elementary school that Kate and her younger brother attended. Pearch knew the residential roads of Kensington and was a regular shopper at Wheaton Plaza.

He had previously served in the US Army and was involved in Counter Intelligence Operations in Germany. He had claimed to friends and family that he had been involved in kidnappings, and had used false passports and identifications/identities in the course of his Army work. He was said to have been rather paranoid, and to have carried a gun everywhere.

Pearch was never considered by MCP as a viable suspect in the Lyon Case, as far as I could determine.

 

[thefirstman]

My crime theory: DeBardeleben as the potential perpetrator
3 girls go missing from a Fort Worth mall on Dec 23, 1974 - The Missing Trio
Please note the similarities between the Fort Worth mall and Wheaton Plaza. An outdoor mall set in an area surrounded by modest middle class homes. Multiple kidnappings of middle class, young girls in broad daylight during a packed holiday shopping day.

Note arrives in Missing Trio's mailbox as part of the criminal's ruse on the early morning hours of Dec 24, 1974 - possibly written from the victim Rachel Trlico.

Security guard stated that he encountered pickup truck with 3 girls in the cab with an impostor security guard. Due to rain and brief interaction - actual security guard was confused and assumed said kidnapper was another mall security employee and let kidnapper get away.

Feb of 1975 DeBardeleben plans, stakes out and robs dry cleaners of 3 Maryland State Police uniforms.
Arrogant and emboldened by possession of said uniforms, DeBardeleben mocks the police and the community in advance of his highly calculated, planned and organized crime of kidnapping girls off the street of Kensington. His mockery was to designed to call attention to himself as a creep, and a potential perpetrator while posing as a Tape Recorder Man (TRM).

TRM was FIRST reported to have been seen in the February 1975 time frame - which coincides perfectly with the police uniform robbery time frame.

On the morning of March 25, 1975 DeBardeleben - dressed as a Maryland State Police trooper - drives into the Kensington neighborhood to stake out which girls to attempt to kidnap. DeBardeleben was well known to have been a career criminal for years if not decade or more in the Wheaton/Kensington area. So he knew the streets better then most anyone - this is well documented.
Sitting in his car, parked in a location maximally positioned to avoid detection, he waits for the perfect victims.
When the girls walk past his vehicle he encounters them as a Maryland State Trooper who was soliciting their help in catching a counterfeiter in the act. He needs the girls to speak into his microphone which was actually "a device designed to communicate to other officers who are also involved in the catching the counterfeiter in this sting". The girls speaking into the mic help the officer keep a low profile so the counterfeiter will not suspect that he is actually an "undercover cop". Such a conversation allows "the officer" to talk to his colleagues without being detected by the criminal.

This explanation offers a meaningful explanation for how the TRM walked into Wheaton Plaza - within a few moments or minutes began speaking to two and only two, young, relatively savvy middle class girls who came from a loving home - the Lyon girls. The TRM conversation was brief, but just long enough for the perpetrator to mock the police, the community and the world by publicly interacting with the girls within minutes or hours of their disappearance.

Debardeleben drives back to the previous location in Kensington and waits for the girls (as was likely organized prior to the TRM drama in the mall).

Girls get into DeBardeleben's car fully believing he is a Maryland State Trooper.

 

[thefirstman]

A Trail of Murder, Rape, Kidnaping
By Lena H. Sun Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post (1974-Current file); Jul 9, 1984;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Washington Post (1877 - 1993)
pg. B3

The Secret Service initially dubbed him the Mall Passer because he was suspected of passing counterfeit bills at shopping malls around the country.

But Federal agents said they soon discovered that James Mitchell DeBardeleben, once an owner of "The Naked Eye", a Washington photo studio, left a trail from Louisiana to Connecticut. That trail has lead to charges that he committed murder, rape, sodomy, and kidnapping in seven states including Maryland and Virginia.

Using Northern Virginia as his base and counterfeit dollars to finance his operations, police say that DeBardeleben is portrayed in court records as a man with a pronounced hatred for women, traveled the east coast with as many as 26 aliases. What is more unusual is that DeBardeleben appeared to have specific modus operandi for specific crimes.

When passing counterfeit money he often left his false teeth in the car, an investigator said. When abducting women, police say, he often posed as a police official, using flashing lights and phony police identification to lure unsuspecting women into his car. In some of those cases women were bound, forced to perform sexual acts, often in rooms where alarms were attached to the door to prevent their escape, and photographed in the nude, police said.

