gregjrichards
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I just wonder if Lloyd's defence attorneys will bring TRM in to try and create if at all possible reasonable doubt.
"Tape Recorder Man"
- Thread starter Jeana (DP)
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I just wonder if Lloyd's defence attorneys will bring TRM in to try and create if at all possible reasonable doubt.
siriunsun
Former Member
If he does not plea, you can bet they will. But witnesses are not talking about TRM visiting the mountain; they are talking about LLW.
siriunsun
Former Member
If he does not plea, you can bet they will. But witnesses are not talking about TRM visiting the mountain; they are talking about LLW.
If the state can prove with DNA that the girls' remains are on the mountain, in my opinion the unknown tape recorder man is not a good alternative for reasonable doubt. If the state can prove with DNA that the girls remains are on the mountains, someone with a connection to Wheaton and the mountain would be a better alternative for reasonable doubt, which is mostly Lloyd's relatives. The state claims to have more evidence on the uncle beyond one of Lloyd's (disputed, retracted) story, but this information has not be made public.
If the state can NOT prove with DNA that the girls' are on the mountain, than any alternative such as tape-recoder-man or the Manassas VA sighting would help establish doubt in my opinion.
siriunsun
Former Member
I doubt that there would be murder charges without evidence connecting the Taylor Mountain property to the Lyon Sisters.
The Tape Recorder Man (TRM) may or may not have been responsible for or involved in the disappearance of the Lyon Sisters.
He was reportedly seen talking to or "interviewing" them by two young boys in Wheaton Plaza a short time before their disappearance. A large number of people came forward claiming to have seen him at other malls or shopping centers doing a similar thing with a tape recorder. No one knew who he was but all of the separate reports sounded very similar, and all seemed to think that the composite sketch was pretty close to the man they recalled seeing.
MCP also had a sketch of another man seen following the girls that day, but chose to NOT release it to the public or news media until November 2013. This was the sketch of a Long Haired Man (LHM) which they now believe was Lloyd Welch, Jr - whom they had been interviewing in prison prior to their 2013 release of the LHM sketch.
I will not speculate on how the defense attorneys will present their case, but certainly the TRM might be mentioned. And the prosecution will have to have some ready answers in anticipation of that possibility.
TRM will not just disappear from this case because investigators might want to dismiss him.
There are many possible explanations for the phantom, TRM:
- He could have been a harmless old guy who just bought a tape recorder and was trying it out. By coincidence, he looked exactly like a pervert who was frequenting other malls, as well as Wheaton Plaza.
- He was a pervert who enjoyed talking to young children and girls, but did no harm to any of them.
- He may have been someone who, acting alone, did abduct children and who was shopping around or on the look out for the right victim or victims. He may have "passed" on the Lyon sisters and some completely different pervert abducted them.
- He may have interviewed the girls, decided they were the ones he wanted and then waited for them in the parking lot where he, on his own, abducted them.
- TRM might have been part of a team of abductors. After interviewing the girls and deciding that they were to be the vicitms, he may have left the area and allowed others to follow and abduct them.
- It is also possible, as some have suggested, that he was not actually at Wheaton Plaza that day, but instead seen interviewing The Lyon sisters or other children on another occasion by the boys who mistakenly thought that it was on 25 March 1975. (three Wheaton Plaza employees told police that they had seen the man on 24 March, the day before the girls went missing).
Whatever scenario one considers, the preponderance of evidence would suggest that a TRM actually existed, but whether or not he was responsible for or involved in the girls' disappearance remains a mystery.
Nothing stated or presented in any press conferences by investigators and prosecutors seems to preclude his presence that day and neither does it preclude his involvement in the girls' disappearance.
It should be noted that the story about the Tape Recorder Man first appeared in newspapers on 1 April 1975, the same time that a $7,000 reward was offered for information. Lloyd Welch first called Montgomery County Police by phone and later that same day went to Wheaton Plaza to try to pass information to a security guard and then to MCP investigators regarding the girls. He claimed at that time to have been at Wheaton Plaza on 25 March and to have seen an unknown man putting the girls in a car. He hoped to claim the reward. Police dismissed him as a liar. Did Lloyd actually see the TRM with the girls? Or was he just making up a story based on what he read of TRM in the paper to claim the reward?
