Authorities announced Monday they are conducting a new search on a Virginia mountain to look for the remains of two sisters who went missing from Montgomery County, Md., in 1975.
The Bedford County Sheriff’s Office said the new forensic dig will be conducted on Taylors Mountain after investigators received new leads in the case.
“The investigation has developed additional leads through supplemental investigative interviews that have found cause to conduct an additional dig on the mountain in efforts to locate the missing children,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Sheila and Katherine Lyon have not been seen since March 25, 1975, when they were 12 and 10. The sisters walked to a mall in Wheaton, Md., about a half-mile from their home, and never came home.
Officials have named 58-year-old Lloyd Welch, a convicted sex offender, and his uncle, 69-year-old Richard Welch, as persons of interest in the case. But neither man has been charged with a crime.
Officials conducted a previous dig on the mountain in January. The new dig is expected to be conducted over several days.
The sisters’ disappearance has been among the most high-profile unsolved cases in the region, generating a massive manhunt decades ago and a number of false leads over the years since the children were last heard from.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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