Although Ross was 17 years old at the time of the incident, he is being tried as an adult. He is facing two counts of first-degree murder, which could mean life without parole if convicted by a jury.<\/p>\n
The state offered a plea deal that would have dropped the charges to two counts of second-degree murder and avoided a life without parole sentence, but Ross rejected the state’s offer and declined to make a counteroffer.<\/p>\n
The judge ensured Ross knowingly and voluntarily made the decision.<\/p>\n
“Right now, you understand your case, you got a chance to talk to your lawyer. You understand the plea that’s being offered. You understand the potential for a counteroffer.<\/p>\n
Your decision means you don’t want to do any of that,” Judge Anna Orr said.<\/p>\n
“Yes, ma’am,” Ross said.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor: “The offer to Mr. Ross was that the defendant would plead guilty to two counts of second degree murder, the B-1 felony that the defendant would receive two consecutive sentences of 240 to 300 months, and the State would submit, Mr. Ross, as a level one for sentencing purposes um, your Honor, in addition to that official offer, the defense and I have had some conversations about potentially resolving this at a lower amount of time, but there was not an official counter offer, nor did I extend another official reduced offer.”<\/p>\n
Ross has been in custody since his arrest in 2022 and is being tried as an adult.<\/p>\n
Woods, who was 14 years old from Orange County, and 18-year-old Clark from Mebane, went missing in September of 2022.<\/p>\n
Motions that were granted on Monday include joining the charges into one trial, excluding witnesses from the courtroom with some exceptions, and Ross pleading it was self-defense, although it was filed late, according to the prosecution.<\/p>\n Motions that were granted on Monday include joining the charges into one trial, excluding witnesses from the courtroom with some exceptions, and Ross pleading it was self-defense, although it was filed late, according to the prosecution.<\/p>\n “I do believe the notice was provided outside the statutory timeline … however, at this time I am not objecting to the filing,” the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n Some of the witnesses expected to be in the trial include the victims’ family members, but they’re limited in what they can say.<\/p>\n “Just to the extent that I anticipate them explaining the last time they saw their children and sort of how they discovered that they were missing and filing that police report,” the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n New court filings show jurors may also hear from nine ‘expert witnesses’ that include an FBI special agent and a forensic scientist. How we got here<\/p>\n Both their families had separately reported Woods and Clark missing.<\/p>\n Law enforcement says they didn’t know the two cases were connected until two men riding four-wheelers found their bodies with multiple gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n The discovery shook the family, friends, and the community to the core.<\/p>\n ABC11 spoke with Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood on Sunday, who remembers Woods as a teen whose life was taken too soon.<\/p>\n “It’s very, very difficult not to let your personal feelings wander into these types of instances, especially if you’re a parent, whether you’re a seasoned investigator or brand new on the job. It hits you and you realize the frailty of life,” said Sheriff Blackwood.<\/p>\n Evidence led law enforcement to Issiah Ross 2 weeks later, who had made his way to Delaware.<\/p>\n The public learned that Ross and Clark attended the same high school, but details about a possible motive have been sealed.<\/p>\n Prosecutors say evidence from a witness<\/a> describes Ross confessing to killing and dumping Woods and Clark’s bodies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prosecutors also claim Ross shot Woods and Clark as they were trying to run away.<\/p>\n Both attorneys stated the gun used to kill the teenagers was a 9-millimeter owned by Clark’s father.<\/p>\n “Their memory will sustain. And I feel it’s important for us to keep their memory alive. And it’s important that their departure from our lives doesn’t define who they were. And again, serves as a reminder of just how precious life is,” said Sheriff Blackwood. Copyright \u00a9 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) — A high-profile court case more than three years in the making got underway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[194761,23,3,3698,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-403835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-194761","tag-america","tag-news","tag-priority","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Devin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/18391141_LyricWoodsDevinClark.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>More motions filed<\/p>\n
The judge said the trial could last two weeks. The bailiff will begin handling seating arrangements to ensure the jury is separated from family members.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n