Sheila and Katherine Lyon-sisters missing since 1975 - #1

[Jeb]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum but have watched the accounts posted here since October of 04 or 05. My heart goes out to the Lyon family as the anniversary date approaches and they will be in my prayers as usual.
I have some questions for Richard or anyone who may know. Also some thoughts have come to mind that I've wondered about for some time.

1. Since Fred Coffey, Jr. was in the area when the composites of TRM were in the newspapers April 1; 2; 4 and 17 and he applied at Vitro on the 1st and started work on the 27th why didn't anyone at Vitro recognize him as the man in the composite?

2. If Coffey was still in the area until supposedly seen transporting the girls somewhere on the 7th why didn't he see the composite and leave the area for good? Could he have been at a motel outside the metropolitan area with the girls?

This is not meant to discredit the possibility that Fred Coffey, Jr could have been TRM. It just seems strange to me that the composite was shown so often in April and he still went to work for Vitro and no one reported his where abouts at the time from either Vitro or a motel, etc. and it makes sense to me that if he was the one who went to MCP claiming responsibility for being the one with the recorder interviewing young girls it would have been to protect the job he had applied for at Vitro. That ploy could have worked very well for him back then but nevertheless he was seen talking to them just prior to their disappearance. MCP must have gotten his name when he talked to them. Wouldn't they have kept an eye on him after that?

3. What's the possibility he might have changed one of the letters on the license plate number that was seen in Manassas, VA by painting over it with black/white paint, i.e. changing a B to D. It wouldn't show up from a distance.

4. If he actually was transporting the girls on the 7th was it because he knew he got the job, had to transfer the girls elsewhere and went back to VA, TN or NC to get the belongings he would need to live and work in the MD area?
What exactly was going on from the time the girls disappeared until Coffey went to work at Vitro?

I'll have to return later.
Thanks.

1.Fred started work at Vitro 24Apr75. I was told by a reliable source that he did not apply for the job 1Apr75, as reported in many `Papers`. I saw TRM twice, and he appeared to be 50, 6 FT tall, 200 #`s. In reality Fred was 30 yrs. old,5 ft 9 inches tall,155#,s in 1975. How could I have been that far off ? The Police & newspapers suggested he may have altered his appearance(like dying his hair to make himself look older).If you consider the man I saw had flaired pants, & a suit jacket, this could have made him look heavier than he actually was. The TRM I saw was wearing shoes/boots with high heels which would put him at about 6 ft. tall. The composit sketch, age, height & weight were compiled from witness accounts.(could he have fooled everyone including me ?) These differences, would be all he needed to discuise himself, since he was from Bristol,Va., & nobody at Vitro a month later would have recognized him by the witnesses descriptions. Today, 31 yrs. later, I am 80% possitive that theTRM I saw, was none other than Fred Howard Coffey JR.
2. I don`t think Fred feared the composit scetch at all, particularly if his hair was now brown as indicated in his Vitro picture taken in Apr75. I also noted that his hair was brown when he was arrested in 1987. In NC women warned their daughters not to befriend the grey haired stranger, but when the grey haired stanger was arrested, it was non other than Fred who again had brown hair. Fred was known to have stayed at the Holiday Motel on Rt. 355 in Gaithersburg. It is however not known how long he may have stayed there. The Motel was somewhat isolated back then, about 10 or 12 rooms with a lot of construction workers renting at night & working during the day. Fred may have been able to come & go without notice. Also, which 'Fred' showed up at the Motel, the Fred with grey hair, or the Fred with brown hair? Again, from a reliable source, there were possibly 2 TRM`s & the one who claimed responsibility for talking to young girls, had never been to Wheaton Plaza, nor was he Fred Coffey. Fred`s name did not surface until 1987 when he was ch arged with the murder of a 10 yr. old girl. I have tried to answer `2` of your questions, to the best of my ability.

 

[Richard]

... I have some questions for Richard or anyone who may know. Also some thoughts have come to mind that I've wondered about for some time.

1. Since Fred Coffey, Jr. was in the area when the composites of TRM were in the newspapers April 1; 2; 4 and 17 and he applied at Vitro on the 1st and started work on the 27th why didn't anyone at Vitro recognize him as the man in the composite?

2. If Coffey was still in the area until supposedly seen transporting the girls somewhere on the 7th why didn't he see the composite and leave the area for good? Could he have been at a motel outside the metropolitan area with the girls?

This is not meant to discredit the possibility that Fred Coffey, Jr could have been TRM. It just seems strange to me that the composite was shown so often in April and he still went to work for Vitro and no one reported his where abouts at the time from either Vitro or a motel, etc. and it makes sense to me that if he was the one who went to MCP claiming responsibility for being the one with the recorder interviewing young girls it would have been to protect the job he had applied for at Vitro. That ploy could have worked very well for him back then but nevertheless he was seen talking to them just prior to their disappearance. MCP must have gotten his name when he talked to them. Wouldn't they have kept an eye on him after that?

