Mom found dead after son dropped off on Cleveland street, police arrest suspect

CLEVELAND - Cleveland police say they've caught the man suspected of killing his wife, 42-year-old Tonya Hunter-Lyons. 

Officers found 42-year-old Tonya Hunter-Lyons dead in the garage of her home on  Walden Avenue early Monday morning after her 4-year-old son said that she had been stabbed, police said.

Cleveland police arrested 38-year-old Maurice Lyons in front of Tower City Monday afternoon. While he was arrested for aggravated murder and domestic violence, he has not been charged.

It appears the only witness is the woman's 4-year-old son. Police said someone saw the boy get dropped off at 10:18 p.m. at Cedar Avenue and East 28th Street in Cleveland's 3rd District Sunday.

Police said the boy told social workers that his father stabbed his mother and she was at home. When police went to the family's home just after 1 a.m., they found Hunter-Lyons dead in the garage and covered with a tarp.

Officers said she had been stabbed multiple times. Neighbors said they heard screams coming from the garage earlier in the evening.

Police had already been looking for Lyons, and found him at about 12:23 p.m. Monday at Tower City in Cleveland. Officers said they were looking for a silver Kia Rio with Pennsylvania license plate HGM 3804 -- and they have towed it away from the area. They thought Lyons may have been on the way to Chicago.

Family members say Tonya Hunter-Lyons was a marriage/family therapist and married Maurice Lyons last November. An uncle said she planned to file for divorce on Monday.

Lyons was on probation after serving 80 days in jail for domestic violence. His wife notified authorities that she was still being abused, and Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Marilyn Cassidy ordered Lyons to be fitted with a GPS monitor, which he refused. 

Judge Cassidy issued a warrant for Lyons June 22, but the court's apprehension unit was unable to locate him.

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