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

[Dragonfire7783]

Hello I am new here and have spent the last few days reading this thread looking at the details and different theories about what happen to the Lyon sisters.I live in PG county and was 17 at the time they disappeared so I remember this very well,and admit I have thought about it over the years from time to time.This past Sunday night when I went to bed I started thinking about this case again very strongly.Funny thing is I was thinking of an art project I am working on when I suddenly shifted to this case out of the blue.
First some comments about what others have said.Some one posted that the area wasn't safe.Yes I remember that very well.In the area there were just places one didn't really want to go and Wheaton Plaza was in one of them.
Also about TRM in PG county.I don't know if I would take the reports seriously about Marlow Heights or Iverson.This is where I lived and still do and they were not really places where allot of us teens hung out.Marlow Heights is an open air strip shopping center and Iverson a very small mall.At the time not much there to do or for teens to hang out.Landover Mall which is gone now was larger and the place to go.So if the reports mentioned Landover I would take it more into account.It could be people saw some one in a brown suit and briefcase and figured it was the same man.

Some thoughts about Coffey as a suspect.I don't mean to discount him but I do wonder.Based on past cases and profiles of serial rapist/killers they do dispose of bodies in places they will likely be found.A dare to police to catch them and give themselves attention. So the complete disappearance really doesn't fit the MO.
As for TRM there have been good theories of how if involved and the perp he got two girls in the car.Which I do not mean to discount,but do wonder.
As some one has mentioned the MCP during the DC sniper case was totally fixated on a white type truck/van.Never mind they are a dime a dozen so seeing one in the area wouldn't be strange. It is possible that TRM was a nut pedophile fishing but not involved.


Why do I wonder.For one as I mentioned serial rapist/killers like the attention so generally their victims get found.The one exception I can think of is Jeffery Dalmer who ate and kept parts as trophies. Any way based on other cases it seems to me it's when it is some one the victims know then it is when bodies are disposed of so hopefully they won't be found.
Also kidnapping two girls even in a busy parking lot with no struggle with the news this case got surely some one would have come forward or thought."Hay I saw two blond girls getting in with some one.I just figured it was a parent"Then contacted police.
As for the teen who saw them between 2:30PM and 3:30PM on the way home.I am not sure I'd dismiss it.I know why he said he didn't report it right away but was his reason the truth?Did some news report really say the sisters were seen at the mall at 7PM?
I personally think it possible it was a person they knew.All reports mention TRM,but non mention if they were seen talking with another group of young people or teens.This would have been over looked by adults be cause it is common place.The older sister was in 7th grade.JR.High at the time.Which was grades 7 to 9.Did they run into an older boy/boys one she might have a crush on?One who had a drivers license.Be cause of my birthday and repeating a grade I was 16 in 9th grade so could drive. Again adults wouldn't even have noticed any of this.

I wonder about the idea of a some trick to get the girls into a car by a stranger.While it is possible don't get me wrong. However when I was 14 my father was at work and had a severe asthma attack and had to go to the ER.My mother asked a family friend to catch me at the school bus stop to bring me to the hospital. So to me this would be likely so the idea some complete stranger using it at least for me wouldn't work.Even some one I'd just met and talked too. Seems to me the Lyons would do the same ask a family friend or neighbor

Also why I wonder about the other teen aspect.I'm not implying something terrible as a motive though it's possible with older teen boys.But just a joke gone wrong. For example when I was 10 new to the area a girl same age also new and I were talking at the local play ground.An older boy came up said there was this really cool tree swing in the local woods right there.So we followed.After awhile he just ran off leaving us in the woods as a joke.The girl fearful at first fearing we were lost etc,but I have a great memory and sense of direction so remembered how we got there and what direction the playground was in so we fairly quickly got out.Which is why I wonder about the teen who came forward days later and about his reason.



Some random thoughts.I'm sure police questioned family close friends close friends at school their teachers etc.
However students at school besides close friends teachers? At the time teen on teen violence wasn't as it is now.Also neither was sexual assaults from teachers or even church officials like it is known now.So was all this ever looked into once it be came an awareness in our modern world?