3. What's the possibility he might have changed one of the letters on the license plate number that was seen in Manassas, VA by painting over it with black/white paint, i.e. changing a B to D. It wouldn't show up from a distance.

4. If he actually was transporting the girls on the 7th was it because he knew he got the job, had to transfer the girls elsewhere and went back to VA, TN or NC to get the belongings he would need to live and work in the MD area?
What exactly was going on from the time the girls disappeared until Coffey went to work at Vitro?...

Hi Shurl,

Welcome to Websleuths. Nice to meet someone who is also interested in the Lyon Sisters. You ask some good questions. Sounds like you have read most of the posts on this thread. I see that Jeb has answered some of your questions, I will try to answer what I can.

There are a number of issues connected with this case. Some of the discussions here relate to known facts about the case, some relate to observations made by witnesses and reported in the press, and some relate to possible suspects and to theories as to how the crime was committed. It is important to try to keep some things separate in your mind when considering scenarios and possibilities.

There are only a few "Known facts" in this case. The girls, Katherine and Sheila went to Wheaton Plaza on 25 March 1975, and were seen there by their brother and others who knew them. They were seen at the shopping center by a neighbor boy (who caught the same school bus with them every day). That boy and his buddy watched both girls being "interviewed" by a man in a brown suit with a tape recorder, whom they later described for police, and who is nicknamed the Tape Reocorder Man or "TRM" in this forum. The girls failed to return home at the appointed time of 4PM and their mother called police and reported them missing about three hours later.

Regarding TRM, he was probably the best lead that police ever got in the case. Many thousand tips came in to Montgomery County Police in the days, weeks, and months to follow, but TRM was actually seen talking to the girls by someone who knew the girls personally. It is possible that TRM had nothing to do with the girls' disappearance, but most folks who have studied the case seem to think that he was involved in some way. The fact that he disappeared at the same time the girls did and was never seen again as TRM strongly supports that belief.

Once the story hit the papers, there were many reported sightings of the girls here or there by people who were interested in the case, and who where trying to help, but most often the leads turned out to be cases of mistaken identity or suspicion. Each lead was checked out to some extent, but police were swamped due to all the media hype and press coverage in the DC Metropolitan area.

The story of the girls being seen in a beige 1968 Ford Station Wagon on 7 April 1975 was the next big lead in the case. The witness was an IBM executive who did not appear to have any reason to make up a story. He was re-interviewed by police numerous times over the years and never changed his story. Police believed him to be sincerely trying to help. He was not seeking publicity for himself, never gave any press interviews, and actually got a bit tired of the constant questions by police. He claimed to have related what he saw - but was it the Lyon Sisters?

Police attempted to track down that car and the license plate, but were never able to do so. Was it really the Lyon sisters in the back of that car? Impossible to say. The witness claimed to have seen girls in the back of the car, but he did not know the Lyon Sisters, and could not say that it was them. It is possible that someone was trying to perpetrate a hoax (there were several others including ranson scams). It is also possible that it was simply a car with children sleeping in back.

A strange part of the story is the DMT-6xx tag reportedly seen on the beige Station wagon. Maryland had blue license tags with white letters for several years. The pattern had been two letters followed by four numerals. In March 1975, the same month the girls disappeared, a new style of plate came out and everybody in Maryland had to have the new plates by the end of March (unlike today with tags expiring on the month of the driver's birthday). The new plates were white with 3 red letters followed by three red numbers. There was no state seal between them as there is today. So here we have a car supposedly sporting brand new Maryland plates and already it is bent. A couple possibilities:

- The plate was deliberately bent so that the number could not be seen.
- It could have been another state's plate. Several had that color and pattern, notably North Carolina.

Fred Coffey's name did not come to police attention until 1987. It is certainly possible that he may have had contact with police in 1975 for one reason or another, but he was not connected with the Lyon case until North Carolina authorities charged him with child molestation and murder. The man who claimed to be the "second TRM" was not Fred Coffey, but someone living in Prince Georges County at the time. I do not have his name, but have been told by police that he was not Coffey.

Only Fred Coffey knows where he was on 25 March 1975. Police have not (yet) connected him to the girls aparent abduction. Could he have been the Tape Recorder Man? Quite possibly, but not proven. Fred lived at the Holiday Motel in Gaithersburg - for at least a period of time while in Maryland. It is also possible that he may have stayed elsewhere, but not known for certain. I believe that his first day at work with Vitro Laboratories was Thursday, 24 April 1975.

