Former friend: Ross said he shot teens found dead in Orange County field
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The deaths of Lyric Woods & Devin Clark
On Sept. 18, 2022, two missing teens were found dead with gunshot wounds in Orange County near Efland. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer of the investigation, its aftermath and trial.
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A former friend of the man charged with killing two teens in Orange County in 2022 testified Tuesday that Issiah Ross confessed to the shootings.
“He said that he shot them and dumped the bodies,” Christopher Sykes testified in Orange County Superior Court Tuesday.
Ross, now 21, is charged with killing Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18, on Sept. 17, 2022 in a rural field off Buckhorn Road near Efland.
Evidence in the trial so far indicates that Woods, who attended Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, planned to sneak out of her Orange County house in the early morning hours that day and have Clark pick her up nearby.
Clark lived in Alamance County and attended Eastern Alamance High School, where Ross, who was then 17, had enrolled earlier that school year.
Defense attorney Jonathan Trapp told the jury last week that Ross acted in self-defense. Trapp said that Clark shot Woods over an argument and turned the gun on Ross, leaving him “with a tough decision to save his own life,” Trapp said.
What Ross revealed, according to witness
A day or two after the killing, Ross showed him a black handgun during a Snapchat video call, Sykes said.
And Ross said he picked up a boy and a girl, and they had planned to have sex, Sykes said in a recorded interview with an officer that was played for the jury Tuesday afternoon. Police had reached out to Sykes after a mother of his friend contacted police, Sykes said.
Ross told Sykes that the boy brought a gun and kept pointing its laser beam at him. Ross told him to stop multiple times, but the guy didn’t, Sykes said Ross told him.
Ross also told Sykes that he grabbed the gun and started wrestling with the boy, who pulled the trigger a couple of times, Sykes told the officer in an interview recorded in the officer’s car parked in a Walmart parking lot.
Ross told Sykes he got the gun from the guy and shot him, Sykes told the officer. Ross then told Sykes that the girl in the back seat saw what he did.
“So I turned around and shot her,” Sykes said Ross said.
A dark story heard with disbelief
Sykes said he initially didn’t believe Ross, but that changed when another friend told him about two teens found dead in Orange County. Sykes then messaged Ross to ask whether the girl’s name he said he had shot was Lyric.
“Yeah, Lyric and Devin, rest up,” Ross messaged Sykes, Sykes told the officer. Ross then told Sykes that his cousin was taking him to the bus station so he could go to New York, Sykes said in the recorded interview.
Law enforcement charged Ross with the killings within days of the killings, but they didn’t arrest Ross until they found him in Delaware on Oct. 2, 2022.
Trapp, the defense attorney, said Ross’ mother was angry and sent him to family in Delaware after finding her car, which Ross drove the morning of the killings and was damaged when it was returned.
Previous testimony from Orange County investigators indicated that dozens of shell casings were found outside the SUV near the teens’ bodies and on the path near where the Woods and Clark were found.
Investigators said in testimony last week and on Tuesday that they found some blood in the GMC Terrain that Ross drove that morning, including on the outside of the SUV and a very large spot on the roof of the interior that looked like a handprint. However, they didn’t mention blood found in the front or backseats, nor any bullet holes in the GMC.
Lauren Scott, with the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, testified last week that Woods had seven gunshot wounds, including in her neck, back, thumb and arm. Clark had six gunshot wounds, including to his back, thigh, foot, shoulder blade and ankle. He was also shot in the back of the head.
Messages before the killings
In other testimony Tuesday, Orange County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Keith Goodwin described what he saw after people on four-wheelers found the bodies of the two teens.
“Both kids, Devin and Lyric, were lying on their backs,” on the side of the access road where they were found, Goodwin told the jury. “Their arms were out to the side,” in a T formation.
Goodwin saw signs indicating the bodies had been moved, he said.
Clark’s shirt was pulled up, and his pants were pulled down below his briefs. The bullet hole in Clark’s pants didn’t line up with the wound on his leg, and there were pieces of gravel in odd places. As if Devin had been dragged on his stomach, and then rolled over, Goodwin said.
The pieces of gravel on Woods indicated that she had at some point been face down, but rolled over in the position they found her, Godwin said.
In the investigation that followed, Goodwin sought search warrants for Woods’ and Clark’s Snapchat conversations.
Immediately after the bodies were discovered, Goodwin had access to Woods’ iPad, which revealed a Snapchat conversation between Woods and Clark around 1:21 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2022. In the messages, Woods shared information about where to pick her up, including a screenshot of a map with a circle on it.
“Park there,” on the side of the road, Woods wrote.
“Cut the light off when you there,” the next message said, followed by, “until I get in the car.”
In December 2022, Goodwin received information about Clark’s Snapchat conversations, which focused on Clark seeking a ride on the day the teens were killed.
In an initial conversation with one male who wasn’t identified, Clark contended Woods would perform sexual acts on Clark and anyone else who provided a ride. But the man declined, Goodwin testified.
Other messages were sent to a group chat with 11 people, Goodwin said, in which Clark again asked for a ride and promised sexual acts.
“I can’t say that is what she said,” Goodwin said, only that is what Clark wrote in the messages.
If the jury finds Ross guilty of the killings, he could receive two sentences of life in prison.
Staff reporter Tammy Grubb contributed to this report.
Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published January 20, 2026 at 5:45 PM.