He was reportedly seen talking to or "interviewing" them by two young boys in Wheaton Plaza a short time before their disappearance. A large number of people came forward claiming to have seen him at other malls or shopping centers doing a similar thing with a tape recorder. No one knew who he was but all of the separate reports sounded very similar, and all seemed to think that the composite sketch was pretty close to the man they recalled seeing.
MCP also had a sketch of another man seen following the girls that day, but chose to NOT release it to the public or news media until November 2013. This was the sketch of a Long Haired Man (LHM) which they now believe was Lloyd Welch, Jr - whom they had been interviewing in prison prior to their 2013 release of the LHM sketch.
I will not speculate on how the defense attorneys will present their case, but certainly the TRM might be mentioned. And the prosecution will have to have some ready answers in anticipation of that possibility.
TRM will not just disappear from this case because investigators might want to dismiss him.
There are many possible explanations for the phantom, TRM:
- He could have been a harmless old guy who just bought a tape recorder and was trying it out. By coincidence, he looked exactly like a pervert who was frequenting other malls, as well as Wheaton Plaza.
- He was a pervert who enjoyed talking to young children and girls, but did no harm to any of them.
- He may have been someone who, acting alone, did abduct children and who was shopping around or on the look out for the right victim or victims. He may have "passed" on the Lyon sisters and some completely different pervert abducted them.
- He may have interviewed the girls, decided they were the ones he wanted and then waited for them in the parking lot where he, on his own, abducted them.
- TRM might have been part of a team of abductors. After interviewing the girls and deciding that they were to be the vicitms, he may have left the area and allowed others to follow and abduct them.
- It is also possible, as some have suggested, that he was not actually at Wheaton Plaza that day, but instead seen interviewing The Lyon sisters or other children on another occasion by the boys who mistakenly thought that it was on 25 March 1975. (three Wheaton Plaza employees told police that they had seen the man on 24 March, the day before the girls went missing).
Whatever scenario one considers, the preponderance of evidence would suggest that a TRM actually existed, but whether or not he was responsible for or involved in the girls' disappearance remains a mystery.
Nothing stated or presented in any press conferences by investigators and prosecutors seems to preclude his presence that day and neither does it preclude his involvement in the girls' disappearance.
It should be noted that the story about the Tape Recorder Man first appeared in newspapers on 1 April 1975, the same time that a $7,000 reward was offered for information. Lloyd Welch first called Montgomery County Police by phone and later that same day went to Wheaton Plaza to try to pass information to a security guard and then to MCP investigators regarding the girls. He claimed at that time to have been at Wheaton Plaza on 25 March and to have seen an unknown man putting the girls in a car. He hoped to claim the reward. Police dismissed him as a liar. Did Lloyd actually see the TRM with the girls? Or was he just making up a story based on what he read of TRM in the paper to claim the reward?
siriunsun
Former Member
Here's the thing: Tape Recorder Man is not on trial. Lloyd Lee Welch is. The defense can mention other suspects or possible suspects all they want, but at the end of the day, the evidence connecting Lloyd Lee Welch to the crime is going to make an impression on the jury. The correspondence between himself and his stepmother will be particularly interesting, since it is in writing. Also, there are some witnesses who personally saw some of the events connecting Lloyd to this crime.
What you say is true, but this thread is about TRM regardless of who is currently on trial.
In regard to Lloyd's trial; if a jury is properly chosen, none will have heard of the Lyon girls, TRM, or Lloyd to begin with - and none will hear of TRM unless one side or the other brings him up. With all the publicity to date, seating such a jury may not be easy.
I guess that the defense bringing up the TRM might be something done at a later phase of the trial and would depend upon how their earlier motions and pleas were presented and ruled upon - and then how the prosecution might proceed with their case.
