QUESTION: Have any criminal charges been filed against the two females in Delaware who were allegedly harboring the suspect in the September 2022 double-homicide in Mebane? If so, what are the charges, and where will their cases be tried? Also, how did the suspect travel to Delaware?
ANSWER: Two women are charged with felony hindering prosecution in connection with the case: Nakaysha Ross, 22, female, of Dover, Delaware; and McKenzie Mitchell, 21, female, of Dover, Delaware, Shelley Lynch of the Charlotte division for the FBI confirmed Monday for The Alamance News.
Issiah Mekhi Ross, 17, black male, has been indicted on two-counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Devin Clark, 18, black male, of Mebane and Lyric Woods, 14, white female of Efland, whose bodies were discovered on Sunday, September 18 off a power-line easement near Buckhorn Flea Market in Mebane.
Clark had been a student at Eastern High School; Woods had been a freshman at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough.
Law enforcement have provided no current or last known addresses for Issiah Ross or the two women charged in Delaware.
Investigators learned that Ross fled the area during the evening of September 18 and was believed to have been headed for Delaware, Orange County sheriff Charles Blackwood recalled during a press conference on November 7, when Nieman also announced that Ross will be tried as an adult.
Ross was apprehended by the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force on October 5 at Leander Lakes apartment complex in Dover, Delaware, Lynch told the newspaper Monday. The two women, Nakaysha Ross and McKenzie Mitchell, were also arrested at the Leander Lakes apartment complex, Lynch said.
Asked whether investigators have determined how the suspect knew the two women – or whether Issiah Ross and Nakaysha Ross are related – and how the 17-year-old traveled to Delaware, Lynch said she doesn’t have those details.
“Both are charged by state law enforcement in Delaware,” said Lynch, a public affairs specialist in the FBI’s office in Charlotte. “I do not have any information about court [dates] since the charges are not federal.”
Sgt. India Sturgis, a public information officer for the Delaware State Police, which assisted in apprehending Issiah Ross, had not responded to a separate inquiry from The Alamance News by press time.
Pending court dates for Nakaysha Ross and McKenzie Mitchell do not appear to be publicly accessible from the Delaware criminal courts system.
Issiah Ross made his first appearance in Orange County superior court on November 15.
Orange County assistant district attorney Anna E. Orr said during the hearing that he would remain in custody at a juvenile detention center until his next court date on December 13.
Ross turns 18 on December 8, according to documents on file in Orange County superior court.
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