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

[Richard]

DNA testing didn't exist until the late '80s, but wouldn't they have kept fluids, hairs, etc., for microscopic examination or blood-typing?

Kathy Beatty was found unconcious and barely alive in a trash strewn field near the K-Mart parking lot in Aspen Hill/Wheaton. Her head had been badly beaten, and she sustained other injuries as well.

Because she was still alive, she was immediately transported to the hospital, so any clothing on her went there.

Other than releasing information about a set of keys found near her in that field, no other specific evidence or clothing was made public. It is possible that such evidence exists, but I do not know for certain.

Certainly, the field where she was found could be considered a crime scene, but it is not necessarily the site of the attack on Kathy.

 

[CrimeSolver]

Richard, for my own curiosity, do you know the exact location of where she was found?
Looking at an aerial of Connecticut/Georgia Aves, I see big box stores on both the northeast and northwest sides of the intersection, so I'm not sure which is the Kmart. If I recall from the last time I read about this case, she was found in a garbage-strewn alley behind the Kmart, next to a stream. I don't really see anything that resembles a stream in the satellite view, though there's a pond of some sort on the northwest side.

Incidentally, although it doesn't sound like it's related, there's a cold case profiled at the Washington TV station that was linked in one of these Lyon threads awhile ago about some serial killings of exclusively black girls in the early '70s. You never know.

 

[Thrasher]

There has been tremendous development in the area of the Beatty murder since 1975; it was largely open ground beyond the K-Mart then, and now is densely populated.

It became notorious again in 2002, when the last of the DC Sniper murders occurred at a bus stop in the area of the Beatty murder site.

My assumption was that there was still some physical evidence from the Beatty case that could possibly be tied to Coffey, but I don't know.

 

[CrimeSolver]

So the scene is on the northeast side? The housing adjacent to that business on the northeast side does look newer.

Here's the cold case news series about the "Freeway Phantom". Even if it's most likely not related, it's interesting viewing.
Part 1: http://www.wusa9.com/rss/local_article.aspx?storyid=64825
Part 2: http://www.wusa9.com/rss/local_article.aspx?storyid=64836

 

[Richard]

Richard, for my own curiosity, do you know the exact location of where she was found?
Looking at an aerial of Connecticut/Georgia Aves, I see big box stores on both the northeast and northwest sides of the intersection, so I'm not sure which is the Kmart. If I recall from the last time I read about this case, she was found in a garbage-strewn alley behind the Kmart, next to a stream. I don't really see anything that resembles a stream in the satellite view, though there's a pond of some sort on the northwest side....

Using the intersection of Connecticut and Georgia Avenues as a reference point, Kathy's house, school and neighborhood is in the northwest sector. That is where she was last reported by several persons as having been seen.

The K-Mart is a large building (still there) in the northeast sector of the intersection. There is a fast food restaurant very near the corner of that sector, and just north of it is a 7-11 convenience store which was also there at the time. Just north of the 7-11 is a stream which runs roughly perpendicular to Georgia Ave and parallel to Connecticut. To the north of the stream is a steep uphill grade which now has office buildings on it, but in 1975 it was and area with a lot of large rocks, where teens went to party.

Although, I do not know the exact location of where Kathy was located, I believe that it was near this stream and the field surrounding it which the news reports refer to. Although not BEHIND the K-Mart, it could be stated as being Behind the K-Mart Parking Lot, as the entrance to the Parking Lot is opposite this area, facing Connecticut Ave.

There is a paved alley behind the K-Mart, with tall trees planted alongside it and uphill from there is a lot of property which was developed AFTER Kathy's murder. Although news reports state that she was found BEHIND the K-Mart, this alley area does not match the description of the stream and trash strewn field, which is to the NORTH of the K-Mart Parking Lot.

At any rate, Kathy was found across a very busy street (Georgia Ave) from her neighborhood.

In the Northwest sector of that intersection was a large office building and a parking lot owned by Vitro Laboratories. This may be the building that you see on the satellite view. It is in the same sector as Kathy's Neighborhood.

