Guilty plea expected in ’75 murders of Lyon sisters, ’96 rape in Pr. William Co.

WASHINGTON — The man charged with the abduction and murder of 12-year-old Sheila and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon is expected to enter a guilty plea in the decades-old case, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

Lloyd Lee Welch, 60, was set to go on trial on Tuesday for the girls’ murders in Bedford County, Virginia — 240 miles away from Wheaton Plaza, where the young sisters were last seen on March 25, 1975.

A plea hearing is now set for Tuesday instead, according to court records.

Several sources said Welch is set to admit his role in the girls’ deaths and that he sexually assaulted a young girl in 1996 in Prince William County.

WTOP has learned that as part of the plea arrangement, Welch will accept a sentence of life in prison, rather than risk a trial in which he could be sentenced to death.

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