Police ‘strongly believe’ suspect is dead after LaSalle woman’s murder

LaSalle police say an active investigation is underway after a “serious criminal offence” on Sugarwood Crescent in LaSalle, Ont., on Saturday, March 19, 2022. (Sanjay Maru / CTV Windsor)

Police “strongly believe” the suspect in the murder of a 34-year-old LaSalle mom has died after jumping from the Ambassador Bridge, according to an update Tuesday.

LaSalle police say Amanda (Ioannidis) Lyons, 34, was found dead in her house on Saturday, March 19. Her husband, Blair Lyons, 34, has been identified by police as a suspect.

Police say his vehicle was found early that morning abandoned on the Ambassador Bridge. LaSalle police officers were sent to the Lyons residence to check on the wellbeing of those living in the house when they discovered the homicide.

Investigators have received video evidence that Lyons did jump from the bridge into the river.

LaSalle Fire Service, Windsor Police Service and RCC Trenton Search and Rescue were immediately dispatched to search the Detroit River and shoreline, but Lyons was not found.

Police say authorities on both sides of the border were notified of the incident in the “unlikely event” he managed to make it to shore.

“The deck of the Ambassador Bridge is 46 meters or 152 feet above the water at its highest point and the water temperature of the Detroit River on March 19th was 34.9 F or 1.6 C which can reach depths over 12 meters or 40 feet in the channel,” police said in an update. “A fall from that height coupled with the frigid water temperature would significantly reduce the overall survivability.”

Police say over the days that followed, the Windsor Port Authority conducted shoreline searches and firefighters continued to search the river near the bridge area with Sonar.

An “unidentifiable anomaly” was detected by sonar underwater and the OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit (USRU) was contacted to investigate, but it was found to be debris.

The USRU continued to search the area for three days using sonar equipment in an effort to find Lyons, to no avail, police say.

“The LaSalle Police Service strongly believes that taking all of the factors into consideration, Mr. Lyons is deceased and is still in the Detroit River. The depth, size, fast current and temperature of this body of water make locating a person submerged in the water particularly difficult,” police said.

On Saturday, a man’s body was found on Crystal Beach in Colchester, police confirm this discovery is unrelated to the homicide investigation in LaSalle.

Blair still has not been located, and Canadian and U.S. authorities have been notified there is a warrant for his arrest in the event he survived the jump.

Blair is described as a 34-year-old white male with short dark brown hair, short dark brown facial hair, brown eyes and a tattoo on his left shoulder. If Blair Lyons is seen or located please contact the LaSalle Police Service immediately.

Police are asking boaters and shoreline residents to be vigilant and should you happen to discovery a body in the water, to try and make note of multiple reference points on land as well as the time and report it to local police immediately.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the LaSalle Police Service at 519-969-5210, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477 (TIPS) or online at www.catchcrooks.com.