Murders of Katherine and Sheila Lyon
Katherine and Sheila Lyon | |
|---|---|
Sheila (left) and Katherine Lyon | |
| Born | Katherine Mary Lyon March 29, 1964 Sheila Mary Lyon March 30, 1962 |
| Disappeared | March 25, 1975 Wheaton, Maryland, U.S. 39°02′12″N 77°03′18″W / 39.0367°N 77.0551°W |
| Died | c. March 26, 1975 |
| Cause of death | Undetermined, homicide |
| Resting place | Unknown. Possibly Taylor's Mountain, Thaxton, Virginia 37°23′24″N 79°40′02″W / 37.3899°N 79.6673°W (approximate) |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | The Lyon Sisters |
| Occupation | Students |
| Known for | Missing persons Murder victims |
| Height | Katherine: 4 ft 8 in (1.42 m) Sheila: 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) |
| Distinguishing features | Katherine: Caucasian female. 85 pounds. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Birthmark on inside of upper thigh. Sheila: Caucasian female. 100 pounds. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Far-sighted. Wears spectacles with gold wire rims. |
The murders of Katherine and Sheila Lyon were the abduction, sexual abuse and murder of two sisters – aged 10 and 12 respectively – who disappeared from a shopping center in Wheaton, Maryland, on March 25, 1975.
Described as a crime which shattered the innocence of the suburbs of Maryland, the disappearance of Katherine and Sheila Lyon initiated one of the largest police investigations in the history of the Washington metropolitan area, although their fate would remain unknown for thirty-eight years, by which time their disappearance had long become a cold case.
A re-investigation of the sisters' disappearance in 2013 led detectives to charge a convicted child sex offender named Lloyd Lee Welch Jr. with the first-degree murder of the Lyon sisters. Welch was indicted for their murders in July 2015; he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in September 2017 via a plea bargain in which he admitted to participating in the girls' abduction, but not their sexual assault and murder. He was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 48 years' imprisonment.
The bodies of Katherine and Sheila Lyon have never been found, although authorities believe their bodies were burned and buried upon a remote mountain in Bedford County, Virginia. Furthermore, prosecutors have named other members of Welch's family – including his uncle – as persons of interest in the girls' abduction, abuse and murder, although no other individuals have been charged due to insufficient evidence.