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Katherine Mary Lyon (aged 10), and Sheila Mary Lyon (aged 12) were sisters who disappeared without a trace during a 1975 trip to a shopping mall in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.. Known colloquially as The Lyon Sisters, their case resulted in one of the largest police investigations in Washington Metropolitan Area history. It has long been "one of the most high-profile unsolved cases in the D.C. area."〔 The girls' remains have never been found. In 2013, a team of cold case investigators with the Montgomery County, Maryland, police made a break in the case. They focused on Lloyd Lee Welch, by then serving a lengthy prison sentence in Delaware for child sexual abuse, the culmination of a long criminal record that had begun a few years after the girls' disappearance with a burglary arrest in their jurisdiction. During the original investigation, records showed that he had come forward a week afterward and claimed falsely to have seen the girls being abducted; he later failed a lie detector test but was not charged. However, the mug shot taken of him at that time showed a strong resemblance to a police sketch of a possible suspect who had been seen staring at the girls in the mall. Detectives began interviewing Welch in prison; he made statements that further implicated him although he continued to protest his innocence. One of his relatives told them he had helped Welch burn two heavy, bloodied duffel bags in Bedford County, Virginia. In July 2015 Welch was indicted and charged with the girls' murders there; his uncle is a person of interest as well.〔 ==Background to the sisters' disappearance== The two sisters were born to John and Mary Lyon in Kensington, Maryland. They had an older brother, Jay, who later became a policeman. Their father was a well-known radio personality at WMAL, a local radio station then held by the owner of the ABC Television affiliate in Washington and the now-defunct ''Washington Star''; he later worked as a victims counselor. Their disappearance continued to be featured in high-profile stories on the media for months. Located a half mile away from their home was Wheaton Plaza shopping mall (now Westfield Wheaton). On March 25, 1975, Katherine and Sheila Lyon were going to see the Easter exhibits. It was their spring vacation and they planned to have lunch at the Orange Bowl. They left home between 11:00 AM and noon. Their mother had instructed them to return home by 4:00 PM; when they had not arrived by 7:00 PM, the police were called and an extensive search was conducted.〔 Police felt comfortable enough with accuracy of this timeline to release it to the public. *11:00 AM to noon: The girls leave home. *1:00 PM: A neighborhood child tells investigators that he saw both of the girls together outside the Orange Bowl. He also told the investigators that the sisters were speaking to an unidentified man. *2:00 PM: The girls' older brother saw them at the Orange Bowl eating pizza together. *2:30 to 3:00 PM: A friend sees the girls walking westward down a street near the mall which would have been one of the most direct routes from the mall to their home. This is the final sighting of the sisters that is absolutely confirmed by the police. *4:00 PM: This curfew set by their mother passes. The girls are expected home and do not arrive. *7:00 PM: Police are called. The investigation and an active search by professionals begins. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lyon sisters」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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