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

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There have been a number of possible suspects in the case of the Missing Lyon Sisters. Some of these were actually investigated thoroughly, while others may have appeared briefly in the news but may have been eliminated as suspects for one reason or other.

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Arthur Frederick "Freddie" GOODE III

Freddie was a homosexual pedophile who lived in Hyattsville, Maryland (Prince Georges County). He had been arrested on three separate occasions for indecent assults on minors when in March 1975 (Same month and year that the Lyon Sisters disappeared) he was arrested for five sexual assaults on a 9 year-old boy. The Goode Family raised $25,000 to bail him out and while on bail, he attacked an eleven year-old. After some plea bargaining, Freddie got five years probation on the condition that he voluntarily undergo treatment at a mental health hospital.

Because his treatment was "voluntary" the hospital had no right to hold him and after 15 weeks, Freddie walked out and traveled by bus to Florida. While there, on 5 March 1976 he met and strangled 9 year-old Jason VerDow. He was questioned by police in Florida, but they did not know of a Maryland warrant out for him, so he was not detained.

He then met a 10 year-old boy named Billy Arthe and traveled with him to Washington DC, where the two met Kenny Dawson, age 11. In Billy's presense, Freddie strangled Kenny. After a woman saw a photo of the missing Billy, she alerted Baltimore police to Freddie Goode's location. He was arrested, and Billy became a witness at Freddie's murder trial. The Maryland court sentenced him to life in prison and then extradited him to Florida where he was convicted of Jason VerDow's murder and sentenced to death.

Where was he on 25 March 1975? Freddie's victims were all in the age range of the Lyon Sisters, but his known victims were all boys. Also, Freddie traveled by bicycle and bus most of the time. These factors would tend to rule him out as the girls' abductor.
 
Ellwood Leroy LEUSCHNER

On 1 November 1977, a paroled California rapist was arrested in Salisbury, Maryland by Maryland State Police on the charges of kidnapping, raping, and murdering a 9 year old boy. The boy was abducted from his trailer park and buried on a farm ten miles away. The suspect, was one Ellwood Leroy LEUSCHNER, age 45. He was a tall, gaunt, white man who worked as a general laborer at the Campbell Soup Plant in Salisbury.

Leuschner had been first convicted of rape in 1953. He was sent to a California prison in 1960, released in the mid 60's and then convicted and sentenced again for a subsequent forgery and for the rape of a 12 year old girl. In that incident, he dressed in priest's clothing and asked the little girl to help him bring some packages into a church. When he got her in the church, he raped her.

He was paroled in 1974, and some time after that (exact date not known), he vilolated his parole and left California. He claimed to have lived in Salisbury for three years when captured in 1977. The Maryland State Police called California Corrections Office in 1977 to try to confirm this, but California officials stated that he had left California in March 1976 to avoid another rape charge there.

Leuschner was also suspected of the kidnap and murder of two other young boys, in separate incidents in July 1977. Police ruled him out as a suspect in one, but believed that he committed the other and he was charged with that murder as well.

Leuschner drove a blue or green Camaro (model year not known) in 1977, and it was that car which had been seen at the abduction sites, and at the burial sites that connected him with the abductions and murders. Just prior to his last murder, he had attempted another abduction, but the child escaped and gave a description of him and his car.

Many police departments became interested in him after his capture, but when the California Corrections officials said that he had only been out of California since March 1976, he was "ruled out" of many open investigations. He may have been out of California sometime before he was reported missing and the March 1976 date might only be when the California parole violation warrant was issued.

It would be interesting to know where he went and what his time schedule was between his release from prison in California and his eventual capture in Maryland. That might allow investigators to look into other unsolved murders or abductions.

Leuschner's known victims were male and female children ages 9 to 12, his manner of approach and deception, and his way of burying the bodies in remote areas, the fact that he was a serial offender and had transportation - all would make him a prime suspect in some of the unsolved murders and missing child cases of 1974 thru 1977.

Leuschner was a serial rapist and murderer. It would seem that for him to have accellerated to the point of killing two boys in one month, he may well have killed others between 1974 and his November 1977 capture. In a very short time frame of five months from March to July 1975, and within a very close radius, two girls from Maryland (the Lyon Sisters), two boys from New Jersey and three girls from Pennsylvania all disappeared. One incident per month, each in a different police jurisdiction. All of those sites were within driving distance from Salisbury, Maryland.

