Potential Suspects and Persons of Interest

[Richard]

Here is an interesting Washington Post Article from 2008 which describes how Montgomery County cold case detectives Joe Mudano and Ed Golian solved a 1982 murder case. They are the same detectives assigned to the Lyon Sisters' case.

Gerald Anderson Abernathy (discussed elsewhere in this thread) was linked by DNA to the abduction and murder of a young woman in Kensington, MD

I have abbreviated the story here, but the full text, along with a photo of Abernathy can be seen in the link below.


-----------------------------------------------
Discovery of Evidence Box Helps Solve 1982 Killing
by Dan Morse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Montgomery County Detective Joe Mudano was searching an evidence supply room late last year when, on a top shelf, tucked out of plain view, he found a box that apparently had gone missing years ago.

Inside were tiny pieces of evidence from a 26-year-old unsolved slaying.
Using DNA extracted from a cotton swab stored in that box, investigators say they have solved the 1982 slaying of Wendy Stark, 20, who was shot four times on a porch near Kensington while trying to escape into a house from a man who had kidnapped and sexually assaulted her.

Investigators linked the genetic fingerprint through a nationwide database to Gerald A. Abernathy, who died of lung cancer last year at age 66 in a North Carolina prison. He had been serving a life sentence for an unrelated kidnapping and murder since 1994. .....

... Late last year, Mudano, one of that squad's investigators, who was working on a different case, searched a locked storage room in Rockville used by Montgomery police to store old evidence dating to the 1970s, said Ed Golian, another cold-case investigator. That's when he came across the box, about the size of one that would contain a DVD player.
Inside was the cotton swab, used in 1982 to take a sample from Wendy Stark, along with hair and fiber samples, Golian said.

Mudano consulted with his department's DNA lab, which has been beefed up with new equipment. An analyst there was able to get a match, although the sample was degraded and minute, even by DNA standards. ...
... Golian said the timing of the box discovery in the evidence room might have worked out for the best. About 12 years ago, he said, detectives looked for the box but could not find it. Had they done so, they might have submitted it for DNA testing, which was not as sophisticated then and might not have produced the match. And it would have destroyed the DNA for any future use.

"It probably worked out that he found it last year and not 12 years ago," Golian said.

LINK:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072101224.html

 

[Richard]

This is a very long and detailed story about Travis Shane King, a little boy who was abducted and murdered in 1986. The primary suspect was and is Fred Howard Coffey, Jr.

Go to the link for the full story...

-----------------------


BURDENS OF PROOF: File still open on Travis Shane King

By: CLAIRE GALOFARO
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Published: July 11, 2011

BRISTOL, Va. -- For 25 years, Rozesetta Miller has laid down each night, put her hand over her mouth and held her breath – wondering how long it might take her to die that way. She hoped a stroke five years ago might make her forget to wonder what her 8-year-old grandson’s last words might have been; if he suffered; whether he cried for his mamaw.
“That little face – I just can’t forget it,” Miller said. “It’s been hell, pure hell. I remember the day, the time. It was a quarter after 10 when they found him.”

On Aug. 21, 1986, Travis Shane King followed a man with a metal detector from Eastridge Apartments, where he lived with his mother and Miller, as he headed into the woods. The boy’s body was found the next night – strangled and dumped near a rural Sullivan County lake....

... There is only one suspect: a Bristol-born convicted child killer and serial molester.

“He bounced around his whole life. And wherever he was, kids ended up dead,” said Bristol Virginia Police Sgt. Steve Crawford, part of the third generation of detectives to inherit the case.

Fred Howard Coffey, 66, is in prison six hours away for murdering a 10-year-old North Carolina girl seven years before Shane was killed. Coffey is suspected of killing others – maybe one little girl, maybe more – and reportedly confessed to molesting 100 kids.

He was sentenced to die – twice – in a North Carolina gas chamber. The first was scheduled for 12:01 to 6 a.m. Jan. 11, 1988. But the execution was stayed then overturned on a technicality by the state’s Supreme Court. A second jury sentenced him to death again, scheduled for Aug. 23, 1991. But the sentence was again overturned and a third jury sentenced him to life in prison.

Coffey has been denied parole 15 times since he became eligible in 1995. He will face the parole board again in 2012. ...

...Bristol’s case against Coffey was, and still is, a purely circumstantial one.

“It’s as good as it’s gonna get,” said Capt. Darrell Duty. “What we know is that a known serial killer of children was the last person seen with the child alive.” ...

... A lanky gray-haired man pulled his Pontiac Sunbird into the Eastridge Apartments parking lot on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 21, 1986. A woman leaving for work watched as he got out, opened the trunk and removed a metal detector. She thought it was odd. ...

... Neighbors reported seeing the boy as late as 4:45 p.m., when someone watched him walking with a man carrying a metal detector. Another saw him sitting on a curb at Springdale Village Apartments, an adjacent complex separated from Eastridge by a narrow patch of dense woods. ...

... The whole town turned out that night. Dozens searched the woods until 4 a.m., then came back again at sunrise. Police joined the search, circulating photos of the boy and knocking on every door in Eastridge and Springdale. A helicopter hovered overhead.

Teresa Austin, Shane’s aunt, remembers Fred Coffey standing in the building’s hallway, watching the search party from a window.
She said she commented on the heat. “He never moved; he never even turned around,” she said. “He had no expression, he was just blank.”

... About a week after the boy was killed, the woman who saw the man take the metal detector from his trunk noticed the same man in the same maroon car. She and her husband followed him, took down his tag number and called police. The car was registered to Fred Howard Coffey.

Another week passed, then a third. On Sept. 14, 1986, dozens of officers searched an apartment on Raytheon Road. Police cordoned off the building with crime scene tape, impounded a red Sunbird and parked it in the fire station.

Investigators found an empty box for a new metal detector among Coffey’s things. ...

... Coffey was born in Bristol, Va., in 1945. His father raped and beat both Coffey and his sister, his mother testified at his murder trial in North Carolina. When his mother found out, she took the kids and left. But he kidnapped them occasionally, took them to motels and made each watch as he raped the other.

Coffey graduated from Virginia High School and joined the Navy in 1962. He enlisted three times and passed through Connecticut and Georgia and served in Vietnam. He was denied a fourth reenlistment in 1974, when he was charged with molesting a child in Virginia Beach.

He moved to Maryland to work for a defense contractor and became a suspect in the death of one bludgeoned teenage girl and the disappearance of two young sisters. He moved on to North Carolina, where he murdered 10-year-old Amanda Ray and, maybe, 5-year-old Neely Smith. ...

...Crawford visited Coffey at Pender Prison in N.C. He denied killing any kids.

“I saw a meek old man who’s probably going to die in prison,” Crawford said.

Coffey declined to be interviewed for this story. ...

Much, much more at link below.

LINK:

http://www2.tricities.com/news/2011...file-still-open-travis-shane-king-ar-1164205/

 

[Richard]

Lyon Case List of possible suspects

The following is an updated listing of most of the potential suspects discussed in these threads. They are not in any particular order. I have not included all information, only a short sketch. Go to the referenced posting in this thread for more detailed information.

