Slain Girl's Mother: Suspect Dad Left Me With Huge Bill
CHICAGO (CBS/WBBM) -- The mother of 9-year-old Mya Lyons, who was murdered nearly three years ago, says the girl's father, who is the suspect in Mya's death, has now left her with a huge bill.
Ericka Barnes says she can't bear to go to the Burr Oak Cemetery because the grave is bare.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Michele Fiore reports, Mya's body was found on July 14, 2008, and her father, Richard Lyons, has now been charged with her murder.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Michele Fiore reports
Podcast
Following Mya's death, Ericka Barnes has been hit with $10,000 in burial expenses – something she says should have been partly covered by donations.
"Donations were given towards my daughter's father and his family," she said.
Barnes says an insurance policy also could have also helped out, but the company is refusing to pay, because Mya's father is now charged with her murder. That, too, has been difficult to understand.
In March, Richard Lyons, 42, pleaded not guilty to his daughter's murder. Mya was stabbed 30 times, and also suffered multiple skull fractures.
Richard Lyons said he found her body in a dark and weedy alley behind his home in the 8400 block of South Gilbert Court, and took her to the hospital in his van. Mya lived in Addison with her mother and was staying with her father for the weekend.
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.
