MYA LYONS - 9 yo (2008) - Chicago - IL

Father questioned in Addison girl's murder

Mya Lyons

Police have arrested the father of a 9-year-old Addison girl
who was found stabbed to death in a Chicago alley in 2008, CBS news is
reporting.

Police say Richard Lyons, 42, found Mya, who lived with her
mother in Addison but spent much of her summers with her father in
Chicago, lying in the alley in July 14, 2008. She had been stabbed
several times and sexually assaulted.
Richard Lyons said he found Mya's body, put her in a van and drove her to the hospital.

A knife that appeared to be bloody was found in the alley two days after Mya's funeral.

Soon afterward, a search warrant was served at Richard
Lyons' home, and his van was towed away by police. But he was never
named as a suspect or charged with any crime until now.

Lyons currently is in custody at the Calumet Area Police
Headquarters, 727 E. 111th St., and is being questioned in connection
with the murder. Police say Richard Lyons was arrested Monday while
working at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

He was arrested on a “no-bond warrant” that identifies him
as a suspect, even though he has not been charged. “If there are any
charges, they have not yet been approved by the State's Attorney's
felony review,” Richard Lyons' attorney, Alan Blumenthal, told WBBM
Newsradio 780 on Monday night.

Richard Lyons said in 2009 that he hoped his daughter would
never be forgotten. He also said he wanted police to look at all
possible evidence, until the case is solved.

In an interview shortly after the murder, Richard Lyons
became choked up with emotion as he spoke to CBS 2. “No matter how much
you think you can protect them; that you can hold them; that you can
keep them safe, it's just not true,” Richard Lyons said in 2008. “This
is an evil world with evil people in it.”

Richard Lyons continued: “I believe it takes a village to
raise a child. I follow that philosophy. And I also believe it takes a
village to find a criminal, so please, help find my baby's criminal.”

Richard Lyons also led a march to find Mya's killer shortly after the murder.

Mya was an honor-roll student at G. Stanley Hall in Glendale Heights who had just finished third grade.

"She was a hardworking little girl who really wanted to
learn and was proud of her accomplishments,” said Samia Hefferan,
principal of the school at that time. “I learned about it while watching
the news and at first I was hoping there were two Mya Lyons.”

In a 2009 interview, Mya's mother, Ericka Barnes, told
CBS 2 she was afraid to find out whom the killer might be. “I'm scared
of who it might be,” Barnes said. “I feel like the person who killed my
child, she knew them. Either she knew something, they didn't want her to
say anything. Something happened where they got scared and tried to
cover it up by keeping my child silent permanently.”

In 2009, Richard Lyons filed a lawsuit against the Metra
commuter rail line, claiming they had failed to maintain the area where
Mya's body was found, the Chicago Defender reported. The end of the
alley was overgrown with weeds, the Defender reported.

Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110118/news/110119459/#ixzz1BR54BcJq

Father charged with stabbing daughter, 9, to death in 2008
Jan 18, 2011 06:19PM



Richard Lyons was arrested as
police investigate the 2008 murder of his 9-year-old daughter, Mya
(inset).

A 42-year-old father has been charged with stabbing his 9-year-old daughter to death in 2008, authorities said Tuesday.

Richard Lyons was charged with one count of
first-degree murder for allegedly killing Mya Lyons, said Tandra
Simonton, a spokeswoman with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.

He had been arrested Monday on a “no-bond warrant” issued by Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas, according to a police report.

On July 14, 2008, Mya’s body was found in a dark
and weedy alley about five doors down from her father’s house in the
Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. She was stabbed several times with a knife,
police said.

Lyons was also charged with aggravated sexual
abuse involving a 15-year-old boy from an incident in June of last year,
Simonton said. She had no further details.

Earlier Tuesday, outside Area 2 police
headquarters, Alan Blumenthal, the man’s lawyer, confirmed his client
was in the custody of Calumet area detectives after being picked up on
the warrant. A police source said Lyons was taken into custody at
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he works as a radiologist.

“He is scared and upset, but he’s doing better today,” Blumenthal said.

Lyons is no longer cooperating with police,
Blumenthal said, adding, “As far as I know, there’s no evidence that
would link him to this crime, other than speculation.”

Blumenthal revealed that evidence showed Mya was
sexually assaulted before she was killed, although police could not
confirm that Tuesday, and investigators at the time said there wasn’t
evidence of an assault. Blumenthal said that his client had voluntarily
given a DNA sample soon after the killing and that his DNA did not match
fluid samples recovered from Mya’s body.

Dawn Valenti, who has been helping Mya’s mother,
Ericka Barnes, since the tragedy through the charity United for a Cause,
said Barnes had long supported Richard Lyons. But now, “she’s not
feeling good at all to know that possibly the man who helped her bring
this child into the world could be involved,’’ Valenti said Tuesday.

“It’s a really, really hard time for her.”

Barnes declined to comment Tuesday.

The girl lived with Barnes in suburban Addison, but spent summers with Lyons, who lives in the 8400 block of Gilbert Court.