 

[CrimeSolver]

Richard, thanks for the detailed description. Clears up things. Now I get where she was found, and yes, it wasn't behind the Kmart.

Vitro Laboraties. Wait a minute! Is that not where Fred Coffey worked? I'm certain someone related to the Lyon case worked at a place called Vitro. You may have mentioned this coincidence in the past. I don't remember.

 

[Thrasher]

Not really a coincidence. When Montgomery County Police learned about Coffey in 1987, they learned that he worked at Vitro immediately after the girls disappearance, and then learned that he left Vitro and the area, under false pretenses, after it was made public that Kathy Beatty had initially survived the attack. It is this connection that made him a suspect in both cases.

As for the Freeway Phantom, those murders don't really fit the pattern Coffey established through several states. There is a very strong suspect, Robert Askins, in those cases, but like Coffey, he is in prison for life on other charges and no hard evidence to tie him to the crimes.

 

[CrimeSolver]

Ah, thanks for addressing those points. For the casual observer, it's hard to keep track of the mass of information in cases like this.

 

[Thrasher]

Crimesolver,

You can find just about everything there is to know about the Lyon case in the pages of this thread; plus a lot of free speculation about things that are not known. There is a great deal of conjecture about "Tape Recorder Man" at Wheaton Plaza that day, although still no one has been identified as this person, and there is no real evidence that he is associated with the disappearance. There is also speculation about the car seen in Manassas a few weeks after the disappearance, but this is almost certainly a hoax. Over the years, several possible suspects have appeared, usually with very precarious ties to the case, and nothing has come of any of them.

The reason some of us suspect Coffey strongly is that children have disappeared and/or been found murdered every place he has lived, and he has been tied to several of them. There were just not many violent predators against children in Montgomery County in 1975. The tape recorder activity is similar to other techniques he is believed to have used at shopping centers before and after. He arrived in the Washington area shortly before the Lyon girls disappeared, and he left suddenly shortly after the Beatty murder, which occurred a few hundred yards from his place of employment. He has been a suspect in many cases in several states, but will probably never be tried for most of them because he is serving a life sentence in North Carolina.

I monitor this thread just to make sure I know of any developments; I grew up practically in the shadow of Wheaton Plaza and this incident; I returned to the area years later, and have known the girls' father as a friend for many years, and even as a radio personality before that. If anything comes from this forum that can even provide a reasonable lead, it is well worth the effort. Fortunately, there have been some reliable posters to this site with solid background, especially "Richard."

 

[CrimeSolver]

Appreciate the summary, thrasher. I read every aspect of this case, but a year or so ago, and I can't remember every detail. Vitro Labs rang a bell, and if it's directly across from the Beatty murder scene, one can only assume Coffey is a strong suspect. I think it's also fair to assume TRM is the kidnapper of Lyons.
I agree with you that the car seen weeks later is probably unrelated. Is that the sighting of two girls tied up in a station wagon? Doesn't make sense that that sort of scene would play out weeks after the girls' disappearance.

 

[Thrasher]

Yes, it was weeks later, and 30 miles away. With an intense search all over the region in progress, its hard to think of a scenario where an abductor would tie them up in a car, then go out and drive in daylight morning rush hour, in stop-and-go traffic. He would certainly know he would be seen. The witness who reported it was deemed reliable, and I think he reported what he thought he saw - but I think he was either mistaken, or it was an elaborate hoax by the driver. In any case, no license plate matching the vehicle was found for DMT 6. They checked Maryland and other states, and I think similar combinations, and never found a match. With all the vigilantes pulling over every Ford station wagon they saw, its hard to imagine he could have escaped. I think the incident only got so much attention because there wasn't much else to go on at the time.

 

[thefirstman]

I am surprised that to date no-one on this Websleuth Lyon sister forum has put a theoretical sketch of what might of happened March 25, 1975. For what it is worth here is mine:

I believe that there are enough facts in this case that it could have been broken wide open in the first 4 to 12 weeks after March 25, 1975.

The girls were seen at Wheaton Plaza by friends and their brother.