Leuschner spent the rest of his life in the Maryland Prison system, evidently becoming a writer for a prison newsletter before his death.
 
Richard said:
...WUSA TV4 does a weekly special with Joe Krebbs called Cold Case Files....
Click to expand...

Correction: TV Channel 4 in Washington, DC is WRC TV4, an NBC affilliate.
 
Raymond Rudolph MILESKI, Sr.

Raymond Rudolph Mileski Sr. is a convicted murderer serving a life sentence in the Maryland Prison system. He is linked to the Lyon Sisters, because of claims that he has made on several occasions. Those stories have some varience to them, but basically Ray states that he knows who the abductor/murderer of the girls is.

A story about Montgomery County Police digging in the backyard of the Mileski home at 5816 Suitland Road was in the Washington Post in April 1982, but only briefly. It was only one of many momentary mentions of the Lyon Sisters in news stories over the years. At the time, nothing much came of it. The story told of police digging test holes for about three hours in response to tips from convicts, and that nothing was found. That story makes specific reference to the address and to it being in response to a tip from Maryland Prison Inmates, but it does not mention Mileski's name.

On 19 November 1977, following an ongoing family argument, Raymond Mileski Sr. shot his oldest son with a high power rifle in the basement of their home. When his wife, Dolores, ran down the stairs into the basement room, he shot her too. The bullet passed through her, through a wall and into the mouth of their 7 year old son, Peter, who was running down the stairs behind his mother. Mileski left his wife and older son for dead and transported Peter to Andrews Air Force Base for emergency treatment. Leaving him there, Mileski, drove to the home of a neighbor where his middle son Karl was visiting. He told Karl to stay where he was and then turned himself in to police.

Mileski, while in prison, had evidently told a story to other convicts that he knew who had abducted and killed the Lyon Sisters, these cons repeated the story to MCP investigators. Montgomery County Police dug test holes in the Mileski backyard for three hours and found nothing. End of story? Not quite.

In 2001, an anonymous tip to police named Mileski as having told others prior to his 1978 murder conviction, that he was in some way involved in the Lyon Sisters disappearance. Many elements of this tipster's story were checked out and found to be accurate.

Mileski, contacted in Prison in 2001, admitted in writing that he did in fact know who the abductor of the Lyon Sisters was. He did not name anyone, but gave a general description of the area in which the girls were buried. Mileski made general statements, but clearly wanted to negotiate for a prison transfer before he would speak with investigators.

It is hard to determine if Mileski actually knows anything about the Lyon case, or if he is just making it all up for his own advantage.

The most intriguing thing about a possible PG county connection is that the sketch of "Tape Recorder Man" was recognized by 15 mothers of young girls who had been approached by a man at Iverson Mall and at Marlow Heights Shopping Center on 22 March 1975, three days before the Lyon Sisters disappeared. The Washington Post reported that from one to three PG men were questioned, but that they were not considered suspects at the time. Those sightings place the primary suspect (Tape Recorder Man) right in the close proximity of Mileski, his home, and his alleged associates.
 
Thanks, J-girl. I agree that it's important to recall the real people involved. It's been a long time and I don't remember a lot about the girls. The '75 Newport yearbook published Sheila's picture with her 7th grade class, and there was also a photo of her table at in the cafeteria, utterly candid and innocent, and in a way haunting. They were regular, nice girls. Not jocks, not cheerleaders, not snotty or mean. I imagine Sheila would have stayed on the quiet side and grown even prettier as she matured.

My memories go beyond Sheila and Katie to that whole place and era... when it seemed, up till 1975 anyway, to be so safe to be a suburban kid. Kids could hang out, go places by ourselves or find places to be alone. Random stuff -- there were a couple big hills next to Plyers Mill Rd where all the neighborhood kids went sledding. On Homewood, we had regular touch football games on summer evenings. Even kids who didn't connect socially knew who their neighbors were. You kind of had to behave well in public because not only your folks but neighbors would keep an eye out. My impression is that the immediate area in Kensington has retained something of that feel.
 
Cat-girl, please check your private messages this forum. You have provided some very interesting comments and insight. Thanks!
 
