MCS-12
The Case of the Witnesses Under the Bed
On Sunday morning, September 20, 1992, the unthinkable happened.
The Major Case Squad was called out for Cape Girardeau’s second triple-homicide in one month. After never experiencing a triple-homicide in anyone’s memory, the community had now suffered two within 41 days. With six people dead and both crimes temporarily unsolved, the town of Cape Girardeau was shaken.
The dead this time were Evelyn Sparks, 49; her daughter, Bridgett Harris, 22, and her grandson, Dontay Harris, 11 months old. They had been shotgunned to death in the home of Evelyn Sparks at 1117 S. Ranney in Cape Girardeau.
Evelyn Sparks had been gunned down in her kitchen on a Sunday morning as she was getting ready for church. She was shot one time. The blast hit her in the left side, with the shotgun pellets tearing horizontally across the inside of her body. There was an entrance wound, but no exit wound. Death came to Evelyn within seconds to minutes after being shot.
Bridgett Harris had been killed in a basement family room. The same shotgun had been used. The blast hit her in her upper right back, just under her right shoulder, with the shotgun pellets tearing downward through her body. There was one entrance wound, but no exit wound. Death came to Bridgett within seconds to minutes after being shot.
Dontay Harris -- the 11-month old baby -- had been shot in the face with the same shotgun. The child had been shot point blank in the left eye as he lay on a mattress on the floor. The blast went through the baby's head and blew off the back of the head. Death came to Dontay instantaneously.
Although the dead bodies were alone in the house when they were found, the case did not remain a "whodunnit" for long. Two witnesses were located, ages 7 and 4. They had been present in the house at the time of the shootings and had later fled to the home of a relative.
The children had a chilling story to tell. The person who had done the killings was the man they knew as "Spruder" – the ex-boyfriend of Bridgett Harris, the man she had left to move home with her mother.
The seven-year-old told investigators what had happened on that terrible Sunday morning.
The seven-year-old had been downstairs in the basement with his mother, Bridgett, his 4-year-old sister, and his 11-month-old brother, Dontay. They heard a loud boom upstairs.
Bridgett, his mother, said to him, "Go upstairs and see what that was!"
The boy and his little sister went upstairs. They saw "Spruder" standing in the kitchen with the shotgun in his hands. The boy’s grandmother, Evelyn Sparks, was lying on the floor of the kitchen.
"Spruder" walked wordlessly past the children, shotgun in hand, and headed downstairs to the basement. The 7-year-old boy followed partway down the steps, but not all the way. He heard Andrew Lyons say, "Give me the baby!" He then heard another boom. He heard his mother screaming after that second boom. He then heard a third boom, and his mother quit screaming.
The boy and his 4-year-old sister hurriedly ran and hid under a bed in a first floor bedroom.
While they hid under the bed, they heard "Spruder" come back up the steps. They heard him mumble, "Where them other kids at!"
Holding their breath, the children kept hiding under the bed as they heard "Spruder" walk throughout the house looking for them.
Finally, after hearing him leave, they fled the house and ran to the home of an aunt.
Adult relatives identified "Spruder" as Andrew Lee Lyons, 35, the former boyfriend of Bridgett Harris. He and Bridgett had been seeing each other for approximately three years. They had been living together for about three years. Andrew Lyons was the father of Bridgett's son, Dontay Harris, the 11-month-old baby he killed.
Shortly before these killings, Bridgett had left Andrew Lee Lyons and had moved home to her mother's house. She and her three children had been staying at her mom's house for about three days. In addition to 11-month old Dontay, she had two older children: the seven-year-old boy and the four-year-old girl. All four of them (Bridgett & the 3 kids) were staying with Bridgett's mother, Evelyn Sparks on Sunday morning, September 20, 1992.
Except for the temporary arrangement of Bridgett and the three kids moving in, Evelyn Sparks lived alone at the house at 1117 South Ranney. She had been separated from her husband for approximately 10 years. She worked for the Cape Girardeau Police Department as a custodian. She had worked there and at City Hall for several years. Although her name was Evelyn, many people called her Eveleena. She was outgoing and popular.
On Sunday morning, September 20, 1992, Evelyn Sparks had been talking with her friend Roberta on the telephone as recently as 10:30-10:45 a.m. confirming what they were going to wear to church. They were going to wear color-coordinated clothing since they both sang in the church choir. Evelyn sang in the choir every Sunday. She had already laid out her clothes on her bed to wear to church.
She didn't know that Andrew Lyons would show up at her house before she ever had a chance to leave for church, and that he would be bringing a shotgun with him.
Investigators soon learned that Andrew Lee Lyons had been mad when Bridgett broke up with him. He was not only mad at Bridgett, he was also mad at her mother. He was mad that Bridgett was allegedly using drugs. He was mad at Evelyn for "sticking her nose" into his problems with Bridgett.
