Man Charged With Killing Missing Sisters To Appear In Court

BEDFORD, Va. (AP) -- A convicted sex offender charged with murder in the disappearance of two sisters from a suburban Maryland mall in 1975 is set to make his initial appearance in a Virginia court.

Lloyd Lee Michael Welch Jr. is scheduled to appear at a state court in Bedford on Thursday. Welch is charged in connection with the disappearance of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katharine Lyon. The sisters were walking from their house to the Wheaton Plaza Mall. The girls never came home, and no bodies were found.

Authorities say Welch was at the mall the day the girls vanished and was seen paying attention to them.

Welch had been serving a lengthy prison term in Delaware, but officials said Wednesday that he's been transferred to the Amherst County Adult Detention Center.