Please note that I include only known criminals who were convicted of similar crimes (and one person killed in the act) in my list of named persons.

Fred Howard COFFEY, Jr. (incarcerated)
- Known child molester and killer
- Worked in Wheaton for Vitro Labs April thru July 1975
- Pre and Post offenses against children
- had several vehicles
- former Navy
Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. is currently serving a life term in NC for the 1979 murder of a 10 year NC girl. He may have been involved in the Lyon Sisters abduction, and possibly in the 24 July 1975 abduction/murder of 15 year-old Kathy Lynn Beatty, also of Montgomery County, Maryland... Post # 5 and several subsequent ones.

Michael Edward PEARCH (deceased)
- mass murderer at Wheaton Plaza April 1975
- mental and emotional problems
- had vehicle (green Volkswagon)
- lived close to Lyons
- also lived on a remote farm in western MD
- previously lived in Suitland, PG county.
- Army trained in counter espionage, abduction, false ID's, weapons
Michael Edward Pearch, born 20 April 1945 was shot dead by Montgomery County Police in the streets of Wheaton, Maryland on 13 April 1975. His death ended a shooting spree which he began at Wheaton Plaza Shopping Center during which he murdered two people and wounded five others. Could he have been involved in the abduction of the Lyon sisters from that same mall 19 days earlier? See Post # 7

Arthur Frederick "Freddie" GOODE III (deceased)
- tortured and killed young boys (no known girl victims)
- Lived in Hyattsville, MD
- mentally retarded/disturbed - resided at Mental hospital for a time
- rode a bicycle or bus (not a driver)
Freddie was a homosexual pedophile who lived in Hyattsville, Maryland (Prince Georges County). He had been arrested on three separate occasions for indecent assults on minors when in March 1975 (Same month and year that the Lyon Sisters disappeared) he was arrested for five sexual assaults on a 9 year-old boy... see post # 2

Ellwood Leroy LEUSCHNER (deceased)
- convicted rapist (repeat offender) on parole
- moved from CA to MD sometime between 1974 and 1976
- molested and murdered two (possibly three) 9 year-old boys in Salisbury MD 1977
- had a green or blue Camaro
On 1 November 1977, a paroled California rapist was arrested in Salisbury, Maryland by Maryland State Police on the charges of kidnapping, raping, and murdering a 9 year old boy. The boy was abducted from his trailer park and buried on a farm ten miles away. The suspect, was one Ellwood Leroy LEUSCHNER, age 45. He was a tall, gaunt, white man who worked as a general laborer at the Campbell Soup Plant in Salisbury... post # 3

Raymond Rudolph MILESKI, Sr. (deceased)
- convicted murderer of family members 1977
- had a work van, separate work place, flexible work schedule - Cabinet installer
- PG county, near Iverson and Marlow Heights shopping centers
- actually spoke of being involved
- former USMC
- alleged associates: Marvin Peele, Ernie Bertrand/Bertran/Bertram, Tommy
Raymond Rudolph Mileski Sr. was a convicted murderer serving a life sentence in the Maryland Prison system. He is linked to the Lyon Sisters, because of claims that he has made on several occasions. Those stories have some varience to them, but basically Ray states that he knows who the abductor/murderer of the girls is.... post # 4 Note, Mileski is now deceased.

Hadden CLARK (incarcerated)
- born 1951
- lived in Montgomery County, MD
- convicted serial killer of at least two Montgomery County girls
- admitted to having killed others, but not the Lyon sisters
Hadden Clark, born in April 1951, was approaching his 24th birthday when the Lyon sisters disappeared. A cross dressing, psychotic, serial killer and cannibal, he led a truly bizzare life until finally convicted and sentenced to life terms for the murders of Laura Houghteling and Michelle Dorr, both of Montgomery County. See post # 8

Timothy Joseph Buzbee (incarcerated)
- aka The Aspen Hill Rapist (1980's)
- was 18 and HS senior in March 1975
- no known murders
Date of Birth 08/27/1957
DOC ID 170707
Holding Facility North Branch Correctional Institution, Cumberland, MD
- Timothy Buzbee would have been 17 and a half years old when Sheila and Kate Lyon went missing. At the time, he lived in the Aspen Hill - Rockville area and was still in High School.
- Although he was never named as a suspect in the Lyon case, he later was involved in a number of stalking incidents and rapes, some of which involved young girls.
- He was arrested, tried and convicted of rape in 1982 and has been in prison since that time. In 2009, he was charged in four additional rapes.
- Before the four rape charges went to trial, however, Buzbee filed an appeal, which went up to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
- In 2011, the appeal decision went against Buzbee and now the road is clear for prosecutors to continue with plans to charge him with the four additional rapes.

Bar Jonah (deceased)
Although his true preference was little boys there was a ton of child in his possesion when he was aphrehended. .. post # 19

Richard Miles CHANEY (incarcerated)
- Maryland resident
- Murdered 10 year old Maryland girl in 1971
- not caught until 1978
In 1978, a man named Richard Miles Chaney, dob 19 November 1939, was arrested, tried and convicted of the 1971 murder of little Elizabeth Ann Metzler age 10 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He was sentenced to Life without Parole - the highest allowable sentence at the time. In 2002 and 2003, he appealed his sentence, but lost. He is still incarcerated in a Maryland Prison. "Possible Connections" thread page 3.

Gerald Anderson ABERNATHY (deceased)
- abducted and murdered a woman in Kensington
- ties to Kensington
- other rapes, abductions, murders in VA and PA
- convicted of rape and murder (died in prison)
- whereabouts unknown for March 1975
Wendy Lou Stark, abducted and murdered 1982 Montgomery County, MD, closed case: Could this recently closed case be related to the case of the Missing Lyon Sisters or of Kathy Lynn Beatty? The perpetrator of this crime was a repeat offender who had escaped from a Virginia Prison and was living in Kensington, MD in 1981-82. Did he have previous ties to Kensington? More importantly, where was he in 1975?... "Possible Connections thread post # 243. Note Abernathy is now deceased.

James Mitchell "Mike" DeBARDELEBEN (deceased)
- sadistic murderer of women
- Counterfeiter known to have been in Wheaton MD 1975
- many different kinds of crimes
- Had a 1971 green Chrysler
- post 590 on the origional thread (page 24) and other recent threads as well.
- born March 20, 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas
- died January 26, 2011 in prison of pneumonia at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.
- convicted rapist and counterfeiter
- aka "the mall passer"
- After his arrest for counterfeiting, he was found to have committed much more serious sex crimes. He was not brought to trial for any murders

John Brennan CRUTCHLEY (deceased)
Born October 1, 1946
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died March 30, 2002 (aged 55)
Bowling Green, Florida, U.S.
Alias(es) The Vampire Rapist
Conviction(s) Kidnapping, Sexual battery
Penalty Life sentence
Status Deceased
Occupation System engineer
- During the mid 70's he lived in Fairfax County Va. At the time there were several disappearances of teenage girls. Some investiators suspect his linkage to the Lyon Girls & Kathy Beaty. He was extensively familiar with the area, & also lived in Pa. where there were a number of missing females, & deceased females. Post 22
- convicted kidnapper and rapist who was suspected of murdering more than 30 women, but was never tried nor convicted of those crimes. He was called the "Vampire Rapist" because he drained the blood of his victim almost to the point of death while he repeatedly sexually assaulted her.
- He moved to Fairfax County, Virginia in the mid-1970s.
- He worked for several high-tech firms in the Washington, D.C. area, including TRW, ICA and Logicon Process Systems. At about this time, several teenaged girls disappeared in and around that area.
- He later moved to Florida and began working in 1983 at Harris Corporation in Palm Bay, FL.
- Some investigators linked Crutchley with the disappearance of two teenaged girls, the Lyon Sisters in Wheaton, Maryland and a possible rape-murder of teenager Kathy Lynn Beatty in nearby Aspen Hill, both in Montgomery County, where his second wife's family lived.

