NC - Hania Noelia Aguilar, 13, Lumberton, MEDIA MAPS & TIMELINE *NO DISCUSSION*

[PommyMommy]

DEC 10, 2018
Death penalty possible for man accused of killing Hania Aguilar
The man accused of kidnapping and killing 13-year-old Hania Aguilar appeared in court Monday morning.

After a short appearance, the judge revoked bond for Michael McLellan, 34. The judge also said McLellan could face the death penalty in the case.

Suspect in Hania Aguilar's murder has bond revoked
McLellan was already incarcerated on a separate incident involving the attempted armed robbery and kidnapping of a woman outside her home off Pittman Street in the Fairmont Community of Robeson County. His bond was set at $2.5 million in that case, but Monday morning, that bond was revoked.

In court Monday, McLellan arrived wearing a bulletproof vest. He was surrounded by police.

Hania's mother was in attendance, according to ABC 15's Tonya Brown, who was in the courtroom for the hearing.

He was moved to another courtroom Monday morning for a second hearing.

McLellan will also have another court appearance Friday.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 10, 2018
Man charged with kidnapping, raping, killing Hania Aguilar appears in court
In court, McLellan wore a bulletproof vest as he stood before the judge.

Some members of Hania's family were in attendance for the suspect's appearance. They sobbed at the charges were read aloud.

District Attorney Luther Johnson Britt said McLellan has been appointed an attorney.

"He was indicted by a grand jury last Monday," the district said.

He is being held without bond in Hania's death.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 10, 2018
Bond revoked, death penalty possible in Hania Aguilar killing
"If I was the D.A.," current Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt said, "I would seek the death penalty, yes."

Britt has only two weeks left as the district attorney. Matthew Scott, the district attorney-elect, will replace him.

Scott, during a news conference that followed McLelland's Monday appearances in District and Superior Court on unrelated charges, said that determination on whether to pursue the death penalty had not been made.

McLelland's next scheduled appearance in District Court is Dec. 21. The court will appoint an attorney to represent him. In the meantime, he is being held in Raleigh.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 10, 2018
DA: McLellan became suspect in Hania's murder shortly after SUV was found
According to Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt, that case -- a 2016 rape -- was solved while police were investigating Hania's death and kidnapping.

Authorities used McLellan's DNA to connect him to the 2016 case, Britt said. He was indicted by a grand jury last Monday on charges of rape, burglary and robbery with a dangerous weapon in that case. He was given $5 million bond.

When asked why the FBI and Lumberton police insisted after Hania's body was found that McLellan was not a person of interest in the case even though rumors were circulating on social media that he had confessed, Britt said that it was because they were trying to build a case based on "proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

He said McLellan became a suspect shortly after the stolen SUV was found.

"There was sufficient evidence that we could have charged him but there was a hole that needed to be filled and that hole was finding Hania," he said.

Britt also said they didn't want to release McLellan's name "for the sake of avoiding the prejudicial effect on the subsequent prosecution."

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 10, 2018
Man Charged With Kidnapping, Killing Hania Aguilar Appears In Court
Britt said McLellan became a suspect in Hania's disappearance after the stolen SUV was found. There was sufficient evidence to charge McLellan at that time but they needed more to go on to get a conviction, Britt said.

The district attorney said McLellan did not confess to the murder while in custody.

The North Carolina State Crime Lab returned information gained from tests on Aguilar's body on Dec. 7. Those test results led to the arrest of McLellan, the FBI said.

 

[lonetraveler]

DEC 8, 2018
Suspect accused of killing teen girl Hania Aguilar has tried to kill, injure others before: Police
Authorities confirmed Saturday that a North Carolina man has been charged with killing 13-year-old Hania Aguilar, and court records indicate that the suspect has a lengthy criminal record involving theft and violence. Court documents indicate that the suspect’s criminal history spans back almost 20 years.

Attempted Robbery, Kidnapping
On October 15, 2018, McLellan allegedly attacked a woman on Pittman Street in Fairmont, North Carolina. According to Fairmont Police Chief Jon Edwards, the suspect approached the unnamed woman while wearing dark clothing and pointed a gun at her.

Court records indicate the suspect was charged with second-degree kidnapping, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Assault and Shooting
In 2005, McLellan was accused of shooting a woman three times on New Year’s Eve, according to The Robesonian. He snuck into the home of Teena Lewis, 21, where he held her at gunpoint, beat her, then shot her. After punching her numerous times, McClellan shot Lewis in the torso twice and the leg once, according to police.