Many of those crimes - dating as far back as 13 years -were unsolved until recently. After DeBardeleben's arrest last year and the subsequent seizure of tape recordings, photographs, and notes detailing acts of torture numerous jurisdictions including Manassass and Ocean City have re-opened investigations.

DeBardeleben 44 whose criminal record dates back to his teenage days in Fort Worth, Texas, according to court records, is in custody awaiting sentencing later this month for counterfeiting charges in Charlotte, NC. Next he will face federal kidnapping charges in Baltimore in connection with the rape and abduction of an Ocean City woman 5 years ago. The US attorney's office in Alexandria says it is also investigating DeBardeleben on counterfeiting charges.

Because of what he called DeBardeleben's extensive criminal record, Assistant US attorney Kenneth Anderson has asked the judge who presided at DeBardeleben's trial in Charlotte to sentence DeBardeleben as a "dangerous special offender". That means that DeBardeleben could be sentence up to 25 years instead of the maximum 15, on each of the 4 counts of passing phony money.

I think that this man's record and conviction...do not fully apprise the court of this man's threat to society Andersen told the judge. Sentencing is set for July 26.

DeBardeleben has been convicted three times for counterfeiting - once in 1976 in Alexandria and twice in the past year in past year in Tennessee. He was sentenced to 3 years for the 1976 charge and served approximately 2 years, federal prosecutor said. He has been sentenced for 35 years for the Tennessee charges.

In Manassass, DeBardeleben is charged in the 1981 abduction of a Prince William County resident. Investigators say it will be a year before the city can begin prosecution because of the numerous charges elsewhere.

In Maryland, he is accused of impersonating a plainclothes police officer and kidnapping an Ocean City woman 5 years ago. DeBardeleben is expected to go to trial in Baltimore this fall said assistant US attorney Patrick Deadey.

In that case, a 20 year old woman told police that she was walking home from work on June 2, 1979 when a man in a car pulled up along side her, flashed a badge, and identified himself as a Delaware plain clothes policeman. He "arrested" her, bound her with white adhesive tape and handcuffed her hands and feet. She was taken to house
in an unknown location in Maryland where he forced her to perform a sex act with him, she told police.

Police say that the man insisted on being called "daddy" and told the woman: "My ex-old lady screwed me around and I'm gonna take it out on you and women in general".

The portrait of DeBardeleben that emerges from court records and interviews with law enforcement officials is of a man obsessed with his hatred of women, a passion authorities say he documented on film, paper and tape recordings.

Evidence siezed by the Secret Service from DeBardeleben's storage lockers in Manassass and Alexandria includes "numerous hand written notes" by DeBardeleben which detail, a court affidavit says, this hatred and "tapes in which DeBardeleben, uses a falsetto voice fantasizes about torturing women."

The notes describe the rope, tape and chloroform that DeBardeleben allegedly used to kidnap women and they detail "how to pull women over on the road by the use of police identification and police lights" Secret Service Agent Dennis Foos stated in an affidavit.

In the Manassass case, a 19 year old woman told police her car was pulled over in the early hours of Feb 5, 1981 on South Bound Rte 28 near the IBM complex by a man driving a car with flashing red lights. She was abducted and sexually assaulted police said.

Louisiana authorities have accused DeBardeleben with the April 1982 murder of a real estate woman. He was indicted last month with the hanging death of Jean McPhaul, 37 of Bossier City. Detectives there say a man posing as a wealthy doctor, "Dr. Zack" from Midland Texas made and appointment with the woman to see a home in an exclusive neighborhood. She was found the next day stabbed and strangled, her body hanging from a beam in the attic of the home.

 

[Richard]

With all that seems to be known about DeBardeleben, one would think that if he was involved in the Lyon Sisters' disappearance, some sort of evidence would have been found. He wrote extensively about how and why he kidnapped mature women, and even photographed them and spoke of them on a tape recorder.

Is there any such evidence regarding the Lyon girls? Is there anything in the police files or in the evidence gathered which links him to crimes of any kind against children? If, for instance, he had photos of children or information about any kind of items or mention of children, then he would seem a viable suspect in this case.

He is no doubt, a total maggot in so many other ways.

 

[thefirstman]

Thanks for the inquiry.

This is what I have found out or discovered in my crime theory investigation (which of course is limited to materials, literature, "evidence" available to Joe Q Public).