James Kowalski (incarcerated)
- possible ties to Kensington
- Child poronographer
- in a rock band
- possible involved in disappearance of George "Junior" Burdinsky
- There are a number of 1993 Washington Post articles about James Kowalski and his trials for child poronography and for child molestation.
- His convictions were for innapropriate actions with young boys ages around 11 and 12. No references to molestation or kidnapping of young girls. Although suspected of being involved with the disappearance of George "Junior" Burdynski, he was never charged or convicted in that regard.

Robert RELDAN (incarcerated)
- from New Jersey
- On Parole in NJ May 1974
- committed two double abduction/murders of young girls in August and December of 1974
- killed four more girls in October 1975, two of them in a double abduction/murder
- known to cross state lines to abduct, murder, and dispose of victims.
- age 35 in 1975.
While it is not known if Reldan was in Maryland in March 1975, he was known to have been out on parole and actively committing abductions, rapes and murders before and after that date in nearby New Jersey.
- Chronology:
- Raped a woman at Teaneck, NJ, in 1967, served 3 years in prison, then paroled.
- Five months later, in 1971, he assaulted another woman in a hospital parking lot, pulling a knife on her moments after his latest therapy session.
- Convicted a second time, he emerged as a "model graduate" of Rahway prison's rehabilitation program for sex offenders. Authorities were so impressed with Reldan's progress that they chose him for a television interview with David Frost, aired shortly before his parole in May 1974.
- August 10, 1974: Mary Pryor (17) and Lorraine Kelly (16), reported missing from North Bergen. The girls were last seen on August 9, when they left Pryor's home to do some shopping, and police believe they were hitchhiking when they met their killer that afternoon. Their bodies, raped and smothered, were recovered from a wooded area near Montvale, four days later, on August 14, 1974.
- December 13, 1974, Doreen Carlucci (14) and Joanne Delardo (15) vanished from a church youth center in Woodbridge, their bodies discovered two weeks later, in Manalapan Township, NJ. Beaten and strangled, one victim was completely nude when found, the other dressed only in shoes and a sweater. The killer's garrote, an electrical extension cord, was knotted tight around Carlucci's neck.
- October 6, 1975, the first solitary victim, Susan Reynes (26), disappeared from her home in Haworth, New Jersey.
- October 14, 1975, in Demarest, Susan Reeve (22) vanished without a trace on the short walk home from her bus stop, after work.
- October 24, 1975, Denise Evans and Carolyn Hedgepeth (both 15) disappeared from home in Wilmington, Delaware. Their bodies - shot execution-style - were recovered in Salem County, New Jersey, the following day.
- On October 27 and 28, 1975, the remains of victims Reynes and Reeve were found, seven miles apart, in a wooded region of Rockland County, New York, just north of the New Jersey state line. Searchers were led to one corpse by an arrow, scratched on a highway embankment above the name "Reeve." Autopsies revealed that both women were strangled.
- On October 31, 1975, police arrested 35-year-old Robert Reldan in Closter, New Jersey, on a charge of attempted burglary and held without bond. Reldan was questioned about the murders of Reeve and Reynes, but on November 2, 1975, homicide detectives publicly announced that he was "not considered a suspect" in the slayings.
- January 1977, Reldan is indicted on two counts for the murders of Reynes and Reeve.
- April 21, 1977, Reldan is charged with plotting to arrange the deaths of a wealthy aunt and her boyfriend, hoping to expedite a hoped-for inheritance. A Bergen County detective, posing as a hit man, twice visited Reldan at Trenton state prison, where he was serving three years on the burglary charge, and their conversations were secretly recorded as evidence .
- June 1978, convicted of conspiracy and awarded a term of 20 to 50 years in prison.
- June 1979, first murder trial ends with a hung jury, and a retrial was scheduled for October.
- October 15, 1979, Reldan uses a smuggled key to unlock his handcuffs, sprays his guards with Mace, and escapes from the courthouse in Hackensack. He was recaptured hours later, at a hospital in Tuxedo, New York, after crashing his stolen getaway car into a ditch. The trial resumed next day, despite the anonymous mailing of $100 bribes to several jurors.
- October 17, 1979, convicted of the murders of Susan Reynes and Susan Reeve.
- January, 1981, escaped from custody and was recaptured with added sentences.
- In 1986 He murdered someone in prison and was convicted and given further sentences.

Unknown suspects...

Unknown person dubbed The Tape Recorder Man on these threads. He may or may not have been involved in the disappearance of the girls, but was seen talking to them shortly before they disappeared.

Unknown Suspect dubbed the Pennsylvania Strangler (1976-1977)
Although the victims of this Never Identified Suspect were somewhat older than the Lyon sisters, this series of related homicides were very close in time and geographical vicinity to Montgomery County, Maryland, and also to other possibly connected disappearances discussed in these threads.

The "Green Vega" serial rapists, so called because they abducted women in a green Chevrolet Vega.

The "Freeway Phantom" who abducted and murdered young black girls in Washington DC and Prince Georges county, Maryland in the early 1970's.

 

[Richard]

We might consider adding Gerald Stano to our list of possible persons of interest. While I do not know if Stano was ever in Maryland, it is a certainty that he was a Serial Killer of young girls and women during the time that Sheila and Kate went missing.

Stano was born in New York, moved with his adoptive family to Pennsylvania as a Child, and later lived in Florida. I wish that I had more information as to his wherabouts from 1974 through 1977 or so.

Here is a link to the Websleuths thread on Gerald Stano. There is a lot of information and discussion on him there. Also, a link to a timeline for him is included in one of the posts.

LINK:

FL Gerald Stano -confessed to murdering 41 victims - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[Richard]

Andre Rand

Here is another potential suspect in the Lyon Sisters' disappearance. Although it is not known if he was in Maryland on 25 March 1975, he was active as a serial killer of children at that time, and similarities in victims and circumstances with his known crimes and that of the Lyon case bear looking into.

--------------------

Andre Rand was born Frank Rushan March 11th, 1944. He changed his name to Andre Rand in 1968 after working as a janitor at the Willowbrook mental institution. A native of Manhatten, New York, he would have been 31 years old at the time of the Lyon sisters' disappearance.

Timeline

On 25 May 1969, Rand had his first brush with the law when he abducted and tried to have sex with a 9-year-old girl. He was caught before the assault occurred and served 16 months for attempted sexual assault.