If the prosecutors portray Lloyd as the single perpetrator the defense might suggest other equal or more viable suspects. But if the prosecution portrays Lloyd as only part of a team of abductors, then naming or suggesting other perpetrators might not be to the defense's advantage.
siriunsun
Former Member
Since prosecutors have not shared their strategy with either of us, we can only speculate. It is, however, quite possible to portray the defendant as an actor unto himself, yet with co-defendants, while not necessarily using an assembled "team". At this late date, "accessories after the fact" are probably expected, and since it IS a crime to fail to come forward with evidence, I can imagine that will play a role, too; but that does not mean that the prosecution has identified a "team". I will personally be very surprised if "tape recorder man" is even mentioned by the defense, as his identity and actual existence have not been verified. The defense is not in court to lodge charges against others, but to defend those who have actually been charged. Tape recorder man has a presence that is akin to myth here, and only a dilettante would ask the jury to consider an urban legend.
Rest assured that if this case goes to a jury without a plea, a jury WILL be properly chosen. Not having heard of the crime is NOT an aspect of propriety; the whole idea is to seat a jury using no persons who are acquainted with the defendant or the victim(s) and has no fiduciary interest in the crime or the outcome.
...Tape recorder man has a presence that is akin to myth here, and only a dilettante would ask the jury to consider an urban legend....
Given the fact that 45 years have passed since TRM was first described by two eyewitnesses, and MCP was never able to locate him, and given all the speculation about TRM, one might tend to see him as a "legend". But he was a very integral part of the case then and now. The boys who saw and described him are now middle aged men and they could concievably be brought in to testify as to what they saw and heard.
Given the fact that 45 years have passed since TRM was first described by two eyewitnesses, and MCP was never able to locate him, and given all the speculation about TRM, one might tend to see him as a "legend". But he was a very integral part of the case then and now. The boys who saw and described him are now middle aged men and they could concievably be brought in to testify as to what they saw and heard.
Ibiz
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I find it very bizzar that the sketch would look so much like him, but yet no one recognized him. You would think he would have been local and found fairly quickly if he was spotted in other malls.
siriunsun
Former Member
Yep. And the girl who initially described Long Haired Man can conceivably be brought in to testify, too.
I would not call TRM an "integral" part of the case; as he was never identified, arrested, charged, or indicted. Until those things happen, he is, inasmuch as the Court is concerned, urban legend.
Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. has been convicted (solely on his own guilty plea) of murdering the Lyon sisters. LE would have us believe that an 18 year old moron committed the crime of the century and evaded them for over 40 years. No one else has been identified as an accomplice or brought to justice. Victory has been declared and the case put to rest.
But questions remain unanswered...
No official explanation has been offered about the mysterious Tape Recorder Man, so he remains a part of the story. Are we to believe that he never existed simply because LE refuses to mention him now? If they know for a fact that he never existed, or if they know who he was and ruled him out, why have they not given the public an explanation?
OR was he part of a plan to abduct and eventually kill Sheila and Kate?
But questions remain unanswered...
No official explanation has been offered about the mysterious Tape Recorder Man, so he remains a part of the story. Are we to believe that he never existed simply because LE refuses to mention him now? If they know for a fact that he never existed, or if they know who he was and ruled him out, why have they not given the public an explanation?
OR was he part of a plan to abduct and eventually kill Sheila and Kate?
The sketch of the Tape Recorder Man (TRM) first appeared in Washington DC area newspapers and TV stations on 1 April 1975, along with the first story about a 7 thousand dollar reward being offered for the safe return of the Lyon Sisters.
It was in response to those two stories that Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. presented himself to a Wheaton Plaza security guard with a story he hoped would allow him to claim the reward. Montgomery County Police (MCP) interviewed Welch, determined that he was a liar who was wasting of their time. They took his name and address and sent him on his way. It was that interview report that would connect cold case investigators to Welch some 38 years later...
-----------------------------
Here is a Washington Star newspaper article about a TV interview of the boy who first described the Tape Recorder Man to MCP sketch artist Davis Morton. "Jimmy" was not his real name, only one given him by the reporter. It was the "back story" about TRM.