Repeated statements have been made by law enforcement, Michaud the author of Beyond Cruel, the A&E documentary and so on, about finding an abundance of homemade *advertiser censored* with "barely pubescent" girls.

Also, DeBardeleben was arrested and convicted of a 1976 counterfeiting charge and several things happened at that time: 1. The Secret Service found an abundance of homemade *advertiser censored* and failed to pursue it for prosecution. 2. He had a totally separate house (at least one that authorities later came to discover) likely rented under an alias, that upon arrest all of his personal belongings were taken from that resident, put curb side and destroyed or taken. 3. At his 1983 arrest for counterfeit and then subsequent crimes at least one storage locker's contents was documented as mis-handled and all belongings destroyed or disposed of. 4. Upon his release from prison in 1978 his records (maybe he paid someone off) read "DECEASED" so authorities had it be that DeBardeleben was dead!

Please note that I have been told by LE in MCP that one of their top suspects today is James Mitchell DeBardeleben. Strangely enough, I have spoken to Rusty, the brother of Rachel Trlico (one of the Missing Trio) several times by phone and he stated that the Fort Worth Police had very little interaction with MCP until Rusty (prompted by me) brought the case to their attention. According to Rusty, MCP was aware and interested in the Missing Trio case (as connected to the Lyon sisters) but they had not been in contact from their end either.

As certain things were turned over more, like DeBardeleben's Mother's residents in Fort Worth, other evidence of kidnappings and the such were discovered. Also, it seems something shady occurred in the transfer of the deed of that house on Spurgeon street, as Rusty reported to me that he contacted the next owner (documented in city records) and this man was a banker who totally denied any recollection or knowledge, much rather ownership of this house. This banker's name was an unusual one and unlikely that there were two high ranking bank officials with similar names.

DeBardeleben flew so beneath the radar because he was a counterfeiter. Unlike Ted Bundy and other sexual sadist/ serial killers who lived amongst us - DeBardeleben lived 100% below the radar. That was part of what set him apart and made him so dangerous and unknown by most - including the police.

Don't you wonder why - reading that newspaper article from the Washington Post about DeBardeleben in 1984 as to why MCP did not at least make him a suspect, and question the public at that time - as they would come to do with Coffey 3 years later? I do! I mean the main connection they had with Coffey and this case was proximity - which is a big deal mind you - And DeBardeleben had proximity.

His being put away from 1976 to 78 actually may have helped him get away with the crime and created the opportunity for him to do so much more damage in this world!

It seems MCP BLEW IT circa 1976 and again 1983 with even coming up with a police impersonator theory and/or looking into DeBardeleben as a suspect.

 

[thefirstman]

Below you will find an email I received from Michaud after I reached out to him about my crime theory connection of DeBardeleben and the Lyon girls.

Later I reached out to Rusty - Rachel Trlico's (Missing Trio) younger brother and he stated that Fort Worth LE had missed looking at DeBardeleben as suspect and therefore had NEVER had contact with the Secret Service. FWPD, at that time (about a year or 15 months ago) had NO contact with Montgomer County PD.

This makes me trust Michaud's and the Secret Service's responses less. More to the point, the Secret Service did NOT investigate the considerable evidence that DeBardeleben was likely involved in kidnapping, raping and torturing girls and women during his 1976 arrest.

Here is Michaud's book again detailing how Secret Service agents familiar with DeBardeleben reacted when he was arrested by them for a SECOND time (first one in 1976) in 1983:

After a brief interval of embarrassed silence, Foos retrieved DeBardeleben's file and reviewed it. His worry turned to alarm as Foos leafed through the old records, especially the inventory of what was found in DeBardeleben's house, and a report by agent Mike Stephens of his 1976 interview with DeBardeleben's estranged wife. Foos found the six-feet, four-inch tall Stephens, called "Stretch," at his desk in the Special Investigations squad area. "Hey, Stretch," said Foos as he dropped DeBardeleben's arrest photo on Stephens's desk. "Recognize this guy?"

Stephens did, instantly, and in the same moment felt something twist in his stomach. He looked up and answered slowly. "Yeah, I do."

Here's Michaud's e-mail to me from July 09.

