BEDFORD, Va. (WUSA9) -- The convicted sex offender charged with murder in the disappearance of two sisters from a Montgomery County, Md. mall in 1975 made his first appearance in a Virginia court for their deaths.
Lloyd Lee Michael Welch Jr. appeared in court in Bedford on Thursday morning. He is charged in connection with the disappearance of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katharine Lyon.
The sisters never came home from the Wheaton Plaza Mall and their bodies were never found.
Authorities say Welch, a former carnival worker, was at the mall the day the girls vanished and was seen paying attention to them.
Welch appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit and leg shackles. He told the court, "In need an attorney" during the brief proceeding, according to our news partners at the Washington Post.
He was given court-appointed attorneys from private practice. His case could possibly carry the death penalty, prosecutors have said.
The trial for Welch is scheduled to begin Nov. 24, but many suspect that it will be postponed.
Welch was identified as a suspect in 2013. Police found that he was serving a long sentence in a Delaware prison for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. Welch has been transferred to the Amherst County Adult Detention Center.
A search for evidence in the case began on Taylor's Mountain in Bedford County approximately a year ago.
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