After more than three years since the deaths of Lyric Woods and Devin Clark in rural Orange County, the local prosecution and defense will fully lay out their cases to determine guilt of a young man suspected in the murder case.
The trial of Issiah Mehki Ross over the deaths of Woods and Clark formally began on Monday after the 21-year-old suspect rejected a plea deal that would have reduced his charges from first degree murder to second degree murder with a minimum of 20-25 years in prison for each charge. As a result, a jury was selected Tuesday and Wednesday, with opening arguments expected soon and testimony expected to continue through the week in Orange County’s superior court. Superior Court Judge Stephanie Reese, a visiting judge who typically serves in Judicial District 18B in Guilford County, is presiding over the case.
Here are background details established in the case and what led to the 2026 trial:
Woods and Clark Go Missing, Discovered in Utility Easement
The greater Orange County community’s attention turned to Lyric Woods — a 14-year-old Cedar Ride High School student and Efland resident — and 18-year-old Mebane high schooler Devin Clark on Saturday, Sep. 17, 2022. Woods’ family filed a missing persons report with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office after she was not found in her bedroom that morning — while Clark’s mother turned to Facebook and entered her son into the National Crime Information Center Index after not hearing from him since Friday night. The Orange County District Attorney’s office later said that Woods and Clark, who were not widely known to be friends, met up with each other in the early morning hours of Sep. 17. Investigators say Clark asked Issiah Ross, who was then 17-years-old, if he could give him a ride using Ross’ mother’s car to pick up Woods and hang out. Hours later, both Clark and Woods were shot and killed.
While the community’s desperation to find the two teenagers increased and social media comments created a frenzy of speculation, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office received at call around 3 p.m. on Sep. 18 that changed everything. Two men who were riding four-wheelers along a trail by a utility easement off Buckhorn Road spotted two bodies with gunshot wounds, with law enforcement reporting the victims to be Woods and Clark after arrival and investigation…