A few days before the killings, he told an old high school friend of his, Roger, that he was mad at Bridgett and felt like killing her. He said Bridgett was involved in drugs and the best thing for her to do would be to be killed.
On Friday, September 18, 1992, about 3:45 p.m., Andrew Lee Lyons told Verna, a friend of Bridgett's, that he was having problems with Bridgett and he was tired of everyone getting in his business. He threatened, "If you're around, I'll get you, too."
On Sunday morning, about 11:00 a.m., Evelyn Sparks was in her house, getting ready for church. She was in her nightgown. She had just gotten off the telephone from talking to her friend, Roberta. She was on the first floor of her house. Bridgett and the three children were in the basement.
Andrew Lee Lyons came to the home of Evelyn Harris and came through the back door of her house into her kitchen. He shot her to death in her kitchen. He then descended to the basement, where he killed 11-month old Donay in front of Bridgett, then killed Bridgett. After looking unsuccessfully for the other two children, he left the house.
Immediately after the killings, Andrew Lee Lyons went to find his brother, Jerry. Jerry was staying at a girlfriend's house. Andrew Lee Lyons drove his truck to the girlfriend's house and then had his brother follow him to home of another friend, Gail.
Gail, 47, was talking on the telephone when Andrew Lee Lyons came into her home. He told her to get off of the phone. She hung up quickly. He told her that he had killed Bridgett, Evelyn, Evelyn's boyfriend, and he thought he had killed the baby, too. She exclaimed, "You killed the baby!" He answered, "She picked up the baby and was holding the baby." Gail said, "I don't want to hear no more about it" and covered her ears.
Andrew Lee Lyons left his truck parked in Gail’s driveway, and made his brother Jerry drive him out to Trail of Tears Park State Park, a large wooded park not far from Cape Girardeau. He told his brother that the police would be looking for him because he had done some shooting. He carried with him a green duffle bag . The bag was packed with changes of clothing and sodas.
Andrew Lee Lyons also had the shotgun and a bag of shells with him, but he left the weapon with Jerry, telling him to take it and put it away. He told Jerry not to tell anyone where he had dropped him off.
When Jerry returned from Trail of Tears Park he heard what had happened. Realizing that he had to do the right thing, he and his brother David took the shotgun and shells down to the police department and turned them in that same afternoon.
A firearms examiner examined the shotgun. It was a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. It was, in fact, the shotgun that fired all three shots. The examiner could tell this by the markings the firing pin left on the shell casings. The expert also noted that the shotgun had to be pumped between each shot. Thus, the killer had been thinking and pumping between each blast of the shotgun, between each of the three killings.
When a person pumps the shotgun, it ejects a spent cartridge and puts a new one into the chamber. An ejected cartridge was found on the kitchen floor near Evelyn. Another ejected cartridge was found on the floor in the basement near Dontay. A third spent cartridge was still in the shotgun. The firearms examiner said with certainty that this particular shotgun fired all three of these cartridges.
He also noted that this particular shotgun had a safety. The shooter had to push a button to take the safety off.
Investigators established that Andrew Lee Lyons had bought the shotgun on June 6, 1992. The salesman who sold him the shotgun identified him as the buyer of the gun.
Once investigators got the tip that Andrew Lee Lyons had been dropped off at Trail of Tears Park, officers combed the park, looking for him.
Deputy David Valentine was the officer who found him, at 3:15 p.m. on September 20, 1992, approximately four hours after the shootings.
Valentine spotted Andrew Lee Lyons trying to hide behind a picnic table. Lyons was looking at him. He was looking at Lyons. Lyons started running. Valentine yelled at him to stop. Lyons wouldn't stop, but kept running. Valentine pulled his own shotgun and pumped it, a sound undoubtedly familiar to the ears of Andrew Lee Lyons.
Valentine yelled, "Stop or I'll shoot!"
Lyons stopped.
Valentine and a Park Ranger placed Lyons under arrest.
Sgt. Vince Diebold arrived seconds after Andrew Lee Lyons had been caught. Diebold read Lyons his Miranda rights. Lyons said he understood them. Lyons was placed in Diebold's car. Diebold asked Lyons where the gun was. Lyons claimed he had thrown it into the river. Lyons then asked, "Can I get a lawyer?" Diebold said, "Yes, sir, you can." About a minute later, Lyons said, "Didn't nobody die, did they?" Diebold said, "Yes, sir, I was told they did." Lyons said, "All of them?" Diebold said, "I was told three people died."
Lyons changed his mind about wanting a lawyer, and he agreed to talk to the police. He gave a tape-recorded statement to Detective Judy Gentry from the Cape Girardeau Police Department and to Dennis Overby of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
In his confession, Andrew Lee Lyons admitted shooting Bridgett. He admitting shooting the 11-month-old baby, although he claimed it was an accident. He claimed that he didn't remember actually shooting Evelyn.
