turning point
This was the moment the cold case investigation changed direction.
Welch was no longer simply an unreliable young witness who had appeared at the shopping center after the girls disappeared.
Investigators now had reason to examine whether he might have been connected to the sisters themselves.
Authorities learned more about his history.
They discovered that Welch had been in the area at the time of the disappearance.
They learned about his subsequent criminal history.
And they discovered that he was already serving a lengthy prison sentence in Delaware.
The investigation had finally produced a viable suspect.
In February 2014, Montgomery County Police and the FBI publicly named Lloyd Lee Welch as a person of interest in the Lyon sisters’ disappearance.
For the first time in nearly four decades, the family and the public had a specific name to attach to the mystery.
The investigation moved to Virginia
Investigators