I know there are things the police have not made public and they have good reasons for not doing so.However it's been 37 years and to me it's time to allow a fresh look and people can help. I am sure there are things they know and wouldn't have to release all they know
But some things more.That way people here and the public who might know something a piece of this puzzle which right now unaware of could possible see it all in a new light and help solve it.
Another reason I feel more information should be released is this.I don't mean to be critical of the police here.The original detective/detectives have retired so today it is a new detective.I Doubt it is actively being looked into with today's violent crimes gangs drugs and terrorism threat.Just to name a few problems police must deal with today.
Sadly going over the evidence that is public all we can do is go around and around in circles
I don't know why I strongly and suddenly started thinking about this case but I would very deeply love to solve it.
Thanks for the forum and listening to my ramble everyone.

 

[Motherof5]

Welcome Dragon,I too am very new here. I know that everyone thinks TRM took the girls and most think that TRM is Coffey. I just want to put something out there that Dragon has touched on.I understand the reasons for suspecting TRM and Coffey but I can't discount the idea that it could be neither one and could be someone that they knew. I think it is possible that TRM was just a nut pedo that was at the mall that day doing his thing and never tried it again due to them being taken. I know that the TRM article didn't come out until days after,but the fact that they were missing was reported right away. TRM could have seen their pictures on the news that night and new that he had talked to them. That would have been enough to keep him from going back out with his tape recorder. As far as Coffey being involved,it just doesn't add up to me. Yes, this is something he has done before, but it doesn't seem to follow his pattern. I read that he left his victims near water. He wanted them to be found. I also don't think that he would stick around and work at Vitro if he just took 2 kids from the area.He had a record,that makes no sense. I know that there probably won't be anyone that agrees with me,but I really think that it is very possible that as they were leaving the mall, they were offered a ride by someone that they knew and they took it. There was no struggle,they didn't suspect anything other than a ride from someone that they didn't fear. I just don't think that their abduction was complicated at all and I think that we should consider looking at people that they knew well from school,church,family friends and neighbors. Anyway,that's my gut feeling.

 

[Dragonfire7783]

Thank you motherof5.
After reading your response I thought about this some more and there is a way the teen's story of seeing the girls fits and it doesn't require an abduction by car. It also can include TRM.TRM could have been local but wearing some type of make up to hide his real identity.While I was in Waldorf this afternoon I remembered a case on the news several years ago of a missing girl who had been missing presumed dead for several years who escaped from her captors.Just suppose TRM was local fishing and lived somewhere along the route the girls would walk on their way home or fairly close.This would fit TRM and the teens sighting between 2:30PM and 3:30PM. Having picked the girls TRM goes home removes make up so he then would look familiar to the girls.Then on the way home lures them to his home.Yes I know police searched the area but there are a few ways the girls could have been missed.As I mentioned the case of the teen girl held several years gave me the idea.
There is a way all the questions of people searches over looked the perp more than likely perps.The case I mentioned the teen girl kidnapped when she was about 10 or 12 I think.It was a couple who did it and held her captive as some type of sex slave.The same could be in the Lyon sisters case.A local couple this way each is the others alibi.How did they hide the sisters?The homes in that area were probable builded in the 1950s early 1960s.This is during the Cold War when nuclear war with Russia was a very real possibility to allot of people.People were having bomb shelters builded.These could have hidden entrances in a home's basement.The wall thick concrete and doors thick as well.Two people held inside no body would hear a scream for help nor ever see the sisters.In such a way they could be hidden for years or as long as needed.Then sadly killed so not to go to the police and the bodies disposed of carefully so no trace is ever found.

You don't even need a shelter.They could have made a secret area after moving into the house.

You don't really need TRM for this theory but it also could work with him.It does include the teens sighting later that day.

So I would love to know who was new to the area especially along the route they would have walked home?Where did they move from?Are there missing girl/girls cases from the area where they moved from? Also where did people in the area move too and again did missing girls show up?I would pick a childless couple or couple that their children were grown.They couldn't have children around while having captives.Also a couple who stayed rather to themselves and hardly had people over for dinners parties etc so not take the chance the sisters would be discovered.

Also a side note and I am not saying the father did this but use the case as an example of how long a person could be held captive.The German man who for hmmm 20 30 some years held his daughter hidden captive had children by her.It was in the news a few years agr was it last year?Any way she was held in an apartment building in a secret place he builded and no body ever suspected.

 

[Motherof5]

That is an interesting theory. I do know of the case where the father kept his daughter captive,I believe it was Austria. As far as John Lyon goes,that man is a saint IMO. I know that you weren't implying that Mr. Lyon had anything to do with this, just giving an example of the hidden basement dungeon and how people do hold others captive for years. As far as where they were taken from, I feel like they were taken from the mall as they were leaving. I just don't know that I believe the sighting of them walking home. I think that kid might have been wrong about the day that he saw them. I think it is possible that it could have been more than one person.

