From the archive: Cape residents stunned by second triple murder in six weeks

Published in the Southeast Missourian, Sept. 21, 1992:

Friends and relatives console Evelyn Harris, above, whose mother, Evelyn Sparks; sister, Bridgette Harris, and nephew, Dontay Harris, were shot to death Sunday morning in Sparks' home at 1117 S. Ranney St. in Cape Girardeau. (Mark Sterkel ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

THREE FOUND MURDERED;
SUSPECT ARRESTED IN PARK

By JULIE BOLLMAN
Staff writer

A mother, grandmother and 11-month-old boy were fatally shot Sunday in the second triple homicide in Cape Girardeau in just over a month.
Charged in the deaths is Andrew Lyons of 1019 S. Sprigg, the former boyfriend of one of the women and the infant's father. Police arrested Lyons about five hours after the shootings.
Dead are Evelyn Sparks, 49, her 22-year-old daughter Bridgette Harris, and Dontay Harris – the 11-month-old son of Harris and Lyons. Two other children hid under a bed in the house during the shootings and later escaped unharmed.
Friends of the victims said Lyons was distraught over the breakup of his relationship with Harris, and that he had threatened violence before.
Police said Harris reported last week that Lyons threatened her with a gun. When he was brought in for questioning, Lyons denied the charge and was released.
"He essentially said that she had falsely accused him of a lot of things, and that this was one of them," said Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.
But on Sunday, he apparently carried out the threat.

Over 100 friends and relatives stand in the rain in front of the home of Evelyn Sparks Sunday afternoon where Sparks, her daughter and grandson were killed. Andrew Lyons was arrested and charged in the triple murder about five hours after the crime. He was arrested without incident at Trails of Tears State Park, just north of Cape Girardeau. (Mark Sterkel ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

Police said Lyons went to Sparks' home at 1117 S. Ranney at about 10 a.m. Sunday, shot Sparks once in the left side, then went to the basement where he found Harris and the infant and shot them.
Harris was shot once in the right shoulder, and the baby was shot once in the head, said Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.
Today is Lyon's 35th birthday.
Harris' two other children – a boy, 7, and girl, 4 – also were in the basement when Lyons came through the front door, but managed to escape after Sparks was shot.
The children apparently did not witness the shootings, but likely ran past Lyons when they heard the first shot and went upstairs to hide under a bed, police said. Lyons is not the older children's father.
Harris and her three children had been staying at her mother's home for several days, friends at the scene said.
After she was threatened, Harris spoke to officers about getting a restraining order against Lyons. Friends of Harris said she planned to seek the restraining order today.
Edith Jones, a friend of Harris', said Lyons had repeatedly threatened Harris. The two dated and then lived together for about two years, but had recently split up, Jones said.
"I heard him say that if she ever left him, he'd kill her," Jones said. "He was just crazy. That was his son he killed."
Jones said Harris was worried Lyons would harm her, especially after he threatened her last week.
Lyons is charged with three counts of first degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and one count of first degree burglary. He has no previous arrest record.
Kinnison said a shotgun police believe might be the murder weapon was recovered.
Kinnison said there were no signs of struggle in the home. He said after Sparks was shot, Lyons apparently went to the basement of the home, where Harris and her three children were. The 7- and 4-year-old ran up the stairs and hid under a bed until they heard Lyons leave the house, then ran to a nearby relative's house for help.
"At this point there is no indication that the two witnessed the shooting, but they heard the shots," Kinnison said.
The children's relative returned to the house a short time later, found the bodies and notified police.
Kinnison said that after shooting Harris and the baby, Lyons apparently left through the back door, went to a nearby relative's house and asked the relative to drive him to Trail of Tears State Park, north of Cape Girardeau. The relative was unaware of the shootings, he added.
After the relative left Lyons at the park, he returned home and heard Harris had been shot. The relative called police and told them where he had driven Lyons, Kinnison said.
Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Deputies apprehended Lyons – who didn't resist arrest – at about 3:15 p.m. at the park, he said.
Lyons is being held at the Cape Girardeau city jail. Bond was set at $250,000.
Kinnison said the front door screen had been pulled off its hinges, but it is not known if Lyons broke through the door of the house or if it was unlocked.
None of the victims had been beaten, he said. Autopsy results will be available today, said Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Carpenter.
About 100 neighbors and friends of the victims gathered outside the home on Ranney afternoon as police investigated the scene Sunday. The house is about a block from May Greene School in southeast Cape Girardeau.
As authorities carried the bodies out of the back door of the home, many of those gathered wept.
Jones said even though the shootings were a "shock to everybody," many weren't surprised Lyons was charged in the killings. She believes police should have charged Lyons when he threatened Harris last week.
If they had, she said, "three innocent people wouldn't be dead."
The killings make up the second triple homicide in the city in just over a month.
On Aug. 9, three people, a mother and her two sons, were shot and stabbed in their home on 31 N. Henderson. Police called the killings drug-related. No one has yet been charged in the deaths.
The victims are Sherry Scheper, 47, and her two sons, Curtis, 22 and Randy, 17. Police said Randy Scheper had been selling drugs out of the home, but called him a "small-time" dealer.

The county coroner and law enforcement personnel remove one of the victims of a triple homicide from a home at 1117 S. Ranney St. in Cape Girardeau. (Mark Sterkel ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

Although he was convicted in 1996 for the shooting death of his girlfriend, her mother and his son, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that Andrew Lyons was mentally retarded and so could not be executed. He will spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole, the court ruled.