They went on a day - the first day when public schools were off - therefore on a day when kids could be at the plaza in the middle of the day with a decreased likelihood of parental involvement.

They were seen talking to the TRM.

Once they went missing the TRM came to the awareness of the authorities.

Others reported seeing the TRM about in other shopping centers prior to March 25.

The TRM was seen leaving the Plaza shortly after conversing with the Lyon sisters.

The girls left the mall and were possibly/probably seen on side streets close to there home.

They then went missing without a trace.

Here is my version of what happened in the events leading up to that day and the day itself.

I believe the TRM was a sadistic, psychopathic, psycho-sexual deviant with a highly sociopathic mind. This man is a loner, extremely isolated, and he works hard to maintain his separateness from human contact.

TRM is fairly well disguised. He is well groomed. He has a brief case so that while coming and going he arouses minimal suspicion.

He had some encounter or experience with a microphone that turned him on to the idea that he could use this as a tool to bait child/children into his psycho-sexual fantasies.

He begins to try it and he has success in luring children into a false sense of comfort with him because he is in public. He is hiding in plain sight which is part of the satisfaction for him. He can lure children into his world, if only briefly, right in the light of day. Prior to the Lyon sisters those who may have been suspicious of him had nothing to call him to task for his weird behavior. Onlookers may have temporarily rationalized their discomfort with the notion that his microphone set up made him appear official.

TRM's problem was that his momentary acquisition of trust did not immediately translate into luring children into his car. He was having trouble, or difficulties, or challenges getting his ploy to land him a victim(s).

Most plazas or malls are set up so that parking surrounds the mall. So even if he got a potential victim to come trust him enough to talk to him he could not know where he or she would exit the mall on there way home. So he would park his car somewhere, say near an east side entrance to a mall, lure children into his scheme and then they would exit the south side.

He also did not know if they were alone or with a sibling or an adult who would call him to task out in the parking lot even if he had by chance parked near where a potential victim would leave. He could also be spotted by another shopper on their way into or out of the mall.

So what he did what multi-fold to help increase the likelihood that his microphone ploy would help him land a victim in his car.

He got to the plaza early on March 25 and watched the entrance closest to Kensington. He was VERY premeditated and therefore had already figured out that kids from Kensington walk through their neighborhood and approach the Plaza from the southeast corner. I believe you could walk into the Wards from that corner of the parking lot. He arrived at the Plaza early and staked it out.

When the Lyon sisters arrived he may have waited a bit, saw who else approached and then made his move.

Now what he needs is a potential victims last name. His plan is that he has a phone book and a map in his car. If he gets a last name he can return to his car look up the potential target's name, and then look up their home address. Once he lands their home address he looks it up on his map and then proceeds to their house and scouts out their route for their journey home.

He can look at family names on their neighbor's mailboxes and then look those up and increase his odds that he is a trustworthy fellow.

The Lyon sisters were perfect subjects in that they were girls walking alone. They may have easily volunteered their family name because their dad was in the public domain so in their innocent, naive minds a TRM was like their dad. Their dad was known by all anyhow so why would it matter to say their name.

It may have been that the girls said, "Our father is a disk jockey on the radio". TRM may have said "Oh yeah, which station?" One of the girls "WMAL." TRM may have replied "Which DJ is your father?" One of the sisters, "John Lyon."

From this point on TRM wants to flee the mall and return to his car. He plays it cool with them for a minute so as to not arouse suspicion. This works in his favor because he can ease out the interaction with them and begin the next stage of his plan.

Once he is out of the mall he looks up the family name and proceeds to their home. He stakes out the perfect pick up point and waits in his car. He may have even driven to their home and doubled back to the plaza by foot and then returned to his car. This could be done in about 10 to 12 minutes. This gives him the maximum advantage of knowing the way they most likely will travel by foot.

Once they cross his path he can make up any number of stories to further gain their trust.

Once in his car he has made sure that no potential victim can open a car door from the inside and their escape is near impossible.

 

[thefirstman]

My previous post puts out a theory of what may have happened March 25, 1975.

The particulars matter less. What matters more is that the cops needed to have a worse case scenario. It would need to include a psycho-sexual sociopath.