Fred Howard COFFEY, Jr. (see also Neely Smith thread this forum)

Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. is currently serving a life term in NC for the 1979 murder of a 10 year NC girl. He may have been involved in the Lyon Sisters abduction, and possibly in the July 1975 abduction/murder of 15 year-old Kathy Lynn Beatty, also of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. was born 03/20/45 in either Virginia or North Carolina. By his and his family's account, he was subjected to severe sexual abuse as a child by his father. An eighth-grade dropout, he attended some college courses later in life.

Coffey enlisted in the Navy at age 17 on May 19, 1962. He served aboard the USS Caloosahatchee AO98 (a fleet oiler), based in Norfolk, VA from 1963 to about 1966. He served his second tour of duty in VietNam, and then a third tour of duty - possibly again in Norfolk. Coffey served a total of 12 years in the US Navy and was honorably discharged as a First Class Petty Officer (E-6) on 12 Sept 1974.

It is quite possible and likely that Coffey had Navy contacts in the Washington/MD/VA area which helped him land a job with Vitro Laboratories.
Employment records from Vitro Laboratories (a Defense Contractor specializing in Navy weapon systems) in Silver Spring MD place him in the area between 1 April and 31 July 1975.

He is considered a suspect in several other murders/abductions, and reportedly confessed to a psychologist as having molested approximately 100 children. He was fond of using gimmicks such as a fishing pole, metal detector, and possibly disguises to lure children.

Coffey's criminal record includes:

- Convicted on two counts of child molestation in Virginia Beach, 1974. Not known whether or not the Navy knew about this, but he was allowed to get out with an Honorable Discharge at the end of his third enlistment - perhaps before the civilian courts had concluded the case.

- Convicted in 1986 and sentenced to 50-years for nine counts of molesting three children in Caldwell County, N.C.

- Coffey was considered a prime suspect in the August, 1986 death of an 8-year-old boy, Travis Shane King, in Bristol, Virginia. King was seen in the company of Coffey near Eastridge shortly before he disappeared, according to Bristol Virginia police detectives. Body found on shores of Boone Lake. He had been strangled.

- Coffey was married between 1978-1982. A friend of Coffey's wife testified that she called police in 1979, two months before Amanda Ray's death, after her 3-year-old described Coffey masturbating in front of her.

- In 1987 was convicted of 1st degree murder for the 1979 Abduction/murder of a 10 year-old girl, Amanda Ray. Amanda was strangled and found near water, in a rural area. Coffey owned a dog (its hairs, found in his van and on Amanda Ray, helped convict him in the Ray killing). Two juries sentenced him to death, but through legal maneuverings, a third jury sentenced him to life in prison with all sentences to run concurrently. Eligible for parole since 1995.

- In 1987, he was investigated by MCP as a possible suspect in the 1975 sexual assault and slaying of 15-year-old Kathy Lynn Beatty of Aspen Hill, which occurred less than a mile from where Coffey once worked. Kathy was found badly beaten and left for dead in a Silver Spring ditch. She lived for two weeks before succumbing to her injuries on 5 August 1975. Coffey quit his job and left town on 31 July 1975. Police had hoped to link Coffey to a set of keys found near the beaten body of Kathy Beatty.

- In 1987, he was considered one of the strongest suspects in the double abduction of the Lyon sisters in Wheaton, MD in March, 1975. Coffey was in the Maryland area around the time of the Lyons' disappearance. Coffey applied for a job at Vitro Corp. in Aspen Hill (then Vitro Laboratories in Silver Spring) as a computer data system employee and was interviewed on 1 April 1975. He worked for them from April 24, 1975, to July 31, 1975. MCP tried to pinpoint when Coffey first came to a Gaithersburg motel where he was known to have stayed. They also tried to get old motor vehicle records to verify reports that he had bought a car in Montgomery about the time of the Lyon girls' disappearance. Montgomery County Police looked at Coffey as a possible suspect in both the Lyon and Beatty cases in 1987, but could not conclusively place him at either scene.

- Police in NC are currently trying to connect Coffey to a 1981 murder of a 5 year-old girl, Neely Smith, from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. Coffey lived in the same apartment complex as the girl. Neely's remains found near water, in a rural area. She had been raped and strangled.