AS TO EVELYN
He admitted that he had gotten his shotgun and had gone to the front door of Evelyn's house.
He admitted that he had been mad at Evelyn because she was always getting involved in his business with Bridgett, trying to run his house, always stirring up problems.
He said he was mad at Evelyn because she was always telling him if he tried to take the baby, Dontay, she'd have every policeman in Cape after him since she worked at the police department.
He remembered that Evelyn was in the kitchen, standing, and that she had seemed upset.
He claimed not to remember actually shooting her.
AS TO DONTAY
He admitted that he shot Dontay, but said that Bridgett had been grabbing Dontay when he fired.
He admitted pointing the shotgun at Bridgett. He said: "Pointed it, it was too late she reached and grabbed the baby."
"What happened after she grabbed the baby?" Lyons was asked.
"Too late. The gun had already gone off."
AS TO BRIDGETT
He admitted shooting Bridgett.
He admitted that he had been mad at her because she was staying out until 3 or 4 in the morning, using drugs, not being a good mother to the baby.
He said he was mad at Bridgett because she had made a report to the police about him on Friday, claiming she was afraid of him.
He said he was mad because on Friday when he had picked up the baby from Bridgett and her mother, they had threatened to have him arrested for kidnapping if he did not return the baby to them, which he had done.
He said he was mad at Bridgett because even though she was claiming to be afraid of him, she was still sending her 7-year-old son over to his house trying to get money from him to go to the fair.
He said he was mad at Bridgett because even though she claimed to be afraid of him she kept calling him wanting money for pampers.
He said he was mad at Bridgett because she had cut the tires on his car three or four months before.
He admitted that he pointed the gun at Bridgett after he had already shot Dontay.
He said she "went to screaming" once he had shot the baby.
He said she was "more or less" kneeling when he shot her.
He also claimed she was trying to grab the shotgun.
Andy Wagoner, the firearms examiner from the Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory, determined the distance from which the shots that hit Evelyn and Bridgett were fired. Each of them was fired from a distance between 20 to 42 inches. In other words, for each shot, the end of the barrel was farther than 20 inches from the victim, but closer than 42 inches.
As to Dontay, the Medical Examiner, Dr. Gordon Johnson, noted that the wound to the eye was a contact wound. The shotgun was right up to the eye when it was fired.
Andy Wagoner confirmed that Dontay had been lying on his back on the mattress in the basement at the time he was shot. Wagoner could tell this because of something called shotgun wadding. The Federal brand shotgun shells used by Andrew Lyons contained thumb-sized pieces of plastic called wadding. They separate the gunpowder from the shotgun pellets. Each shell had two pieces of wadding, one pink and one white. When a shotgun is fired, the wadding comes out of the end of the barrel, too, but since it is plastic and not metal, it doesn't travel as far as the metal shells. On close range shots, though, the wadding will go into the victim's body, too.
Both pieces of wadding -- pink and red -- were found inside Evelyn Sparks' body. Both pieces of wadding -- pink and red -- were found inside Bridgett Harris' body. As to Dontay's wound, both pieces of wadding went all the way through his head. One piece was embedded deep into the mattress, along with pieces of bone and hair and shotgun pellets. The other piece was lying on top of the mattress once all the bedding had been removed. The fact the wadding was embedded in the mattress proved that Dontay's head was directly above the mattress at the time he was shot. With the entrance wound in his eye and the exit would at the back of his head, it indicated that his head was lying on the mattress at the time he was shot.
Bridgett was found lying immediately to Dontay's right, next to the mattress, just inches from him. She was shot just under her right arm, toward the back, with the shells traveling downward, consistent with her, kneeling, reaching out toward her dying child as she was shot.
After being delayed several years for various mental evaluations and treatment for depression, Andrew Lee Lyons was tried for the triple murder in Scott County before Circuit Judge Anthony J. Heckemeyer, in April of 1996 on a change of venue. The defense called a psychologist to claim that the severe depression of Andrew Lee Lyons had affected his ability to consider the consequences of his actions. Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle pointed to the strong evidence of deliberation in the case, reminding the jury that depression did not give a person a license to commit a triple murder, nor did it provide immunity from the death penalty. He asked the jury to make the punishment fit the crime.
The jury found Lyons guilty of first degree murder of both adults, and of involuntary manslaughter of the baby. The jury recommended the death penalty.
On June 27, 1996, Circuit Judge Anthony J. Heckemeyer sentenced Andrew Lee Lyons to death for the murders of Evelyn Sparks and Bridgett Harris, and to 7 years in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of Dontay Harris.
Lyons’ convictions were affirmed by the Missouri Supreme Court. At this time he awaits an execution date.