BEDFORD, Va. (AP) _ A perjury charge stemming from an investigation into the 1975 disappearance of two Maryland sisters is heading to a Bedford County grand jury. 65-year-old Patricia Jean Welch of Hyattsville, Maryland, waived her right to a preliminary hearing Monday. A judge sent the case to a grand jury, which will consider the charge July 7. Prosecutor Randy Krantz says Welch was charged after appearing before a special grand jury investigating the case of 10-year-old Katherine Lyon and 12-year-old Shelia Lyon. The girls disappeared after walking to a shopping mall in Wheaton, Maryland. Authorities have named Patricia Welch’s husband, Richard Allen Welch, and his nephew, Lloyd Welch, as “persons of interest” in the case. Neither man has been charged. Patricia Welch declined to comment.