One newspaper reported that Coffey had interviewed for his job there on 1 April, but police have indicated that this may be in error, and that he may have secured employment by a referral from Navy contacts - in other words, that he knew he had the job before coming to Maryland. So, exactly when Coffey arrived in the area is not known for certain.

Now Tape Recorder Man is a different story. He was seen by a witness at Wheaton Plaza on 28 February 1975 and by another on 1 March 1975. He was also seen there on 24 March, the day before he was seen talking to Sheila and Kate.

IF Coffey was TRM, then he had to have been in the area almost two months before he started working for Vitro. IF that were the case, people at Vitro may have dismissed any resemblence between Coffey and the sketch of TRM as coincidence. But that is simply speculation on my part. The fact is that no one at Vitro (in 1975) reported any suspicians about Coffey having anyting to do with the girls' disappearance.

 

[ShurlT]

Thank you Richard and Jeb for responding. You are the two people I mainly wanted to talk to. I lived in Rockville, Montgomery County, when the Lyon girls disappeared. My two daughters were similar ages at that time and born in the same month (Sep) as the Lyon sisters were both born in Mar. I had a bizarre confrontation with TRM sometime after the girls disappeared that is extremely difficult to talk about and didn't report it until sometime near June 2004 just prior to Coffey coming up for the first parole hearing that year. Suffice it to say he misunderstood something I did and made it clear to me he could "kill me now and feel nothing." I was totally clueless at the time as to who he was or what had gone wrong at that momment to cause the situation. Sometime later I saw a composite in the newspaper in the upper left hand corner of the same man and what looked like an entirely different man next to it. I think it was the Washington Post as we didn't get the Evening Star as far as I can remember.
If this is a correct memory and I'm sure it is from my point of view it was after April. I've been reliving these memories since 2004 vividly. It wasn't until my memory was jogged by your comments about Kathy Lynn Beatty. It could have been about the time she was attacked and the article may have mentioned the Lyon girls and the composite appeared above that. I knew then he was the one that took the girls and that he had been after my girls the evening I ran into him in what I think was the old Murphy's store in Congressional Plaze on Rockville Pike in Rockville, MD. For a long time I thought the reason I had trouble with him was because I unwittingly got between him and my girls.
I don't know when Mileski came into the picture but I keep wondering if he was the second composite or if it was bad composite of TRM that made him look younger and nothing like him at all. It seems to me the article said there was a second man the police were looking for and wanted to talk to him.
I don't have access to old newspapers so I haven't been able to confirm this article. I'm only putting the pieces together from memories. I would also have to check both the Washington Post and the Evening Star since I'm not exactly sure which one it was. It also would have been sometime in July since that's when Kathy Beatty was attacked.
Once I knew that he was connected with the Lyon girls disappearance I was in terrible fear that he had followed us home, that he figured I was the one that gave the composite and that he might kill me or my girls and I also had a very strong gut feeling that once he saw his picture in the paper he was probably long gone from the area.
As far as I know, I never saw any of the April composites. This was the only one I remember. I've thought and thought about it and just don't remember seeing one prior to this.
Jeb, you are right about his changing his appearance and I did learn from Sgt. DeCarlo who I talked to several times in 2004 until about late Sep or early Oct when I learned he had retired that Coffey would change the color of his hair from black to salt and pepper. When I called back in Sep or Oct it was because I wanted to give a full description which I had not given in the first phone call and had learned about the "grey haired man" in NC by reading pieces of Charlotte Observer online. I also wanted to clarify the age because the more I thought about it the more I felt he might have been younger than 50 because of the way he walked and acted but the hair would throw you off. The man I saw had the exact same face as the composite but his hair was pure white and wavy on top. It stood up higher but what was peculiar was the hair just below the upper receeding line puffed out and just didn't look right but every hair was very neatly in place. His forehead was broad, face long and the chin was narrower from the side view. I was standing possibly 8 to 10 ft away from him at the time.
He appeared to be 6 ft tall, big boned, white complexion with freckles or light brown marks various places on his face and I seem to think the skin around his eyes was oval/egg shaped like maybe his eye sockets were large and I seem to re call brown lines or something like that around his eyes. He was a homely man but there was something else on his face that I can't get words for yet. Like he was poor or lost or gave up or something.
Sgt DeCarlo asked his age and I struggled for a long time before answering, "About 50 because of the white hair," but my guts were thinking 36. I was 37 then and he was trying to act like a business man with the suit, brief case and meticulous appearance which was most startling.
He wore a light blue summer suit but it wasn't a solid color. Might have been a very small pattern and carried a dark brief case in his right hand. The light blue suit matched the color of his eyes which were either light blue or a grey that would have reflected the light blue suit and made them appear blue.
He had a wide stride and somewhat long legs. I'm not good at guessing weight but told Lt. Mandano I thought possible 250 lbs. Lt. Mandano quickly rejected his height and weight saying Coffey never was that tall or that weight. I stopped trying to describe this man at that point and soon got off the phone. After sifting through this I realized he must have thought when I described him as big man I meant heavy set. That was not the case - he was big boned and evenly proportioned.
Sgt. DeCarlo had asked me in the first phone call if I had seen a car and I strongly said no but once our call was concluded I went into a terrible state and for a week and a half or more was living back in 1975, not eating, sleeping and pacing the house at all hours of the day and night going over and over the details and beginning to realize what had actually gone on that night and that I had drawn some wrong conclusions at the time.
A couple weeks later, I remembered there was a car and that it was him waiting for my girls to come out of the store. The car was parked in the left lane instead of the right lane of the aisle to my left with the front of the car lined up (perpendicular) with the first parked car in that aisle. (This allowed him to see the front door of the store and put him close enough and in the right position that he could turn left or right if necessary depending which way my girls went.) The head lights were on but I could only see the glare from the headlight on my side. What had thrown me off about the car was I saw a short woman with white hair and young girl coming from the left and then walk diagonally into the same aisle where the car was parked and a man at the car began talking so I assumed it was his wife and daughter that he had pulled around to pick them up. He was moving stuff around in the car and it sounded like he had opened a trunk or a door to put their shopping bags in.
