Authorities have named the teenage boy charged with murdering two other teenagers back in September.
Issiah Mehki Ross, 17, faces two counts of first-degree murder, according to WRAL. Investigators in Orange County, North Carolina, say he’s the person who shot Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18, to death shortly after they were last seen alive.
Ross reportedly went to school with Clark at Eastern Alamance High School in the Alamance County city of Mebane. He was initially charged as a juvenile, but the severity of the charges meant that this case was always headed to adult court. Since he is at least 13 years old, this case for first-degree murder would go to adult court under North Carolina law if a juvenile court judge found probable cause. Being at least 16, Ross would also have gone to adult court if prosecutors secured an indictment for this Class A felony.
Lyric Woods, Orange County Sheriff’s Office
Family members have said that Woods, a student at Cedar Ridge High School in the city of Hillsborough, and Clark were friends. The teens separately went missing in September.
Woods’ stepfather Shane Cannada said she took a shower at around 11 p.m. that Friday, Sept. 16, but she was missing when she went to wake her up the following morning, according to a missing person’s report obtained by WRAL. He suggested she left through an unlocked backdoor, and that he did not think she ran away because she left more of her possessions (except for an iPad) in her room. A neighbor described seeing Woods riding in a vehicle early Saturday at 3 a.m.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office previously said that two men checking trail cameras found Woods and Clark shot to death that Sunday afternoon.
“Through our ongoing investigation, we have information that suggests the two individuals located off Buckhorn Road yesterday are Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18,” said Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood at the time. “Family members reported Lyric missing Saturday afternoon to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office; the deputy filed the missing person’s report in the National Crime Information Center index (NCIC) at 3:44 pm. Devin Clark’s family contacted the Mebane Police Department on Sunday with concerns about his whereabouts. An officer entered him into NCIC at approximately 1:42 pm.”
The teens’ bodies were reportedly found two and a half miles from Woods’ home.
Ross has been locked up since Oct. 5.
“There is a big relief off my chest knowing this person is in custody,” Clark’s mother Tiffany Concepcion reportedly said last month. “This is the longest 17 days I have ever had in my life.”
When I heard that two people were shot dead, I never have thought it would happen to two #mebanites, teenagers at that… Lyric Wood (14) & Devin Clark (18)
Please, please, please lift up their families in this time of needhttps://t.co/UmmZkJt4r8https://t.co/rqXsTKZBPI pic.twitter.com/8aSsa9iSOJ
— Senate Candidate Sean Ewing 🇺🇦 (@EwingForNC) September 20, 2022
More than 100 people — family, students, teammates, and faculty — showed up to the football field at East Alamance High School for a vigil to honor Clark, according to WJZY.
“Today was a true testament to who he was and how he lived his life,” coach and mentor L.J. Flintall told the outlet. “Just loving everyone. Not having a harmful bone in his body.”
[Screenshot via WTVD]
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