Welch's statement. He had not read it previously. Critically, he also noticed that the mug shot of Welch roughly matched the police sketch created some 38 years ago. From the details in the file Homrock thought that at minimum Welch had witnessed the crime, because he had described the limp of Ray Mileski, and Homrock still had not ruled out Mileski. However, Homrock had also learned that Welch had since been convicted of child molestation. Detectives began working from this new angle, and after doing background work, planned an interview strategy. On October 16, 2013, they had their first interview with Welch. They had feared that Welch would not speak with them; however, on the first day of that interview, Welch spoke with them for many hours. Throughout this long interrogation process Welch inadvertently revealed the truths of the crime hidden in his elaborate frameworks of lies to Detective Dan Davis. Welch's cousin, Henry Parker, told detectives in December 2014 that in 1975 he met Welch at a property on Taylor's Mountain Road, in Thaxton, Virginia. Parker said he helped remove two army-style duffel bags from Welch's vehicle. Each bag "weighed about 60 or 70 pounds and smelled like 'death,'" according to a search warrant affidavit, which was filed and sealed in January 2015. Moreover, Parker said the bags had been covered in red stains. Without knowing their contents, Parker threw the bags into a fire. In February 2014, Welch was openly named as a person of interest in the case. Police said Welch, who was 18 years old in 1975, and has since been convicted of rapes in three other states, had been "seen 'paying attention' to the sisters." A new lead was discovered as of September 20, 2014. The police searched the woods of Thaxton, Virginia, and entered a house in Hyattsville, Maryland, seizing several items. The home was that of Welch's parents, and he had lived in the basement. Although the evidence was too degraded to trace any DNA, one room of the basement had significant evidence of blood; one of the detectives used the word "slaughtered" to describe the scene. Over a year later, in July 2015, Welch, then serving a lengthy sentence in Delaware on a child-molestation conviction, was indicted on first-degree felony murder for his alleged involvement in the deaths of Katherine and Sheila Lyon. He was also charged with abduction with intent to