A grand jury in Virginia has indicted Lloyd Lee Welch for first-degree felony murder in the case of the Lyon sisters, whose disappearance from a Wheaton shopping mall has remained unresolved for more than 40 years.
Prosecutors and police from Maryland and Virginia provided the update Wednesday afternoon in a press conference in Wheaton and also said that the sealed indictment was handed down July 10.
For the past 40 years, Montgomery County police have searched for clues in the disappearance of 10-year-old Katherine Lyon and her sister, Sheila, 12. The girls’ disappearance shocked the community and changed local parents’ views on whether their children should be allowed out alone.
Over the past two years, detectives have focused on convicted child sex offender Welch, naming him a person of interest last year. The former carnival worker is incarcerated in a Delaware prison.
Prosecutors from Bedford County, Virginia, where relatives of Welch own land, said they charged Welch with two counts of murder, one for each Lyon sister. But they said they couldn’t provide many key details because the case is still active.
The sisters were last seen just after 2 p.m. on March 25, 1975, walking between Wheaton Plaza, now Westfield Wheaton, and their Kensington home.
(1).jpg)
Photo: Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy exits the stage after the press conference. Credit: Andrew Metcalf
Police said in 2014 that Welch was at Wheaton Plaza at the time of the girls’ disappearance and was seen paying attention to the girls.
Since then, Montgomery detectives have partnered with police in Bedford County to search Taylor Mountain in Thaxton, Virginia, for clues related to the girls’ disappearance. Police are trying to determine if the girls were brought there at some point. Prosecutors said they couldn't detail what, if anything, they found on the mountain to lead to the murder charges.
Police are also examining whether Welch’s uncle, Richard Welch, may be involved in the girls’ disappearance. Police believe Richard Welch worked as a security guard at Wheaton Plaza during the 1970s.
Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said Richard Welch’s involvement in the case remains under investigation, but prosecutors said there was “non-cooperation” that has made resolving the case difficult.
Authorities served more than 50 search warrants, sent out dozens of subpoenas and conducted more than 100 interviews and interrogations over the last two years, Manger said.
Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Randy Krantz convened a grand jury to evaluate evidence related to the case last year. Authorities indicated that they haven’t found the remains of the Lyon sisters.
“I think the decision taken by Mr. Krantz was not taken lightly,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “If there is a method to prove a no-body case in the United States, we have reviewed it.”
McCarthy said prosecutors made a conscious decision to indict Welch in Bedford County rather than in Montgomery because they believed it would be best for the case.
"That does not mean other other jurisdictions can't bring charges," McCarthy said.
Earlier this month, the grand jury indicted Patricia Welch, Richard Welch’s wife, for allegedly lying to the grand jury during an interview.
The Washington Post on Monday cited police affidavits that said Lloyd Welch told investigators he was with the girls at Wheaton Plaza the day they went missing and that the next day he saw his uncle “sexually assaulting one of the girls at his uncle’s house in Hyattsville.”
.JPG)
Lloyd Welch was arrested in 1997 for sex offenses against young girls and pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse and unlawful sexual penetration in 1998. He is currently being held at the Vaugh Correctional Center in Delaware.
John and Mary Lyon, the girls’ parents, were at the Wednesday press conference.
“It has remained with us forever. This has never left the consciousness of this community, never left the police department,” McCarthy said. “If this helps the Lyon family, it’s a happy day for me. These are wonderful, wonderful people who have beared immeasurable loss.”
Montgomery County Council member Nancy Navarro, who represents Wheaton, said the girls' disappearance had a painful impact on the local community. She said it shifted the sense of safety that parents had about allowing their children to explore the community alone.
"The fact that children were able to walk to Wheaton Plaza and to just be children, that promise was broken," Navarro said. "I think it shifted and changed that sense of safety."
She thanked law enforcement and said the indictment, "sends a message that whatever happens in Montgomery County, we will continue and persevere until we get closure."
Photo (above left): John and Mary Lyon were at the Wednesday afternoon press conference with other family members. Credit: Andrew Metcalf
Photo (above right): A Montgomery County Police mugshot photo of Lloyd Welch from 1977