 

[Motherof5]

Hey everyone, I have a question about the kid that saw the girls talking to TRM. I understand that he didn't tell his parents that he saw them talking to TRM because he heard that the girls were seen around 7:00 that evening and didn't think it was important.(If I misunderstood the article please tell me) Now, what I don't get is if this boy knew the girls and now they are missing,wouldn't his parents ask him 100 questions about that day. If my child knew the missing kids and was at the mall the same day and time that the missing kids were there, I would drive them nuts with questions. I just think it's odd that his seeing them talking to TRM didn't come up way before it did. I would think that the day it happened his parents would have asked him if he saw them and he would have told them that he did and that they were talking to TRM. Even if he thought TRM was a reporter and it was no big deal,I would think that he would have told them what he saw. Maybe I read the article wrong,but that just really bothers me.

 

[Thrasher]

Just a few things in response to all that has been written in the past week:

1. John Lyon, and the family, were subject to intense police scrutiny from Day 1. This is routine. They found nothing, and no one who had a grudge against him, and no one he knew, or the girls knew, who disappeared after 3/25/75. Some people were suspicious of him because he didn't behave the way they thought he should. Having known him personally for about 17 years, I know that he is incapable of cruetly to anyone, let alone his own children. In other missing children cases, though, I would suspect the parents immediately.

2. I once asked him directly if he thought Coffey was involved. He did not answer directly but I took his response as being doubtful.

3. Jay Lyon, the girls' brother, has been a detective with Montgomery County Police for more than twenty years. He has worked abused children and sexual offender cases. He has seen it all, and is certainly privy to any police activity on this case. I think it is safe to say that the police are not sitting on any leads that could have promise, and, even if they were inclined to neglect evidence, Jay would pursue it.

4. There is nowhere near enough evidence to arrest or indict Coffey. If there were, it would have happened. The reasons he remains a prime suspect is that he fits all the facts; he has never established his whereabouts in March 1975, his circumstantial ties to the Kathy Beatty case, and he is known to have abducted children from shopping centers.
As long as he is in custody in North Carolina, he doesn't have to say anything.

 

[Dragonfire7783]

MOTHEROF5
To answer you question there are two teens.The first teen who saw them talking to TRM .Then a second teen who later came forward who said he saw them on the way home.

You are right the parents of both wood have asked lots of questions and it is why I don't discount that the second teen saw them on the way home.


Thrasher thank you I figured close friends neighbors friends at school church their teachers were all questioned.
My point is I doubt every student was and also I as a teen had friends my parents didn't even know about.

Also I figured the family was questioned and also by my comment above please know as I said I was not implying the father had anything to do with it.I just used the case mentioned as an example of how long some one could be hidden away.

 

[Richard]

Thrasher, from the information Richard put on this forum back a while ago our understanding on websleuths was that after Kathy Beatty was found she was in a coma and died about 2 weeks later without gaining consciousness.

That alone would and could have made the perpetrater leave the area because he would have known...IF...she woke up she could identify her attacker...BUT...if we (websleuths) didn't get all the information available about this case and she did wake up before she died...it might be very important for the Beatty case if she had been able to talk about the attack, 2ndly...if Coffey was not the one who attacked her...why did he leave the area either once he knew she was still alive or once he found she had regained consciousness....

Kathy Beatty was beaten very badly and suffered a severe head injury on the evening of 24 - 25 July 1975 (a Thursday evening). She was found the next morning, Friday the 25th in a trash strewn field near the K-Mart in Aspen Hill, Md not too far from her residence.

She was immediately taken to the Hospital and remained in serious condition until her death from complications 12 days later. She never regained consciousness.

Fred Coffey was considered by Montgomery County Police investigators as a possible suspect in the Beatty case back in 1987 when he was being tried in North Carolina for the abduction, rape and murder of a 10 year old girl (a crime which took place in 1979 in Charlotte, NC). They were never able to positively link Coffey to either the Beatty case or to the Lyon case.

The circumstantial evidence against Fred Coffey in the Beatty case is that he worked for Vitro Laboratories of Aspen Hill at the time, and their offices were between Kathy's house and the K-mart. The newer Vitro offices now house BAE Systems and are located near the intersection of Aspen Hill Road and Connecticut Ave. The older office spaces and parking lot are now the location of the Home Depot which is directly across the road from K-mart.

