17-year-old suspect in NC teens’ murder will be charged as an adult, prosecutor says

Orange County will charge a 17-year-old suspect as an adult in the killing of two other teens found in a wooded area of western Orange County last month, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The decision — and the release of the suspect’s name and more information about the case — could come within the next 15 days, Orange County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Neiman said.

Investigators have said 14-year-old Lyric Woods and 18-year-old Devin Clark were found around 3 p.m. Sept. 18 in the woods off Buckhorn Road in Orange County. Both teens had gunshot wounds and were found along an ATV trail south of Efland.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Orange-Chatham District Attorney’s Office issued a juvenile petition a few days later for a 17-year-old suspect charged with two counts of murder in the case, but they have withheld his name because he is a juvenile.

The suspect had his first appearance Tuesday at the Orange County courthouse, officials said. TV news media reported that their cameras were barred from the building and they were not allowed to attend the hearing.

The 15-day delay before officially charging the suspect as an adult gives prosecutors time to notify the parties involved and gives the suspect time to appeal the decision, which is required under state law, Nieman said.

“In understanding the level of public interest in this case and perhaps the frustration with the limits that the law places on how much can be disseminated, I did want to make clear that while we will continue to follow the law about limiting public information and dissemination, I did want to respond to many questions we have received about whether we intend to seek transfer of this case to adult Superior Court,” Nieman said.

“We do intend to seek transfer of this case to adult court,” he said.

The suspect’s name and more details about the case will become public once that happens, he said.

Officials have not yet ruled out additional arrests, he said.

Juvenile suspect names private

State law was changed in 2019 so that 16- and 17-year-old criminal suspects could no longer be automatically charged as adults. The law prevents law enforcement and court officials from releasing information about suspects under age 18 unless they are charged as adults.

The decision to withhold the suspect’s name has caused frustration and anger in the community and on social media, with people speculating about why the suspect’s name, his whereabouts and the motive for the killings was being withheld.

Some have drawn comparisons in this case to the 15-year-old suspect accused of killing five people in Raleigh, whose name became public soon after the shootings.

The Raleigh suspect’s name did not come from official sources, Nieman said when asked about it Wednesday in a phone interview with The News & Observer.

“I have spoken with officials in Raleigh and, to my understanding .... that information was gleaned through some channel other than from the district attorney’s office or law enforcement,” Nieman said. “I don’t know that for a fact, but that’s what I’ve been told. I would just say the law in Wake County is the same as the law in Orange County ... but there are different ways for information to be gathered.”

Lyric Woods, Devin Clark remembered

A roadside memorial still stands near the corner of Buckhorn and Yarbrough roads, where Woods and Clark were killed.

Family and friends have said in social media posts that the two teenagers were friends. She was a freshman at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, and he was a junior at Eastern Alamance High School in Mebane. GoFundMe campaigns have been set up for both teens’ families.

It is not clear yet how the suspect knew Clark and Woods.

Woods’ grandfather Stan Dean, who spoke with The N&O in the days after her death, said he erected a cross with lights wrapped around it at the memorial site “because she was afraid of the dark.”

Woods “trusted everyone” and assumed the best in other people, Dean said. “The minutes are too long … We’re just taking it breath by breath.”

He has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.