North Carolina Teen Suspected of Killing Devin Clark, Lyric Wood Charged as Adult; Motive Remains Mystery

The teen who is charged with killing two teenagers on a wooded trail in a rural North Carolina community earlier this year has been identified.

According to court documents, the teenage suspect is Issiah Ross, a 17-year-old aspiring Soundcloud artist is charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18.

Devin Clark and Lyric Woods Murder Case

On September 18, close friends Woods and Clark were discovered shot to death in the bushes close to Buckhorn Road in Orange County. According to court records, Woods suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of her neck, while Clark had wounds to his head and thigh.

However, the suspect's identity was not included in the criminal complaint from September 26; instead, authorities simply provided the suspect's age. Following his arrest on that date, authorities had been cautious about the suspect's identification, claiming his age and the right to privacy of children.

The suspect, who the Orange County Sheriff's Office felt was guilty for the double murder, was even told that he probably wouldn't face an adult trial. That claim was disproved on Monday, when authorities finally provided additional information about the case after announcing the arrest of the then-unnamed suspect on October 5. There was no stated reason for the killings, as per Daily Mail.

After finding the two teens' deaths on September 18, a Sunday, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood held a news conference at 2:30 p.m. and provided a more thorough timeline for the killings. The sheriff continued by saying that based on a combination of forensic and other unspecified evidence discovered at the scene of the killings, his office's investigation immediately concluded that Ross was a suspect.

Suspect Dropped 5 Creepy Songs to Soundcloud After Crimes

Ross only have until Friday to file an appeal against the judge's decision to prosecute him as an adult, but he didn't, according to authorities. Despite the latest change to his juvenile status, he will continue to be detained without bond in a youth institution, according to a Clarke County official.

Even though they stated that they "had some theories" and "some evidence," officials did not speculate on a motive. Clark played football as a junior at East Alamance High School in Mebane. Woods was a freshman at Hillsborough's Cedar Ridge High School. The teenagers were known for being close.

According to WFMY2, Ross was registered as an East Alamance High School student from August 29, 2022, until September 3, 2022. Just one day after the shocking murder was uncovered, a person with Ross' identity and the username "Mi$tr3" posted five tracks to a Soundcloud account.

According to Rolling Stone, several of the songs' lyrics refer to "headshots" and having "s-- I can't talk about/I cannot explain." Lyric left her house on September 16 and her parents reported her missing the next day, according to sheriff Charles Blackwood, who spoke with media on Monday.

In the early morning hours of September 17, numerous nearby residents, who cooperated with authorities, claimed to have heard gunshots, according to Blackwood. They said that the evidence they gathered at the site allowed them to connect Ross to the crime. Ross allegedly left the state before being arrested in Delaware.

The victims were found in a remote area off Buckhorn Road in Mebane, next to a gravel road running parallel to an ATV track and under power lines. " We've actually discovered two dead bodies," the reporter apparently informed police in 911 communications that Fox News Digital has received.