Mya Lyons Murder Still Unsolved Two Years Later

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 14, 2010 6:40PM

Today marks the second anniversary of the murder of 9-year-old Mya Lyons, found stabbed to death in an Auburn-Gresham alley near her father's home on the night of July 14, 2008. And two years later, the case remains unsolved. In the days following her murder, police questioned a "person of interest," found a knife near the murder scene that may have been the murder weapon, and even questioned Mya's father, Richard Lyons, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Richard later filed a lawsuit against Metra because, according to the Chicago Defender, "failed to properly maintain the area where Mya’s body was found. The end of the poorly lit alley where she was found had overgrown weeds near the tracks and in a vacant lot."

Ericka Barnes, Mya's mother, told CBS 2 in an interview last year, "I'm scared of who it might be. 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." CPD spokesman Roderick Drew recently told Chicago Defender, “The investigation is still ongoing."

Echoes of Mya's murder were stirred by last winter's murder of 12-year-old Jahmeshia Conner which also remains unsolved.

A prayer vigil in Mya's honor is planned for tonight at S. Gilbert Court near where Mya's body was found.