On 7 July 1972, five-year-old Alice Pereia went missing from her Staten Island home. She was last seen walking with Andre Rand, a janitor in her apartment building.

On 7 April 1975, Steven Anderson, 17, and David Williams, 12, went missing from a State School in New Jersey. Both boys were mentally challenged. Some investigators think that Rand could have been involved in their disappearance.

In 1977, Audrey Lyn Nergenberg, an eighteen-year-old went missing. Her disappearance is believed by some to be linked to Rand.

In 1979, Rand was accused of raping a young woman and a 15-year-old girl but since neither pressed charges, he was never indicted.

In 1981, Rand tried to entice a 9-year-old girl into his car with candy. When she refused, he followed her home. She hid from him and no charges were filed.

Another little girl, Holly Ann Hughes, was not so lucky. She disappeared 15 July 1981 and has never been found.

In 1983, Rand drove to the Staten Island YMCA and picked up a group of 11 children, bought them White Castle hamburgers and took them to the Newark Airport to watch the planes. Though no children were harmed, Rand was charged with unlawful imprisonment for which he served 10 months in jail.

On 14 August 1983, 10-year-old Tiahease Tiawanna Jackson went missing.

On 9 June 1984, Henry Gafforio, 22, went missing from his Port Richmond neighborhood. Last seen at the "Spa Lounge" shortly after 04.00 A.M. that morning, Gafforio was thought by some to have been a victom of Andre Rand.

On 9 July 1987, 12-year-old Jennifer Schweiger, a little girl with Down’s Syndrome, disappeared. A month later, her nude body was found in a shallow grave near Rand’s makeshift campsite on the grounds of Willowbrook State Mental Facility (now the College of Staten Island).

In 1988, Rand was convicted of the 1987 abduction of Jennifer Schweiger, a resident of Westerleigh, NY. The Staten Island jury could not reach a verdict on a murder charge in that case.

In 2004, Rand was indicted in the 1983 disappearance of 10-year-old Tiahease Tiawanna Jackson.

In October 2004, Rand was found guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, of abducting Holly Ann Hughes, 7, as she walked on a street in her Port Richmond, NY neighborhood 23 years earlier (1981). Her body was never found.

Although never formally charged, Rand's name has surfaced in connection with several other disappearances back dating to 1972 on Staten Island.

The bodies of at least seven missing people - possible victims of Rand - are still unaccounted for including Alice Pereia, Holly Ann Hughes, Tiahease Tiawanna Jackson, Steven Anderson, David Williams, Henry Gafforio and Audrey Lyn Nergenberg.

One of the unusual characteristics of Andre Rand is that most of his victims were random strangers. Most kidnappers either know or are at least somewhat acquainted with their victims.

Rand is serving consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences for his two kidnapping convictions. He is not eligible for parole until 2037, when he'll be 93 years old.

LINKS

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/convicted_kidnapper_andre_rand.html

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/456545_the-legend-of-cropsey

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/456545_the-legend-of-cropsey#ixzz1qhSUf1yv

 

[Richard]

Fred Coffey has been mentioned a few times in regard to the disappearance of Sheila and Kate Lyon. While he has never been formally named as a suspect in the case by Montgomery County Police, he defintiely is a suspect in three other cases:

Amanda Ray, 10 years old, murdered 1979 in North Carolina

Neely Smith, 5 years old, abducted/murdered in 1981 in North Carolina

Travis Shane King, 8 years old, abducted/murdered 1986 in Bristol, VA

He was convicted of murdering Amanda Ray, twice sentenced to death and finally getting a life sentence following a third trial. He currently resides in Pender Prison, Burgaw, NC.

He is up for Parole once again and his hearing is in July 2012.

Please feel free to contact the parole board with your thoughts and comments as to whether or not you think Fred should be released into society again.

He has his own thread in Websleuths Cold Cases section. There has been some interesting discussion there recently.

LINK:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=7742362

 

[Richard]

Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. has been discussed in this forum as a possible suspect in the disappearance of Sheila and Kate Lyon.

Although he has never been officially named as a suspect by Montgomery County Police, MCP became interested in him in 1987 when he was on trial for the murder of little Amanda Ray (age 10) in North Carolina. He was also convicted of nine separate counts of child molestation involving three young siblings. He admited to molesting at least 100 others, and had previous arrests and convictions involving sexual perversions with children.

Coffey was convicted of Amanda's murder and sentenced to death in two separate trials. In a third trial, he was sentenced to life in prison. That meant that he has been continually up for parole since 1995.

Once again, on 21 July 2012 he will be up for parole.

Your comments on this subject to the parole board are invited. Write to:

Chairman Charles L. Mann Sr.
NC Post Release Supervision & Parole Commission
P.O. Box 29540
Raleigh, NC 27626-0540
RE: Fred Howard Coffey, DOC# 0081135

or send an email to [email protected]

 

[Marilynilpa]

Thank you, Richard, for providing the info about Coffey's parole hearing. I clicked on the e-mail link you provided and voiced my opinion, for what it's worth.

 

[Richard]

PAROLE HAS BEEN DENIED to convicted child killer, Fred Howard Coffey Jr.

He won't be moving into the house next door any time soon.

The following is from Amanda Ray's mother:

------------------------------------------------

Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts to those of you who took the time to send a letter to the parole board on Amanda's behalf.

Fred H. Coffey will remain behind bars for another three years. He will come up for possible parole again in July 2015.

I spoke with his case analyst and she assured me that she read every letter that was sent in (received over 100) and that they were each taken into consideration when making the decision.

We will need your help again in 2015 and our goal is to get MANY more than 100 letters sent... Let's send THOUSANDS!!With deepest gratitude,

Jennifer Ray

A parole review date is set for July 21, 2015

LINK:

http://justice4amanda.tripod.com/

 

[Richard]

Richard Charles Haefner (deceased)

A 25 year old Geology student at Penn State University in 1969. Haefner is considered a potential suspect/ Person of Interest in the murder of Graduate Student Betsy Aardsma.

Investigators consider him a person of interest in the Ardsma case due to his strange behavior before and after her murder, his later history of violence towards women, and a history of Pedophilia. He had an explosive temper which led him into conflicts with police and others on numerous occasions.

Not known if he was in Maryland in March 1975. He would have been 30 or 31 years of age then. He was a resident of Lancaster, PA, which is not far from Maryland. In 1975, three young girls disappeared from places in Pennsylvania which were not far from Lancaster.

On August 15, 1975, he was arrested by Lancaster police and charged with corruption of minors and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. The alleged victim was a 12-year-old boy who claimed that Haefner, who employed him and other youths in a small family business, had engaged in sexual contacts in a garage which was part of the business premises.

Haefner denied the charges and over the course of several years, was exonerated of all wrongdoing via multiple mistrials. In 1994, he again appeared before a judge for aggravated assault of a police officer and disorderly conduct. He was also charged with tampering with a witness and criminal mischief—puncturing the tire of a 1989 Pontiac. The tool he used was a sharpened screwdriver.

Haefner died 19 March 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada of a heart attack.