----------------------------
Eyewitness: Last Time the Lyon Girls Were Seen
Thursday, April 3, 1975
By Mary Ann Kuhn and Rebecca Leet
Washington Star Staff Writers
Jimmy sat in a blue armchair in the living room of his family's Kensington home, letting his 13-year-old legs with their high-top sneakers stretch out on the turquoise rug as he talked publicly for the first time about the man he saw with the missing Lyon sisters last week at Wheaton Plaza.
Jimmy is the teen-ager who provided Montgomery County police with a description of the 50 to 60-year-old man he saw talking to the girls, Sheila, 13, and Katherine, 11, daughters of John and Mary Lyon of 3xxx Plyers Mill Road.
With his help, police drew a sketch of the man's face which has been published in newspapers and shown on television. Police have kept Jimmy's identity a secret. Jimmy (not his real name) did not seek publicity. His parents, fearful of retaliation, requested that his real name not be used.
Last night, four women who called police saying they recognized the man in the sketch went to the Wheaton Police station to offer help in drawing a new composite.
According to Pfc. Davis Morton, a robbery squad detective who does composites "to help out whenever it's needed," the 13-year-old's description of the man was accurate.
"I showed the composite to four women (separately) and it seemed to be basically the guy they had seen," he said. "They suggested a few minor changes, but I don't know if they would even be noticeable."
"Sometimes you're close and sometimes you're way off (in making a composite) but I feel better about this one because of the other witnesses."
"It was about 1 or 2 o'clock." Jimmy related. "I was out with a friend. We were down near ... um ... Peoples (Drug Store) and the Orange Bowl (pizza carryout) and we saw the two girls talking to a man with a tape recorder."
"I heard the man ask one question: ' Are any of you two involved in sports?'"
"And then ... um ... 30 seconds later I looked back. He was walking away toward Wards (Montgomery Ward) and the girls were walking the other way toward the fountain."
Jimmy stopped talking. Up to then, the words had tumbled out. He sat there and crossed his hands over his maroon lettered football jersey.
His parents didn't say anything.
His mother sat on the sofa with an untouched glass of red wine on the next table while her husband sat across the room with the newspaper opened across his folded legs. Jimmy was asked to give more details about what he had seen.
He smiled when he told how he and his friend had joked about going over to the man and asking him to interview them so they could get on television.
"I said to my friend, 'Hey, look over there. I wonder what's going on. It looks like a reporter.' We thought he was some kind of a reporter," Jimmy explained. "We were joking around that maybe we should go over there and get him to interview us."
"The man was holding a microphone in his hand between the girls, and asking questions. He had a tan briefcase on the ground. It was one of those hard ones that sat up." the boy said, adding that the tape recorder was sitting next to the man, out of the briefcase.
The man was sitting on the ledge next to an island of (illegible word - bushes?) in the middle of the plaza, Jimmy said. People sit on the ledge to rest during their shopping sprees or to eat a snack or pizza from the carryout.
Jimmy said he had never seen the man before or since. He said the man was well dressed in a brown suit.
Jimmy, who lives several blocks from the Lyons said he and his friend rode their bikes up to the plaza that day "to see friends. We just went up there to ride around. We had nothing else to do so we decided to go up there and look around."
Jimmy's mother said that right after the news came out that the Lyon girls were missing, her son told her he had seen them at the plaza. But it wasn't until Friday that he mentioned anything about the man with a tape recorder, she said.
"On Friday, he said that the girls were talking to a reporter. I said, 'How do you know he was a reporter?' He said because he had a microphone. I told him that could have been anybody and notified police."
At the police station on Friday, Jimmy said, the police "had me look through two files of mug shots."
(The beginning of the next sentence seems to have been left out of the printed article)
... in a while, a police officer would ask me if everything was all right (with the sketch). I'd tell them what was right and what was wrong." Jimmy said he thought the sketch was a good likeness. His mother said he was at the police station 2 1/2 hours that day.
Jimmy's friend who was with him the day the Lyon girls were seen with the man at the plaza verified virtually everything Jimmy said except that he said he did not hear any of the conversation between the man and the girls.
"I hope they find them." Jimmy said...
(The rest of the article describes other events and related stories about the case.)
