Jul 20, 2008 12:09 pm US/Central
Reported 'Person Of Interest' In Lyons Case Freed
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
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Mya Lyons, 9, was found beaten and stabbed to death in an alley near her father's Auburn-Gresham neighborhood home.
CBS
A "person of interest" who was reportedly in police custody Friday afternoon in the slaying of 9-year-old Mya Lyons has been released, police said early Sunday.
Mya was found dead in an alley by her father early Tuesday in the 8400 block of South Gilbert Court, in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side.
A man who was a "person of interest" in the slaying has been released from custody and was not charged, Calumet Area detectives said early Sunday.
The person of interest was not a family member of the girl, was in police custody Friday afternoon, and was described as a man in his 30s or 40s, was arrested sometime between 8 and 10 p.m. Thursday after possibly telling his friends he had been in the alley where Mya was found.
He told investigators he is a "scrapper"-- someone who collects scrap metal to sell. He allegedly admitted to police he was in the alley and said that if had stayed longer, he could have saved her, according to the source, who said the person of interest may be mentally unstable.
The wounds on Mya's body were all on her right side torso area, leading investigators to believe the crime was committed by a left-handed person, and the person of interest is left-handed, according to the source, who said the man has a cut on his right hand that dental forensics investigators believed may have been caused by a bite.
Investigators Friday were in the process of obtaining a search warrant to look at items inside his home.
Family members contacted Friday afternoon said police had not notified them of the man being questioned.
Mya lived with her mother Erica Barnes in Addison, but for the last three years had been spending part of the summer with her father Richard Lyons in the 8400 block of South Gilbert Court.
At some point Monday night, the family realized she was missing.
"Everybody was like, where is she," her father said. "We went looking for her and I found her in the alley. They dumped her in the alley'' at the end of the block near his home, Lyons, breaking down, said.
Lyons rushed his daughter to Jackson Park Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
An autopsy Tuesday showed she died of multiple injuries from an assault, according to the medical examiner's office, which ruled the death a homicide.
Calumet Area detectives are investigating.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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