John Lyon, whose decades-long presence on Washington, DC’s WMAL intertwined with one of the region’s most haunting mysteries, has died at the age of 85. Lyon’s 22-year career at WMAL began in the early 1970s, where he became known for his good-natured demeanor.
But in March 1975, his life changed irreversibly when his daughters, 12-year-old Sheila and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon, disappeared during a trip to the Wheaton Plaza shopping mall in nearby Silver Spring, MD. The case drew national attention, going unsolved for decades. In spite of the tragedy, Lyon remained a steady presence on WMAL until the station shifted to a talk format in 1990.
Beyond the microphone, Lyon dedicated himself to supporting others facing trauma as a volunteer with the Montgomery County Victim Services Center.
Otherwise, Lyon and his wife, who died in 2024, chose to keep a low public profile as the investigation unfolded over the years. In 2017, a breakthrough came when Lloyd Lee Welch pleaded guilty to the first-degree murders of the sisters. Welch is serving a 48-year sentence in Virginia. The girls’ remains were never recovered.
After the sentencing, Lyon broke a long public silence to express his family’s gratitude to Montgomery County investigators who had treated his daughters as if they were their own.
