Suspect Named In Cold Case Of 39 Years

Delaware Prisoner, Sex Offender, Named As Suspect In 39 Year Old Case of Missing Maryland Sisters

Facts:

Police Handout From 1975 That Pictures Both Lyon Sisters

• The girls disappeared on March 25, 1975 and were last seen at Wheaton Plaza (now known as Westfield Wheaton) in Wheaton, Maryland
•  Lloyd Lee Welch, a.k.a Michael Welch or Mike Welch has been named as a new person of interest in the case
• Welch is currently on his 17th of a 30 year sentence in Delaware for a sex crime against a young girl.
• He is due for release in June of 2026

A convicted sex offender who is currently serving time at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Facility outside of Smyrna, Delaware has been named by Maryland Police as a person of interest in the 39 year old case of missing sisters from Maryland. Lloyd Lee Welch, who also goes by the first name of Michael, has been incarcerated since 1997 on an unrelated sex-crime conviction. 

Past and Present Mugshots of Lloyd Lee Welch

The Lyon's case was one of the first and most notorious of its time and area.

The two girls disappeared on March 25, 1975 after visiting a shopping center in Wheaton, Maryland. The girls were on a spring break vacation at that time, and they were to be going to the mall for some pizza, window shopping, and an Easter exhibit. At 1 pm that same day, a neighborhood child told investigators that he saw both girls outside of a restaurant talking to an unidentified man. At approximately 3pm, a friend of both girls reported to investigators that they had seen them walking westward down a street close to the mall which would have been one of the most direct routes home from the mall. This is the last time that the police confirmed a sighting of the girls. At 7 pm, their mother reported the girls missing to police as they had a 4 pm curfew.

Lloyd Lee Welch is said to have been at the shopping center paying unusual attention to the two girls. At the time, he was a traveling worker for a carnival. It is not known if the carnival was set up at the mall at the time of the girls' disappearance

One police sketch shows an uncanny resemblance to Welch, who had long hair and a mustache at the time.

A Composite Sketch Of The Suspect In The Lyon Sister Case

Chief Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department said at a news conference, "If we could have charged somebody, we'd have done it." Being that all of the evidence that they have is circumstantial, prosecutors don't have enough to charge anybody in the matter. Police are hoping to uncover more evidence about Welch, whom is said to have lived in at least 24 different locations between 1974 and 1997.

Police did not answer when asked what, if any, new information had been uncovered.

"Memories will be bad, but we're hoping that if we can get any information, it will help us," Manger said.

If you or anybody you know has any information in regards to this crime, please call:
(800)225-5324 or go to the FBI Tip Submission Site.