Police get break, identify sex offender, in 1975 missing girls' cold case [Lyon sisters]

CNN ^ | February 11. 2014 | Ben Brumfield

[deks]

The two little girls [Katherine and Sheila Lyon] vanished nearly 40 years ago, their disappearance long faded from the public consciousness, their names etched in a stone marker their hope-sapped parents placed in a local cemetery.

But Maryland police have been tenacious about solving this cold case. And on Tuesday they breathed new life into it, when they announced a possible breakthrough.

Convicted sex offender Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., 57, who's been serving a prison sentence in Delaware since 1997, was near Sheila and Katherine Lyon on that March day in 1975 when they went missing, Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger told reporters Tuesday.

Welch was at a plaza that was among the last places that the two girls were seen alive, and he was observed paying attention to the sisters, Manger said. He declined to state how police obtained this lead.

After years of holding out hope, their parents gave up. Sixteen years ago, they set a marker for their daughters in a cemetery with their dates of birth and the date they went missing, the Washington Post reported.

But the police department has not forgotten Sheila, who was 12, and Katherine, who was 10, the day their older brother, Jay Lyon, saw them last.

Maybe, in part, that's because he joined the police force as a homicide detective just a few years after that.

[deks]

The video at the CNN link above tells about the abduction of the Lyon sisters in Montgomery County, Md. in 1975. Maryland police and the FBI are now seeking more information about a "person of interest".

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COPS: PERSON OF INTEREST ID'D IN MD. GIRLS' DISAPPEARANCE

Authorities said Tuesday at a news conference that Welch is believed to have been at the shopping mall on the day the girls disappeared and has been in a Delaware prison since 1997, reports CBS DC.

Authorities are seeking the public's help to learn more about Welch. Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or they can submit a tip online at http://tips.fbi.gov

click for CBS News article. . .

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At the Daily Mail article linked below there are several more pictures. A statement from the family is quoted also.

click for Daily Mail article. . .

Welch, pictured below, after an arrest for burglary in 1977.

Witnesses who saw the sisters on the day they disappeared provided details to create a police sketch, below.

Clues: Police are seeking information on Lloyd Welch and his then girlfriend Helen Craver, below.

All photo credits: Montgomery County Police

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[deks]

Yes, there is some resemblance to Ashton Kutcher in the last photo of Welch (but Getty Images cannot be posted here due to copyright).

[ArtDodger]

Investigators will soak up the credit but my guess is the guy blabbed during an incarceration, or a computer program compares known sex offenders’ locations with that of missing persons of yesteryear.
Very glad they are resolving this as I remember this tragedy well when it hit the airwaves. Just gripes me when I hear ‘Ace detectives crack the case because of their bull-doggedness and skill.’

[KosmicKitty]

I pray for the family that they finally found out what happened to those two girls. I think the only thing worse then having your kids die is to have them go missing!

[IYAS9YAS]

Yes, there is some resemblance to Ashton Kutcher in the last photo of Welch (but Getty Images cannot be posted here due to copyright).

Just curious, how would those be Getty's images, when they were provided by the police?

[deks]

Said a prayer for the family too. I hope there is enough evidence to convict if this is the man.

[deks]

Just curious, how would those be Getty's images, when they were provided by the police?

I was replying to billorites about the Ashton Kutcher picture that he posted at Comment #2.

[ridesthemiles]

Wash Aston Kutcher even born when this happened??

[nfldgirl]

Reminds me of a young couple-college freshman, I think - back in VA in the early 80’s, I believe. They were on a date, appeared to be “parking” in an area along the Colonial Parkway along the James River near Williamsburg - a popular spot - and disappeared without a trace. As I recall, dogs tracked their scent to the river’s edge and that was it. I think there were some belongings at the car, a wallet, I think, and other things, but they were gone, never to be heard from again. I always ached for their parents, having to live the rest of their lives never knowing what happened to their children.

[deks]

Was Aston Kutcher even born when this happened?

No, Kutcher was born in 1978, but if you look at the picture of the young Lloyd Welch in the picture above (with the girlfriend), you might see a resemblance between him and Kutcher.

[deks]

I always ached for their parents, having to live the rest of their lives never knowing what happened to their children.

Yes, I felt that way about the Lyon girls' family. I believe a great effort was made to find them. Their father was a well-known radio personality at WMAL then.

[IYAS9YAS]

Ah. Thanks!

[deks]

My apologies to Ashton Kutcher for all of the comments comparing his face to that of a possible predator-murderer.

The police are hoping that someone may see the pictures, so as to obtain more information and possibly solve this crime from 1975.

Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., now 57, and his then girlfriend Helen Craver, below

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!