Missing Lyon Sisters: Suspect's Relative Pleads to Perjury

WHEATON, MD – A relative of a sex offender charged with the murders of two missing Montgomery County sisters pleaded no-contest Tuesday to lying to investigators in the 40-year-old case.

Leslie Joseph Engleking Sr., 69, of Alexandria, VA, reportedly lied to police searching for the Lyon sisters, whom authorities believe were kidnapped, abused and murdered after they disappeared from a Wheaton mall in 1975.

Engleking faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in June. WTOP reports he has cooperated with investigators since he was charged with perjury.

Prosecutors in Montgomery County have charged Lloyd Lee Michael Welch Jr., 58, a sex offender locked up in a Delaware prison, with the first-degree felony murder of sisters Sheila Lyon, 12, and Katherine Lyon, 10. The girls were last seen walking home from the mall in March 1975. Their bodies have never been found.

Next, authorities pursued indictments against three of Welch’s relatives, whom they suspect of knowing about Welch’s actions or those of his uncle, Richard Allen Welch Sr. of Hyattsville; he has denied any wrongdoing in the case.

In February 2015, investigators said they believed the girls were taken by the convicted sex offender and later sexually assaulted by his uncle, according to court documents.

Engleking is the brother-in-law of Richard Welch.

Investigators have searched for traces of the sisters on Taylor’s Mountain in Bedford County, VA. The area is the one-time home for both Welch men, authorities said.

Along with Engleking, two other Richard Welch family members are charged with impeding the investigation into the sisters’ deaths. Gladys Stangee and Amy Johnson are charged with obstruction of justice.

Stangee is Richard Welch’s sister, and Johnson is his granddaughter.

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Pursuing All Leads

Prosecutors said at a July press conference that the charge filed against Lloyd Welch includes the allegation that during his abduction of the sisters with the intent to defile them, he killed the girls.

John McCarthy, the state’s attorney from Montgomery County, has pledged to continue to pursue anyone who harmed the girls, and those who have lied and misled investigators.

“Life was never the same for any parent who tried to raise a child after the disappearance of these little girls. We’ve never forgotten the Lyon family or the Lyon girls,” McCarthy said.

Capt. Darren Franke, head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Montgomery County Police, urged witnesses to come forward.

“I believe there’s someone out there that knows a lot more than they’ve shared so far,” Franke said.

If people have a lead, they can call (434) 534-9521 or email cybertip@ncmec.org.

Timeline of Girls’ Disappearance

The girls walked to Wheaton Plaza (now Westfield Wheaton Mall) on March 25, 1975, but never returned home, Patch previously reported.

The Washington Post cited documents that say Lloyd Welch told detectives he took the girls when he left the mall the day they disappeared, and that he later saw his uncle sexually assaulting one of the sisters.

Police named Lloyd Welch a person of interest in connection with the kidnapping of the Lyon sisters in February 2014. Welch, who was charged with sex offenses against girls in several states, has been in a Delaware prison since 1997, according to police.

Montgomery County Police said that Welch was “noticed paying attention to the sisters the afternoon they disappeared.”

His uncle was named a second person of interest in the abductions in October 2014. The elder Welch was a security guard in the Wheaton area during the time of the sisters’ disappearance, Patch previously reported.

In an earlier letter to the Post, Lloyd Welch denied any involvement in the disappearance of the sisters. Richard Welch’s daughter told the newspaper the allegations are a lie.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Montgomery County Police at 240-773-5070.

»Photo of Lyon sisters from Montgomery County Police