Mar 5, 2020 2 min read

ROSTRAVER – A Donora man facing homicide charges in West Virginia was accused Tuesday of jumping out a second-story window at his Somerset Township motel and stealing a car as a fugitive task force was bearing down on him last year.

Investigators got a glimpse of Brian Edward Lyon II driving the stolen car in Clairton via a license plate reader before it was tracked Sept. 30 to another motel, this one in Rostraver Township.

“During this time, the victim’s Kia Rio was observed to be parked at the motel,” a state police trooper noted in the affidavit supporting a new charge of receiving stolen property against Lyon, 38, who also used a Monongahela address.

Lyon was wanted at the time in two states, including as a suspect in a Sept. 28 robbery and homicide in Marion County, W.Va.

Lyon was accused of stealing a pickup truck from Christopher W. Moses after killing the man and also shooting Dawn Smith, who survived. The truck was later set afire alongside Interstate 70 in Somerset near the Avalon Motor Inn, from where he escaped.

Police took Lyon into custody early Oct. 1 and also seized the stolen car at a Budget Inn on Route 51 near Interstate 70.

He is being held without bond in Washington County jail, awaiting trial on charges he stabbed Melvin Gray in the back from behind Sept. 23 in a trailer on Dolly Lane in Union Township.

He faces charges in that case filed by Monongahela police of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of a crime, flight to avoid apprehension and harassment, and has been wanted in West Virginia on charges that include homicide and attempted homicide.

Meanwhile, Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Valarie S. Costanzo has scheduled a bond reduction hearing for Lyon at 9:30 a.m. Friday.