Devin Clark’s family remembers his kindness and a last conversation that ‘haunts’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jury convicts Issiah Ross of second-degree murder in Devin Clark’s 2022 death.
- Ross receives 20–25 year prison sentence; mistrial declared on Lyric Woods charge.
- Family recounts Clark’s role, loss, and unresolved questions about motives.
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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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Devin Clark left behind a family that misses him daily and will always wonder about the life he could have lived, his relatives said in Orange County court Thursday.
Clark, 18, and Lyric Woods, 14, were killed on Sept. 17, 2022, in a rural field off Buckhorn Road near Efland. A jury found Issiah Ross, now 21, of Mebane, guilty of second-degree murder in Clark’s death.
The jury deadlocked on the question of whether Woods’ death was first-degree murder, causing a mistrial. Orange County Assistant District Attorney Anna Orr will bring that case back to court in March to set a new trial date, with a new jury.
Clark’s cousin Cassandra Bryant read a Bible verse from Psalms 34 on Thursday that she said “has carried our family through some of the darkest moments since losing Devin.”
The murders “shattered two families’ entire lives,” she said before Ross got 20 to 25 years in prison for Clark’s murder.
“There’s no preparation for the silence that follows the loss of a child. No preparing for his empty room, missing his voice and the laughs around the house, and the milestones that we will never get to witness. … The man that he was becoming,” Bryant said.
Big brother who loved sports, music
Clark was a son, a big brother to his younger siblings, a grandson and a nephew — a “gentle giant,” who “carried a kindness, a calmness, that drew people in,” Bryant and others said.
They described his love of sports and music, and the caring and support that he showed to younger family members.
Clark was a wide receiver for the Eagles varsity football team at Eastern Alamance High School, where he was a senior. He loved riding four-wheelers and hanging out with his cousins, relatives said.
He was nurturing and special, Bryant said. “No one could ever take his place.”
“Devin had dreams, he had goals, and he had a future. He deserved a chance to live out these dreams. Our family deserved a chance to see who he would become. Instead, we are left with memories that ended far too soon and a lifetime of wondering what could have been,” Bryant said.
Summer with friends making memories
Alexandria Blackwell, another cousin, called Clark “my bonus son.” He often visited her home, hanging out with her sons and filling the role of “the caring older brother.”
“Devin was always looking out for others,” she said. “He was mature, he was respectful, he was part of my family. He was a big brother to my younger sons, attending birthday parties, volunteering at my assisted-living home. If something special was going on, [my son] wanted to make sure that Devin, along with others, was always there.”
There was “loyalty, respect and love” between Clark and his friends, and they had “special names for each other that reflected their brotherhood,” she said.
Their last conversation “haunts me some days,” Blackwell said.
That summer, Clark and her sons went to Myrtle Beach, S.C., where they made “special memories,” holding cookouts, making music.
“They realized that life was changing and making memories was special,” she said.
Her son used the money he had saved to buy his first four-wheeler. Clark encouraged him and helped him, pushing him to “keep practicing. I’m going to show you how to do this, the tricks and all.” Clark later crashed the four-wheeler, and she found him in the street, his leg bleeding.
“He was so upset, I urged him to calm down,” she said. “Devin was not upset because of his hurt leg, but because of the hurt and disappointment in himself because of the hurt to my son. Devin repeatedly apologized and kept shaking his head, saying he couldn’t believe he messed up [on] my bro’s four-wheeler.”
“I hugged Devin. I looked into his eyes, and I told him, we can get another four-wheeler, Devin, but we can never get another you,” she said.
Healing from Devin’s murder
When he was killed a month and a half later, they contacted every person they knew, trying to find him. Her son kept calling his number, but never got a response, Blackwell said.
“I would normally say you’re overreacting, but I could hear the chills in my son’s voice. As the day and night passed, no Devin. We were weary, we were scared,” she said.
“I knew something serious had happened, but I still believed that Devin would come home. We desperately tried to paint a timeline of what happened, who spoke to him, anything to give us hope,” she said.
On the way to pick her son up from college, she got the call that Clark and Woods were dead. Her son had already heard the news and “seemed to be in shock.”
“He was not crying. There was just pure darkness and disbelief in his voice,” she said. The news had changed her son, she said, and “all his innocence, his smile, and his laughter was gone.” He struggled with the “what ifs,” she said, and with returning to school and sleep.
They sustained themselves through fasting and prayer, she said. The murders brought Clark’s and Woods’ families closer and is helping them to heal, she said.
“I don’t think we’ll ever know why [they were murdered], and that in itself is a burden we must bear,” Blackwell said. “However, I’m starting to realize that knowing all the facts and all the details and all the answers to our question is never going to give us Devin or Lyric back.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 6:15 PM.