Dear Mr. (thefirstman):

I have spoken with former SS Agent Mike Stephens, who in turn contacted his onetime colleagues, Agents Mertz and Foos. They recollect conferring closely with the Montgomery County Police after Mike DeBardeleben’s arrest, and jointly reviewing the evidence. Mike says that they were unable to positively connect DeBardeleben to the Lyon case, nor could they positively exclude him.

If the Montgomery County Police cold case squad would like to consult with Stephens, he’d be very happy to sit down with them and go over the material once again. He can be reached at 202 555-5555 (not the real #). I hope this helps. That was a heart-breaking case. Stephen Michaud.

 

[Richard]

There has been some interesting discussion in this thread concerning an incident which took place in April 1975, in which a beige or tan Ford station wagon was sighted in Manassas, Virginia. The station wagon was reported to have held two girls, bound and gagged and it drove away at a high rate of speed.

I posted some news stories from the Washington Post Newspaper concerning that reported sighting on the thread of this featured case section titled "News Reports and Articles..." See post number 71.

Keep in mind that these stories were written in April 1975 and they were based on police press conferences during the time of the initial investigation, just two weeks after the girls disappeared.

 

[Richard]

Welcome to Websleuths and to the Lyon Sisters' forum, sasolis. Thank you for your comments, hope you post more.

In regard to your question about a note: I have never seen any mention of such a note in any of my research or in any press coverage. I tend to doubt that any such note (if it really existed) was a genuine correspondance from the girls. The official line from Montgomery County Police is that the girls were never heard from after 25 March 1975.

If police actually had such a note in evidence, they certainly would have commented on it to the news media - as they did with so many other potential leads, like the Tape Recorder Man, the Tan Station Wagon, the sightings by various teens, and the Ransom Demand phone calls.

I believe that it was MDeitz who mentioned the note's possible existance in one of his posts, so he would have to answer your questions regarding specifics. There was some discussion about it possibly being an "Urban Legend" in one of his posts.

 

[Thewop356]

I have been looking into the 1979 disappearance of Tina Faye Kemp from neighboring Delaware and during my research I have gathered a lot of info on Debardeleben. He was most certainly kidnapping pre-adolescent and young teenage girls all over the east coast, but mostly in the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia-Pennsylvania-New Jersey area. Officials found his hideouts and safe houses all throughout Northern Virginia and Maryland. I would bet that Debardeleben was responsible for so many of the young girls who went missing in our area in the mid to late 70s and if it was ever proven how many or who he actually abducted, that there would be a public outcry about why law enforcement officials did not investigate him much deeper. The secret service still has a ton of the pictures described in Michaud's book about him and they could use those to identify some victims, but most claim the LE does not have the resources to do so. I feel so confident that if an independent citizen driven group could get permission and resources from the government to look through that evidence, they would solve dozens of missing persons cases. It is really ashame that a thing like an agency not having the time or resources is preventing parents or family members from knowing what happened to their loved ones. I have recently been in touch with someone who was remotely involved with Debardeleben's case and he said that he personally would be afraid of going through that evidence now with the technology that we have available because of what he might find. He also claimed that some of the eveidence that was destroyed or set aside for garbage by the storage places where Debardeleben kept his things actually contained bloody panties and other items that could have easily been processed for DNA now and that the secret service may still have some evidence it recovered that can be tested but that it will never probably be tested because nobody wants to be finacially responsible to do so. I just find that morally wrong.

 

[Motherof5]

I've read a couple of books about DeBardeleben and can honestly say that it would have been simple for him to take them. He had more than enough items to make himself look like LE and any child would obey LE. Has anyone compared his photo to the TRM sketch? Just look at the noses. DeBardeleben had a strange looking nose and so does the TRM in the sketch. DeBardeleben hated ALL females...I'm not even sure if hate is a strong enough word. Also, when he was torturing his victims,he made them call him"daddy"....he's the devil.

 

[Motherof5]

He bought a press from BPS Printing Service in Wheaton,MD.

 

[Jeb]

Debardeleben was too tall, to be the TRM I saw. Also, Coffey has a similar looking nose to the composit sketch.

 

[Markybug]

Bump for this.

 

[Motherof5]

Ok...I've read 2 books on DeBardeleben and I will say again that it would have been easy for him to pull this off....but I don't think it was him. He took his victims after dark,for the most part. His daytime victims were real estate agents. While he would have felt perfectly at ease at a shopping mall,that was his place of "business" and I don't think he would mix business with his abductions and murders. He would pass fake bills at a mall in one state and then drive 300 miles to another state to hunt for a victim all in the same day. I don't think he stole the missing police uniforms either as he didn't seem to use them. He used fake badges and rigged his car with police lights. So he could have...but I don't think so.