I was trying not to pay attention to what I thougt was a conversation between two people but his tone changed and became aggitated and slightly angry - sounding like they were having an argument but I never heard a woman's voice and it kept on long enough that I became curious enough to try to hear what was being said but it sounded like jibberish so I gave myself an excuse to get closer without being obvious. My girls and I had been standing at the curb waiting for traffic to break to go to my car but I turned and walked left because there used to be a store there that I bought a particular brand of loafer from. I think this was during the time Congressinal Plaza was falling apart and some stores had moved out because when I got into the show window area it was empty but now I was directly across from the car so I started walking back to the girls with the intention of looking at the man talking outside the car. The man's tone had changed again as I walked to the store windows but it still sounded like jibberish but almost like he was hopeful as I think back. I finally forced myself to look up and couldn't see anyone around the car at all. This was strange because the dome light was on and I could see through the car, had seen the left side the front and the right side and no one was there. He must have ducked down behind the car.
I got back to girls when this guy became angry, got in the car pulled out in controlled anger, drove right past us to the street, never stopped for the oncoming cars, turned left and gunned it slightly up the street toward Rockville Pike.
It irked me that he had pulled out angry so I tried to look through the front window but it was too dark so I scrunched down slightly to see who this jerk was but all I could see was like a silhouette of a large man with his collar turned up. No one else was in the car with him. The turned up collar had stuck in my mind all these years as NOT RIGHT but my attention was in other directions until this memory came up and I began to question why the upturned collar kept bothering me and realized the upturned collar was for winter and this was not winter,so, it meant he was disguising himself to prevent me from recognizing him.
I cannot identify the car positively as a station wagon but thinking about how I could see through the car to the back window indicates it might have been but I can never say it was. My focus was on the commotion, not the car.
The trick with the girls in the store was that I went to buy something and was standing behind two low tables near the wall. The girls were across the aisle from me looking at girly things all over a glass counter top for a long time and would have appeared to have been by themselves. They had moved on me once and I had lost vision of them for a second but quickly located them as having moved down the counter and next they moved around the corner of the counter. Once I thought they had disappeared and nearly fainted when I realized I couldn't see them in the store and wondering how in the world would I find them if they had left the store but while scanning from the back forward found they had turned the corner of the counter and were still looking so I decided to finish up looking for what I came for, go over and tell them to not move for just a few minutes because I had to check something then we were leaving.
About that time, for no reason, I looked up and to my left at the front door and saw the large face of a white haired man from the eyes up turned sideways looking through the door. He saw me look at the same time and quickly jerked open the door as if he hadn't done anything strange. I was thinking, "Stupid a... He did something stupid and he tried to cover it up by jerking the door open." It never dawned on me what he was doing until I saw the composite and it was 29 years before I realized he must have been in the parking lot or outside the store watching them to make sure they were alone.
At the same time he came through the door and began walking straight down the aisle I decided to go toward the girls and tell them to stay put a few more minutes. When I got around the table I tried to figure out if I needed to wait for him to pass or if I had time to cross in front of him. I chose to cross in front of him and for some unknown reason in mid aisle I decided to turn and smile and say hello to let him know I wasn't trying to be rude and that's when the problem started.
When I looked at this man his face was hard as steel, eyes cold as ice and his head was turned to his left slightly and he was staring at the back of the store trying to ignore me but at first, I had startled him so bad his mouth dropped open, head came forward and I heard his right foot slam into place like military.
All these years I thought he had become angry because I got between him and my girls, now, I realize he thought I was making a pass at him and he wanted to be sure I understood in no uncertain terms that he was not interested in me. I was so stunned by what I was looking at and knowing what I saw on his face was really bad and so confused by what happened (what had I done that I deserved to be killed) I stayed stuck in that position for 29 years. It was the farthest thing from my mind because I was committed to my marriage, family and work. When he finished threatening me he turned on his heel with a smug look on his face like, "There! I showed you!" and walked out of the store with the same stride as when he came in which was marked in itself. His eyes had turned vicious and hostile.
When I remembered the car outside, the jibberish and the tone changes I realized he was waiting for them and when the three of us turned up on the curb waiting for traffic he was doubtful as to whether we were together or just happened to leave the store at the same time which was getting ready to close and we were the last ones out. (There were only 3-4 women shoppers in the store when we went in and they left shortly before we did.) Then, because I stayed with them so long on the curb while he was moving stuff around and muttering to himself he became angry until I walked to the store next door and now it was almost like he was saying outloud, "Wait maybe she's leaving," but when I started back the tone changed to anger again and he started banging things around and the doors after I got back to the girls and then pulled out in that aggitated manner. In hindsight, I think he was moving things around in the car to make room for the girls to get in. Thinking back over this I could tell he was good driver and knew to keep his car under control while angry so everything he did with the car from that point on he knew exactly what he was doing. Three cars were coming down the street - two together, one furthur back. He pulled in front of the first car with enough room to clear without causing an accident or making the other car slam on their brakes and they just cleared each other nicely.
Sgt DeCarlo didn't think the composite was Fred Howard Coffey, Jr, nor, does Lt Mandano and I can't ID him from the prison photo. This frustrated me so I went looking for something to confirm my suspicion that he is a Coffey.
Jeb, I'd like to talk to you privately about that since you saw him twice.
This is a lot so I'll stop now. I have more questions and thoughts and will return later.

