I believe the article I've shown you is the only one I've seen that has Mr.Mann's sighting. I think the boy that saw them also knew them but I don't know if Mr. Mann knew them. Richard has spoken to LE and can probably give us their thoughts on these sightings.
I have typed up a very extensive story written by Washington Star reporter Mary Ann Kuhn and published on Sunday 6 April 1975. She interviewed numerous people in preparation of her article. I plan to post Ms Kuhn's entire article this week under the "Remembering Sheila and Katherine thread.
Ms. Kuhn reported that at least six persons saw Sheila and Kate at Wheaton Plaza on 25 March 1975.
- Sarah Biosca, a retired seamstress, saw them in a leather shop looking at a wallet. This was at about 11:45 am.
- An 18 year-old boy who was a clerk at Up Against The Wall, a jeans store stated that they came in his store to browse.
- Jay Lyon, the girls brother, saw them at the Mall Center apparently waiting at the Easter bunny display. He walked right by them, but does not know whether or not they saw him. This was about 1 pm.
- A 13-year-old boy (name not stated) who knew Sheila saw her sitting on the Easter bunny's arm, listening to children talk to him.
- "Jimmy", a 13-year-old boy who knew Sheila and Kate personally , along with another 13-year-old boy (name not stated) saw the two girls talking to a man with a tape recorder in the mall corridor, near the Orange Bowl restaurant. This was estimated to be between 1 and 2 pm.
note: Although not stated by Ms. Kuhn in her article, a Washington Post article stated that Jay Lyon saw his sisters eating pizza in the Orange Bowl around 2 pm. I do not know how accurate that report was, however. Ms. Kuhn had the opportunity to interview Jay and his mother at their home, and she most likely would have mentioned him seeing them at the Orange Bowl if that was the case.
- Ms. Kuhn reported that another boy, named David Reed, age 12 said that he saw both girls at about 7:30 pm near Drumm Ave. and Faulkner Place headed AWAY from their home and TOWARD Wheaton Plaza. David stated that he recognized the girls from having seen them at the swimming pool the previous summer, and that he attended school with Sheila.
That reported 7:30 PM sighting had police baffled for about two weeks, when they finally decided that it was an error of some sort - for unstated reasons. Perhaps they determined that he could not tell time, or perhaps he had seen them on some previous day.
- When it was reported in the news media that the 7:30 PM sighting was in error, yet another boy came forward to say that he had seen the girls between 2:30 and 3 PM that day near the intersection of Drumm and Devon. His reason for the delay in reporting this was that he had heard about the later 7:30 PM sighting and either he or his parents did not think his information was important. The problem was that after two weeks, police were somewhat skeptical about the information and its accuracy. Was this another case of getting the time or date wrong?
Ms. Kuhn did not mention Mr. Mann and his report in her 6 April article, and I do not know much about him. I suspect that he may have seen the second Drumm Ave report (the 2:30-3PM one) and may have made his statement to police after that. If this was the case, then the elapse of time would still be a problem.
As to police thoughts on these later sightings; I cannot speak for them, but I think from talking to them, that although they cannot completely discount the Drumm Ave sightings, they give them less credance than the sightings inside the mall.
