Nancy Lyons

On June 17, 2002, Beverly Tallent-Lyons got a call she would never forget. She was at her home in Louisville, Kentucky when she received a call that her younger sister, Nancy Lyons who was 46 at the time, missing. Her younger sister's car had been found on a rural road in Indiana. 

The car had been found at the corner of County Road 700 west and County road 500 north in Rush County. Idling in park, the car had been abandoned. One tire on the vehicle was flat and the car was unlocked. Nothing in the vehicle looked to be disturbed.

Nancy's purse, ID, and cellphone were present. Along with her personal affects, the recent purchases she had made from Wal-Mart were still in the car. Nancy was the only thing missing.

The family, community, and police began searching for Nancy immediately. Within the first two weeks, no progress was made. Cadaver dogs were brought in to the area where the vehicle had bee located, but they were unable to locate any traces of Nancy.

It would be October of 2002 before the family would hear anything about where Nancy might be. On October 2 in Bartholomew County, a farmer reported to police that he had found skeleton remains in his soybean field. The field was approximately 30 miles from where her car had been located months earlier.

These remains would later be identified as those of Nancy Lyons. Upon further examination of the remains, it was apparent that she had succumbed to blunt force trauma to the skull. It was not apparent as to whether or not sexual assault had occurred. This might have been due to the advanced stages of decomposition of the remains.

Beverly began to feel that the investigation had been hindered. She made it known that believed that mistakes early in the investigation led to the case not being solved in a more timely manner. In order to draw attention to her cause she launched a letter writing campaign. Over 500 letters were written according to my research. The letters were sent to politicians and people of power all over the United States. One of these letters even was sent to Canadian authorities. 

 Beverly won the time of the State Police in late 2006 or early 2007. State Police turned over evidence to the FBI's crime lab for investigation. They had hoped that by getting assistance with the case, the case would be solved. Upon the return of the results, Beverly was scheduled to meet with investigators and the prosecutor, nothing came from this meeting. 

No person of interest has been publicly named in the case and the case is still considered active by State Police. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Indiana State Police. They can be contacted at 1-812-689-5000 or 1-765-778-2121. 

________________Sources___________________________

"6 Years Later, Family Hopes Woman's Killer Will be Caught." RTV 6. June 12, 2008. https://www.theindychannel.com/news/6-years-later-family-hopes-woman-s-killer-will-be-caught

"Cold Cases: Lyons Homicide not only unsolved investigation." Caitlin VanOverberghe. Daily Reporter. June 27, 2017. http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/2017/06/28/cold_cases/

"Family Hopes for Break in Case." Jeff Eakins. The Banner. June 27, 2007. http://thebanneronline.com/archive_news/2007/06/27/family-hopes-for-break.htm

"Family Marks Anniversary of Unsolved Slaying." Caitlin Overberghe. Greenfield Daily Reporter. June 27, 2017. http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/2017/06/28/still_searching-2/

"Nancy Lyons." Indiana State Police Database. http://www.in.gov/isp/2620.htm

"The Nancy Lyons Project." Frank Denzler. Rushville Republican. June 13, 2012. http://www.rushvillerepublican.com/news/local_news/the-nancy-lyons-project/article_a467cef1-c4f5-54ef-a540-d4548afa4992.html