 

[ShurlT]

Hi Richard, a few more questions/thoughts maybe you can comment on:

1. Coffey must have looked similar in 1974 as he did in 1975. I emailed Va. Beach Dept of Corr in 2004 requesting eye color, height, etc. just to verify the blue eyes and 6 ft, knowing they probably wouldn't give the information out and did receive a return email stating just that. I looked for local newspapers for that year and couldn't find anything. Is there any way to find pictures of him for 1974?

2. The Kathy Lynn Beatty case: Forensic science and DNA technology keeps advancing. Within the past month or so I heard of something new to me on one of the forensic TV programs on a solved cold case, I believe it was, called something like RFP or letters like that. It caught me off guard when I heard it because I was occupied with something else so I don't recall the exact letters or what it's involved with. Couldn't le start with that case and have the FBI look for DNA on any evidence that might be available like her clothing that may have spittle, blood, hair, semen in hopes they might find something that is not degraded. If they could link Coffey to this case and get him back to MD maybe they could link the Lyon case to him. I've been told some of the evidence is missing but we hear this all the time and I wonder what that means - lost - thrown away - misplaced? With the forensic and DNA technology of today would seem it's time to get secure ways of keeping and maintaining evidence indefinitely and if it's just misplace someone could search for it. Just remembered there was just such a thing on TV recently where a piece of evidence got put into the wrong box and someone stumbled upon it.

3. The two boys in Lisbon, NJ: They were abducted the same day the girls were supposed to have been seen in Manassas - Apr 1, 1975 at 7:30 AM. The boys disappeared at 4:30 PM the same day from HY 72 I beleive it was. Parties I've talked to say a double abduction is very unusual and I've felt this might have been a ruse by TRM - if he was transporting the girls in his car - to throw the search off. He could have made it from Manassas to Lisbon and maybe even stopped for lunch. NJ might not be aware of the Lyon case in MD and maybe they have more information about their abduction than is online, i.e., someone saw a car or a man, woman, etc.
My daughter went to Mcguire AFB in Nov 2005. I asked her to check out the hiway 72 area because the map showed the AFB was nearby and tell me what the area looked like. I had pictured a mountainous, wooded park area and the maps show several rest areas and a campground. She got stuck in heavy traffic and made no headway in an hour so I told her to skip it and come home but she did say the area she was stuck in was like fields and rolling hills.

 

[mere]

Robert Reladan was active in 1974 and 1975. He would pick up his victims in pairs. He is currently incarcerated in a New Jersey prison.



http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkillers/R/RELDAN_robert_r.php

 

[ShurlT]

I checked out that site and I see what you mean. Thanks, Mere.

