Issiah Ross, a man charged with the murders of two teenagers in Orange County, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, two-and-a-half years after the crime.
Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18, were reported missing in 2022. Their bodies were discovered Sept. 18, 2022, by two men riding four-wheelers near the intersection of Buckhorn and Yarbrough roads, less than 3 miles away from Woods' home.
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Ross was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with their deaths. Johnathan Trapp, Ross' attorney, told WRAL News his client pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, and a trial date was set for Oct. 27, 2025.
Woods was a student at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, and Clark was a football player at Eastern Alamance High School in Mebane. A source told WRAL News that Ross attended school with Clark and the two knew each other.
Ross appeared in court in January 2023, when a judge denied him bond and more details were released about the shooting. In that court appearance, Trapp said the firearm used in the murder belonged to Clark's father and that Ross knew one of the victims, but not both.
Orange County Assistant District Attorney Anna Orr told the judge a preliminary autopsy revealed that Woods was shot at least four times, of which she was shot twice in the back, once in the arm and once in the neck from close range. Clark was shot at least five times, including three times in the back, once in the foot, once in the bottom of the heel and once in the back of the head.
Orr said that Woods and Clark were running away from Ross when they were shot, arguing that they were executed. A motive has not been revealed.
Ross, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, will be tried as an adult.