At the time, Lyons told police he found his
daughter’s body in the alley, put her in a van and drove her to Jackson
Park Hospital, while his uncle, who is a nurse, tended to her in the
back.

At the start of the investigation, Lyons was
interviewed by police, submitted to a lie detector test and gave the DNA
sample. Detectives also collected DNA from at least one of Lyons’
neighbors.

Three days after Mya was murdered police questioned
another “person of interest” — a junk collector who admitted to being
in the alley the night the girl’s body was discovered — but the man was
never charged. Police also searched Lyons’ house and the van he used to
drive Mya to the hospital.

Lyons maintained his innocence and was outspoken about how his daughter’s death affected his family.

Two weeks after the murder, Lyons hired a criminal
defense attorney because detectives allegedly made “accusatory and
threatening” comments to him.

“My family and I just want to be left alone so
that we can remember Mya and deal with our broken hearts,” Lyons said at
the time. “I respect the police and pray that they do the job they are
capable of doing in capturing the person who killed my baby.”

Lyons filed a wrongful death lawsuit in July 2009
in Cook County Circuit Court against Metra alleging failure to cut back
the brush around the area where the girl’s body was reportedly found
“provided cover for criminal activity.” The suit, which seeks at least
$50,000 in damages, claims that Metra was violating city code by failing
to cut down the weeds. “On and before July 15, 2008, the condition of
8442 [South Gilbert] and the criminal environment in the surrounding
area made [it] ripe for criminal activity,” the suit states. Metra
denies the charges in court documents. The case is headed to trial this
year, records state.

Also in 2009, Lyons and other family members
gathered to remember Mya, who adored anything pink — the brighter, the
more glittery the better — and dreamed of being a doctor or nurse.

At the time, Lyons told a reporter he still struggles to understand why police haven’t received more tips in the investigation.

“It’s hard for me to believe that this killing was
something that was done so secretly — that nobody else knew anything
about it or that somebody has kept it a secret for so long,” Lyons said
at the time.

Hundreds of people attended Mya’s funeral, where a personal note from then-presidential candidate Barack Obama was posted.

“I cannot pretend to understand the struggle that
you have been forced to endure as a result of this senseless violence . .
. ” Obama wrote, adding, “As a parent myself, I can only imagine the
unbearable pain you are experiencing as well as the uncertainty of so
many questions left unanswered.”

http://www.suntimes.com/3372854-417/lyons-police-mya-charged-tuesday.html

Chicago police tonight are not giving specific details about the evidence that led them to file charges against the father of a 9-year-old girl murdered two-and-a-half years ago.

Richard Lyons, 42, of the 8400 block of Gilbert Court, was charged today with first degree murder in the death of his daughter Mya, according to Police Supt. Jody Weis who spole about the case during a news conference this evening.

Lyons was also charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child as part of another investigation. That child was 15 at the time of the alleged assault

Mya's murder has haunted the Auburn-Gresham community ever since she was found stabbed to death in a weedy area just a few houses from her father's home.

Lyons was originally questioned in the case but was never publicly declared a suspect. Mya's mother had custody of the child and they lived in Addison. However, Mya frequently visited her father and stayed overnight the home he shared with his mother.

The case was baffling because Mya was last seen by her grandmother after she returned home from a party on night of the murder and went to bed. Police were trying to determine if the girl sneaked out to meet someone later that night or if someone broke into the home and grabbed the child.

Lyons told police he found the body after he went searching for the girl.

At the time of the killing, residents were critical of tall weeds on the Metra property where Mya was found. They said the weeds and overgrown grass gave cover to criminals. In fact, Mya's father filed suit against Metra claiming it was negligent and the property's condition was a contributing factor in Mya's murder.

Police haven't disclosed the motive for the murder but that may be established in court tomorrow during Lyons' bond hearing.

In an interview with WGN-TV, Mya's mother said she and other family members suspected Lyons had something to do with the murder. The WGN report also has an interview with Lyons shortly after Mya's murder in which he cries as he calls on police to find the person who "killed my baby."

Weis told reporters Mya's murder was never a cold case and detectives have been working tirelessly to solve her killing.

That should be of comfort to other families awaiting resolution to cases involving their loved ones. One case that stands out is that of 12-year-old Jahmeshia Conner whose body was found in an alley near 64th and Marshfield November 30, 2009.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Police say father killed 9-year-old Mya Lyons in 2008 but don't say why - Chicago Crime | Examiner.com
http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-chicago/police-say-father-killed-9-year-old-mya-lyons-2008-but-don-t-say-why#ixzz1BUarUNDf

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/mya-lyons-richard-lyons-murder-charges-court-appearance-20110207
Richard Lyons in Court in Daughter Mya’s Killing


Updated: Monday, 07 Feb 2011, 1:37 PM CST
Published : Monday, 07 Feb 2011, 10:06 AM CST

FOX Chicago News



Chicago - Richard Lyons, the man accused of killing his 9-year-old daughter, was in court Monday for a preliminary hearing.

The prosecution was not ready to seek an indictment for Lyons, and were granted a continuance. There was no word about when a new hearing would be.

