The Orange County case over the 2022 killings of Lyric Woods and Devin Clark halted Friday for a defense-side family emergency.
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — A judge recessed the double murder trial of Issiah Mehki Ross on Friday after a family emergency arose within the defense team, delaying what would have been the fifth day of proceedings in Orange County Superior Court. Testimony is set to resume Tuesday after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day court holiday.
The pause comes in a closely watched case that began this week with jury selection and swift opening statements. Ross, now in his early 20s, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the September 2022 deaths of 14-year-old Lyric Woods and 18-year-old Devin Clark. The state has presented early witnesses, including parents, investigators and a medical examiner. The defense has signaled a self-defense claim and an alternative sequence of events. Friday’s break resets the schedule but not the stakes: Ross faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
Jurors heard opening statements Wednesday morning after alternates were seated, and the first witnesses took the stand soon after. Parents of both teens described the last hours before the pair went missing; ATV riders testified about finding two bodies along a utility access path west of Hillsborough on Sept. 18, 2022. A neighbor said he awoke to a series of sharp cracks that night, sounds he first mistook for fireworks. The court also heard from a lead investigator who walked the panel through photographs of the scene and the steps used to secure evidence for testing, including cartridge casings, bullet fragments and tire impressions. “I did see some marks on the bumper,” a witness who knew both young men testified while describing a car examined after the shootings.
Medical examiner testimony Thursday detailed multiple gunshot wounds to both teens and the angles of entry, findings the state argues are consistent with an intentional killing. An Orange County detective told jurors he collected a box of ammunition linked to one of the families and logged that 23 rounds were missing. Another witness, a relative who had 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.” Prosecutors say Ross fled North Carolina and was arrested weeks later out of state; authorities returned him to face charges. Defense attorney Jonathan Trapp has suggested Clark may have fired a weapon that night and indicated Ross will maintain that he acted to protect himself.
Friday’s schedule originally called for additional law enforcement and forensic witnesses to continue the state’s case-in-chief. Instead, Judge Stephanie Reese informed jurors of the emergency and recessed the trial until Tuesday. The court will not meet Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No ruling has been made on any motions related to evidence exclusions or the order of witnesses. It remains unclear whether the defense will seek to recall earlier witnesses after the pause or move for a limiting instruction regarding media coverage during the break. Court administrators said the jury remains under standard admonitions not to discuss or research the case.
The killings of Woods, a Cedar Ridge High School student, and Clark, a former Eastern Alamance football player, drew a large response in 2022 and later prompted changes to how some juvenile murder cases move through North Carolina courts. Deputies said the teens were found less than three miles from Woods’s home off a rural path near Buckhorn and Yarbrough roads. The early investigation generated hundreds of tips and a multiday search before Ross was identified as a suspect. By March 2025, he had entered a plea of not guilty, and pretrial hearings set ground rules for evidence, jury selection and courtroom logistics ahead of this week’s start of testimony.
Procedurally, the state is still presenting its case, and prosecutors have not rested. After the break, jurors are expected to hear more forensic analysis, including ballistics and digital records. If the state rests next week, the defense could begin calling witnesses or move for a directed verdict; if denied, the defense could then decide whether Ross will testify. Any verdict would follow jury instructions and deliberations, which have not yet been scheduled. The court has not announced whether the trial will pause again for any additional holidays or scheduling conflicts.
Outside the courthouse this week, small groups of relatives and supporters gathered on the steps between sessions. Some carried printed photos of the teens. Inside, deputies kept the center aisle clear as family members passed tissues along the first two rows. “We just want the truth to come out,” said Dexter Clark, Devin’s father, speaking quietly after a session recessed for the day. In the hallway, a woman who identified herself as a neighbor from near the utility corridor said the night still echoes in her mind. “I thought it was fireworks at first,” she said, “and then I couldn’t get back to sleep.”
As of Friday afternoon, the trial stands recessed with jurors instructed to return Tuesday. The next session is expected to resume with continued prosecution testimony and scheduling updates from the bench.
Author note: Last updated January 16, 2026.