- A 17 October 2004 Charlotte Observer story about the 1981 Neely Smith murder stated: "Amanda Ray's mother told her not to go fishing with the gray-haired stranger". This suggests that Coffey, 34 in 1979, was either prematurely gray, or he was altering his hair color. Eyewitnesses in the 1975 Lyon disappearances described a middle-aged suspect with salt and pepper hair. It would not be unreasonable to assume that his hair could have been salt and pepper gray in '75, and that he may have looked much older to the child witnesses.

A current photo of Coffey can be seen on the North Carolina Prison System's On-Line Inmate Locator Service.

Link:

http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/app...NTENCEINFO=&SHOWPHOTO=yes&numtimesin=1http://
 
Cat-girl, Thanks again for sharing your recollections. It is really interesting. I know what you mean when you say it is kind of haunting to see the yearbook pictures. Do you remember their brothers? I think I read they had two brothers, one who was one of the last people to see them alive. One article I read (in the Newpaper Archives website) mentioned another sister, but I never read it anywhere else so I wonder if that was a mistake. What did their house look like? Your Kensignton neighborhood in the 1970's sounds alot my own neighborhood growing up. I was 8 in 1975 and I have alot of the same memories of riding bikes around the block, sledding down the nearby big hill, walking with friends to the store a block away to get candy. And my parents were more protective then most, but I still had some freedom . There were lots of kids around .I even remember games like Kick the Can and Red Rover! We all felt safer then, even though bad things did obviously happen then, we just didn't hear about it as much. I can totally see how back then the Lyon's girls

parents felt it was safe for their daughters to walk together to the nearby mall.

I really hope the 30th anniversary puts their story in the media, and not just locally.

Richard, thanks for posting about the men who have been suspected in the girl's disappearance. It is very interesting.
 
I was thinking about this case after running across the still-open request for information on the Montgomery County Police, MD website. A google led me to this forum. I remember the disappearance when I was a senior in HS across the river in VA. Thirty years later, I live a block from Plyers Mill Road in Kensington, but I never realized until last night how close we were to where the the Lyons lived back then. One of my daughter's best friends lives right off Drumm Ave, near the the last place the Lyon sisters were seen. But what really threw me was Richard's profile of Coffey-- I had no idea that he was a leading person of interest, not only in this case but the 1975 murder of Kathy Lynn Beatty. When my wife and I first settled in MD after college, one of my wife's best friends was Kathy's younger sister. I was years before we learned of her tragedy. Kathy's sister named her daughter Kathy, and still lives in the area, but not in the county, and we still see her and her family at least once a year.

I hope that the DC-area media covers the 30th anniversay--this one still haunts people with long memories of this area. Drumm Ave. has since been bisected by a housing development; it's some distance from where a remanent of Drumm connects with Plyers Mill. Wheaton Plaza is on an upward curve after hitting bottom a few years ago when Woodies went bankrupt, closely followed by Montgomery ward. Target moved in a couple of years ago, and Macy's is building a massive store there right now.

The demographics have changed considerably, with a lot more hispanic folks than in 1975 (and some great resturaunts around here!). The Vitro building where Coffey worked is still there in Aspen Hill, next to a Home Depot now. The side street that the sisters probably used to cut through from the Wheaton Plaza parking lot is where our community pool is. Despite the changes, people around here still remember the Lyon sisters, and I hope that one day, we'll find out what happened. In part, my wife's and my memories of their dissaperance has always made us very security conscious; we would never let our daughters--both teens now--walk to Wheaton Plaza, and we've had the usual talks about interacting with strangers.
 
Interesting post h0db. Thanks for sharing what the Kensington area looks like now. I know what you mean about being security conscious. I never even leave my small children alone in the backyard. I've read too many stories on the Doe Network of children vanishing from their own yards, sometimes when the mom just left them alone for a minute or two.While my worrying makes sense since they are still little, I don't know when I will be comfortable to not be watching all of the time. It is hard to picture someday letting them ride their bike around the block, or walk down the street to a friends house. When I said I could see why the Lyon parents thought it was safe to let their preteen daughters walk to the mall, it was because I remember how it was in the 1970's. People generally thought it was a safer world, even though it really wasn't. And the thing about the Lyon sisters is that there were two of them. You always hear how it is safer with two, but not in their case.

Thanks again for posting!
 
One of the brothers works for Montgomery County police - think it the robbery section.