Fred worked at Vitro from some time in April (exact date in question) until just before the end of July. He left without comment to his supervisors at Vitro and only later did he write to them, explaining his departure as being an emergency situation because his wife and daughter had been involved in a car accident in another state. He asked that they send him his last paycheck through 31 July 1975. Investigators determined that his stated reason for leaving was a total lie and that he used an identical story when leaving another job on another occasion.

So clearly, Fred Coffey left the area before that date (31 July). The story about Kathy appeared in the Washington Post on Saturday, 26 July 1975 and the small article stated that she was still alive and in the hospital.

It is conjecture that Coffey left the area suddenly because of the news report about Kathy Beatty being attacked, but alive. One would have to believe that he caused Kathy's injuries to be so motivated to leave his job so suddenly. While that action, alone, is not proof of his guilt, it is a strong indicator when many other factors are considered and Fred Coffey's history is studied.

Kathy was walking around her neighborhood that evening in her bare feet. She wrote a note to her mother that she wanted to visit a girlfriend, but may have instead gone to see a former boy friend. Her mother was not at home that night, having gone to a dinner in Baltimore.

IF Kathy had decided to go to the K-mart (where she was later found) on her own, she probably would have walked through the Vitro Parking Lot, as it was the shortest distance. Kathy's mother said that she liked to go to K-mart, but did not think that she would have walked there barefoot because of all the broken glass in the area.

No testimony has ever placed Fred Coffey and Kathy Beatty together. But it was very likely that Fred Coffey and his vehicle were in the Vitro Parking Lot at some time that afternoon or evening. And no one has ever stated that he WAS NOT there.

Fred Coffey has been convicted of murdering 10 year old Amanda Ray, and is a very strong suspect in several other child murders. He was also convicted of numerous incidents of child molestation - and has confessed to over a hundred other molestations for which he was never prosecuted.

Did the story about Kathy's attack and "survival" cause Coffey to leave town suddenly? Probably. But was it because he had attacked her, or was it because by a big coincidence, some other pervert committed the crime and he thought the police might start investigating him?

 

[Motherof5]

Thrasher...

Could you tell me what children and what shopping centers Coffey is known to have abducted children from? I've never heard anything about that and would love to look into it. Thanks.

 

[Motherof5]

I just went back to check and saw that I confused the boy that saw them walking home with the boy that saw them talking to TRM. Anyway, I still think it is kinda odd the the boy who saw them talking to TRM first told his parents that he saw the girls at the plaza that day but left out the part about them talking to TRM until days later. He seemed to think it would be cool to be "interviewed" so why wouldn't he mention the fact that, yes he saw them and he thought that they were being interviewed by this guy? I'm almost afraid to post this but here goes........Does anyone think it's possible that this kid could have seen TRM on a previous day,as people came forward saying this guy was seen doing his thing before the abduction,and just claimed that he saw the girls talking to TRM the day of the abduction to get a cool interview? If TRM had been doing his thing and then he hears on the news that two girls are missing,he probably would stop for fear of being accused of being involved. Now, I'm not asking if you all agree with this theory,I'm just asking if you think this theory is at all possible?Thanks!!

 

[thefirstman]

I just went back to check and saw that I confused the boy that saw them walking home with the boy that saw them talking to TRM. Anyway, I still think it is kinda odd the the boy who saw them talking to TRM first told his parents that he saw the girls at the plaza that day but left out the part about them talking to TRM until days later. He seemed to think it would be cool to be "interviewed" so why wouldn't he mention the fact that, yes he saw them and he thought that they were being interviewed by this guy? I'm almost afraid to post this but here goes........Does anyone think it's possible that this kid could have seen TRM on a previous day,as people came forward saying this guy was seen doing his thing before the abduction,and just claimed that he saw the girls talking to TRM the day of the abduction to get a cool interview? If TRM had been doing his thing and then he hears on the news that two girls are missing,he probably would stop for fear of being accused of being involved. Now, I'm not asking if you all agree with this theory,I'm just asking if you think this theory is at all possible?Thanks!!

Any thing is possible. To me, what you are speculating about is extremely unlikely.