If this were the case then a logical next step would be to scan courts, and legal dockets in surrounding states for cases involving sexual predators. Especially child offenders. A total of 6 police officers calling and traveling to Penn., VA., Delaware, NJ and so on could have turned up names of potential people who have pending trials but have left town.

I cannot imagine that such an exploration would have turned up more than 50 names. That could have been narrowed down to those who are locatable in the immediate jurisdiction, say a town in Penn. and those who are no longer in the town where they have a pending trial.

Had Montgomery county police done that much they would have come up with Coffey's name and they could have potentially located him and investigated him in real time for this crime.

 

[thefirstman]

Maybe I am superimposing 2008, 20/20 hindsight onto a case 33 years old.

Maybe it would have taken an extremely forward looking police mind to even think to check out sexual predators from other jurisdictions.

What I believe today is that you have a man in prison for crimes that have a potentially very similar nature to the one committed here but somehow this convicted child murderer cannot even be questioned.

This is absolutely absurd! It is another slap in the face to the good citizens of Montgomery county.

Why should a child murderer have the right to anything?

 

[thefirstman]

One of the commandments - thou shall not steal - it does not mean thou sall not steal - it actually means

Thou shall not Kidnap! Thou shall not steal another person's life, freedoms.

Make no mistake that this kind of transgression in the Biblical sense earns people the death penalty.

For the sake of police pride, the memory of those lost children and especially that family, the Montgomery county police owe it to themselves and all others to use everything in their power to get to this guy Coffey and rule him out or try him and give him the death penalty.

Personally, I think that he could be given options of various cell mates to help him cooperate with authorities. Lets say one option is a cell mate that really does not like child murderers and another that say is less opinionated.

I have to believe that there are ways to get to the bottom of the questions that surround Coffey's involvement.

 

[thefirstman]

Jimmy's mother said that right after the news came out that the Lyon girls were missing, her son told her he had seen them at the plaza. But it wasn't until Friday that he mentioned anything about the man with a tape recorder, she said.

"On Friday, he said that the girls were talking to a reporter. I said, 'How do you know he was a reporter?' He said because he had a microphone. I told him that could have been anybody and notified police."

This is a quote taken from Richard's posting in the "Tape Recorder Man" thread. It is from the Washington Post and it is part of the interview from Jimmy who supplied the info for the sketch done by the police.

This confirms my sense of how children, in 1975, were given a 2nd class status by authorities and especially the police.

It just seems incredulous to me that the police did not make an immediate (the night of March 25 or the day of the 26th) request that those present at the mall reconvene to help collect any or all evidence.

Certainly employees and any or all willing shoppers could have come together to drill down and come up with any and all information relevant to the girls going missing.

Part of what the TRM counted on and he was correct, was that the community would be so taken off guard, so shocked, so pained that it would be paralyzed.

But the police had warnings of this kind of possibility and it was there job to NOT be paralyzed and overwhelmed!

More quotes from the same article as above mentioned:

After eight tense days, the investigation of the Lyon girls' disappearance is settling into the tiring, colorless and seemingly endless routine of tracking down one fruitless lead after another - remembering, the police often note, that it may take only one good lead to resolve the mystery.

Yesterday, specially trained tracking dogs from Philadelphia spent the morning sniffing the area behind Oakland Terrace Elementary School and Newport Junior High, where the girls are students, in a re-check of an area officers already have searched twice.

Police said the dogs turned up nothing. Their two day role in the continuing drama ended as have so many apparently hopeful starts - quietly, uneventfully, sadly.

"We don't have anything," one officer said yesterday. "We're right back where we started."


Why did it take 7 days to get dogs out there?

Why not the next day or two?

And the police did NOT have "nothing"!

They had an enormous amount of information really.

I think that the police refused to take seriously the possibility of child predators amongst us at the time. Such was not part of the collective consciousness of the community at large.

That said it WAS the responsibility of the police to be on a trajectory of taking such threats EXTREMELY serious and they simple did not.

