3 charged with impeding probe of sisters' murder get lawyers


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

BEDFORD, Va. (AP) — Three people charged with impeding the investigation of the 1975 slayings of two Maryland sisters have obtained legal representation in Virginia.

Leslie Engleking is charged with perjury. Gladys Stangee and Amy Johnson are charged with obstruction of justice.

Stangee was arraigned Thursday in Bedford General District Court. A public defender was appointed to represent her. Engleking and Johnson have hired attorneys, so their court appearances scheduled for Thursday were canceled.

Preliminary hearings were scheduled for Nov. 18.

All three defendants are relatives of Richard Welch, who has been named as a person of interest in the deaths of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Catherine Lyon. Stangee is Welch's sister, Johnson is his granddaughter, and Engleking is his brother-in-law.

Welch has not been charged and has said he is innocent. His nephew, convicted sex offender Lloyd Lee Michael Welch Jr., has been charged with two counts of murder.

The sisters were last seen March 25, 1975, at the Wheaton Plaza Mall near their home in Wheaton, Maryland, where they went to shop for Easter decorations and eat lunch. According to the indictment against Lloyd Welch, the sisters were kidnapped and taken to Bedford County, about 200 miles away, where they were slain sometime between the date of their abduction and three weeks later.

At the time of the slayings, Lloyd Welch was an 18-year-old traveling carnival worker who had been spending time in the Wheaton area.

Authorities began searching a rugged mountainside in Virginia for the girls' remains last year but haven't found them.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent U.S. stories

Related topics

U.S.
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
    Newsletter Signup

    KSL Weather Forecast

    KSL Weather Forecast
    Play button