Tag: Lyric and Devin

Relatives and jury members sat through detailed testimony Thursday in an Orange County courtroom about how two teenagers were fatally shot in 2022 and the investigation that led to the arrest of an Alamance County teen.

Issiah Ross is charged with killing 14-year-old Lyric Woods and 18-year-old Devin Clark on Sept. 17, 2022, a double murder that shook Orange County at the time and led to a multi-state manhunt.

His attorney claims Ross acted in self-defense after Clark shot Woods over an argument and turned the gun on Ross. Prosecutors have not said why they think Ross shot Woods and Clark, who brought the gun — the murder weapon — with him that night.

Ross, now 21, could receive two sentences of life in prison if he is found guilty of first-degree murder in their deaths.

On the second day of the trial, Mebane resident Antwan Bryant testified about the events leading up to Ross’ arrest. The jury also heard from Orange County investigators, who described their investigation, and the Associate Chief Medical Examiner, who testified about the teens’ autopsies.

Bryant said Ross lived with him for about a year while he was in a relationship with Ross’ mother, Marcy Cordero. Bryant’s cousin is Dexter Clark Jr., Devin’s father and the owner of the firearm used in the murders, Bryant said.

Issiah Ross and Devin Clark knew each other and “were cordial,” Bryant said Thursday, but he only saw them hang out a few times. Both were students at Eastern Alamance High School, he said in response to defense attorney Jonathan Trapp’s questions.

“My nephew and Devin, they were into sports heavily, so they were constantly going to practices and stuff like that,” Bryant said. “Issiah was more into computers and music, so he was … sitting in his room or outside.”

When Cordero, Ross’ mother, called Bryant early on the morning of Sept. 17, 2022, she was upset that her son was lying to her about taking her car out the night before, Bryant said. She asked him to come over to her apartment, he said.

“She was yelling in the phone,” Bryant testified. “There were a few expletives.”

Bryant said he saw black marks on the fender of Cordero’s GMC Terrain and had her start the vehicle so he could check for more damage. He didn’t find anything else, Bryant said, but Cordero insisted that Ross had to leave her house.

Bryant said he left a short time later, taking the young man, then 17, home with him for the night.

Orr has previously said that video footage from a gas station near the crime scene shows Ross hitting a pillar with his mother’s car.

Late Sunday afternoon, Bryant said his sister called to tell him that Clark’s body was found in a field off Buckhorn Road near Efland.

Parents of both teenagers have testified that they last saw them around 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16. Two hunters testified earlier this week that they found Clark lying beside Woods while checking a trail camera around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, and called 911.

Ross was there at the time of the call on Sept. 18, but didn’t say anything when he learned about Clark’s death, said Bryant, whose friends were also there to watch football.

Ross leaves the state

The day of the call, Ross mostly hung out in the yard with a suitcase and two white trashbags of belongings, waiting to take a bus that night to Delaware, where he also had family, Bryant said.

He took Ross around 7 p.m. to a bus station in Raleigh. While waiting for the bus, he used the time to urge Ross to stay in school and make amends with his mother, leaving after Ross boarded the bus just before 10 p.m., he said.

A couple of days later, investigators showed up at Bryant’s house and tried to “grab” his 14-year-old son after mistaking him for Ross, Bryant said. He sent his son inside while he attempted to find out what was going on. They kept asking about Ross and his mother, so Bryant “exploded on them,” he said.

“I told them I didn’t have time for their mother-freaking BS. My family was dealing with a tragedy that just happened,” he said.

That’s when the investigators told him they thought Ross might be involved in Clark’s murder, he said. He didn’t believe them at first, he said, because he had just spent the weekend feeding Ross, housing him and “just looking out” for him.

Ross was arrested over two weeks later in Delaware and returned to Orange County, where he has remained in jail.

Gunshots, a confession and a gun found missing

Several Orange County investigators also testified Thursday about investigating the crime scene and collecting security footage from homes and businesses near the site. Orange County Assistant District Attorney Anna Orr is expected to call forensic experts to testify about what the evidence revealed.

Orange County Sheriff’s Capt. Jeff Ray said he spoke after the murders with James Rogers, who lives about 150 yards from the crime scene and reported hearing gunshots that night.

Rogers testified Thursday that he went to bed on Sept. 16 after packing for a trip but woke up around 1:55 a.m. after hearing “a commotion like fireworks or something was going off.” He thought it might be a hunter, he said, but four more shots rang out 10 minutes later.

“It was a loud four shots,” Rogers said. “Everything was completely quiet. There wasn’t any cars going up the road. It was just pow, pow, pow, pow. That’s what got me up.”

He looked out the windows, but didn’t hear anyone talking or see any cars or lights, he said in response to Trapp’s questions. His son called Sunday to let him know the bodies had been found, and he cut short his trip to talk to investigators, Rogers said.

Ray testified that he also spoke by phone with Christian Sykes on Sept. 19, 2022. Sykes, who also attended Eastern Alamance High School, told him that a friend named “Issiah” had confessed to shooting Woods and Clark.

Sheriff’s Office Investigator Dawn Hunter, who is now retired, interviewed Sykes in the parking lot of Walmart in Mebane, she testified Thursday without offering details. Sykes is expected to take the witness stand Friday, Orr said.

Sheriff’s Office Investigator Trent Hall said he went to Dexter Clark’s home on Sept. 18, after Clark called to report a missing 9 mm firearm. Clark turned over a 50-round box of Remington 9 mm ammunition that was missing 23 rounds, Hall said.

What did the autopsies find?

Associate Chief Medical Examiner Lauren Scott, with the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said Thursday that she performed the autopsies and collected sexual assault kits from both bodies a few days after the murders.

Scott testified that Woods had seven gunshot wounds, including two shots to her neck, which likely ended her life within minutes. Woods was also shot in the back, thumb and arm, Scott said as she demonstrated the direction the bullets traveled for the jury.

Clark had six gunshot wounds, she said, including one that may have killed him after hitting his right upper back and piercing his neck, fracturing vertebrae and cutting an artery and a vein. He also had another shot to the back and shots to his buttock and thigh, foot and ankle, the back of his head, and through his collarbone and shoulder blade, she said.

Toxicology analyses showed alcohol was present in both bodies, but she could not determine whether it was from drinking or the natural process of decomposition, Scott said. She did not test for illegal drugs, because the cause of death was obvious.

Scott’s testimony left Clark’s relatives visibly upset, and members of Woods’ family, who were seated in front of them, turned to hold their hands and offer comfort. After an hour of Scott’s testimony, Superior Court Judge Stephanie Reese sent the jury out of the room before commenting on how difficult it was for the families to hear those details.

“There’s no reason for anyone to endure this particular testimony,” Reese said, expressing “profound sympathies” before she asked relatives who were sobbing to step out of the courtroom. Two of Clark’s relatives remained outside until Scott’s testimony ended.

The trial will begin again Friday morning and is expected to last at least another week.

This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 8:19 PM.