 

[Richard]

Of course, we do not know for certain that the girls were actually abducted, because there is no available/identified forensic evidence and no witness actually saw them taken. That said, it is a very likely probability that they were abducted.

Going on that assumption (that they were abducted), there are many scenarios and theories of how it could have happened or who might have taken the girls. While some potential suspects might seem better candidates than others, we have to remember that we are starting with an assumption and then trying to match various circumstantial facts about those potential suspects to the scenario.

The Montgomery County Police are the official investigating agency for this case. They have never named anyone as a suspect in the girls' disappearance, although they have investigated numerous people over the years to try to establish any kind of link. Some of those individuals are mentioned in these threads as "Potential or Possible Suspects", but they have never been so designated by MCP.

The "Possible Suspects" that I have mentioned in past posts are/were all dirtbags of one sort or another. All - with only one exception - were convicted in other cases of serious crimes such as murder, rape, abduction, etc.

The exception was a 30 year old man named Michael Pearch. Although he was never convicted of anything, he was shot to death by Montgomery County Police while in the midst of a shooting spree in downtown Wheaton. Several people were killed and seriously wounded by Pearch, beginning at Wheaton Plaza and ending only a short distance away. Those shootings occurred only three weeks after the girls went missing.

Pearch has been discussed in detail in other posts and threads, but my point in mentioning him here is that prior to his Shooting Spree and death, he was nowhere on the radar. He was an honorably discharged Army sergeant, a College student, History buff, Artist, etc. He was a law abiding guy, well liked by people who knew him. In thinking about him, one has to wonder if he simply cracked that day in April 1975 or if his mental health problems and violence had occurred earlier.

Is it coincidence that of all the many "Possible Suspects" Pearch lived closest to the Lyon family? That he knew the back roads of the Kensington Housing area well? That he was trained and experienced in "counterintelligence" in the Army and claimed to have been involved in using phoney badges, Identification cards, and Abductions while in Germany?

Pearch had his own vehicle (a green Volkswagon) and he had a very remote country home in Friendsville, Maryland. He was also known to carry a pistol on his person at all times. He did not have a regular job and so had time on his hands whenever he was in Kensington visiting his mother. He could come and go as he pleased.

We have often discussed theories of how someone could have abducted the girls, and who might have done it. The list of "Possible Suspects" contains a number of very evil characters. Some were active both before and after the girls disappeared. Certainly, any one of them could have abducted the girls, but of all of them, which one had the necessary skills, opportunity, vehicle, remote location, and knowledge of the roads in Kensington to have effectively abducted Sheila and Kate?

 

[Marilynilpa]

I have been looking into the 1979 disappearance of Tina Faye Kemp from neighboring Delaware and during my research I have gathered a lot of info on Debardeleben. He was most certainly kidnapping pre-adolescent and young teenage girls all over the east coast, but mostly in the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia-Pennsylvania-New Jersey area. Officials found his hideouts and safe houses all throughout Northern Virginia and Maryland. I would bet that Debardeleben was responsible for so many of the young girls who went missing in our area in the mid to late 70s and if it was ever proven how many or who he actually abducted, that there would be a public outcry about why law enforcement officials did not investigate him much deeper. The secret service still has a ton of the pictures described in Michaud's book about him and they could use those to identify some victims, but most claim the LE does not have the resources to do so. I feel so confident that if an independent citizen driven group could get permission and resources from the government to look through that evidence, they would solve dozens of missing persons cases. It is really ashame that a thing like an agency not having the time or resources is preventing parents or family members from knowing what happened to their loved ones. I have recently been in touch with someone who was remotely involved with Debardeleben's case and he said that he personally would be afraid of going through that evidence now with the technology that we have available because of what he might find. He also claimed that some of the eveidence that was destroyed or set aside for garbage by the storage places where Debardeleben kept his things actually contained bloody panties and other items that could have easily been processed for DNA now and that the secret service may still have some evidence it recovered that can be tested but that it will never probably be tested because nobody wants to be finacially responsible to do so. I just find that morally wrong.

Regarding the photos, perhaps they should be made public for identification.

I never have felt Debardeleben took the Lyon sisters, but he certainly was a sick SOB.