Leonard Kraisel (left) and Teddy (right)
UNCLE LENNY
Who was Teddy? It had taken Mark a few seconds to process the name. He was Thomas Welch Jr., not Dick’s son but the son of Dick’s, and Lee’s, brother Thomas. The fact that Lloyd didn’t know shows how removed he had been from his extended family all his life. Teddy was most definitely still alive. He also went by “Tommy” and “Junior.” He now lived with his wife and two children in Lusby, Maryland. He was seven years younger than Lloyd. This meant, of course, that in March 1975, Teddy would have been eleven years old.
This made Lloyd’s characterization of him—“He is a motherfucker”—ludicrous. How likely was it that a boy of eleven would kidnap two girls roughly his own age? How likely was it that Lloyd had seen him having sex with the girls or that he would subsequently have been so intimidated by him? Or that Lloyd was still afraid of him?
It was comical.
Two days after that session with Lloyd, Dave and Chris paid a surprise visit to Teddy. They found him at his workplace, a fuel equipment and service company in Laurel. A tall, tan, handsome man with an engaging manner, well spoken and forthcoming, he was the most polished Welch they had encountered. He was also completely candid about the intimate details of his life, surprisingly so. He told the detectives once that he had infected sores on his buttocks, pointing to the place with two fingers, after which they dubbed him “Teddy Two-Fingers.” As a child, he had known Lloyd only as a slightly scary older cousin who had been around from time to time. Lloyd had built a tree house that Teddy remembered; they had smoked dope in it once, something that would make a lasting impression on a boy. He said he had no personal memory associated with the Lyon sisters and had never heard them spoken of in his family, but he was aware of the case and how terrible it was and said he was willing to help in any way he could. In short, Teddy sparked no suspicion whatsoever. The detectives called Mark and Katie from the car on the drive back to Gaithersburg and told them that Teddy had nothing to do with the case. Lloyd had thrown them another curveball.
Except … the more they learned about Teddy, the more they had to wonder. His story was remarkable. Like Lloyd, he had been abused as a child and had spent much of his life on the outs with his family, but his path had been very different. He was more than just a survivor, something Lloyd proudly called himself. The abuses in Lloyd’s past had shaped him into a sexual predator and landed him behind bars. In Teddy’s case, sexual molestation had led him into a long-term, peculiar, and materially advantageous relationship with his abuser. Lloyd’s math may have been off, but the decision to name this cousin, of all people, as the kidnapper showed cunning.
You had to know Teddy’s story to understand this decision. As a boy, he had been, in essence, adopted by a wealthy, middle-aged pederast named Leonard Kraisel. Teddy had had an ugly early upbringing. His father was an abusive drunk. His mother left when he was still little. Teddy was beaten regularly by his father until, at age thirteen, he fought back. That episode sparked the intervention of county social workers, who placed him in a boys’ home. On a field trip with other children to a horse show at the Capital Centre, he noticed signs for Andrews Air Force Base, which are very visible along the northeastern portion of the Capital Beltway. He didn’t know exactly where his mother was living—she had remarried and started another family—but he’d heard it was in Clinton, Maryland, which he had been told was near the air base. So, once inside the center, he excused himself to go to the bathroom and exited the arena. He scaled a fence to reach the beltway and stuck out his thumb.
He was picked up by a middle-aged man who treated him with exceptional kindness. Adults who took a caring interest were rare in Teddy Welch’s world. The man, Kraisel, helped him find his mother’s house, something Teddy could not have done easily on his own, and after dropping him off, gave him a business card and said, “In case you ever need anything or want to talk or to hang out.”
Teddy’s attempt to blend in with his mother’s new family didn’t take. She didn’t return him to the boys’ home, but he soon felt like an intruder and a burden in the crowded household—his mother and stepfather had six children of their own. So Teddy dialed the number of the nice man who had picked him up on the beltway. They met a few times. The older man listened to him intently, advised him, took him to nice places, and bought him things. Kraisel’s home was enormous, a palace compared with any place Teddy had previously seen. He had a live-in maid. Together, Kraisel and Teddy talked openly about things the boy had never discussed before. When they were not together, they spoke on the phone. At first Kraisel made no sexual demands. He was affectionate, generous, and genuinely concerned. So when he suggested that Teddy move in with him, the boy agreed without hesitation. Technically, he was still a ward of the county, but Kraisel avoided any clash with social services by offering Teddy’s mother free remodeling for her home. “She sold me for carpet and tile, more or less,” was how Teddy later explained it to me.
His life changed dramatically. Kraisel was an abused, abandoned boy’s dream of an adoptive father—except the deal had a price tag. Kraisel began asking Teddy to masturbate him. Teddy was less shocked than some boys might have been. He had demonstrated some sexual fluidity as a younger child, sometimes dressing as a girl, and he came from a family—the detectives would learn—where engaging in sex acts with children was common. As Teddy later explained—insisting he was not gay (then or now)—at age fifteen he regarded Kraisel’s requests as a reasonable bargain. The older man was caring, gentle, and indulgent with him. In most ways it was a situation any teenage boy would relish. Kraisel taught Teddy to drive as soon as he was old enough to get a learner’s permit and then gave him a Corvette. There were nice clothes, spending money, and travel, and Teddy no longer had to attend school. He saw the world—twenty different countries over the next five years. Kraisel introduced the boy to his family as his adoptive son—although Teddy insisted that Lenny, as he called him, tell the truth about their relationship when they stayed with Kraisel’s mother in Florida. She accepted him as her son’s younger lover. It was she who suggested that Lenny send the boy to modeling school, which launched a brief career of photo shoots and runway shows. Teddy had come a long way from Hyattsville.
And the relationship endured. Teddy lived with Kraisel for ten years. As an older teenager he led a double life, keeping a girlfriend on the side and enjoying the party scene in Florida. When Lenny discovered that Teddy was using cocaine, he checked him into a rehab center in Pennsylvania. During treatment there, Teddy explained to counselors the bargain he had struck with Lenny and his discomfort with it. He was encouraged to confront Lenny, which he did. Teddy said their sexual relationship ended at that point, but Lenny promised to continue treating him as his son, a promise he kept.
The fuel company where the Lyon squad found Teddy in 2014 was owned primarily by Lenny—Teddy had a small share. His comfortable house was also Lenny’s. Teddy and his wife and twin sons enjoyed a lifestyle well beyond anything they could afford on their own, and “Uncle Lenny” was still very much a part of their lives. There was a big framed family photo atop their stairwell showing the attractive couple and their boys, with Lenny standing over them, his hands on the shoulders of husband and wife. From time to time Lenny stayed with them. This cozy arrangement continued until one of Teddy’s twin boys confessed to a school counselor that his uncle Lenny had been playing sexual games with him. Teddy said he was shocked and felt angry and betrayed. He cooperated with the police in building a criminal case against his old partner, who was eventually sentenced and imprisoned. Still, it was hard not to notice in Teddy and his wife’s relationship to Kraisel an echo of the deal Teddy’s mother had struck years earlier, trading him for home improvements.