http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/39-year-old-lyon-sisters-case-update-investigators-in-virginia-search-for-car/2014/11/20/2f890b88-70c1-11e4-893f-86bd390a3340_story.html
Authorities investigating the disappearance of two girls from a Wheaton shopping center nearly 40 years ago appealed to the public Thursday afternoon for information about a station wagon that might have been used in the abduction of the sisters.
Investigators specifically want to speak with anyone who knows about a station wagon, built in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The car might have been driven to Bedford County, Va., in 1975, and once it arrived, someone might have tried to hide it, perhaps in a barn or shed.
This is not the first time a station wagon has surfaced as a potential clue in the infamous case of Sheila Lyon, 12, and Katherine Lyon, 10, who were last seen March 25, 1975.
On April 7, 1975, a Prince William County man reported seeing two girls bound and gagged in the back of a moving station wagon in Manassas. That led police to search for a 1968 Ford station wagon with 1975 Maryland tags, according to press accounts at the time.
In a statement Thursday, the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office said a station wagon, which “has been associated with the crime,” was seen in Bedford “shortly after the abduction of Sheila and Katherine Lyon.”
Officials did not describe the car’s color or other characteristics, but they indicated that people should call if they remember seeing such a car being towed from a piece of property.
“This vehicle may have been hidden in, or removed from, a barn, shed or outbuilding,” the sheriff’s office said.
Russ Hamill, assistant police chief in Montgomery County, Md., said detectives are hopeful that someone has information about the car. “We believe it may still be located in the Bedford area,” he said.
After years of little movement in the case, detectives in Montgomery and Bedford have made significant progress this year. In February, Montgomery police announced that a convicted sex offender, Lloyd Lee Welch, was a “person of interest” in the case. Welch is serving a prison sentence in Delaware, but on March 25, 1975, the one-time carnival worker was at the Wheaton Plaza shopping center, where he seemed to pay special attention to the Lyon sisters, according to Montgomery officials.
More recently, in October, authorities identified a second “person of interest” in the case: Richard Allen Welch, the uncle of Lloyd Lee Welch. Richard Welch, who has lived in Prince George’s County, is believed to have worked as a security guard in the Wheaton area in the 1970s.
Neither man has been charged in the case. Authorities have declined to comment on what role they think either might have had in the disappearance or detail what evidence they have gathered. Thursday’s news release made no mention of the Welch family.
In a letter to The Washington Post, Lloyd Lee Welch denied any involvement in the sisters’ disappearance. “I had nothing to do with this and I told the police this,” he wrote. When a Post reporter knocked at the Hyattsville, Md., address listed for Richard Welch in October, a woman opened a window and said, “No comment.”
The Welch family owned land in the Taylor Mountain area of Bedford, which has become a focus of the investigation. A grand jury there has been meeting to investigate the case.
Authorities also announced that WMAL radio has reconfirmed its commitment to a $7,000 reward that was offered in 1975 for information leading to the discovery of the Lyon sisters.
“Although WMAL has undergone a series of ownership changes since 1975,” Bedford officials said Thursday, “Cumulus Media remains strongly committed to assisting in bringing closure to the Lyon family.”
Bedford officials ask that anyone with information call 540-586-7827.