 

[Richard]

Robert Reladan was active in 1974 and 1975. He would pick up his victims in pairs. He is currently incarcerated in a New Jersey prison.
http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkillers/R/RELDAN_robert_r.php

From that site:
Quote: The first to die were 17-year-old Mary Pryor and 16-year-old Lorraine Kelly, reported missing from North Bergen on August 10, 1974. ... On December 13, 1974, 14-year-old Doreen Carlucci and 15-year-old Joanne Delardo vanished ...
Authorities were so impressed with Reldan's progress that they chose him for a television interview with David Frost, aired shortly before his parole in May 1975.
Unquote.

If Reldan was not paroled from prison until May 1975, how could he have killed Mary Pryor, Lorraine Kelly, Doreen Carlucci and Joanne Delardo?

 

[Richard]

... I saw a composite in the newspaper in the upper left hand corner of the same man and what looked like an entirely different man next to it. I think it was the Washington Post as we didn't get the Evening Star as far as I can remember. If this is a correct memory and I'm sure it is from my point of view it was after April. I've been reliving these memories since 2004 vividly. It wasn't until my memory was jogged by your comments about Kathy Lynn Beatty. It could have been about the time she was attacked and the article may have mentioned the Lyon girls and the composite appeared above that. ....

As far as I know, the Washington Post only printed the two sketches of TRM on four occasions, all in April 1975. The origional sketch was published on 1 and 2 April, and the revised sketch was published on 4 and 17 April (Wash Post). They were never published together in any newspaper that I have seen. The sketches were also published in the Washington Star and the Baltimore Sun, as well as other local papers, but always separately.

I think what you are remembering is the 17 April 1975 edition of the Post. In section C, page 1 there was a story about the Lyon Sisters and a change in the timeline because of another witness coming forth. Right next to that story was a drawing of a man named Michael Edward Pearch (see Suspects Thread of this topic for his story). The drawing was a "self portrait" drawn by Pearch himself, and below that was a photo of him. That story was a follow up to an earlier story about how Pearch had begun a shooting spree at Wheaton Plaza and was later shot to death by Montgomery County Police in Wheaton.

The two were separate stories, but it would be easy to see how someone might mix the two together. Flipping the page, you see the sketch of TRM down in the bottom left corner of Page C-2 and next to that sketch are two individual photos of Sheila and Kate.

You mention seeing the sketch in the upper left hand part of the paper. You might be referring to the 4 April 1975 edition of the Washington Post where the "revised" sketch of TRM first appeared. It was in the upper left hand corner of Page A 16, along with the Headline: "2d Sketch Released in Disappearance of 2 Lyon Sisters" The story was about how after a number of other witnesses claimed to have seen the Tape Recorder Man the first sketch was modified a bit. It was not a story about a second suspect, only an update of the sketch based on comments and suggestions by the other witnesses.

 

[Richard]

...
1. Coffey ... Is there any way to find pictures of him for 1974?

2. The Kathy Lynn Beatty case: Forensic science and DNA technology keeps advancing. ... Couldn't le start with that case and have the FBI look for DNA on any evidence that might be available like her clothing that may have spittle, blood, hair, semen in hopes they might find something that is not degraded. If they could link Coffey to this case and get him back to MD maybe they could link the Lyon case to him. I've been told some of the evidence is missing but we hear this all the time and I wonder what that means - lost - thrown away - misplaced? ...

3. The two boys in Lisbon, NJ: They were abducted the same day the girls were supposed to have been seen in Manassas - Apr 1, 1975 at 7:30 AM. The boys disappeared at 4:30 PM the same day from HY 72 I beleive it was. Parties I've talked to say a double abduction is very unusual and I've felt this might have been a ruse by TRM - if he was transporting the girls in his car - to throw the search off. He could have made it from Manassas to Lisbon and maybe even stopped for lunch. NJ might not be aware of the Lyon case in MD and maybe they have more information about their abduction than is online, i.e., someone saw a car or a man, woman, etc.....

You ask some good questions. I don't have absolute answers for you, but can make some comments on them.

1. I do not know exactly what photos police investigators have of Coffey, but it would seem that Mug shot photos of him exist beginning in 1973 or 74 when he was charged with the abduction and rape of a 13 year-old girl in Virginia Beach, VA. He may also have been photographed at other times that he was arrested and charged. There is a 1975 photo of him which came from his Vitro ID badge. There may be drivers license photos of him on file somewhere as well. Coffey's North Carolina trial photo appeared in the Washington Post on 13 March 1987 Page C-1. In that photo, he is smirking at the camera and flashing a hand signal interpreted to mean "I love you". Others have identified it as the "sign of the beast". A photo of him also appears on the North Carolina Inmate Locator site.

