A month after her death, no suspects in Mya Lyons case

It’s been a little over a month since Mya Lyons was found by her father, brutally stabbed near his South Side home on July 14, and no suspects have been named in the gruesome killing.

Mya, who had been visiting her father, Richard, for the summer, was fatally stabbed in the neck and abdomen.

He found her lying in an alley about a half block from his home in the 8400 block of South Gilbert Court.

Within days of her death, the father, other relatives and a neighbor submitted DNA samples.

Nearly one week after her death, police questioned a “person of interest,” giving the family an inkling of hope that closure was imminent.

That person, an adult male, collected scrap metal in that Auburn-Gresham community and allegedly admitted to being in the alley where Mya was found.

He was soon released and was ruled out as a suspect, a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said.

Then, two days after the 9 year old was laid to rest, a knife was found near where she was found. A cleaning crew discovered a kitchen-style knife with a six-inch blade that appeared to have blood on it.

Later, police asked Richard Lyons to take a polygraph test, and executed a search warrant for his van and home.

The van was used to transport Mya–by her father and uncle–to the hospital after she was found stabbed.

Richard Lyons, by way of his attorney Alan Blumenthal, said he offered to give the van's keys to the police immediately after her death because he had nothing to hide.

But police allegedly painted Lyons with a different brush when the search warrant on his home was executed.

Lyons said while investigators searched his home, they made “accusatory” remarks to him, alluding that he was responsible for Mya's death. That's when he decided to hire an attorney.

Police left Lyons’ residence empty-handed after the search, denying allegations of accusatory statements made, and said they were following the normal course of an investigation.

Recent calls by the Defender to Blumenthal about the course of the investigation since Lyons' home was searched were not answered.

“Richard Lyons was never named a person of interest by police,” said Monique Bond, spokesperson for the police department.

While the “person of interest” was released and not charged with Mya’s death, the investigation remains aggressive, police said.

Bond said there is no lull in the investigation, just plenty of evidence that needs to be properly sifted through. Results are pending on the DNA and lie detector tests, as well as on the blood on the knife.

“Although a month may seem long to a grieving family and a community, a month is not a long time for a murder investigation. We have been receiving leads but none that have led to any breaks in the case. There is no information that we can release publicly at this point without compromising the investigation,” Bond said.

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