In 2007, McLellan was convicted of first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon “with intent to kill or seriously injure.” He spent nine years behind bars and was released in 2016.

Assault on a Child
According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, McLellan was convicted of misdemeanor assault on a child in 2000. In 2004, he was convicted again of one misdemeanor account assaulting a child.

Breaking and Entering
In February 2018, McLellan was arrested and charged with breaking and entering and larceny of a motor vehicle. He was released in June 2018. Four months later, Hania was dead.

McLellan also charged with rape which occurred in 2016.
Man accused of kidnapping, murdering Hania Aguilar also facing rape charge from 2016 incident

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 10, 2018
Suspect in death of 13-year-old Hania Aguilar faces new charges from 2016 rape
The DA said DNA was essential in identifying McClellan as the suspect. Police found the SUV that Aguilar was taken in within a few days and, Britt said, “When the car was found and the car was processed, Mr. McLellan became a suspect.”

He said McClellan’s DNA was already in a registration system that requires anyone convicted of a felony to give a sample. The FBI was able to use evidence from the vehicle to connect McClellan to the crime, officials said.

Talk had simmered around Lumberton that the police had a suspect in custody, and law enforcement criticized people for sharing what they called “rumors.” But police did have McClellan in jail on unrelated charges and defended their decision not to name McClellan in the case until recent days.

Prosecutors charged McClellan and publicly named him on Saturday, the same day as the funeral for Aguilar.

Britt said his office had sufficient evidence to charge McClellan with the evidence from the car. “As time went on it became very apparent that she was dead,” Britt said, so it was important to find her body and collect more evidence of what happened.

He said the state DNA lab dropped everything they were working on to process evidence from the scene after law enforcement found Aguilar’s body Nov. 28.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 11, 2018
Man accused in Hania Aguilar's killing has lengthy criminal past
McLellan's rap sheet goes back as far as 2000, when a court found the then-16-year-old guilty of misdemeanor assault on a child under the age of 12. Court documents do not show what kind of sentence he received in that case.

In March 2006, McLellan pled guilty to three counts of assault on a child younger than 12. He was sentenced to five months of community service.

A year later, in March 2007, a court convicted McLellan of assault with deadly weapon and first-degree burglary, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released on parole in February of 2016.

McLellan was again back before a judge in February of 2017 on charges of felony breaking and entering and larceny. He was sentenced to nine to 20 months in jail. Court documents show he was released June 2018.

Just four months later in October of this year, court documents show he was accused of attacking a woman outside her home in Fairmont and turned himself in to police on Nov. 13.

When asked about their strategy, prosecutors said Monday that there isn't much they can say just yet, but made one promise:

"We will do our talking in the courtroom," said Scott.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 11, 2018
Could Hania’s murder have been prevented? 2016 evidence ‘fell through the cracks.’
Using a federal database in 2017, the North Carolina state crime lab discovered that a 2016 rape kit sent from Robeson County matched McLellan’s DNA, which was already in the system due to an earlier felony conviction, Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt said.

Those results were sent to the district attorney’s office, then forwarded on a disc to the sheriff’s office, according to Britt. Normally, he said, that “hit” would prompt investigators to locate McLellan and take a new DNA sample to confirm the test.

“At some point, it obviously fell through the cracks,” Britt said. “You hate it. You punch yourself.”

The discovery of evidence in the Aguilar case led to the earlier DNA match in the database, triggering charges in the 2016 rape, Britt said.

In the 2016 rape, Britt said, a man removed an air-conditioner and crawled through a window, assaulting a woman at knifepoint after she tried to defend herself with a gun that did not fire.

Whether more action on the 2016 rape case might have prevented Aguilar’s death, Britt said, “That is something we have talked about.”

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 10, 2018
Artist remembers Hania Aguilar in portrait



An artist, who usually creates portraits of fallen police officers and service members, painted a different picture this weekend-- one of Hania Noelia Aguilar.

On Saturday, Dec. 8, the day of the 13-year-old's funeral, Jonny Castro posted a photo of the portrait on Facebook.

"Hania's favorite color was purple, so I painted her wearing an outfit that she would've liked," Castro said in the post. "I added a White Nun Orchid, the Guatemalan National Flower, to her hair."