 

[Richard]

The person referred to as the abductor/murderer of Laura Hoetelling was Haden Clark. He also abducted and murdered little Michelle Dorr in Montgomery County. See a more detailed post on him in the Suspect threads of this topic.

Haden Clark would have been about 23 years old at the time of the Lyon sisters' disappearance.

 

[Richard]

Jimmy's mother said that right after the news came out that the Lyon girls were missing, her son told her he had seen them at the plaza. But it wasn't until Friday that he mentioned anything about the man with a tape recorder, she said.

"On Friday, he said that the girls were talking to a reporter. I said, 'How do you know he was a reporter?' He said because he had a microphone. I told him that could have been anybody and notified police."

This is a quote taken from Richard's posting in the "Tape Recorder Man" thread. It is from the Washington Post and it is part of the interview from Jimmy who supplied the info for the sketch done by the police.

This confirms my sense of how children, in 1975, were given a 2nd class status by authorities and especially the police.

It just seems incredulous to me that the police did not make an immediate (the night of March 25 or the day of the 26th) request that those present at the mall reconvene to help collect any or all evidence.

Certainly employees and any or all willing shoppers could have come together to drill down and come up with any and all information relevant to the girls going missing.

Part of what the TRM counted on and he was correct, was that the community would be so taken off guard, so shocked, so pained that it would be paralyzed.

But the police had warnings of this kind of possibility and it was there job to NOT be paralyzed and overwhelmed!

More quotes from the same article as above mentioned:

After eight tense days, the investigation of the Lyon girls' disappearance is settling into the tiring, colorless and seemingly endless routine of tracking down one fruitless lead after another - remembering, the police often note, that it may take only one good lead to resolve the mystery.

Yesterday, specially trained tracking dogs from Philadelphia spent the morning sniffing the area behind Oakland Terrace Elementary School and Newport Junior High, where the girls are students, in a re-check of an area officers already have searched twice.

Police said the dogs turned up nothing. Their two day role in the continuing drama ended as have so many apparently hopeful starts - quietly, uneventfully, sadly.

"We don't have anything," one officer said yesterday. "We're right back where we started."


Why did it take 7 days to get dogs out there?

Why not the next day or two?

And the police did NOT have "nothing"!

They had an enormous amount of information really.

I think that the police refused to take seriously the possibility of child predators amongst us at the time. Such was not part of the collective consciousness of the community at large.

That said it WAS the responsibility of the police to be on a trajectory of taking such threats EXTREMELY serious and they simple did not.

I have to agree with your comments and observations. I have often wondered why police always seem so slow to bring a dog team in. The sooner, the better for a number of reasons. However, I recall reading that this dog team was called in from somewhere, which would indicate to me that the Montgomery County police likely did not have a trained dog and handler in their own department at the time. They likely worked with what they had first and only when nothing worked, did they start looking elsewhere for assistance.

It is my belief that the police received their best lead when "Jimmy" (not his real name) and his parents came forward with his report on the Tape Recorder Man. TRM generated some follow-on leads and is even today probably their best clue as to what became of the Lyon girls.

The later story of the IBM man possibly seeing the girls bound and gagged in a 1968 tan Ford Station Wagon made a reference to the sketch of TRM. Police very likely showed him the sketch of the TRM suspect and asked him if he thought the driver looked like him, because the news media implied that such a comparison was made.

Police questioned the IBM man several times trying to verify or debunk his story and he never changed it. They believed that he was sincerely reporting what he saw.

Your point about police attitude toward childred is well taken. I wonder if they ever subsequently questioned "Jimmy" about what he saw? "Jimmy" is the number one person whom I would seek out and re-question today regarding this case. Not only could details about the TRM be answered, but police would have an adult "Jimmy" perspective on what the boy "Jimmy" saw and reported.

Remember that "Jimmy" didn't come to the police on his own, he was brought there by his Mother and Father. The Newspaper account indicates that he was somewhat quiet and shy. So, this was not somebody trying to get his name in the paper or wanting to hob-nob with police. I have never seen anything which indicated that he was doing anything other than reporting what he saw and heard that day when he saw Sheila and Kate speaking with TRM.

