Jurors heard parents, neighbors and a medical examiner before a recess in the trial of Issiah Mehki Ross.
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — The first week of testimony in the double murder trial of Issiah Mehki Ross ended abruptly Friday when the court recessed for a defense-side family emergency, sending jurors home until Tuesday and pushing back the state’s next round of witnesses.
The case centers on the September 2022 shootings of Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18, whose deaths drew wide attention across Orange and Alamance counties. Ross faces two counts of first-degree murder. Since midweek, the courtroom has heard from parents, investigators and a forensic pathologist who described the injuries each teen suffered. The defense has previewed a self-defense theory and suggested Clark may have fired a weapon that night. The break halts momentum in a case that could bring life sentences if jurors decide the state met its burden.
Jury selection wrapped Wednesday morning, and opening statements followed within the hour. Parents of both teens recounted last phone calls and the moments when they realized the pair had not come home. Two men described riding ATVs along a utility access corridor near Buckhorn and Yarbrough roads on Sept. 18, 2022, when they saw two bodies just off the path and called 911. A neighbor from the area said he was jolted awake by a string of loud reports—“I thought they were fireworks at first,” he recalled—before learning of the discovery the next day. Through photographs and diagrams, a lead investigator walked jurors through how the scene was documented and how cartridges, bullet fragments and tire impressions were collected and logged.
On Thursday, a state medical examiner offered technical findings from the autopsies, telling jurors both teens had multiple gunshot wounds. A sheriff’s investigator testified he retrieved a partially used box of ammunition from a family member’s home and recorded that 23 rounds were missing. Another witness, a relative who once dated Ross’s mother, told the court that Ross and Clark knew each other from Eastern Alamance High School and had “hung out on several occasions.” Midafternoon, an Orange County investigator described checking a vehicle associated with the case; a separate witness said he “did see some marks on the bumper,” though no single detail was presented as conclusive on its own.
The courtroom pause arrived Friday morning. Judge Stephanie Reese informed jurors that a member of the defense team faced a family emergency and that the court would not meet again until after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. The state had planned to continue building its case-in-chief with additional forensic and timeline witnesses. No rulings were announced on pending evidentiary objections, and the judge reminded jurors of the standard instructions not to read accounts of the case or discuss it during the recess. Court staff said the panel would reconvene Tuesday at the usual morning hour, subject to any health or scheduling updates from counsel.
The 2022 killings spurred community grief and later debate over how quickly serious juvenile cases move through the courts. Woods was a Cedar Ridge High School student in Hillsborough; Clark, a former Eastern Alamance football player from Mebane. Deputies said both were found less than three miles from Woods’s home, off a wooded connector used by utility crews and riders. Ross was identified as a suspect within days and was taken into custody out of state the next month. He pleaded not guilty in March 2025, setting up the trial that opened this week in Superior Court. The case also drew attention at the General Assembly, where lawmakers later approved a measure known as “Lyric and Devin’s Law,” shifting some discretion on trying juveniles in murder cases.
When the trial resumes, prosecutors are expected to call additional law enforcement, forensic and possibly digital evidence witnesses before resting. The defense will then decide whether to move for a directed verdict or begin its case, potentially calling acquaintances and experts to challenge the state’s reconstruction of the night or to reinforce the self-defense claim. Any schedule beyond next week remains fluid; the court has not yet announced a timeline for jury instructions or deliberations. As with the first days of testimony, seating inside the Hillsborough courtroom is limited, and deputies continue to reserve the front rows for family members.
Outside, relatives and friends exchanged quiet greetings on the courthouse steps between sessions this week. Some carried printed photos mounted on poster board; others wore jackets with the teens’ names stitched above the breast pocket. “We just want answers,” said a woman who identified herself as a family friend as she waited for an elevator after court. Near the bench Friday, the judge thanked jurors for their attention during a dense stretch of forensic testimony and asked them to return Tuesday ready to continue.
For now, the trial stands in recess. The next session is scheduled for Tuesday following the court holiday, with prosecutors set to resume their case-in-chief.
Author note: Last updated January 16, 2026.