Orange : Unemployed Engineer Held in Wife’s Death

An unemployed engineer was in custody Friday on suspicion of strangling his 53-year-old wife during the course of “mutual combat” at their home Thursday, police said.

George Lyon, 55, was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder, said Sgt. Lou Walsh, a Police Department detective. He said Lyon was being held without bail pending his arraignment, which had not been scheduled.

An autopsy conducted by the coroner’s office Friday determined that Kyoko Lyon had suffocated after being strangled, Walsh said.

He said Lyon called the Police Department about 9 a.m. Thursday, reporting that his wife was “possibly deceased.”

Officers arrived and determined the woman probably had been strangled, Walsh said. He said the husband, who was questioned extensively, told investigators that the couple had been quarreling and that they had had scuffles in the past.

The couple’s last row erupted into “mutual combat” early Thursday, Walsh said. George Lyon was not injured, he said.

Walsh said it appeared that the argument might have been over George Lyon’s unemployment and financial matters but that he did not know for certain. He said Kyoko Lyon was employed.