MEBANE, N.C. — Family members of two teens found shot dead Sunday afternoon say they got into a car with one other person in the hours before their disappearance.
Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18, were friends, their families said. Both were reported missing over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, two men riding four-wheelers in western Orange County discovered their bodies near the intersection of Buckhorn and Yarbrough roads and called the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
The bodies were found around two and a half miles away from Woods’ home, and family members said the bodies were those of the missing teens.
Clark’s mother said she believes a third person was involved in the teens’ disappearance is responsible for their deaths.
“Who is strong enough to carry two bodies and dump them?” said Tiffany Concepcion. “We want answers.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office called the teens’ deaths a homicide but has offered little information about who might be responsible. The identities of the two teens and their official cause of death is still being determined by the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office.
“Although we do not have that confirmation yet, in the absence of any other missing persons matching the descriptions of the individuals located, the tragic but logical conclusion is increasingly clear,” said Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood.
A person who lives near where the bodies were found reported hearing at least 20 gunshots go off on Friday night.
Woods was a student at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough. Her grandfather posted to Facebook Monday saying he would provide a $10,000 reward to anyone who had information about the person responsible for her death.
Concepcion said a Mebane Police Department report was filed Saturday for her son, who lives with his father.
Clark turned 18 on May 5, she said, and he was a football player at Eastern Alamance High School in Mebane.
“He was an athletic person, a good person [with a] good heart,” she said. “He just wouldn’t hurt a fly. He loved everyone.”
A balloon release in Clark’s memory was scheduled for Monday evening at the high school.
Clark’s mother said she doesn’t know Lyric Woods or her family.
Lyric Woods reported missing Saturday morning
A missing person’s report says that Woods’ stepfather, Shane Cannada, noticed she got in the shower at around 11 p.m. on Friday night. He went to wake her up on Saturday morning and noticed she was missing.
Cannada told deputies he believed Woods left their home on Friday night through a back door that was unlocked.
He said he did not believe that she had run away because she left all of her things in her room except for an iPad, according to the report.
Woods’ father, Brady Woods, was contacted by the sheriff’s office and helped in the search.
The report said family member and friends rushed to Cannada’s house to figure out where Lyric Woods was.
Authorities checked hunting stands and backwood trails and used a K-9 dog to search for her.
The dog, using Lyric Woods’ pillow case, was able to determine that she likely left the home and traveled through the woods where four wheelers often drove by, the report said.
A neighbor said they saw Lyric Woods riding in a vehicle in that same area at 3 a.m. on Saturday. According to indications from the K-9 dog, deputies believe she got a ride from someone in that vehicle.
Authorities took Lyric Woods’ phone, iPad and laptop into evidence.
Blackwood expressed his condolences to the families involved and asking the public to be patient.
“The process is important and critical to lead us to the person or persons responsible for this horrific crime,” he said in a statement. “I’m asking for your patience as we, along with other investigative agencies, do the work necessary to seek justice for the victims and their families.”
The sheriff’s office encourages people to contact investigator Keith Goodwin with any information regarding this case at 919-245-2918.
Devin Clark’s mother critiques law enforcement’s handling of the investigation
His mother is upset with how law enforcement has handled his disappearance and now death.
“They would not let me see my son. I didn’t know he was transported to the place he is now,” she said.
Clark’s investigation is handled by the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office and the Mebane Police Department.
“I’m going to keep fighting for answers,” she said.
She wishes that the sheriff’s office was more aggressive in their investigation in the early hours and sent out an Amber Alert when the pair first disappeared. However, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said that Amber Alerts don’t go out for people who are 18 years old.