It was in response to those two stories that Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. presented himself to a Wheaton Plaza security guard with a story he hoped would allow him to claim the reward. Montgomery County Police (MCP) interviewed Welch, determined that he was a liar who was wasting of their time. They took his name and address and sent him on his way. It was that interview report that would connect cold case investigators to Welch some 38 years later...
-----------------------------
Here is a Washington Star newspaper article about a TV interview of the boy who first described the Tape Recorder Man to MCP sketch artist Davis Morton. "Jimmy" was not his real name, only one given him by the reporter. It was the "back story" about TRM.
----------------------------
Eyewitness: Last Time the Lyon Girls Were Seen
Thursday, April 3, 1975
By Mary Ann Kuhn and Rebecca Leet
Washington Star Staff Writers
Jimmy sat in a blue armchair in the living room of his family's Kensington home, letting his 13-year-old legs with their high-top sneakers stretch out on the turquoise rug as he talked publicly for the first time about the man he saw with the missing Lyon sisters last week at Wheaton Plaza.
Jimmy is the teen-ager who provided Montgomery County police with a description of the 50 to 60-year-old man he saw talking to the girls, Sheila, 13, and Katherine, 11, daughters of John and Mary Lyon of 3xxx Plyers Mill Road.
With his help, police drew a sketch of the man's face which has been published in newspapers and shown on television. Police have kept Jimmy's identity a secret. Jimmy (not his real name) did not seek publicity. His parents, fearful of retaliation, requested that his real name not be used.
Last night, four women who called police saying they recognized the man in the sketch went to the Wheaton Police station to offer help in drawing a new composite.
According to Pfc. Davis Morton, a robbery squad detective who does composites "to help out whenever it's needed," the 13-year-old's description of the man was accurate.
"I showed the composite to four women (separately) and it seemed to be basically the guy they had seen," he said. "They suggested a few minor changes, but I don't know if they would even be noticeable."
"Sometimes you're close and sometimes you're way off (in making a composite) but I feel better about this one because of the other witnesses."
"It was about 1 or 2 o'clock." Jimmy related. "I was out with a friend. We were down near ... um ... Peoples (Drug Store) and the Orange Bowl (pizza carryout) and we saw the two girls talking to a man with a tape recorder."
"I heard the man ask one question: ' Are any of you two involved in sports?'"
"And then ... um ... 30 seconds later I looked back. He was walking away toward Wards (Montgomery Ward) and the girls were walking the other way toward the fountain."
Jimmy stopped talking. Up to then, the words had tumbled out. He sat there and crossed his hands over his maroon lettered football jersey.
His parents didn't say anything.
His mother sat on the sofa with an untouched glass of red wine on the next table while her husband sat across the room with the newspaper opened across his folded legs. Jimmy was asked to give more details about what he had seen.
He smiled when he told how he and his friend had joked about going over to the man and asking him to interview them so they could get on television.
"I said to my friend, 'Hey, look over there. I wonder what's going on. It looks like a reporter.' We thought he was some kind of a reporter," Jimmy explained. "We were joking around that maybe we should go over there and get him to interview us."
"The man was holding a microphone in his hand between the girls, and asking questions. He had a tan briefcase on the ground. It was one of those hard ones that sat up." the boy said, adding that the tape recorder was sitting next to the man, out of the briefcase.
The man was sitting on the ledge next to an island of (illegible word - bushes?) in the middle of the plaza, Jimmy said. People sit on the ledge to rest during their shopping sprees or to eat a snack or pizza from the carryout.
Jimmy said he had never seen the man before or since. He said the man was well dressed in a brown suit.
Jimmy, who lives several blocks from the Lyons said he and his friend rode their bikes up to the plaza that day "to see friends. We just went up there to ride around. We had nothing else to do so we decided to go up there and look around."
Jimmy's mother said that right after the news came out that the Lyon girls were missing, her son told her he had seen them at the plaza. But it wasn't until Friday that he mentioned anything about the man with a tape recorder, she said.
"On Friday, he said that the girls were talking to a reporter. I said, 'How do you know he was a reporter?' He said because he had a microphone. I told him that could have been anybody and notified police."
At the police station on Friday, Jimmy said, the police "had me look through two files of mug shots."