2. As you point out, Forensic science has made great strides over the past thirty years, since Kathy's murder. Evidence was gathered in her case, but it may have been preserved in a manner which would make it difficult to test today for DNA, etc. IF evidence could be tested and IF that evidence could be linked to a known suspect (be it Coffey or someone else) then perhaps charges could be made in Kathy's abduction and murder, and in turn links could be made to the disappearance of the Lyon girls. As things stand now, the two cases do not appear to be linked by direct evidence, but circumstances of time, location, and MO could be argued to link both abductions. Given a suspect in Kathy's murder, I am sure that the subject would come up during an interview.

3. Your post about the two missing New Jersey boys points out the major discrepency preventing an easy link. The station wagon with the girls was supposedly seen at 7:30 AM (actually on 7 April 1975) heading west from Manassas, Virginia. The boys were reportly last seen in New Jersey on the same day at 4:30PM. I have often wondered about a possible link between these cases. But the timeline makes it difficult. It is entirely possible, however, that the time or date of the boys disappearance could have been in error. For instance, if they were abduted the night before, but not reported missing untill 24 hours later, it might have been those boys who were seen in the car and not girls.

 

[ShurlT]

Richard, I accidently wiped out a response I was keying to you and don't have time to redo it but I might have the name of the Evening Star wrong. Was it the Washington Star instead? Also, where is the best place to research these newspapers? I need to find a way to check this out because it would help me pin point when this confrontation with TRM took place. It's a memory I'm still dealing with.
I talked with Jeb Tuesday. He says TRM did have blue eyes and he mentioned the way TRM walked and can give a better description. It was very noticable and is one of the things he did that would draw your attention to him. In fact, considering what he was up to - everything he did would draw your attention to him. For someone acting in deception he certainly wasn't low key about it.

 

[ShurlT]

I forgot - the reason for eye color verification would be - does Fred H. Coffey, Jr have blue eyes, too. Not that it's a definite identification but sure would help.

 

[ShurlT]

Richard I see your online. I was just printing out the last posts and going to sign off. How are you? I have to get going here with other things but want to study the last info you posted.

 

[ShurlT]

Jeb has some pix and was going to email one to me last night but he and his wife are sick right now and so am I. We will try again later. I'll stand by here a few more minutes in case you have something on your mind. Are you in LE profession?

 

[ShurlT]

Sorry about the Apr 1 & 7 mix up. I have a file on this but don't always go back to it to confirm what I'm saying. Will try to do better on that. Thanx.

 

[ShurlT]

If the Kathy Beatty evidence wasn't taken care properly it could be contaminated or degraded but sometimes little things appear that aren't always visible to the eye. It's a lot to hope for.

 

[ShurlT]

After I sent the info about the two boys to MCP I was told they didn't talk to NJ police. I wonder if they would have more info and also all the other disappearances in PA that they have not published on the websites. I'm tempted to take a trip to Littlestown one of these days to see if there is more info available in old newspapers somewhere. If I'd have to go to Harrisburg to find them I don't think I can do that.

 

[Richard]

There are many on-line resources for searching newspapers today. Most require a "subscription" to read complete articles, while others require it to even sort on their data bases. Many are free, but might only go back for a few days or weeks.

In the case of old cases like the Disappearance of the Lyon Sisters (1975), most of the contemporary news reports exist in microfilm archives. These microfilm files are maintained in larger libraries. The main Montgomery County library in Rockville has microfilm files for the Washington Post, Washington Evening Star, and county papers. The Hyattsville library in Prince Georges County (MD) also has microfilm files that you can research for free.

There is a book titled "Newspaper holdings in Maryland" located in the research stacks which gives dates and locations for all Maryland newspapers. You can look at that to see what other papers might have covered the story.

I sometimes use the free on-line search feature of the Washington Post to look for possible articles, then look in the microfilm files for the complete story, which includes photos, maps, drawings, etc which are often not found in on-line services. Prior to the Internet, the Post published an annual index of all their stories. Those index volumes exist at some research libraries and colleges.

The Washington Evening Star went out of business in 1982, long before the advent of the internet. They only way you can search those archives is by microfilm, and then only page by page - unless you are lucky enough to find a published index for their stories.

 

[Jeb]

I must have been misunderstood, because what I meant to imply was that Coffey has blue eyes. I do not remember what color eyes TRM had, even though we did make eye contact, & I did observe him trying to talk to 2 small girls. I was 6 or 8 ft. from him at this point & was viewing `his` left profile.

I asked a reliable source about a connection between the Lyon Girls & the 2 missing boys from NJ, & the response was a nod,(meaning no).

I can definetley say that TRM was walking in a `deliberate`manor when I noticed him. I don`t know that this would draw attention ,but I did here some laughter come from that direction as he passed several people. There were few people in the mall that day, & maybe the laughter was not directed at him. Or, maybe they were laughing at the tape recorder he was visably carrying.