To me you are superimposing 2009 standards of relating to a possible missing child(ren), to 1975 standards. I wrote about this differentiation earlier in this thread: That is authorities and parents left children much more vulnerable - in fact the stories of the TRM are case and point. Here we have a man engaging (tape recording) children in plain site in a series of shopping malls, over weeks, throughout two counties in suburban DC. I have little doubt that less suspicious behavior would be met with considerably heavier scrutiny in today's world.

The interviewee "Jimmy" (actually known by a poster on this site and named as Tommy) and those around him including his parents were most likely in shock.

I have put out a theory before that offers an alternative to Thrasher's notion that driving back to the girl's house in Kensington was viable.

We have a number of corroborating witnessing having seen TRM over weeks at other malls. IF he is the perpetrator, then his modality of gaining a child's trust by using a tape recorder is only one step in premeditated strategy to kidnap a child(ren). Part one is gain trust and establish familiarity. But he would then need to "cash" in on this established "bond" and most malls have many obstacles to completing the evil deed.

Such a person would have to know where the children have come from to get to the mall. He would need to know that the children were without supervision from an adult and no-one at the mall was meeting up with them once they were there. He would need to know which exit they would leave the mall and lie in wait for them in the parking lot. He would then need to know how to approach a potential victim to get in the vehicle with him.

I proposed that he was trolling for child(ren) that he witnessed cutting through the mall parking lot and entering the mall without supervising adults.

He then, attempted to engage said children in tape recording scheme. In this he was fishing for a last name. He could then return to car look up child's last name in phone book, take out a map and head to their street and hang out for a while.

The rest is very do-able. Upon seeing the girls invite them to listen to themselves on the previously made recordings. Car engine is off, guy is lounging two houses down from their home, car doors open. They relax, they listen, make another recording, and are eased into a bad idea of actually closing the car doors with the potential victims inside. Once inside the car it is rigged so it cannot be opened from the inside - done!

Of course same can be done at the back of the mall parking lot. And others have put out lots of other very viable scenarios to lure unsuspecting children into a car.

The notion that it was peers or slightly older children involved seems SO unlikely because of the long-standing media involvement that would have created enormous pressure on any others involved. Of course it is possible, but seems SO unlikely. Hiding the details of such a crime requires an extreme level of luck and sophistication.

I am intrigued by the theory that Kowalski may have been our TRM. I am also intrigued by Thrasher's statements that the parents of the children know things about the case and have seemed to have downplayed theories of Coffey's involvement.

G-d speed to the Lyon family and my prayers to those who have suffered so greatly.

 

[Motherof5]

Thanks for your response. I think that you misunderstood me. I don't think that I was superimposing anything. I understand that there is a big difference in the way these cases are handled today as well as the limits in freedom that we give our children. I honestly think that Tommy saw what he said he saw that day, I just wanted to put another option out there. I do think it's strange that he didn't tell his parents about TRM earlier. He seemed to think it would be great to be interviewed by this guy, you'd think that the fact that the girls were being interviewed would stand out in his mind when his parents first asked him if he had seen them. But, I've thought about Tommy and I think what it really comes down to is the fact that he was a kid when this happened and I can't expect a kid to think like an adult and know which details are the important ones. He didn't seem to feel threatened by TRM, so he probably didn't see him as anyone that would be involved with this. Anyway, I think you have an interesting theory and I can see how it would play out, but I wonder about time. How long would it take to do all of that?

 

[Motherof5]

I'm feeling like the boy that said he saw them walking home that day might have been mistaken and that they were most likely taken from the mall as they were leaving. I just wanted to know if anyone knows how LE feels about the tip from the man that said that he too saw them walking home and waived to them as they passed by his house? I grew up in the 70's,but in a very small town where everyone knew eveyone. There would always be people sitting on their front porch and they would always waive to us as we'd pass by. I was just wondering if LE believed this man?

 

[Redskins]

It's been very interesting reading all of the personal accounts and one thing really creeped me out... that the kidnapper is still out there and reading this forum and getting off on how what he did affected so many lives.

For the parents sake and everyone else, I hope someday there can be some sort of closure.

 

[Motherof5]

We have talked alot about what TRM said to the girls to get both of them to go with him and I've been thinking about this alot and I think maybe it could be as simple as this.........

