A prominent radio voice who’s also connected to one of the D.C. area’s most memorable crimes has died.
John Lyon’s 22-year career at WMAL radio in D.C. coincided with his family’s search for answers in the 1975 disappearance of his young daughters, Sheila and Katherine. John Lyon was 85.
Sheila and Katherine disappeared from Wheaton Plaza during Easter vacation in 1975. WTOP’s Neal Augenstein has been covering the story for decades and joined WTOP anchor Mark Lewis to talk about it.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
- Neal Augenstein:
If you’ve been here for a while, a lot of us first knew John Lyon’s voice. He was a genial radio host here in D.C. when a.m. radio was king. That coincided with March 1975 when his daughters, 12-year-old Katherine and 10-year-old Sheila, disappeared from Wheaton Plaza. Of course, the Lyon sisters case was an unsolved mystery for decades. You’ll remember that in 2017 Lloyd Lee Welch pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree felony murder in the deaths of the little girls, but their bodies have never been found.
And through those decades, John Lyon preferred to stay in the background. You know, he was quietly searching for answers and ultimately justice. He did volunteer with Montgomery County’s Victim Services Center. In fact, State’s Attorney John McCarthy, when he was a young prosecutor, says he didn’t realize that the John Lyon who was coming to court lending support to crime victims, was the John Lyon whose own daughters had been missing for a decade.
- Mark Lewis:
You have spoken with John Lyon’s oldest son. What did you learn from him?
- Neal Augenstein:
Jay Lyon told me that his dad died last month at the age of 85. He shared some warm memories of his father bringing his children to the radio station when he was a kid. Back in the ’70s, he said everyone knew John Lyon. He says in the years since his sisters vanished, John Lyon wanted to help his family live as normal a life as possible.
In Jay’s words, living with that notoriety of having his daughters missing and then maintaining his radio career, I don’t know how, but he did it. Somehow, he was gracefully able to pull that off, and imagine trying to do that. Jay said his father was a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, and over the years, the family took several trips to Wrigley Field. John Lyon’s wife, Mary, died last year, and John, at the end, was living in Annapolis.
- Mark Lewis:
Now take us back to 2017, when John Lyon was in a courtroom in Bedford, Virginia. That’s when Lloyd Welch pled guilty. You were there, what was that like?
- Neal Augenstein:
John Lyon and his family were there in the front row of the tiny courtroom in tiny Bedford, Virginia. After all those decades, Lloyd Welch said the words that he was guilty of first-degree felony murder, and he was sentenced to 48 years in prison. Just after the sentencing, John Lyon, who made his first public statement in decades, he gave thanks to the Montgomery County Cold Case detectives. Here’s what he said:
- John Lyon, at the time of Welch's sentencing:
The last two or three years or so, they have treated Sheila and Kate as if they were their own sisters or daughters. And we just want to say simply, thank you. It’s been a long, long time, and we’re tired, and we just want to go home.
Neal Augenstein:
Obviously very moving, very familiar baritone voice of John Lyon. Quite a life, quite a journey, and he’s died at the age of 85.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