See photos at this link:

http://www.whokilledbetsy.org/haefner.html

 

[Richard]

Montie Ralph Rissell

Montie Rissell was a sexual deviant from an early age. He committed his first rapes when he was only 14-years-old.

He was arrested for rape while a minor and sent to a juvenile institution. He managed to leave the institution and raped several women until he was picked up and returned.

At age 18, Rissell was released from Juvenile Detention. He soon committed his first murder while raping a woman in his own apartment.

By his age 19, he was arrested for committing a series of murders of women in Alexandria, and Fairfax County, Virginia. Alexandria, VA is within the Washington DC Metropolitan area and not far from Wheaton, MD. These murders occurred in the 1976 to 1977 time frame.

Each murder was more violent than the previous one. He stabbed his last victim 50 to 100 times. He was arrested and sentenced to five life terms in prison.

He may have been in Juvenile Detention when the Lyon Sisters went missing, but since security at the facility seems to have been minimal, it is worth mentioning him as a potential person of interest in some of the cases discussed in these threads.

Although his "known" murders are said to have started in 1976, it is possible that he started earlier.

Rissell was convicted and given five life terms in prison, but comes up for parole once every year.


Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Serial rapist, Murderer
Number of murder victims: 5
Date of murders: 1976 - 1977
Date of birth: 1959
Victims profile: Women aged between 22 and 34 years
Method of murder: Strangulation - Drowning - Stabbing with knife
Location: Alexandria, Virginia, USA
Status: Sentenced to five life sentences in 1978


LINKS:

http://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/rissell-monte.htm


http://forensicsncrime.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=crimecases&action=display&thread=1027


http://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/rissell-monte.htm

 

[Richard]

Rodney Alcala

There is no evidence to indicate that Rodney Alcala was in Maryland during the spring and summer of 1975, but from the below article, it is aparent that he was in both New York and California in the 1970's. So he obviously got around and was quite a prolific killer. How many other victims are there? And could he have been involved in the Lyon Sisters' disappearance?

Note that one of his victims in California was only 12 years old.


Alcala would have been about 31 years old when the Lyon Sisters went missing.

He is called "The Dating Game Killer" because he once appeared on that TV game show, and actually was chosen over two other contestants as the "winner". The girl who chose him, however, declined to actually go out on a date with him because he seemed a little creepy to her.

Good call!

---------------------------------------------------------------
Rodney Alcala, "The Dating Game Killer," to be extradited to NYC on two murder charges

10 May 2012
NEW YORK - California's highest court has cleared the way for a convicted serial killer to be brought to New York to face charges in two 1970s killings.

Rodney Alcala, 68, a former amateur photographer and TV dating-show contestant was sentenced to death in California in 2010 after being convicted of strangling and sexually torturing four women and a 12-year-old girl in the 1970s.

The jury convicted Alcala on February 25, 2010 of killing Robyn Samsoe, 12, as well as Jill Barcomb, 18, who had just moved to Los Angeles from Oneida, N.Y.; Georgia Wixted, 27, of Malibu; Charlotte Lamb, 32, of Santa Monica; and Jill Parenteau, 21, of Burbank.

After the California convictions, Alcala was charged with murdering two 23-year-old women in New York City in the same decade....

... In New York, Alcala is charged in the 1971 strangling of flight attendant Cornelia Crilley and the death of Ellen Hover, daughter of a one-time Hollywood nightclub owner. She disappeared in 1977; her remains were found the next year in the woods on a suburban estate.

A New York conviction wouldn't affect Alcala's sentence in California, but Manhattan prosecutors have noted that a conviction in New York could essentially be insurance for law enforcement in case Alcala wins yet another California appeal, which happened once before. Alcala likely would be sent back to California's death row if convicted in New York...

LINK:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_...o-be-extradited-to-nyc-on-two-murder-charges/

 

[Richard]

Lyon Case List of possible suspects

The following is an updated listing of most of the potential suspects discussed in these threads. They are not in any particular order. I have not included all information, only a short sketch. Go to the referenced posting in this thread for more detailed information.

Please note that I include only known criminals who were convicted of similar crimes (and one person killed in the act) in my list of named persons.

---------------
Fred Howard COFFEY, Jr. (incarcerated)
- Known child molester and killer
- Worked in Wheaton for Vitro Labs April thru July 1975
- Pre and Post offenses against children
- had several vehicles
- former Navy
Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. is currently serving a life term in NC for the 1979 murder of a 10 year NC girl. He may have been involved in the Lyon Sisters abduction, and possibly in the 24 July 1975 abduction/murder of 15 year-old Kathy Lynn Beatty, also of Montgomery County, Maryland... Post # 5 and several subsequent ones.

-----------------
Michael Edward PEARCH (deceased)
- mass murderer at Wheaton Plaza April 1975
- mental and emotional problems
- had vehicle (green Volkswagon)
- lived close to Lyons
- also lived on a remote farm in western MD
- previously lived in Suitland, PG county.
- Army trained in counter espionage, abduction, false ID's, weapons
Michael Edward Pearch, born 20 April 1945 was shot dead by Montgomery County Police in the streets of Wheaton, Maryland on 13 April 1975. His death ended a shooting spree which he began at Wheaton Plaza Shopping Center during which he murdered two people and wounded five others. Could he have been involved in the abduction of the Lyon sisters from that same mall 19 days earlier?
See Post # 7

-------------------------------
Arthur Frederick "Freddie" GOODE III (deceased)
- tortured and killed young boys (no known girl victims)
- Lived in Hyattsville, MD
- mentally retarded/disturbed - resided at Mental hospital for a time
- rode a bicycle or bus (not a driver)
Freddie was a homosexual pedophile who lived in Hyattsville, Maryland (Prince Georges County). He had been arrested on three separate occasions for indecent assults on minors when in March 1975 (Same month and year that the Lyon Sisters disappeared) he was arrested for five sexual assaults on a 9 year-old boy...
see post # 2

---------------------------
Ellwood Leroy LEUSCHNER (deceased)
- convicted rapist (repeat offender) on parole
- moved from CA to MD sometime between 1974 and 1976
- molested and murdered two (possibly three) 9 year-old boys in Salisbury MD 1977
- had a green or blue Camaro
On 1 November 1977, a paroled California rapist was arrested in Salisbury, Maryland by Maryland State Police on the charges of kidnapping, raping, and murdering a 9 year old boy. The boy was abducted from his trailer park and buried on a farm ten miles away. The suspect, was one Ellwood Leroy LEUSCHNER, age 45. He was a tall, gaunt, white man who worked as a general laborer at the Campbell Soup Plant in Salisbury...
post # 3

-----------------------
Raymond Rudolph MILESKI, Sr. (deceased)
- convicted murderer of family members 1977
- had a work van, separate work place, flexible work schedule - Cabinet installer
- PG county, near Iverson and Marlow Heights shopping centers
- actually spoke of being involved
- former USMC
- alleged associates: Marvin Peele, Ernie Bertrand/Bertran/Bertram, Tommy
Raymond Rudolph Mileski Sr. was a convicted murderer serving a life sentence in the Maryland Prison system. He is linked to the Lyon Sisters, because of claims that he has made on several occasions. Those stories have some varience to them, but basically Ray states that he knows who the abductor/murderer of the girls is....
Mileski is now deceased.
post # 4

