Grand jury to convene in 1975 disappearance of Maryland girls

By Gary Robertson (Reuters) - A grand jury in Virginia will begin hearing testimony on Friday on the disappearance of two young sisters last seen at a Maryland mall nearly 40 years ago, as fresh leads and a second person of interest raise hopes of solving the case. The grand jury, convening in Bedford County, Virginia, will consider evidence in the case of Katherine and Sheila Lyon, aged 10 and 12, who witnesses saw talking to a man with a tape recorder at a shopping mall in Wheaton, Maryland, outside Washington. Police believe the girls, the daughters of a radio personality, were abducted and murdered, but no trace of them has been found. Their disappearance in March 1975 triggered what was then one of the largest police investigations in the history of the Washington metropolitan area. Police scoured an area near Taylor Mountain, in Bedford County, east of Roanoke, for at least a week in September, gathering possible evidence in the case. "We’re further along now and closer to a resolution than we’ve ever been,” Russ Hamill, an assistant police chief in Montgomery County, Maryland, told a news conference at the Bedford County sheriff’s office. Earlier this year, authorities said Lloyd Lee Welch, a 57-year-old drifter and carnival ride operator, was a person of interest in the case. Imprisoned in Delaware since 1997 on child sex-related charges, Welch has convictions for raping young girls in Virginia, Delaware and South Carolina. Police believe Welch was at the Wheaton Plaza Mall when the sisters disappeared. But they have declined to elaborate. At the news conference on Thursday, authorities said a man believed to be Welch’s uncle, identified as Richard Welch Sr., was now a second person of interest. The uncle, who is in his 70s, was believed to have been a security guard in the Wheaton area when the Lyon sisters disappeared, they said. “He is alive and we know where he is," Hamill said, urging anyone who knew either of the Welches to speak up. "Step forward and assist law enforcement and bring closure to this heart-wrenching matter,” he said. He said the uncle and other members of the extended Welch family are believed to have owned property in the Bedford County area in eastern Virginia, and may still own property there. (Reporting By Gary Robertson in Richmond, Virginia; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Peter Cooney)