Richard L. Lyons is suspected of killing his 9-year-old daughter. (Credit: Chicago Police Department)
CHICAGO (CBS) – A South Side father has pleaded not guilty to the 2008 murder of 9-year-old daughter.
Richard Lyons, 42, appeared Wednesday for an arraignment before a judge at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse. In his brief appearance, he pleaded not guilty to the murder of his daughter, Mya Lyons.
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Mya was stabbed 30 times on July 14, 2008, and also suffered multiple skull fractures.
Lyons said he found her body in a dark and weedy alley behind his home in the 8400 block of South Gilbert Court. She lived in Addison and was staying with her father for the weekend.
Lyons took her to the hospital in his van, and was overheard saying maybe she was bitten by a dog.
Right after the murder, Lyons, who worked as a radiology technician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, loudly proclaimed his innocence and begged the public day after day to help him find the killer.
But prosecutors later said that blood spatter evidence found in Lyons’ van and on his clothes link him to the horrific crime. That evidence showed Mya was not killed in the alley where her father said he found her, but inside his van, according to prosecutors.
It would be 2 1/2 years before Lyons was charged with his daughter’s murder. Prosecutors have offered no theory on a motive.