---------------------
Hadden CLARK (incarcerated)
- born 1951
- lived in Montgomery County, MD
- convicted serial killer of at least two Montgomery County girls
- admitted to having killed others, but not the Lyon sisters
Hadden Clark, born in April 1951, was approaching his 24th birthday when the Lyon sisters disappeared. A cross dressing, psychotic, serial killer and cannibal, he led a truly bizzare life until finally convicted and sentenced to life terms for the murders of Laura Houghteling and Michelle Dorr, both of Montgomery County.
See post # 8

----------------------------------
Timothy Joseph BUZBEE (incarcerated)
- aka The Aspen Hill Rapist (1980's)
- was 18 and HS senior in March 1975
- no known murders
Date of Birth 08/27/1957
DOC ID 170707
Holding Facility North Branch Correctional Institution, Cumberland, MD
- Timothy Buzbee would have been 17 and a half years old when Sheila and Kate Lyon went missing. At the time, he lived in the Aspen Hill - Rockville area and was still in High School.
- Although he was never named as a suspect in the Lyon case, he later was involved in a number of stalking incidents and rapes, some of which involved young girls.
- He was arrested, tried and convicted of rape in 1982 and has been in prison since that time. In 2009, he was charged in four additional rapes.

----------------------------------
Bar JONAH (deceased)
Although his true preference was little boys there was a ton of child in his possesion when he was aphrehended. ..
post # 19

-------------------------------------
Richard Miles CHANEY (incarcerated)
- Maryland resident
- Murdered 10 year old Maryland girl in 1971
- not caught until 1978
In 1978, a man named Richard Miles Chaney, dob 19 November 1939, was arrested, tried and convicted of the 1971 murder of little Elizabeth Ann Metzler age 10 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He was sentenced to Life without Parole - the highest allowable sentence at the time. In 2002 and 2003, he appealed his sentence, but lost. He is still incarcerated in a Maryland Prison.
"Possible Connections" thread page 3.

-------------------------------------------
Gerald Anderson ABERNATHY (deceased)
- abducted and murdered a woman in Kensington
- ties to Kensington
- other rapes, abductions, murders in VA and PA
- convicted of rape and murder (died in prison)
- whereabouts unknown for March 1975
Wendy Lou Stark, abducted and murdered 1982 Montgomery County, MD, closed case: Could this recently closed case be related to the case of the Missing Lyon Sisters or of Kathy Lynn Beatty? The perpetrator of this crime was a repeat offender who had escaped from a Virginia Prison and was living in Kensington, MD in 1981-82. Did he have previous ties to Kensington? More importantly, where was he in 1975?...
"Possible Connections thread post # 243.

-------------------------------
James Mitchell "Mike" DeBARDELEBEN (deceased)
- sadistic murderer of women
- Counterfeiter known to have been in Wheaton MD 1975
- many different kinds of crimes
- Had a 1971 green Chrysler
- post 590 on the origional thread (page 24) and other recent threads as well.
- born March 20, 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas
- died January 26, 2011 in prison of pneumonia at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.
- convicted rapist and counterfeiter
- aka "the mall passer"
- After his arrest for counterfeiting, he was found to have committed much more serious sex crimes. He was not brought to trial for any murders

------------------------------------
John Brennan CRUTCHLEY (deceased)
AKA The Vampire Rapist
Born October 1, 1946
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died March 30, 2002 (aged 55)
Bowling Green, Florida, U.S.
Alias(es) The Vampire Rapist
Conviction(s) Kidnapping, Sexual battery
Penalty Life sentence
Status Deceased
Occupation System engineer
- During the mid 70's he lived in Fairfax County Va. At the time there were several disappearances of teenage girls. Some investiators suspect his linkage to the Lyon Girls & Kathy Beaty. He was extensively familiar with Montgomery County, where his second wife's family lived. He lived in Fairfax, VA in the mid 1970's. He also lived in Pa. where there were a number of missing females, & deceased females. Post 22
- convicted kidnapper and rapist who was suspected of murdering more than 30 women, but was never tried nor convicted of those crimes. He was called the "Vampire Rapist" because he drained the blood of his victim almost to the point of death while he repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

--------------------------
James KOWALSKI (incarcerated)
- possible ties to Kensington
- Child poronographer
- in a rock band, hung around young people.
- suspect in disappearance of George "Junior" Burdinsky
- There are a number of 1993 Washington Post articles about James Kowalski and his trials for child poronography and for child molestation.
- His convictions were for innapropriate actions with young boys ages around 11 and 12. No references to molestation or kidnapping of young girls. Although suspected of being involved with the disappearance of George "Junior" Burdynski, he was never charged or convicted in that regard.

----------------------------
Robert RELDAN (incarcerated)
- from New Jersey
- On Parole in NJ May 1974
- committed two double abduction/murders of young girls in August and December of 1974
- killed four more girls in October 1975, two of them in a double abduction/murder
- known to cross state lines to abduct, murder, and dispose of victims.
- age 35 in 1975.
While it is not known if Reldan was in Maryland in March 1975, he was known to have been out on parole and actively committing abductions, rapes and murders before and after that date in nearby New Jersey.
Should be considered a possible suspect in the disappearance of two NJ boys; Stephen Anderson and David Williams in April 1975.
Post # 118

-----------------------
Gerald STANO (deceased)
Stano was a Serial Killer of young girls and women during the time that Sheila and Kate went missing. Stano was born in New York, moved with his adoptive family to Pennsylvania as a child, and later lived in Florida. Not known if he was in Maryland in 1975.
Post # 125

-----------------------
Andre RAND (incarcerated)
Not known if he was in Maryland on 25 March 1975, he was active as a serial killer of children at that time, and similarities in victims and circumstances with his known crimes and that of the Lyon case bear looking into.
Post # 126

-------------------------
Richard Charles HAEFNER (deceased)
A 25 year old Geology student at Penn State University in 1969. Haefner is considered a potential suspect/ Person of Interest in the murder of Graduate Student Betsy Aardsma.
Investigators consider him a person of interest in the Ardsma case due to his strange behavior before and after her murder, his later history of violence towards women, and a history of Pedophilia. He had an explosive temper which led him into conflicts with police and others on numerous occasions.
Not known if he was in Maryland in March 1975. He would have been 30 or 31 years of age then. He was a resident of Lancaster, PA, which is not far from Maryland. In 1975, three young girls disappeared from places in Pennsylvania which were not far from Lancaster.
On August 15, 1975, he was arrested by Lancaster police and charged with corruption of minors and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. The alleged victim was a 12-year-old boy who claimed that Haefner, who employed him and other youths in a small family business, had engaged in sexual contacts in a garage which was part of the business premises.
Haefner denied the charges and over the course of several years, was exonerated of all wrongdoing via multiple mistrials. In 1994, he again appeared before a judge for aggravated assault of a police officer and disorderly conduct. He was also charged with tampering with a witness and criminal mischief—puncturing the tire of a 1989 Pontiac. The tool he used was a sharpened screwdriver.
Haefner died 19 March 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada of a heart attack.
Post # 131