(The beginning of the next sentence seems to have been left out of the printed article)
... in a while, a police officer would ask me if everything was all right (with the sketch). I'd tell them what was right and what was wrong." Jimmy said he thought the sketch was a good likeness. His mother said he was at the police station 2 1/2 hours that day.
Jimmy's friend who was with him the day the Lyon girls were seen with the man at the plaza verified virtually everything Jimmy said except that he said he did not hear any of the conversation between the man and the girls.
"I hope they find them." Jimmy said...
(The rest of the article describes other events and related stories about the case.)
At Lloyd Lee Welch Jr.'s trial, he pleaded guilty to charges of the Maryland abduction and murder of the Lyon Sisters. In turn, he received a life sentence, to be served in a Virginia prison.
With that guilty plea conviction, the case was pretty much closed. Or was it?
To date, the Lyon Sisters' bodies have not been found and they remain missing.
Welch is the only person convicted, yet even his ever changing stories have implicated others. Who else was involved in the girls' disappearance?
The Tape Recorder Man (TRM) is still an unsolved mystery. On 1 April 1975, the press reported this man as being seen talking to Sheila and Kate shortly before their disappearance from Wheaton Plaza on Tuesday, 25 March 1975. The two boys who described TRM to the police knew the girls by sight.
When the sketch of TRM was released to the press, at least 15 other persons came forward to state that they had seen the same person talking to other children at other malls and shopping centers in the days leading up to Sheila and Kate' disappearance. However, no one reported seeing TRM AFTER 25 March 1975 - even though the story of him talking to the girls was not released until a week later. He seems to have disappeared at the same time that the girls did.
In November 2013, Montgomery County Police (MCP) released for the first time a second composite sketch of a different potential suspect. The sketch of a Long Haired Man (LHM) had been created by the same artist who drew the TRM sketch - and about the same week, but it had been filed away and not released in 1975. It was this second sketch that investigators focused their efforts on when they associated Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. with the case.
In February 2014, when (MCP) held a big press conference to announce their belief that Welch was the focus of their investigation, they hinted that a comparison of his photo and a 1975 sketch would be shown. The news media, in preparing for that press conference, dug out of their files the 1975 sketch of the Tape Recorder Man (TRM), and in anticipation (thinking this was the sketch in question) actually showed it several times during the course of the MCP presentation. It was not until the end of their presentation that MCP unveiled the previously unseen sketch of the Long Haired Man (LHM) beside a 1977 photo of Lloyd Lee Welch.
That press conference completely ignored the Tape Recorder Man, and he was not mentioned afterward by MCP.
The Tape Recorder Man has never been publicly identified or explained. Who was he? What was his role in the disappearance of the Lyon Sisters?
This 1975 police sketch shows a man who was spotted with the girls at the Wheaton Plaza shopping center
With that guilty plea conviction, the case was pretty much closed. Or was it?
To date, the Lyon Sisters' bodies have not been found and they remain missing.
Welch is the only person convicted, yet even his ever changing stories have implicated others. Who else was involved in the girls' disappearance?
The Tape Recorder Man (TRM) is still an unsolved mystery. On 1 April 1975, the press reported this man as being seen talking to Sheila and Kate shortly before their disappearance from Wheaton Plaza on Tuesday, 25 March 1975. The two boys who described TRM to the police knew the girls by sight.
When the sketch of TRM was released to the press, at least 15 other persons came forward to state that they had seen the same person talking to other children at other malls and shopping centers in the days leading up to Sheila and Kate' disappearance. However, no one reported seeing TRM AFTER 25 March 1975 - even though the story of him talking to the girls was not released until a week later. He seems to have disappeared at the same time that the girls did.
In November 2013, Montgomery County Police (MCP) released for the first time a second composite sketch of a different potential suspect. The sketch of a Long Haired Man (LHM) had been created by the same artist who drew the TRM sketch - and about the same week, but it had been filed away and not released in 1975. It was this second sketch that investigators focused their efforts on when they associated Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. with the case.