Arrangements have already been made to ensure that prints of Hania's portrait are hand delivered to her family in North Carolina and Guatemala.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 8, 2018
Hania Aguilar's bright spirit remembered
"This is a hard day for me," said Hania's mother, Celsa Maribel Hernandez Velasquez, speaking through an interpreter at the end of a nearly three-hour long service. "But I know her soul will forever be with me."

Some of the most emotional words came from someone who was not present in the school auditorium. A speaker read a letter from Hania's father, Noé Aguilar, who lives in Guatemala and was denied a visa to come to his daughter's funeral.

"Now I know I have an angel in heaven," Aguilar wrote. "It hurts my soul because I cannot be with you, but I will always keep you in my heart."

Other speakers mentioned Hania's bright personality, how she played the viola and loved to draw. Science was her favorite subject at school, one of her teachers said, and she liked playing soccer.

Quinn Godwin, central regional field coordinator with Gov. Roy Cooper's office, read a letter from the governor.

Lumberton Mayor Pro Tem John Cantey expressed "heart-felt condolences" and read a proclamation designating Dec. 8 "Hania Noelia Aguilar Day."

Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said the tragedy had the effect of bringing a diverse community together.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 12, 2018
DA: Evidence linking suspect of Hania's slaying to 2016 rape was overlooked
Investigators said DNA collected from the SUV was instrumental in leading to McLellan's arrest. McLellan's DNA had been collected for the federal database after he was convicted in 2007 of felony assault with a deadly weapon and first-degree burglary.

But that information wasn't utilized by law enforcement after he was paroled in 2016.

Later that year, a woman was attacked by a man who removed an air-conditioner from a home, crawled through a window and assaulted her at knifepoint. Britt says she had tried to defend herself with a gun, but it didn't fire.

As the state crime lab worked to reduce a backlog of ignored rape kits last year, it discovered that DNA from the 2016 kit matched McLellan. Britt said that information was sent to the district attorney's office and the sheriff's office, and should have prompted investigators to obtain a new DNA sample from McLellan to confirm the test, but no one followed up. McLellan remained free.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 12, 2018
Robeson sheriff investigating why 2016 rape was not linked to Hania Aguilar murder suspect :: WRAL.com
The Internal Affairs Division of the Robeson County Sheriff's Office is now looking into why deputies took no action on DNA evidence that linked a sexual assault in 2016 to the man who now is accused of raping and killing Hania Aguilar, the newly elected sheriff said in a written statement released Wednesday.

Sheriff Burnis Wilkins, who took office on Dec. 3, said his office is in the initial stages of the internal probe.

"Once we determine what occurred, the citizens will be made aware of the findings," the statement said.

Robeson County District Attorney Luther Johnson Britt has said deputies failed to act on evidence from a rape two years ago that was linked to Michael Ray McLellan, who is now being held in connection with the Nov. 5 kidnapping and slaying of the 13-year-old girl.

During an interview Wednesday, Britt said had the evidence not been overlooked, it could have saved Hania's life.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 12, 2018
DA apologizes for missing evidence tying Hania Aguilar's accused killer to 2016 rape
The Robeson County District Attorney is now saying important evidence that investigators missed could've saved 13-year-old Hania Aguilar. She was kidnapped in Lumberton, raped, and killed.

Michael McLellan, 34, was charged with the crime Saturday. The district attorney said he was a possible rape suspect a year ago.

"We were actually meeting with Hania's mother and her stepfather to explain to them what had happened to express my regret and our regret that this had been missed, and likelihood (that) had this gone forward and had we established a case against him, at that time, Hania would not have died. I can't tell you how much that hurts. I can't tell you how sorry I am," district attorney Johnson Britt said.

Britt said McLellan could've been behind bars for life if investigators moved forward and if he was convicted of that 2016 rape, but that never happened.

"I don't know if it got lost at the sheriff's department, if it got buried on somebody's desk, if it got placed in the records division there and just vanished," Britt said.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 12, 2018
'This hurts': Officials didn't pursue 2016 DNA hit on man accused of killing NC girl
"This hurts," Robeson County, North Carolina, District Attorney Johnson Britt told reporters. "This is like taking a punch to the gut and not being prepared to get it."

The missed opportunity came in 2016 when a victim's rape kit -- for a case in which there was no suspect -- was sent for analysis, Britt said.

The kit was analyzed in 2017, and Britt said the district attorney's office was told there was a hit from the Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS, meaning that DNA found from the 2016 victim’s rape kit possibly matched DNA of someone already in the system.