What is the rest of the story? Did he later recall something that he was not asked about? Did he ever see the man again? Who was his friend and what does he recall of the incident?

 

[Rhett]

Richard, was there mall security back then? Were they ever questioned about the tape recorder man? Usually if someone is going to legally do something like TRM did they would let the mall staff know about it. Of course not if he was doing it for shady purposes. I do remember back in the 70's in Arkansas and Tennessee that people often interviewed people with tape recorders for surveys and such. I myself participated in a survey where a tape recorder was used in a mall.

 

[thefirstman]

I have to agree with your comments and observations. I have often wondered why police always seem so slow to bring a dog team in. The sooner, the better for a number of reasons. However, I recall reading that this dog team was called in from somewhere, which would indicate to me that the Montgomery County police likely did not have a trained dog and handler in their own department at the time. They likely worked with what they had first and only when nothing worked, did they start looking elsewhere for assistance.

It is my belief that the police received their best lead when "Jimmy" (not his real name) and his parents came forward with his report on the Tape Recorder Man. TRM generated some follow-on leads and is even today probably their best clue as to what became of the Lyon girls.

The later story of the IBM man possibly seeing the girls bound and gagged in a 1968 tan Ford Station Wagon made a reference to the sketch of TRM. Police very likely showed him the sketch of the TRM suspect and asked him if he thought the driver looked like him, because the news media implied that such a comparison was made.

Police questioned the IBM man several times trying to verify or debunk his story and he never changed it. They believed that he was sincerely reporting what he saw.

Your point about police attitude toward childred is well taken. I wonder if they ever subsequently questioned "Jimmy" about what he saw? "Jimmy" is the number one person whom I would seek out and re-question today regarding this case. Not only could details about the TRM be answered, but police would have an adult "Jimmy" perspective on what the boy "Jimmy" saw and reported.

Remember that "Jimmy" didn't come to the police on his own, he was brought there by his Mother and Father. The Newspaper account indicates that he was somewhat quiet and shy. So, this was not somebody trying to get his name in the paper or wanting to hob-nob with police. I have never seen anything which indicated that he was doing anything other than reporting what he saw and heard that day when he saw Sheila and Kate speaking with TRM.

What is the rest of the story? Did he later recall something that he was not asked about? Did he ever see the man again? Who was his friend and what does he recall of the incident?

Richard you are such a clear and thoughtful writer.

I was reading a thread recently in which the psychic from Holland had sent a cassette tape to MC Police. You stated that the national guard searched a piece of land east of gaithersburg on the northern tip of rock creek park.

This fascinates me and here is why: When I first began reading these threads on the Lyon sisters (God protect their souls) I thought to myself, What happened? What did he do? Think, how did he do it? I was searching my self to see if I could picture what it all looked like.

I have articulated my theory previously but after some weeks thinking about it I am even more convinced that it went something like this: TRM needed a last name to put his scheme together, OR, he simply understood that he needed to sit at the back of of Wheaton plaza and watch for potential young kids to walk through the woods. He could spy them come in without parental protection and know their approximate routes home.

If you parked by Wards you could inconspicuously watch children approach the mall and not be seen. I do not remember a way to drive through to neighborhoods from that part of the mall. TRM did not need that kind neighborhood access, he only needed a few minutes head start on an unsuspecting victim(s).

If the kids had mentioned their brother at the mall he could have lied to them about him, saying, "your brother got hit by a car and the police need your help". I imagine that a distant siren in the background could have helped in his vile deception.

Once he had the kids in his vehicle getting to the beltway is so easy from their neighborhood. He could have high tailed up the I-270, which was still a two lane country road at that time.

If it was Coffey, may his memory be blighted from mankind, he could have known the area that was searched because it had proximity to his hotel. When I imagined him doing this crime this is the area that I speculated him taking these precious, unknowing girls to live out his satanic crimes.

By the way none of us can trust our senses. Have you ever been searching your house for your keys while holding them in your hand? EVERYBODY was keyed up to find the Lyon sisters. Maybe their tormentor was transporting them, but it seems so unlikely.