I've said before that I grew up in a very small town where everyone knew everyone. If I had grown up in a larger area, I think it would have been different. My dad was a cop,and if someone that I didn't know had come to to me and they had a badge and a unifrom, I think that I would have trusted them and gone with them. Even though I was told not to talk to strangers,I think that I would have seen the badge and uniform and thought that this was a good man just like my dad. Maybe the girl saw TRM and his microphone and thought that he was ok,that he was like their dad who talked into a microphone everyday at work. Maybe it wasn't so much what he said,but the way in which he appeared to them. Anyway,just a thought.

 

[Tsmiles]

Does anyone know how I can get in touch with the Lyon family? I'm actually related to them but have never met them. I have always heard about my cousins that got kidnapped and remember seeing one of them in People magazine I believe when I was young. I was born a few years after Katherine. My dad passed away this year, that's how I'm related to them, he and their dad were cousins and I would like to meet some of my relatives that I have never met. Thanks for any info you can give.

have you been contacted? I am a family member.

 

[Ms. Magoo]

I found out about the Lyon case by reading "What The Dead Know" by Laura Lippman (actually listening to the audio version). I finished it yesterday, and then went on the Amazon site to read the readers' reviews, and it was there I discovered that the book was based on this case.

One reader/reviewer was emphatic in their remarks that there was very little connecting the fiction book to the Lyon girls' disappearance. They claimed to be very involved in the case, and, except for the year, the fact that it was two sisters and that they were abducted at a mall, the book was completely different.

This led me to initial research into the Lyon case, and I quickly found that there was a lot more in the book that was similar to this case than the reviewer claimed.

I frankly am appalled that this book was written. Ms. Lippman claims to have only been "reminded" of the case when she chose to write her "fictional" novel of what would have happened if one of the girls had possibly lived and reappeared 30 years later. But she has used so many of the facts from the case that it is impossible for me now to separate her novel from the reality of what happened to the Lyon sisters.

In the novel:

• Both sisters are blond and blue-eyed. The author has changed their ages - from 10 and 12 to 11 (almost 12, repeated constantly) and 15.

• The author states that, on at least one occasion, the eldest of the sisters had her hair pulled into two ponytails on the sides of her head. I find this very disturbing as the only picture I have seen of Sheila Lyon, the eldest, has her hair styled in this fashion.

• The girls disappear on Saturday, March 29, 1975 in the novel - Tuesday, March 25, 1975 in reality. The fact that it is Easter is spread throughout the book in many ways.

• The girls disappear from Security Square Mall in Baltimore, 37 miles from Wheaton Plaza.

• One of the main plot-points is the age-progression photographs of the girls.

There are other similarities in the novel, but I would have to re-read it in order to point them out.

Other reader/reviewers were aware of the Lyon case, having lived in the area, and feel that the author has exploited this case in order to write a "novel." I have to agree. Had there been a "resolution" to this case, I would not find it as objectionable, as the family would at least have some type of "closure'' (hate that word), but it is still open and unsolved and the speculations about the parties involved could be very painful to the family.

But, since I have now begun researching, I have more to add to this thread when I have time.

 

[Motherof5]

I too checked this book out last week just because I've heard so much about it and wanted to see how much of the Lyon case she would use. I read 3 chapters and got so angry that I took it back. The author makes me sick. It was so much like the Lyon case I could not believe it!!

 

[Thrasher]

I read the novel, and have some personal familiarity with the Lyon case. I think the author would have been wise to set it in a different year, a different season, and perhaps outside of Maryland. But I don't think it resembles the facts of the Lyon case much at all. No one in the novel remotely reminded me of any counterpart in the case. It is not great fiction, but few paperback mysteries. I don't think the author was exploiting the situation; if so, she would have written it 30 years earlier. I don't think the Lyons were the least bit affected by it. They have dealt with far greater indignities and insensitivity.

 

[awareness]

Ive been reading this thread for 2 days straight. Never even heard of this case although Im only 37 and in CA. Hats off to Richard, Thrasher with great information along with others. I dont have any additional comments or theories, several suspects/scenarios presented here could have happened. Just hope the Lyon family will eventually have 100% closure.

I wonder if people who saw the girls talking to TRM could be hypnotized to bring back the old memory & therefore new details.

Its a shame that poster didn't let us know if she found the negatives, but even though that was a few years ago - 20+ years had already passed -- I know I couldnt find negatives from my childhood, only some hard copy pictures. Unless she was meticulous about keeping ALL of her negatives from her schooling & life in general, chances are she wasn't able to locate them. She too would be a good candidate to hypnotize since she was there that day.