Could a station wagon -- 1960s or 1970s vintage, and possibly hidden in a barn or outbuilding in Bedford County, Virginia -- hold clues to the disappearance of two young girls almost 40 years ago?
Cold case investigators have been investigating new clues in the case of Sheila and Katherine Lyon, who disappeared March 25, 1975, after visiting a Wheaton, Maryland shopping center.
This year, the search turned to a property in Bedford County, Virginia, which was once owned by the family of 57-year-old Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., also known as Michael Welch. He was named a person of interest in February.
His uncle Richard Allen Welch Sr. of Hyattsville, Maryland, was named a person of interest in October.
Friday, the Bedford County Sheriff's Office said they are asking the public's help in identifying a late 1960s or early 1970s vintage station wagon that is now "associated with the crime."
No further description of the station wagon was given, but the sheriff's office said it "may have been hidden in, or removed from, a barn, shed or outbuilding." People with any information should call 540-586-7827.
Also Friday, WMAL radio said it intends to honor its commitment to a $7,000 reward for information that leads to the discovery of the girls. Sheila was 12 and Katherine was 10 when they disappeared.
WMAL has been bought and sold over the years since the girls disappeared, but remains "strongly committed to assisting in bringing closure to the Lyon Family," the Bedford County sherriff's department statement said.
The Lyon sisters' case is etched into the memories of several generations of Washington-area families. It shattered a sense of safety in the D.C. suburbs and made parents afraid to let their children out of their sight.
Police have zeroed in on Taylor Mountain in Southwest Virginia, where they are looking to recover evidence "that will hold those that harmed those girls responsible in a court of law." They believe the Lyon sisters are on the mountain.
Detectives have not found any remains, sources said, though neighbors in the area think police are searching for remains at a nearby cemetery.
The Bedford County Sheriff's Office confirmed that officers were assisting Montgomery County Police "with a homicide investigation."
They've said they're "very confident" they're close to finding out exactly what happened to the sisters.
The Bedford County Sheriff's Office also said cold case investigators had traveled to the area to meet with Bedford County authorities and Virginia State Police.
Richard Allen Welch Sr. of Hyattsville, Maryland, had worked as a security guard in the 1970s, and police believe he owned and may still own the Bedford Co. property being searched.
Half a dozen people have come forward and talked to police since Lloyd Welch was named, News4 learned. Each told similar stories of being approached at the Wheaton Plaza shopping center by a man with a badge accusing them of stealing something and attempting to grab them and lead them to a parking area.
Investigators believe all of those who came forward were teenagers when they were approached, and at least one of the reports happened two years after the Lyon sisters disappeared, said sources close to the investigation. Investigators are looking at that pattern of behavior.
Police want anyone who had a business in the area of Wheaton Plaza in the mid-1970s to check their records to see if they employed a security guard named Richard Welch.
On March 25, 1975, the Lyon sisters had planned a day at a local shopping center. They were on spring break, and wanted to get pizza for lunch and see the Easter decorations at Wheaton Plaza, now known as Westfield Wheaton Mall.
With less than $4, they left their home in Kensington, Maryland, and walked the half-mile or so to Wheaton Plaza.
There, a friend saw the girls outside the Orange Bowl restaurant with an older man who had a tape recorder and a briefcase, according to news and missing persons reports.
The girls were later spotted walking home, but by their 4 p.m. curfew, they hadn't arrived. By 7 p.m. that night, police had been called.
Later, a composite sketch was distributed of the man who seen talking to them. Tips flowed in, but to no avail.
Sheila and Katherine were never seen again.
In February, police identified a person of interest in connection with their disappearance. Lloyd Lee Welch Jr. is a convicted sex offender who has been in prison in Delaware since 1997 on a rape conviction. Welch was noticed paying attention to the sisters the afternoon they vanished, investigators said.
"Even though so much time has passed, we have not forgotten that those young girls deserve justice, and their family deserves closure," said Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger in February.
Welch is originally from the D.C. area. Between the 1970s and the mid-1990s, he traveled extensively through the United States while working for a carnival company with his girlfriend Helen Craver, police said.
Welch was charged with raping juveniles in Virginia and South Carolina. He was also arrested in a burglary not far from Wheaton Plaza. He was known to hitchhike throughout the D.C. area.
