Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 03/25/1975
- Missing From:
- Missing From Wheaton, Maryland
- Classification:
- Classification Non-Family Abduction
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 03/30/1962 (62)
- Age:
- Age 12 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’2, 100 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A navy blue sweatshirt, jean-cut wheat-colored Cheap Jeans corduroy pants with a rip on the back of the right thigh and an iron-on repair patch on the wrong side, a size 32 Teenform Lucky Start training bra, size 12 or 14 pleated bright yellow bikini-style underpants, bright orizonally striped socks (possibly orange and bright gold), and size 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 brown low-cut Gallenkamps sneakers with dirty white shoestrings.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Sheila is farsighted and wears eyeglasses with gold wire rims. Her name may be spelled “Shelia.”
- Details of Disappearance:
- On March 25, 1975, sisters Sheila and Katherine Lyon left their home in Kensington, Maryland, to walk to Wheaton Plaza mall, about half a mile away. It was the first day of Easter break, and they planned to see Easter displays and eat pizza.
Their brother saw them having pizza around 2:00 p.m. A friend saw them walking home around 2:30-3:30 p.m. This was the last time anyone saw them. They were supposed to be home by 4:00 p.m., and when they weren’t, the police were called.
The family received several threatening phone calls demanding ransom money. Someone demanded $10,000 be left in a courthouse restroom. The money was left, but never picked up. The caller claimed police stopped him.
A witness reported seeing girls who looked like Sheila and Katherine, bound and gagged, in a beige 1968 Ford station wagon in Virginia. The driver matched the description of a man who had been seen asking children questions at the pizza restaurant. The car had a partially visible Maryland license plate.
In 2014, Lloyd Welch Jr. and his uncle Richard Welch were named as suspects. Lloyd, who had a long history of sex crimes against children, admitted to being at the mall that day and to helping abduct the girls. He claimed his uncle sexually assaulted one of the sisters, and that his uncle and father killed and dismembered the girls, burning their remains on Taylor Mountain. Richard denied involvement.
Lloyd pleaded guilty to abducting the sisters (though not to killing them) and to unrelated child sex crimes. He was sentenced to a lengthy prison term. Although human DNA and possible blood were found at the suspect’s father’s house, it was too degraded to test conclusively.
Police believe there was a conspiracy, but haven’t been able to charge anyone else. Despite searches, the girls’ bodies have never been found. The case is considered a murder investigation.
- Agency:
- Montgomery County Police Department 240-773-5070
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 03/25/1975