Dad arrested for 2008 murder, sexual assault of 9-year-old daughter; girl stabbed to death during dad's summer visitation (Addison, Illinois)

Police have finally arrested dad RICHARD LYONS for the 2008 sexual assault and stabbing death of his 9-year-old daughter. Notice that the girl was murdered during Daddy's summer visitation.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110118/news/110119459/

Article updated: 1/18/2011 07:36 AM
Father questioned in Addison girl's murder

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.

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