-----------------------
Montie Ralph RISSELL (incarcerated)
Montie Rissell was a sexual deviant from an early age. He committed his first rapes when he was only 14-years-old.
He was arrested for rape while a minor and sent to a juvenile institution. He managed to leave the institution and raped several women until he was picked up and returned.
At age 18, Rissell was released from Juvenile Detention. He soon committed his first murder while raping a woman in his own apartment.
By his age 19, he was arrested for committing a series of murders of women in Alexandria, and Fairfax County, Virginia. Alexandria, VA is within the Washington DC Metropolitan area and not far from Wheaton, MD. These murders occurred in the 1976 to 1977 time frame.
Each murder was more violent than the previous one. He stabbed his last victim 50 to 100 times. He was arrested and sentenced to five life terms in prison.
He may have been in Juvenile Detention when the Lyon Sisters went missing, but since security at the facility seems to have been minimal, it is worth mentioning him as a potential person of interest in some of the cases discussed in these threads.
Although his "known" murders are said to have started in 1976, it is possible that he started earlier.
Rissell was convicted and given five life terms in prison, but comes up for parole once every year.
Post #132

-------------------------------------------
Rodney ALCALA (incarcerated)
AKA The Dating Game Killer
There is no evidence to indicate that Rodney Alcala was in Maryland during the spring and summer of 1975, but from the below article, it is aparent that he was in both New York and California in the 1970's.

Alcala would have been about 31 years old when the Lyon Sisters went missing.
He is called "The Dating Game Killer" because he once appeared on that TV game show, and actually was chosen over two other contestants as the "winner". The girl who chose him, however, declined to actually go out on a date with him because he seemed a little creepy to her.
A jury convicted Alcala on February 25, 2010 of killing Robyn Samsoe, 12, as well as Jill Barcomb, 18, who had just moved to Los Angeles from Oneida, N.Y.; Georgia Wixted, 27, of Malibu; Charlotte Lamb, 32, of Santa Monica; and Jill Parenteau, 21, of Burbank.

After the California convictions, Alcala was charged with murdering two 23-year-old women in New York City in the same decade.... In New York, Alcala is charged in the 1971 strangling of flight attendant Cornelia Crilley and the death of Ellen Hover, daughter of a one-time Hollywood nightclub owner. She disappeared in 1977; her remains were found the next year in the woods on a suburban estate.
Post #133

--------------------------
Unknown suspects...

Unknown person dubbed The Tape Recorder Man on these threads. He may or may not have been involved in the disappearance of the girls, but was seen talking to them shortly before they disappeared.

Unknown Suspect dubbed the Pennsylvania Strangler (1976-1977)
Although the victims of this Never Identified Suspect were somewhat older than the Lyon sisters, this series of related homicides were very close in time and geographical vicinity to Montgomery County, Maryland, and also to other possibly connected disappearances discussed in these threads.

The "Green Vega" serial rapists, so called because they abducted women in a green Chevrolet Vega. Active in the Washington DC Metropolitan area in the early 1970's.

The "Freeway Phantom" who abducted and murdered young black girls in Washington DC and Prince Georges county, Maryland in the early 1970's.

 

[Richard]

Here is an interesting blog spot on Michael Edward Pearch, who went on a shooting spree in Wheaton Plaza 19 days after the Lyon Sisters went missing.

http://sidewiseinsights.blogspot.co...howComment=1357537917851#c2956234444394044689

 

[Richard]

Here is a link to more information on Nathaniel Bar-Jonah (real name David P. Brown). He would have been only 18 at the time of the Lyon Sisters' disappearance and in 1975, he lived in Massachucetts.

All of his known and suspected victims were young boys.

http://crime.about.com/od/murder/p/db_barjonah.htm

 

[NocturnalLady]

Here is an interesting blog spot on Michael Edward Pearch, who went on a shooting spree in Wheaton Plaza 19 days after the Lyon Sisters went missing.

http://sidewiseinsights.blogspot.co...howComment=1357537917851#c2956234444394044689

It certainly is one of the strange sidelines of this case that this shooting spree occurred in Wheaton Plaza so soon after the Lyons sisters disappeared. I doubt it has anything to do with this case other than that the high profile of Wheaton Plaza at the time possibly lead to it being chosen as the site for the shooting by Pearch - who was probably planning or fantasizing about his attack already.

 

[Richard]

It certainly is one of the strange sidelines of this case that this shooting spree occurred in Wheaton Plaza so soon after the Lyons sisters disappeared. I doubt it has anything to do with this case other than that the high profile of Wheaton Plaza at the time possibly lead to it being chosen as the site for the shooting by Pearch - who was probably planning or fantasizing about his attack already.

It is certainly possible that these two sad events are not connected. However, with no solution to the Lyon Sisters's disappearance, the possibility of Pearch being involved is intriguing.

Pearch had been depressed in the previous weeks and months. He had been living in a very remote place and commuting back to the Kensington/Wheaton area in his own vehicle (a green Volkswagon).

Although Pearch had no previous charges or suspected involvement in crimes of any kind, he did surprise everyone with his aparently unprovoked shooting spree. As you state, he may have been planning it for some time in advance.

Any attempt to explain Pearch's motivation for the shootings is only speculation, but one possible explanation is that he wanted to commit suicide by police for some reason. Could that reason be that he had something to do with the girls' disappearance?

In retrospect, Pearch proved capable of acting in a very coldblooded and calculating manner. He was skilled in the use of weapons and carried a pistol where ever he went. By his own statements to others, he had engaged in the use of disguises (including as a police man), and had taken part in kidnapping while in army counterintelligence.

Now, his self claimed experience in kidnapping might have been untrue, but the fact that he claimed it, indicates that it was a real possibility in his mind.

Pearch's mother lived only a few blocks away from the elementary school that Katherine Lyon attended. He drove to Wheaton Plaza and other nearby stores often. He knew the neighborhood and residential streets of Kensington better than any of the other potential suspects mentioned in these threads.

IF.... Pearch had abducted Sheila and Kate, he could have departed with them Immediately for his remote farm in Friendsville, MD. There is no indication that police ever considered him a suspect and no indication that they searched the farm for anything other than possible evidence regarding the shooting spree.

In the end, no one can say whether or not Michael Edward Pearch had anything to do with the missing Lyon sisters. And no one can say with any certainty why he shot all the people on that tragic day in Wheaton.

 

[NocturnalLady]

It is certainly possible that these two sad events are not connected. However, with no solution to the Lyon Sisters's disappearance, the possibility of Pearch being involved is intriguing.

Pearch had been depressed in the previous weeks and months. He had been living in a very remote place and commuting back to the Kensington/Wheaton area in his own vehicle (a green Volkswagon).

Although Pearch had no previous charges or suspected involvement in crimes of any kind, he did surprise everyone with his aparently unprovoked shooting spree. As you state, he may have been planning it for some time in advance.

Any attempt to explain Pearch's motivation for the shootings is only speculation, but one possible explanation is that he wanted to commit suicide by police for some reason. Could that reason be that he had something to do with the girls' disappearance?