In February 2014, when (MCP) held a big press conference to announce their belief that Welch was the focus of their investigation, they hinted that a comparison of his photo and a 1975 sketch would be shown. The news media, in preparing for that press conference, dug out of their files the 1975 sketch of the Tape Recorder Man (TRM), and in anticipation (thinking this was the sketch in question) actually showed it several times during the course of the MCP presentation. It was not until the end of their presentation that MCP unveiled the previously unseen sketch of the Long Haired Man (LHM) beside a 1977 photo of Lloyd Lee Welch.
That press conference completely ignored the Tape Recorder Man, and he was not mentioned afterward by MCP.
The Tape Recorder Man has never been publicly identified or explained. Who was he? What was his role in the disappearance of the Lyon Sisters?
This 1975 police sketch shows a man who was spotted with the girls at the Wheaton Plaza shopping center
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I've hoped and prayed they somehow find the remains. Maybe LLW will get a conscience and tell them more, but I'm not holding my breath. IIRC, he didn't implicate anyone outside his family in the crime, though he tried at the beginning with the man with the limp (I forget his name). I don't think the TRM was ever more than a red herring.
The sketch of a Tape Recorder Man (TRM) was first published in Washington DC area newspapers and shown on local television news programs on 1 April 1975, a week after Sheila and Katherine Lyon went missing.
Immediately, tips came in to police from at least 15 persons who claimed to have seen such a man a few days previous to the girls disappearance at different shopping centers in Prince Georges County, Maryland (a county adjacent to Montgomery County, MD and also to Washington DC.
So certain were these others claiming to have seen a man with a tape recorder, that only a few minor changes were made to the sketch in the mouth area. The second release of the TRM sketch incorporated those changes, but did not change the sketch number.
Raymond Mileski of Suitland, Maryland (Prince Georges County) was convicted of murdering his wife and son in November 1977. He was sentenced to life in prison. He soon became a suspect in the Lyon Sisters' disappearance because of statements made by and to other prison inmates. The yard of his former residence was dug up in a search for bodies, and he was interviewed at various times by investigators regarding the case.
Mileski was involved in a number of illegal activities prior to murdering his family members and he had previously spent time in jail. At one time in the 1960's, he was shot while in the act of burglarizing a residence, and lost a leg due to the wound he received. This caused him to walk with a limp on a prosthetic leg.
Mileski had a business installing kitchen cabinets, and rented or owned a workshop or house near, but separate from his residence. He was in the habit of hiring teen aged boys, and sometimes let them room at his house. It was one of these boys who related information regarding Mileski's potential connection to the Lyon case.
Montgomery County Police (MCP) cold case investigators focused again on Mileski in 2013, and initially contacted Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. in prison to see what he could tell them about Mileski, since Welch, on 1 April 1975, had claimed to have seen a man who resembled the Tape Recorder Man sketch at Wheaton Plaza in the act of placing the girls in a car.
Welch initially admitted to investigators to knowing Mileski, but eventually recanted that story in his ever changing web of lies. Investigators soon believed that Welch was actually a suspect, rather than just a witness. Ultimately, Welch was the only person charged with the abduction and murder of Sheila and Katherine Lyon.
Many questions remain. Who was the Tape Recorder Man? Was Mileski really involved - and if so, to what extent?
At left is the brother of Raymond Mileski. At right, a sketch of the Tape Recorder Man (TRM)
Here is my first post about the Tape Recorder Man, made to the original Lyon Sisters Thread (#1) on Websleuths, when it was then part of the "Cold Cases" section. I posted it on 18 September 2004.
Quote:
There were actually two sketches made of Tape Recorder Man, both done by artist PFC D. Morton of the Montgomery County Police. The first sketch appeared for the first time on 1 April 1975, and again on 2 April in the Washington Post Newspaper. The first sketch generated 15 phone-in leads which placed the unknown suspect at Iverson Mall and Marlow Heights Shopping center three days prior to the disappearance of the Lyon Sisters. based on information from new witnesses, the origional sketch was modified slightly and a second version of it appeared in the Post on 4 April, and again on 17 April. The sketch is of a caucasian, well dressed, middle aged man "in his 50's", with thick lips, a narrow nose, and with black and gray hair.
