19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|Breaking News, Weather, Exclusives$8M Bond: Man pleads not guilty to killing wife, abandoning little boy on shady city street

$8M Bond: Man pleads not guilty to killing wife, abandoning little boy on shady city street

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CLEVELAND. OH (WOIO) - The man accused of murdering his wife and then abandoning her four-year-old son on an inner city street made his first court appearance Thursday morning.

Maurice Lyons pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder charges. He remains jailed on $8 million dollars bond.

Lyons is accused of viciously stabbing Tonya Hunter-Lyons 17 times in their Walden Avenue home on Sunday. Investigators revealed they found blood in Lyons' car and on his clothes when he was arrested Monday afternoon in front of Tower City.

Hunter-Lyons - a marriage counselor - filed domestic violence complaints against her husband weeks ago. There was a warrant issued for his arrest, but police were unable to locate him.

After the murder, Lyons allegedly drove the victim's little boy to East 28th and Cedar and dumped him off on the street, all alone. The child is captured on surveillance video chasing after the car, terrorized.

Neighbors found the crying boy and immediately called 911. Investigators arrived on scene and took the child to family services. After talking to the child, police were led back to his home located on the 17500 block of Walden Avenue and found his fatally stabbed mother in the garage around 1:30AM.

"The state is requesting a no contact order with that four-year-old son as a condition of bond. The state is concerned for the son's safety," said the county prosecutor in court. "It is quite possible he is the sole witness in his mother's murder."

The little boy has since been placed in the loving care of relatives and is undergoing counseling with victim of violent crime experts.

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