In retrospect, Pearch proved capable of acting in a very coldblooded and calculating manner. He was skilled in the use of weapons and carried a pistol where ever he went. By his own statements to others, he had engaged in the use of disguises (including as a police man), and had taken part in kidnapping while in army counterintelligence.

Now, his self claimed experience in kidnapping might have been untrue, but the fact that he claimed it, indicates that it was a real possibility in his mind.

Pearch's mother lived only a few blocks away from the elementary school that Katherine Lyon attended. He drove to Wheaton Plaza and other nearby stores often. He knew the neighborhood and residential streets of Kensington better than any of the other potential suspects mentioned in these threads.

IF.... Pearch had abducted Sheila and Kate, he could have departed with them Immediately for his remote farm in Friendsville, MD. There is no indication that police ever considered him a suspect and no indication that they searched the farm for anything other than possible evidence regarding the shooting spree.

In the end, no one can say whether or not Michael Edward Pearch had anything to do with the missing Lyon sisters. And no one can say with any certainty why he shot all the people on that tragic day in Wheaton.

I have my doubts about Pearch being the person who abducted the sisters -mainly based on the racial aspect of his shootings - unless the racial aspect is a red herring & just a coincidence?? But the information about him seemed to imply that he was choosing the victims that he shot and that he had willingly passed by white people in order to shoot at black people. So the racial aspect seems to me to be incongruous with the abduction of two little (white) girls. Of course Pearch could easily be a pedophille AND a homicidal racist.

I agree that Pearch was probably hoping for a suicide by cop end to his shooting spree. Given his military background it seems to me that he fits the profile of the rage filled narcissist who is suicidally depressed but also views himself as a "soldier" avenging the wrongs that society has done to him. To me this does not really fit the profile of the person who probably took the Lyons sisters.

However - I find it incredible that the farm associated with Pearch was never searched. Given the coincidence in place and time of these two very out of the ordinary crimes I would think that a full scale search of any place associated with Pearch would have been essential.

Was any place other than the farm you mentioned ever searched with an eye toward possibly solving the Lyons sisters case? It's amazing to me that no one seized on the possible remorse angle that you mentioned as being a motive for his crimes.

Also - I wonder has a professional profiler ever done one for the Lyons case?

It's so frustrating because it seems like so much more could have been done at the time and so much more could still be done today that could lead to solving this case. I don't think it's one of those cases that was just doomed to go cold and never be solved - at least not until every avenue has been exhausted.

 

[Richard]

I have my doubts about Pearch being the person who abducted the sisters -mainly based on the racial aspect of his shootings ...

... However - I find it incredible that the farm associated with Pearch was never searched. Given the coincidence in place and time of these two very out of the ordinary crimes I would think that a full scale search of any place associated with Pearch would have been essential.

Was any place other than the farm you mentioned ever searched with an eye toward possibly solving the Lyons sisters case? It's amazing to me that no one seized on the possible remorse angle that you mentioned as being a motive for his crimes.

Also - I wonder has a professional profiler ever done one for the Lyons case?

It's so frustrating because it seems like so much more could have been done at the time and so much more could still be done today that could lead to solving this case. I don't think it's one of those cases that was just doomed to go cold and never be solved - at least not until every avenue has been exhausted.

By the time of the Pearch shooting spree, Montgomery County Police had been working round the clock with its entire force on the Lyon case. They were following every lead imaginable, including every call that came in to them (many of them crank calls and mistaken identity sightings).

The Lyon Sisters case and the Pearch shootings were never considered as being connected by police. They were treated as two entirely separate crimes.

As to places searched, police went to the Kensington home of Pearch's mother looking for evidence in the shooting case. They found two "long guns", one was a shotgun that he had bought for his mother "to use for protection." They also removed a number of books and personal items.

A few days later, two police officers were sent to Friendsville to the farm. Again, they were specifically looking for evidence related to the shooting spree. It was a one day round trip which included about six hours of driving. Nothing of importance was found there, according to MCP press releases. Obviously they did not spend much time searching the farm. They did interview some people in the town.

A reporter located Michael Edward Pearch, Senior - father of Michael Pearch, Jr. the shooter. He had been located by Pearch in Pittsburg and they had a reunion after many years of separation. After their reunion in Pittsburg, the elder Mr. Pearch paid his son a visit at the Friendsville Farm. He reported being surprised at the large number of guns that his son had at the farm and referred to it as "an arsenal". He stated that his son had a shooting range outside the farm house and did a lot of target shooting.

Police reported finding no such arsenal - no weapons - no ammunition - no spent shell casings - nothing of importance. What happened to that large gun collection? The only weapons reportedly recovered by police were the two long guns from his mother's house, the .45 automatic pistol he used in the shootings, ammunition and magazines in a pouch, and a hunting knife which was taped to his chest.

Regarding a profile being done on a possible abductor in the Lyon case, I think that was done by the FBI at some point years later, but if so, it was never released to the press or public. The FBI did not have a Profiling Unit in 1975, to my knowledge.

Investigators tried to find reasons or explanations as to why Pearch went on his shooting spree, and they did come up with a pretty good over - all profile on him, but could not come up with a motive or reason for his having begun his shooting rampage.

 

[Richard]

Thomas Francis Edwards: Bethesda killer, potential Lyon suspect...

Thomas Francis Edwards was a 31 year old resident of Bethesda, Maryland in March of 1975. He was a suspect in two January 1970 murders, but had never been charged.

The victims of those two murders were Sherry Kennedy, age 14, and Catherine Kalberer, age 39.

Edwards was not in the news or on the radar as a suspect in the Lyon sisters' disappearance in 1975, but he was quite likely in the area.

In 1981, he was living in California when he shot and killed 12 year-old Vanessa Iberri in Orange County’s Cleveland National Forest. Iberri’s 12 year old friend, Kelly Cartier, was also shot in the attack but survived to stand witness against Edwards. No motive was ever established. The girls were on a camping trip with Iberri’s mother when Edwards' truck pulled up and he called, “Girls.” They turned and Edwards shot them with one bullet each from his pistol.

Nine days later, following a nationwide manhunt, Thomas Francis Edwards was captured at a Holiday Inn in College Park, Maryland. He was extradited to California to stand trial.

Edwards was tried and convicted of murder and attempted murder of the California girls, and he was sentenced to death. After 22 years on death row, he died of natural causes in February 2009.

Coincidentally, that same month, DNA tests run on a field jacket obtained in a 1970 search of Edwards' home by Montgomery County Police confirmed that Edwards had indeed murdered Sherry Kennedy and Catherine Kalberer back in 1970.

Montgomery County Cold Case detectives quietly closed the two previously unsolved cases and kept that information secret from the public until 25 January 2012, when the story was broken by a news reporter. MCP then confirmed the story, three years after closing the cases.

Could Thomas Francis Edwards have been responsible for the disappearance of Sheila and Katherine Lyon?

He is now KNOWN to have attatcked a 14 year old girl in 1970 and two twelve year old girls in 1981. What was he doing between those years?

Bethesda is not far from Wheaton Plaza...