The case of 17-year-old boy charged with killing two North Carolina teens in September was moved to adult court this week.
Issiah Mehki Ross, whose name can be revealed now that his case has been transferred, is charged with two counts of murder in the shooting death of Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18. Their bodies were found on an ATV trail on September 18 after they were reported missing, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Prosecutors and investigators revealed some details about the investigation on Monday after Ross was indicted for the murders by a grand jury that agreed with the prosecutors’ request for an adult trial, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.
Detectives believe the killings took place early on September 18 and that Ross fled North Carolina for Delaware, where he used to live, later in the day.
“We had a reasonably good idea where he was going or where he had gone to,” Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said.
Delaware authorities located and detained him on October 5. Two people have been charged in that state with harboring a fugitive, Blackwood said. They have not been identified.
Between September 18 and October 5, Ross uploaded several news songs to his Soundcloud account — @Mi$tr3 or m3lean — that included lyrics about a “head shot” and “riding around with a new Glock.” In another song — “In Th3 Akorn I Trust” — he raps, I got red inside my car like I’m sipping on blood. So much red inside my car like in the Akorn I trust. Got some s*** I can’t talk about, I cannot discuss.”
Clark also had a SoundCloud page — @deuce2x — and had followed Ross, although Ross did not follow Clark, the News & Observer reported.
Clark was a student at Eastern Alamance High School, where Ross had been enrolled from August 29 to September 3, a school district spokesperson said.
Officials have not speculated on a motive for the killings. Sheriff’s office public information officer Alicia Stemper said that investigators do have theories but are limited in what they can say about the case due to the ages of those involved.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever know (publicly) in this case,” Stemper said.
Ross is being held without bond in the juvenile detention facility. He will appear in court again on November 15.
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[Featured image: Devin Clark and Lyric Woods/GoFundMe]
