1975 Missing Girls Cold Case Rejuvinated- Brandi McLeain 1st Period

     About 40 years ago, two girls, Sheila and Katherine Lyon, were reported missing in Maryland when they didn't come home one day. It was 1975 and the girls were 10 and 12 with their birthdays just days away, they were born within 2 years and a day of each other and were walking around town going shopping. Something that wasn't considered uncommon or unsafe at time. Their older brother, Jay, who was 15 at the time, told police he saw his sisters eating pizza at the local parlor before 4 p.m. Their mother told them they needed to be back by 4 and an eyewitness reported seeing them walking in the direction of their home, saying they would have made it there on time, had they made it there. At 7 p.m., the police received a missing persons report from their parents. From the beginning of the investigation, there weren't many leads to go off of before Tuesday, February 11, 2014. It is now (roughly) 40 years later and the police, including Jay, the older brother, now think they have a new lead. Convicted sex offender Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., 57, who's been serving a prison sentence in Delaware since 1997 was seen observing the girls the day they went missing at the plaza they were at. If alive, the women would be now 48 and 50 years-old. Their older brother and their parents had given up hope before this new "suspect" was reported. They had a cemetery stone with the days they were born to the day they went missing engraved on them. But now, they have hope again.


I chose to report this story because it gave a family hope. The chances of these girls still being alive are slim, but it is possible. It is sad that the police never really had any strong leads, especially for this family, but I think there is a reason that the case has been re-opened. The family had already had its closure and given up, but with this new lead, they have hope that their sisters/daughters are still alive and fighting to come home. I'm a sucker for a good story about hope and I hope these two (now) women find their way back to their family.