Sheila and Katherine Lyon.
Montgomery County, Md., Police Department / AP
Authorities on Wednesday announced a man had been charged with two counts of murder over the 1975 disappearance of two sisters who vanished after walking from their home to a Maryland mall.
Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr., a 58-year-old already serving a prison sentence for child sex offenses, was indicted by a grand jury on Friday and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the cold case of missing sisters Sheila Lyon, 12, and her 10-year-old Katherine.
The two girls vanished after leaving their home in Montgomery county to walk to the Wheaton Plaza mall on March 25, 1975 to look at Easter decorations, but never returned home. No trace of the girls was ever found.
"This case has never left the collective consciousness of this police department, nor our community," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said Wednesday at a news conference, which was attended by John and Mary Lyon, the parents of the two girls.
A 1977 mugshot of Lloyd Lee Welch Jr.
Montgomery County, Md., Police Department / AP
After spending 16,000 hours investigating the cold case in the last two years, authorities began presenting evidence to a grand jury in October 2014, culminating with Friday's indictment against Welch.
The pair were allegedly murdered by Welch "during an abduction with the intent do defile,” Randy Krantz, Commonwealth attorney for Bedford County, Virginia, told reporters.
At the time of the sisters' disappearance, Welch was an 18-year-old carnival worker and drifter. Last year, was named as a person of interest in the case, with authorities saying he was at the mall the day the girls vanished.
According to court documents reviewed by the Washington Post, the cold case breakthrough came two years ago when authorities determined Welch matched the description given by a friend of the sisters of a long-haired man seen staring at the girls. A police sketch artist drew a portrait of the man the girl described, with police alleging the sketch matches a 1977 mugshot of Welch.
However, police originally investigating the disappearance instead concentrated their initial investigations on a different suspect: an older man seen speaking to the children while holding a briefcase with a microphone.
According to police, Welch returned to the mall the week after the girls' disappearance to tell investigators he too had seen the man with the briefcase and has spotted the man forcing two girls into a car. When police later questioned him using a lie-detector, he then admitted to concocting the narrative.
According to the Post, court documents reveal that Welch told investigators recently that he was indeed the long-haired man.
Soon after the girls disappeared, Welch allegedly arrived at his cousin's property carrying a duffel bag of bloody clothes, the Post reported.
Welch has an extensive criminal history, the Post reported. He has served two stints in prison on theft charges, and was sentenced to 18 months in jail in 1992 after he molested a 10-year-old girl who had been staying with him and who slept in his bed after watching a horror movie. Three years after his release, he abused another 10-year-old girl over the course of more than a week and is currently imprisoned in Delaware.
Authorities stressed Wednesday that their investigation into the girls' disappearance is continuing.
Officials also announced that a relative of Welch, Patricia Ann Welch, was charged with perjury after allegedly lying to the grand jury.
“The abduction of Sheila and Katherine Lyon has haunted this community and this police department,” Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger told reporters.
Manger said his officers have "never given up on finding these girls."
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1JijvaD
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