Both the prosecution and the defense of Issiah Ross began to lay out their cases regarding the 21-year-old suspect’s level of guilt in the 2022 shooting deaths of 14-year-old Lyric Woods and 18-year-old Devin Clark on Wednesday.
Family and friends of Woods, Clark and Ross gathered in the Battle Courtroom of the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough for the start of trial, following jury selection. The state of North Carolina, represented through the local district attorney’s office, claims the 21-year-old murdered both teenagers while on a utility easement during the early morning hours of Sep. 17, 2022. The defense, however, is arguing Ross acted in self-defense by shooting Clark after he shot and killed Woods.
To open the trial, the prosecution laid out general facts already established around the case: that Woods snuck out of her Efland home after midnight on Saturday, Sep. 17, 2022 to hang out with Clark, who relied on Ross and Ross’ mother’s vehicle to pick up Woods. The trio spent time off of Buckhorn Road in rural Orange County, where Woods and Clarks’ bodies were found near a utility easement on the afternoon of Sep. 18 after both had been reported missing by their parents. Both teenagers had multiple gunshot wounds and shell casings from a 9mm firearm were found around the crime scene.
Photo of Lyric Woods via Facebook. Photo of Devin Clark via the National Gun Violence Memorial.
Anna Orr with Judicial District 15B’s district attorney’s office said evidence makes clear that Ross left the scene on his own overnight on Sep. 17 and later admitted to a witness, who ultimately called the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, that he shot and killed both Clark and Woods. Orr also laid out the manner of the gunshot wounds — many of which were into the teenagers’ backs, one into the back of Clark’s head and one into the back of Woods’ neck — as an indicator that the pair had their backs to the vehicle when struck with gunfire.
“Members of the jury,” Orr said, “this is just a brief forecast of the evidence that you’re going to hear in this case. I ask you as you listen to the testimony and review the evidence that you keep these things in mind: the timeline, the physical evidence and the defendant’s confession. When you’ve heard it all, when the truth is laid bare in front of you, I will ask you to hold him accountable…I will ask you to find him guilty.”
In the defense’s opening statements, meanwhile, attorney Jonathan Trapp said Ross was messaged by Clark asking for a ride with clear intentions: he would bring along a girl for them to have sex with in exchange for the drive. Trapp said Clark directed Ross where to drive to not only pick up Woods — who he did not know — but where to park for some time. When an argument broke out between Woods and Clark, Ross claims Clark brought out his father’s firearm and shot the 14-year-old. The defense said Ross ultimately wrestled the gun from Clark’s control and shot the 18-year-old out of fear for his own life.
“There [are] going to be statements made and evidence that shows there was an argument between Devin and Lyric,” Trapp told the jury. “And the person who shot Lyric Woods was not Mr. Ross. It was Devin Clark. From that moment on, the gun that Devin brought to the scene, was turned to Mr. Ross.”
Trapp also argued that Ross, in his uncertainty on what to do, threw the gun and Clark’s phone of the vehicle after leaving the bodies. Ross’ mother’s vehicle needed gas, so he stopped at a nearby gas station and crashed into the median while turning in out of nervousness. It was that damage to the car that led to his mother being upset later in the day, and his mother threw him out of the house, encouraging the teenager’s family in Delaware to take him in. The message in the courtroom: Ross did fire gunshots and kill Clark, but it was to protect his own safety.
Elizabeth Cannada, the mother of Lyric Woods, testifies about the last night she saw her daughter and what learning the news of her death was like during the trial of Issiah Ross on Jan, 14. 2026. (Photo via the media pool.)
New Details Emerge on Murder Weapon
In addition to the opening statements and the directions both sides plan to take as the trial unfolds, a few details shared during the statements and subsequent testimony stood out.
One that could impact how the trial plays out: the murder weapon for the case, a 9mm handgun, and Devin Clark’s cellphone have not yet been recovered. The defense mentioned Ross throwing them out of the vehicle’s window between the crime scene and going to get gas along Buckhorn Road, but neither piece of evidence were found in 2022 or since.
Wednesday was also the first time, in court, that it was mentioned by Woods’ parents that they were unaware of a connection between Lyric and Devin — with her mother, Elizabeth Cannada, saying none of Lyric’s friends she texted in the wake of her disappearance seemed to know Clark.
Cannada, and father of Devin Clark, Dexter Clark Jr., both spoke on the record as part of the first witnesses called by the prosecution on Wednesday. Both reiterated details from their final interactions with their children, with Cannada saying it was unlike Woods to sneak out and that the family was shaken when she was not in her bedroom on Saturday morning. After contacting nearby family members and reaching out to Lyric’s friends through her phone — which the parents kept at home during the night — they filed a missing persons report. Cannada recalled waiting through Saturday and Sunday, hoping that her daughter would return home, when she learned first responders were arriving to a death investigation that involved two bodies.
“I just ran up to him” she said, after an Orange County Sheriff’s representative arrived at her home to tell her the recovered body was Lyric. “And I said, ‘It’s not her, right?’ Because, still, I was keeping it together…no one else was, but I [was] because it was so far-fetched that somebody would want to hurt [Lyric]. And he just got out of the car, didn’t say anything…he just hugged me and said, ‘I’m so sorry.’ And I just collapsed.”
Clark Jr., meanwhile, testified he had not seen his son since before the weekend but grew concerned after not seeing Devin and his phone going straight to voicemail. He later thought to check his closet, where he kept a handgun in a box, and found that it was not there. Dexter Clark Jr. then reported that missing firearm to law enforcement.
Clark Jr. also mentioned that the gun, a 9mm Canick, was Devin’s preferred gun to use when attending a shooting club together on the weekends. While Dexter said he attends “Country Boys Therapy” nearly every weekend, Devin would occasionally join and participate in shooting.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigator Zack Baldwin listens to a question while testifying on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 about the crime scene where Lyric Woods and Devin Clark were found on Sep. 17, 2022. (Photo via the media pool.)
Crime Scene and its Processing A Focus on Wednesday
Besides the two parents called to the stand, all the other witnesses called by the prosecution to testify on Wednesday had seen the crime scene and the bodies before they were moved from Buckhorn Road. Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Phil Susann, who was among the first law enforcement to arrive on Sep. 18, and Investigator Zack Baldwin — who photographed and processed the evidence at the crime scene — spent much of the time detailing their process of attempting to preserve the scene and evidence. Baldwin went over how many shell casings were found, the red stains on gravel and the vehicle he swabbed for testing and the state of the bodies as they were found. Both law enforcement officers described Woods’ and Clark’s remains as having their arms splayed out to the side while their legs were straightened, lying in the grass close to the gravel easement.
Two key characters to the crime scene took the stand as the prosecution’s first witnesses: Jordan Wilson and Joseph Kiser, the two men who were the first to call 911 after discovering the bodies while riding a four-wheeler to go check trail cameras for deer hunting.
Testimony of the prosecution’s witnesses is expected to continue Thursday morning.
Featured photo via the media pool at the Orange County Courthouse.
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