LUMBERTON — A 34-year-old Robeson County man with a history of violence has been arrested and charged with the rape and murder of Hania Noelia Aguilar, a 13-year-old whose disappearance and death has saddened the local community and drawn national attention.

The announcement by the FBI and Lumberton police comes hours after a private mass for Aguilar and shortly before a public funeral today at Lumberton High School, which begins at noon.

The accused, Michael Ray McLellan, was widely rumored weeks ago to be the suspect and was in the county jail at the time. He was in law enforcement custody on charges unrelated to this case when he was arrested.

He is currently in the Robeson County jail under $7.9 million bond. He will be in court on Monday.

The Lumberton Police Department charged McLellan with 10 felonies: first-degree murder; first-degree forcible rape; statutory rape of a person under 15 years of age; first-degree sexual offense; statutory sex offense with a person 15 years or younger; first-degree kidnapping; felony restraint; abduction of a child; concealment of a death; and felony larceny of a motor vehicle.

“This has been an extremely complex and heart-breaking case,” said Erich Hackney, an investigator for the Robeson County District Attorney’s Office who has assisted with the investigation since the day Aguilar was abducted. “The resources and police work by the agencies involved has been nothing less than phenomenal and has involved thousands of manhours to bring us to this point.”

Aguilar was forced into a family member’s idling SUV and kidnapped from her driveway in the Rosewood Mobile Home Park in Lumberton on Nov. 5. Her body was found on Nov. 27 off Wire Grass Road.

According to a law enforcement, the SBI, the Robeson County District Attorney’s Office, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, the Lumberton Police Department and the FBI followed more than 850 leads and conducted nearly 500 interviews.

The break in the case came through forensic testing of evidence taken from the stolen SUV, which was recovered on Nov. 8. The Robesonian has been told that McLellan is the man depicted in a widely distributed surveillance video of a person walking near where Aguilar was kidnapped and shortly before that happened.

“Twenty-three search warrants and court orders have been executed during the case, which resulted in the discovery of critical evidence,” Hackney said. “Both the NC State Crime Lab and FBI Lab in Quantico have bent over backwards in accommodating the expedited requests we have made for evidence analysis. District Attorney Johnson Britt, District Attorney-elect Matthew Scott and Assistant District Attorney Joe Osman have been very involved in the case and briefed constantly since Day 1.”

There has been an outpouring of community support for the family, which includes the wearing of purple, her favorite color, and the gift of a mobile home to the family so they could move out of the home from where she was snatched. Aguilar wanted to be a Marine, and retired Marines as well as some who came from Camp Lejeune will be pallbearers today at her funeral.

McLellan was convicted in February 2017 charges of felony breaking and entering and larceny of a motor vehicle, according to state records. He was sentenced to between nine months and 20 months and was released on parole in June.

In 2007, he was convicted on 2005 charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and first-degree burglary. He was sentenced to between 10 years and 12 years and nine months in prison and released on parole in February 2016.

McLellan
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_michael-ray-mclellan_ne201812885257370-10.jpgMcLellan

Donnie Douglas

Editor

Reach Donnie Douglas at 910-416-5649 or [email protected].