Where is this information on the Montgomery County police web site? I'm not aware of that. There is a file on the state police about them, and on the Maryland Center for Missing kids.
 
joellegirl said:
.....Do you remember their brothers? I think I read they had two brothers, one who was one of the last people to see them alive. One article I read (in the Newpaper Archives website) mentioned another sister, but I never read it anywhere else so I wonder if that was a mistake.
Click to expand...

John and Mary Lyon had four children in 1975. Jay was their oldest at 14, then Sheila age 12, Katherine age 10, and Joe, age 9. Jay is now a detective with Montgomery County Police.
 
hi if anyone is intrested in working with me on the janice pockett case let me know through pm or any missing childrens cases from the 70s
 
I looked and can't find it now; I think I was actually looking at the State Police site. I started out trying to find out if the idiot who broke into my house (while my daugher was home) had been charged (he has). Got me thinking about why we worry about our kids, and the Lyon sisters case still comes to mind.

marylandmissing said:
One of the brothers works for Montgomery County police - think it the robbery section.

Where is this information on the Montgomery County police web site? I'm not aware of that. There is a file on the state police about them, and on the Maryland Center for Missing kids.
Click to expand...
 
I just saw today that the sketches of the man in the brown suite have finally been posted. Thanks Richard. I only wish that they have been made public long ago.
 
mere said:
I just saw today that the sketches of the man in the brown suite have finally been posted. Thanks Richard. I only wish that they have been made public long ago.
Click to expand...

Actually the sketches of the Tape Recorder Man suspect in the Lyon Sisters case were made public in April 1975, the first being released to TV and newspapers exactly one week after the girls went missing. They just remained buried in the newspaper microfilm archives all these years. The Washington Post has never re-printed either sketch since April 1975, and Montgomery County Police have never re-issued any posters or press releases with those origional sketches.
 
I was in 6th grade when the Lyon sisters disappeared and lived near the Peoples Drug Store and Zayres. Although I didn't know them, their case has haunted me for 30 years. I lived a little too far to walk to Wheaton Plaza, but growing up in Wheaton in the '70s, we could walk anywhere and not worry about something bad happening. I remember very little being published about the girls' disappearance. There were some posters in stores but no or little tv coverage. I haven't lived in Maryland in almost 25 years but many of my childhood friends still live in the area. Since it is difficult to obtain copies of the Washington Post in NJ, please keep me posted as to what the various news media reports as the 30th anniversary approaches. Thank you.



Richard said:
Actually the sketches of the Tape Recorder Man suspect in the Lyon Sisters case were made public in April 1975, the first being released to TV and newspapers exactly one week after the girls went missing. They just remained buried in the newspaper microfilm archives all these years. The Washington Post has never re-printed either sketch since April 1975, and Montgomery County Police have never re-issued any posters or press releases with those origional sketches.
Click to expand...
 
wheatongirl said:
....I remember very little being published about the girls' disappearance. There were some posters in stores but no or little tv coverage. I haven't lived in Maryland in almost 25 years but many of my childhood friends still live in the area. Since it is difficult to obtain copies of the Washington Post in NJ, please keep me posted as to what the various news media reports as the 30th anniversary approaches. Thank you.
Click to expand...

The Washington Post and WMAL (AM 630) radio were probably the most active in reporting on the Lyon Sisters in 1975. The local TV stations also covered their disappearance. Over the years, the Washington Post has published follow up articles and has made reference to the case on occasion. On the 25th anniversary in 2000, the Baltimore Sun had a full page article with photos, but there was nothing in the Washington Post. It will be interesting to see if there is media coverage on the 30th anniversary.

All of the Washington DC TV network news channels have been contacted with a suggestion that they cover the case. So far, WRC TV4 has indicated an interest in doing a story on them, and WUSA TV9 features an article about the girls on their website.

In 1975 this was a major news story, but only in the Washington, DC metropolitan area - which includes Maryland and Northern Virginia. Today, such stories are national news and the cases are featured on national television shows.

The best source of information on cases as old as this one is still newspaper microfilm archives, which can be viewed in many libraries. The Internet, as quick and informative as it can be, just does not have all the detailed information which was written in newspapers before about 1990. The Lyon Sisters' story is an excellent case in point. Most websites which feature their story simply copy or slightly alter the same article that I wrote in 2000, and do little or no research to update or add to it. Unfortunately, there is little that can be added to the basic facts and clues in the case, but there are many, many more details available in newspaper archives about the police efforts to solve it.
 
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