Murder Suspect Has Violent History

The man accused of murdering a woman in a Traverse City motel and dumping her body in the woods in Leelanau County had recently been released from jail following a domestic violence conviction.

Frank Theodore Supal, 50, faces open murder charges in connection with the death of 62-year-old Wanda Mae Lyons, a woman who had been living with her husband in a room next to Supal’s at the Terrace Beach Motel on Front Street.

Supal is accused of stabbing, strangling, and bludgeoning Lyons at the motel and then dumping her body on property near his family’s property in Kasson Township, where Lyons’ remains were discovered by a passerby on Dec 11. Traverse City police questioned Supal that day, and he soon became the prime suspect in the case. It’s unclear what relationship Supal had with Lyons other being her neighbor at the motel.

Supal had only recently been released from Grand Traverse County jail. He was charged earlier this year with aggravated domestic violence for assaulting a girlfriend and pled guilty to domestic violence. On Nov. 14, District Judge Robert Cooney sentenced Supal to the maximum penalty, 93 days in jail.

That included credit for time already served, meaning Supal was released from jail in late November or early December, according to court records.

Supal’s history of domestic violence arrests in Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties dates back to 2007, when he was charged with domestic violence in Leelanau. The charge was later dismissed. He was charged with felonious assault in 2008 in Grand Traverse and with assault and battery in Leelanau in 2017. In those cases, he pled guilty to lesser charges.