Montgomery Police Chief J. Tom Manger, left, and Special Agent in Charge of the F.B.I. Baltimore Field Office, Steve Vogt, right, leave a February news conference behind a mugshot of Lloyd Lee Welch. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) 
 
 Lloyd Lee Welch, a Delaware inmate identified as a “person of interest” in the notorious disappearance of two young girls in Montgomery County 39 years ago, has been denied early release from prison, Delaware officials said Thursday. 
 
 Welch, a convicted sex offender, had sought to have his sentence commuted by the state’s Board of Pardons, but it denied his request ahead of a meeting Thursday, said Matthew Hartigan, acting spokesman for the Delaware Department of State. 
 
 In 1998, according to court records, Welch pleaded guilty to sex offenses in Delaware. His release date is set for June 2026, according to Delaware records. 
 
 More than two decades before Welch was convicted in the Delaware case, Sheila Lyon, 12, and her sister Katherine, 10, vanished after walking from their home in Wheaton, Md., to a nearby mall. Their 1975 disappearance sparked a massive search. 
 
 This year, Montgomery County police officials announced that they had identified Welch as a “person of interest” in the case. 
 
 Montgomery County Police Officer Robert Ladany uncovers mug shots of Lloyd Lee Welch at a news conference in February in Gaithersburg. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) 
 
 Officials said he was at Wheaton Plaza the day the Lyon sisters went missing and had seemed to pay special attention to them. 
 
 Welch, 57, has denied having anything to do with the girls’ disappearance. 
 
 In Delaware, offenders can receive credit off their service for good behavior, and it appears that Welch — who originally was sentenced to 33 years — has benefited from that. But many years ago, the state abolished parole for offenses committed after June 1990. 
 
 Inmates can still seek a change in their sentence through a three-step process known as commutation. 
 
 According to officials, it involves hearings before the Board of Parole, the Board of Pardons and — if it gets past those boards — a review by the governor. 
 
 Law enforcement officials in Montgomery declined to comment on the development in Delaware. Investigators continue to work hard on the case. 
 
 Longtime residents remember the famous case well. Relatives of the Lyon sisters still await some kind of resolution. 
 
 “The family deserves justice,” Montgomery Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said earlier this year. 
 
 Get updates on your area delivered via e-mail 

 Join the conversation on our Facebook page! Like us and tell us what stories matter to you. 
 
 Join the conversation on our Facebook page! Like us and tell us what stories matter to you. 
 
 Join the conversation on our Facebook page! Like us and tell us what stories matter to you. 
 
 Join the conversation on our Facebook page! Like us and tell us what stories matter to you. 
 
 It was a notorious disappearance in Montgomery County 39 years ago. Twelve-year-old Sheila Lyon and her 10-year-old sister Katherine vanished after walking from their Kensington home to nearby Wheaton Plaza. Their 1975 disappearance sparked a massive search, but the girls were never found. 
 
 Earlier this year, Montgomery County police announced they identified a former carnival worker and drifter named Lloyd Lee Welch as a person of interest in this cold case. 
 
 Montgomery County detectives along with the help of Virginia State Police and the Bedford County Sheriff's Office in Virginia have been searching a Virginia property in connection with the infamous disappearance of the sisters. 
 
 Montgomery County police say detectives determined Welch had a possible connection to Bedford County and have been in the area since last week "looking for evidence and gathering information that may indicate that Welch had a connection to the girls' disappearance." 
 
 The property is on Taylor Mountain Road in Thaxton, Va., – which is located between Lynchburg and Roanoke. It was once owned by the aunt and uncle of Welch. 
 
 One neighbor counted the number of law enforcement searching. 
 
 “Seventeen search people and I think five dogs,” Melissa Amos told us. 
 
 She said they were focusing on the area “where the old cemetery is. You can't see it from the road. It's an old cemetery in the woods.” 
 
 Earlier this year, Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said, "Welch has criminal convictions involving young female victims in the states of Virginia, Delaware and South Carolina.” 
 
 Cold case detectives with Montgomery County police have spent months tracking Welch's movements before he was locked up in 1997. They released new details about him this year hoping to find the key that unlocks the mystifying disappearance of two little girls. 
 
 Welch was living in Hyattsville on Baltimore Avenue when the Lyon sisters disappeared. 
 
 The Thaxton resident we spoke with where searchers are focused says her father remembers Welch and something didn't seem quite right. 
 
 “He thought maybe he wasn't right in the head,” she said. 
 
 Back on March 25, 1975, Sheila and Katherine Lyon left their Kensington home and walked to Wheaton Plaza where they were going for lunch at the Orange Bowl. 
 
 They were seen at the mall by several people, including their older brother, and were last seen walking down a nearby street. 
 
 So far, we don't know what Montgomery County detectives managed to develop that now point to Welch. 
 
 Just a few weeks ago, he tried to get out of prison by having his sentence commuted by the state's board of pardons, but it was denied. His release date isn't for another 12 years. 
 
 Press release from Montgomery County Police: 
 
 "The Montgomery County Police Department continues to investigate the 1975 disappearance of sisters, Katherine (age 10) and Sheila (age 12) Lyon. In February of 2014, the Department and the FBI named Lloyd Lee Welch, also known as Michael Welch, as a person of interest in this case. Through investigation, detectives determined that Welch had a possible connection to Bedford County, Virginia." 
 
 "Since last week, Montgomery County detectives have been in the area of Bedford County, working with the Bedford County Sheriff's Office and the Virginia State Police. Detectives are looking for evidence and gathering information that may indicate that Welch had a connection to the girls' disappearance." 
 
 "The Police Department will continue to follow-up on leads and new information until this case is solved." 
 
 Statement from the Bedford County Sheriff's Office: 
 
 “The Bedford County Sheriff's Office and the Virginia State Police are assisting the Montgomery County (MD) Police Department with a homicide investigation. Last week investigators from the Montgomery County Police Department, Cold Case Squad, traveled to Bedford County and met with investigators from the Bedford County Sheriff's Office and Virginia State Police." 
 
 "Due to the sensitive nature of this ongoing investigation, no further details will be released at this time.”
– Sheila Lyon, 12, and her 10-year-old sister, Katherine, disappeared almost 40 years ago while walking to a shopping mall near their Maryland home. The case went cold until earlier this year, when a former carnival worker, Lloyd Lee Welch, was named a person of interest in their 1975 disappearance—and now police are searching a Virginia property once owned by Welch's aunt and uncle in the hopes of finding clues about the girls, who were never found, My Fox DC reports. Welch "has criminal convictions involving young female victims in the states of Virginia, Delaware, and South Carolina," according to the Montgomery County police chief, and detectives have been tracking his movements before he was imprisoned in 1997. A resident of Thaxton, Va., where police are currently searching, tells My Fox DC her father recalls Welch and "thought maybe he wasn't right in the head." What exactly spurred police to start scouring the Thaxton property is unknown. They're focusing on an area "where the old cemetery [in the woods] is," the resident says. "You can't see it from the road." Welch, who was denied early release last month in Delaware, has a release date of June 2026, the Washington Post reports.