One more thing of interest, there were articles about this case in the Montgomery County Journal in 1975.

 

[ShurlT]

The dates you posted for the publishing of TRM composite have been the only possibly clue I've had as to when I saw TRM. I can't eliminate Apr 17th as a possible date but I'm almost sure the article was about Kathy Lynn Beatty because I've never heard of that case before or since that one time until you mentioned it one of your posts on this site. That was what jogged my memory. But, I'd have to find a way to confirm this to be sure.
My memories are: when I saw TRM some time had past since the Lyon sisters disapperance - but HOW LONG. Then, some time past before I saw the composite in the newspaper. I'm thinking it was a couple of weeks give or take. TRM was on the left and seems to me it was large, in fact, almost as if I was back in the store with him. Another composite was right next to it of a man with dark hair, dark skin and heavy beard but not an actual beard, more like 5 O'clock shadow. I have seen clean shaven men whose facial hair still shows up as dark.
I was stunned to see his face and realize that he was probably the one who took the Lyon girls. That interferred with my concentration on the article though I skimmed through it. I remember thinking, "WHY did they wait so long to publish the composite?" Then, thinking, "What's that other man's face doing there? He didn't do it. This other guy did. He took those girls and he was after my girls." I had read previously that a man was talking with the girls and using a tape recorder in a brief case. The man I saw was also carrying a brief case and looked exactly like the composite. The composite was excellent as far as capturing his features. I seem to recall that the hair do was the same as what I saw but I'm willing to relinguish that idea if I actually found something to confirm what I strongly feel I saw. If I could find it I definitely would know it was the right one even if it didn't come out exactly as my memory. There would have to be something about it that would fit my memory. After running around the living room talking to myself outloud about this picture I went back and rechecked the right hand face to see if it was another composite of the man on the left but I didn't think it was. I just got too excited. The funny thing is, the composite setup on DoeNet is almost the same as what I saw in the paper, except that, when you study it closer you realize the one on the right is a possible version of a younger TRM.

I remembered today the Gaithersburg Gazette was another paper we used to get free either once/mo or once/wk. Maybe it was in the Gazette but I don't know right now.
The thought occurred to me today - what if Coffey temporarily put on some weight after being discharged from the Navy during that period from 1974 to approximately July of 1975 when he left Vitro? Just picking at possible straws. he might have let himself go temporarily. We left Rockville Oct 1983 so I never saw any newspaper articles about Coffey in 1987 or '86.

Just another point: somewhere in the time frame of '74 to '76 I was seeing an endrocronologist in a suburb of Philadelphia. It took 3 hours to drive from Rockville so I knew the man in the station wagon could make the trip to NJ in an estimated 3 1/2 to 4 hours and did some map checking on that in 2004 in both my atlas' and MapQuest. I double checked MapQuest today from Manassas to New Lisbon. It's 196.6 mls and takes 3hrs, 36 min. If that sighting actually took place and I think it did, even if he staggered around in his mind for a while trying to figure out what to do, he still could have made it before 4:30 PM.

This case is so frustrating and seems like it will never be solved but I recalled today of seeing John Lyon interviewed by John Walsh on TV a few years ago. The were sitting on like a park bench. That was the only time I've seen John Lyon but it occurs to me the only thing that could be done now would be to put this case on Most Wanted and show that composite of TRM in case someone in the country would recognize him and/or confirm that he is Coffey. Maybe get some other leads. I assume they couldn't do that unless the family agreed. It must be so terribly hard for them.

Years ago, we hired a woman to make a cake for a special occassion. While talking to her in her home it came out that someone had murdered her brother and he periodically came up for parole. Her family always made it a point to be there to keep him from getting out. I realized during this conversation that it isn't only the family that is effected by tragedies like this but whole communities, even this one, mourn for the disappearance or murder of someone's loved one or someone they knew. The point is that the person(s) who do these vile acts only see themselves and the person they are doing harm to but they don't think about the families or friends or communities or even themselves or their own families.

The scriptures say that God will reveal that which is hidden and that which is covered. I just keep praying that someday God will honor that idea in this case and reveal where the girls are. Maybe the Lyon family has given up and maybe we are the ones who have taken up the cause for them by keeping this case alive and with the input of so many good thinking minds.

 

[ShurlT]

Jeb, sorry about the eye color thing. You're right it was Coffey we were talking about. I'm having some medical problems today with low oxygen, tracking and coordination but I think I was just trying to clarify why I was searching for something to verify Coffey and TRM might have the same eye color. I rechecked my pic of Coffey from NC Dept of Corr and it doesn't show his eyes very good. They look dark but it may be because my printer changes colors in photographs. I've noticed this when I printed my brothers Navy pic for a family reunion after he died. I also fell asleep again today but will try to contact you later.