then followed Welch’s history to Bedford County, Virginia.
Authorities had reason to believe that Welch had a connection to property on Taylor’s Mountain.
The remote Virginia location became central to the investigation because prosecutors eventually believed the sisters had been taken there after their abduction from Maryland.
Montgomery County Police worked with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police as investigators searched the area.
The search was difficult.
The terrain was remote and heavily wooded.
Investigators searched for evidence that might establish what had happened to the girls after they disappeared from Wheaton Plaza.
They were also looking for the one thing the family had never been able to recover: the sisters themselves.
The searches did not recover the sisters’ remains
Investigators conducted searches of Taylor’s Mountain in 2014 and again afterward.
The searches failed to produce the remains of Sheila or Katherine.
That fact would remain one