News reports of that time indicated that police spoke with at least one PG county man and possibly two or three, who may have fit the description of the suspect, but that none were considered to be suspects during the investigation.
In 1982, Montgomery County officers spent about three and a half hours digging "test holes" in the backyard of a house on Suitland Road, not far from the two Prince Georges County shopping centers. The house belonged to a man (Mileski) who had been convicted and imprisoned for murdering his wife and son in that same house in November 1977. Tips from other inmates led police to that backyard, but nothing was found, and the matter dropped.
Unquote.
Immediately, tips came in to police from at least 15 persons who claimed to have seen such a man a few days previous to the girls disappearance at different shopping centers in Prince Georges County, Maryland (a county adjacent to Montgomery County, MD and also to Washington DC.
So certain were these others claiming to have seen a man with a tape recorder, that only a few minor changes were made to the sketch in the mouth area. The second release of the TRM sketch incorporated those changes, but did not change the sketch number.
Raymond Mileski of Suitland, Maryland (Prince Georges County) was convicted of murdering his wife and son in November 1977. He was sentenced to life in prison. He soon became a suspect in the Lyon Sisters' disappearance because of statements made by and to other prison inmates. The yard of his former residence was dug up in a search for bodies, and he was interviewed at various times by investigators regarding the case.
Mileski was involved in a number of illegal activities prior to murdering his family members and he had previously spent time in jail. At one time in the 1960's, he was shot while in the act of burglarizing a residence, and lost a leg due to the wound he received. This caused him to walk with a limp on a prosthetic leg.
Mileski had a business installing kitchen cabinets, and rented or owned a workshop or house near, but separate from his residence. He was in the habit of hiring teen aged boys, and sometimes let them room at his house. It was one of these boys who related information regarding Mileski's potential connection to the Lyon case.
Montgomery County Police (MCP) cold case investigators focused again on Mileski in 2013, and initially contacted Lloyd Lee Welch, Jr. in prison to see what he could tell them about Mileski, since Welch, on 1 April 1975, had claimed to have seen a man who resembled the Tape Recorder Man sketch at Wheaton Plaza in the act of placing the girls in a car.
Welch initially admitted to investigators to knowing Mileski, but eventually recanted that story in his ever changing web of lies. Investigators soon believed that Welch was actually a suspect, rather than just a witness. Ultimately, Welch was the only person charged with the abduction and murder of Sheila and Katherine Lyon.
Many questions remain. Who was the Tape Recorder Man? Was Mileski really involved - and if so, to what extent?
At left is the brother of Raymond Mileski. At right, a sketch of the Tape Recorder Man (TRM)
Here is my first post about the Tape Recorder Man, made to the original Lyon Sisters Thread (#1) on Websleuths, when it was then part of the "Cold Cases" section. I posted it on 18 September 2004.
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There were actually two sketches made of Tape Recorder Man, both done by artist PFC D. Morton of the Montgomery County Police. The first sketch appeared for the first time on 1 April 1975, and again on 2 April in the Washington Post Newspaper. The first sketch generated 15 phone-in leads which placed the unknown suspect at Iverson Mall and Marlow Heights Shopping center three days prior to the disappearance of the Lyon Sisters. based on information from new witnesses, the origional sketch was modified slightly and a second version of it appeared in the Post on 4 April, and again on 17 April. The sketch is of a caucasian, well dressed, middle aged man "in his 50's", with thick lips, a narrow nose, and with black and gray hair.
News reports of that time indicated that police spoke with at least one PG county man and possibly two or three, who may have fit the description of the suspect, but that none were considered to be suspects during the investigation.
In 1982, Montgomery County officers spent about three and a half hours digging "test holes" in the backyard of a house on Suitland Road, not far from the two Prince Georges County shopping centers. The house belonged to a man (Mileski) who had been convicted and imprisoned for murdering his wife and son in that same house in November 1977. Tips from other inmates led police to that backyard, but nothing was found, and the matter dropped.
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Bumping this thread up. This March will mark the 49 year anniversary of the Lyon Sisters' disappearance, and they are still missing. While Lloyd Welch, Jr. has been convicted of their murder, many questions remain.