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Lyon Sisters’ Abductor Snatched Girls To Exploit Them — Arrests In Coverup ‘Conspiracy’ Pending

By Shelley Hazen
Published on: 01:44 PST, Jul 17, 2015

One day in the spring of 1975, Lloyd Lee Welch, then 18, sauntered onto family property near Taylors Mountain in Virginia carrying two red-stained duffle bags. His cousin, Henry Parker, didn’t ask questions.

The duffle bags — now suspected to contain the remains of sisters Sheila and Katherine Lyon — smelled of decay; he told his cousin the blood was from raw hamburger, the Washington Post reported. They weighed about 70 pounds each, Reuters added.

Evidently satisfied with the answer, Parker helped his cousin throw the bags on the fire. It burned for days, according to WDBJ.

Forty years later, Welch is facing two first-degree murder charges in connection with the childrens’ deaths; Sheila was 12 and Katherine 10. Their parents, John and Mary, were at the press conference, during which authorities announced Lloyd’s charges and revealed the girls were taken in order to be sexually exploited, but said nothing and avoided reporters, the Associated Press reported.

Their remains have never been recovered, though court documents have revealed the discovery of bone fragments at the site.

“(Lloyd) has informed investigators that the Lyon sisters were taken so that they could be sexually exploited by him and (uncle) Richard Welch,” said Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown.

The detail that the girls were sexually exploited makes an already disturbing case even more haunting. Even worse is the fact that Lloyd served time for molesting one 10-year-old girl, and he is in prison currently because he exploited yet another. And with no bodies, investigators face an uphill battle convicting him, said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.

“This is a difficult case. No one could ever look you in the eye and tell you that a case that is 40 years old, in its 41st year of investigation, is not going to be a tough row to hoe.”

Since that day in 1975, several people have colluded to keep the police confused, and the disappearance of the Lyon sisters a cold case. After all these years, that web of lies may finally be disintegrating. More arrests are expected; Richard, his wife, and Parker are also persons of interest.

That day 40 years ago, the girls walked to the Wheaton Plaza mall to eat lunch, visit friends, and shop for Easter decorations. They were taken on March 25 and killed sometime before April 15, likely in Virginia. The detail that the Lyon sisters were kidnapped specifically to be sexually exploited came from Lloyd himself.

“We know what Katherine and Sheila were like… These were wonderful, wonderful, naive, young children,” McCarthy said.

At the time, their alleged abductor was 18, a carnival worker and drifter. In 1975, he told police that he was at the mall that day and saw the Lyon sisters get into a car with a man. Investigators didn’t pursue him as a suspect. Fast-forward to 2013, when a cold-case detective unearthed that interview. He compared a sketch derived from a witness who saw a man following the girls and found it was a “strong likeness” to Welch.

During this interview, he admitted that he left the mall with the Lyon sisters. The next day, he saw his uncle, Richard; one of them was being exploited sexually. Richard is a person of interest but hasn’t been charged.

Ultimately, the girls were killed so their “captors (could) escape detection,” added Sheriff Brown.

The alleged abductor said he had nothing to do with the Lyon sisters’ abduction and continues to incriminate his uncle. Welch is the first of many indictments; those who hampered the investigation, and perhaps even people who could’ve aided in the kidnapping, may be charged.

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