Britt said an email including that information was sent to the sheriff’s office, copying the district attorney's office

At that point, Britt said that information should have given the sheriff's office probable cause to seek a search warrant, obtain a DNA sample from McLellan and compare that sample to the 2016 rape kit.

As Britt held the CODIS report in his hand Wednesday, a reporter asked him if the information on that paper could have saved Hania's life.

"Potentially yes, and probably yes," Britt responded.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 12, 2018
Sheriff to fix ‘failure in the system’ after evidence tying suspect in 13-year-old’s death to 2016 rape is missed
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal affairs investigation in reference to a 2016 incident involving the suspect charged in connection with the death of 13-year-old Hania Aguilar.

Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said the sheriff’s office was sent reports from the DA’s office that indicated McLellan was a suspect in the 2016 rape.

Those reports were sent in 2017, according to the sheriff.

“I’m not making any excuses on it,” Wilkins said. “There’s a failure in the system somewhere and I’m going to take care of it on our end.”

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 13, 2018
Man Accused Of Killing Hania Aguilar Should Have Been In Jail: DA | HuffPost
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office was notified last year that CODIS — a federal DNA database — identified McLellan as the suspect in a 2016 rape, Britt said, and his office was copied on that notification.

“When they received the CODIS hit, that would’ve given them probable cause to get a search warrant to obtain a known DNA sample from McLellan,” Britt said. A conviction in the rape, he added, could have resulted in a life prison sentence.

But none of that happened, and apparently, no one knows why.

“I don’t know if [the paperwork] got lost in the sheriff’s department, if it got buried on someone’s desk, if it got placed in records,” Britt said. “It just vanished.”

It’s unclear if McLellan was on the radar of detectives in Aguilar’s case before CODIS identified him as a suspect. Although the possibility that he might be a danger should have been as plain as the teardrop tattoos on his face.

McLellan’s rap sheet, according to WBTW News, goes back nearly 20 years. It contains convictions for multiple crimes, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, breaking and entering, burglary, larceny and two separate convictions of assault on a child under the age of 12.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 17, 2018
New Robeson Co. Sheriff on overlooked evidence in Hania Aguilar case: 'It angers me'
In an exclusive interview with the ABC11 I-Team, Sheriff Burnis Wilkins confirms at least two members of the sheriff's office knew about DNA evidence linking Michael McClellan to an old rape case more than a year before McClellan allegedly kidnapped and murdered Hania Aguilar.

"It angers me and I've got to deal with it," Wilkins said. "To know that that happened, to know the reports didn't follow the proper channels, that further investigation wasn't done, interviews weren't done properly -- I have a major issue with that."

Wilkins was sworn-in as sheriff on Dec. 3; his lengthy resume includes positions with the Lumberton Police Department, the NC Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Marshal's Task Force.

"Do I take responsibility for what happened? I wasn't here," Wilkins said. "But I have put it out there publicly -- there's nothing going to be hidden. We're going to get to the bottom of it."

After the 2016 rape, the rape kit was sent off for testing.

In 2017, CODIS -- a federal DNA matching system -- named McLellan as a possible match and immediately notified the sheriff's office.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 21, 2018
Robeson deputies suspended over actions in 2016 case linked to Hania Aguilar's suspected killer :: WRAL.com
Two Robeson County deputies have been suspended with pay over their actions in a 2016 rape case now linked to the man charged with kidnapping and killing 13-year-old Hania Aguilar last month.

Maj. Anthony Thompson and Sgt. Darryl McPhatter will remain on suspension until an internal investigation by the Robeson County Sheriff's Office into possible violations of department policy and procedures is finished.

Thompson, now the chief jailer in Robeson County, previously served as chief of detectives, while McPhatter works in the Criminal Investigations Unit of the sheriff's office.

 

[margarita25]

“Thompson runs the jail and McPhatter is a detective with the Criminal Investigations unit, according to the paper.“

Snip

“The kit had been compared to more than 17 million profiles taken from convicted offenders, detainees and arrestees in the national law enforcement database system known as CODIS.

But nobody followed up on it and authorities only discovered the issue last week, Britt said.“

2 Robeson deputies suspended over 2016 rape case now linked to Hania Aguilar’s murder

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Robeson sheriff suspends two employees amid investigation in aftermath of teen’s death

“An analysis by The News & Observer of crime data from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation showed that many rape cases go unsolved in Robeson County, about 100 miles south of Raleigh.”