Lyons was charged with first-degree murder last month in the stabbing death of his daughter, Mya.

Lyons told police in the summer of 2008 that he found Mya's body in an alley near his home.

Prosecutors said blood splatter evidence indicates that Mya was killed in Lyons' van and then dumped in the alley.

Lyons is currently being held without bond.

http://www.chicagodefender.com/article-10013-lyons-attorney-court-should-dismiss-the-case.html

Monday, February 7, 2011

Lyons attorney: Court should dismiss the case





by Kathy Chaney



The attorney for the man accused of killing his daughter says the court “ought to dismiss the case.”





Richard Lyons, 42, was charged Jan. 18 with first-degree murder in the July 2008 death of his 8-year-old daughter Mya Lyons, and with aggravated criminal sexual abuse in an unrelated case stemming from an alleged incident last June involving a 15-year-old male.





Prosecutors said Mya suffered blunt force trauma, suffocation and was stabbed more than 30 times.





Alan Blumenthal, Lyons’ attorney, told reporters Monday after Lyons’ status hearing that evidence supports his client’s innocence and a dismissal of the first-degree murder charge should be granted.

Lyons –– dressed in a yellow jumpsuit and peering in the galley apparently looking for relatives –– has maintained his innocence in both cases and is held without bail on the murder charge and on a $250,000 bond on the sex charge.

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Ericka Barnes, the girl’s mother, in addition to other relatives, dabbed tears and remained “blown away” after leaving the Cook County Criminal Court on 26^thand California.





The mother of the 15-year-old Lyons is accused of sexually abusing, told theDefender she was outraged when her son confided in her about the alleged incident.





“I was hurt because I’ve known him for so long, about 20 years. I was just shocked…speechless,” said *Karen Jefferson, who also attended the status hearing.





Lyons is expected back in court Feb. 17, at which time Blumenthal said he expects a dismissal or indictment, he told reporters.

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/mya-lyons-richard-lyons-murder-pleads-not-guilty-court-20110309

Richard Lyons Pleads Not Guilty to Daughter Mya’s Murder


Updated: Wednesday, 09 Mar 2011, 1:34 PM CST
Published : Wednesday, 09 Mar 2011, 1:34 PM CST

Sun-Times Media Wire



Chicago - Richard Lyons, a 42-year-old hospital radiology technician, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to murder charges that he beat and stabbed his 9-year-old daughter Mya more than 30 times in the summer of 2008.

Lyons, was indicted Feb. 17 for the murder of Mya Lyons, a crime for which he was charged in January, more than two-and-a-half years after it happened, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.

Prosecutors allege he struck Mya with a lockbox before stabbing her in his van 30 times. He then took her to the hospital in the same van and claimed “she may have been bitten by a dog,’’ prosecutors alleged at his Jan. 19 bond hearing.

Bond was denied for Lyons, a Northwestern Hospital radiology technician, who was also ordered held on $250,000 bond for a separate assault of a 15-year-old boy at his home last June. He allegedly touched the boy, who'd had his hair styled by Lyons’ wife, and asked him to “stay the night,” prosecutors allege.

On Wednesday, Lyons pleaded not guilty to both the murder and assault charges, Simonton said. He will appear for a status hearing April 13.

Lyons loudly proclaimed his innocence after telling police he found his lifeless daughter in a dark and weedy alley in the 8400 block of Gilbert Court on July 14, 2008.

But a pair of forensic investigators determined a blood spatter analysis of Lyons’ clothing and the van showed Mya was stabbed in the van and not the alley, according to prosecutors, who have given no motive for the slaying.

State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said after the bond hearing that it was a “heinous’’ crime because it was allegedly committed by the girl’s father. She said it took two-and-a-half years to make an arrest because prosecutors had to conduct a thorough investigation.

But Lyons’ attorney, Alan Blumenthal, said his client was innocent and blasted the weakness of the case. ‘‘This is all based on pure speculation and blood spatter patterns ... a soft science,’’ he said after the hearing.

Prosecutors said Mya and her older brother had come home at 11 p.m. on July 14 after visiting a neighbor. Lyons claimed the girl then went to her bedroom, but when he went to check on her she was missing, prosecutors said. However, no one from the family saw her leave the house and neighbors reported seeing the two come home and go to the backyard, Dillon said.

A few minutes later, neighbors told investigators, they saw Lyons in his van driving through the alley behind his home and then to the front of his house. He was wearing a white t-shirt, prosecutors said. Later, Lyons, now wearing a blue t-shirt, got back into the van and drove back into the alley, neighbors told authorities. Minutes later he drove back to the front of his home, his uncle got in the van, and the two drove to Jackson Park Hospital, prosecutors said.

At the hospital, the uncle took the girl’s body inside while Lyons waited outside because he was “too distraught,’’ prosecutors said. But at some point while at the hospital, Lyons was overheard saying the girl “may have been bitten by a dog,’’ prosecutors said. The girl was dead on arrival, prosecutors said.

Mya had 30 stab wounds to her stomach, neck and upper back, as well as multiple skull fractures and abrasions, prosecutors said. There was no evidence of a sexual assault.