The Lumberton Police Department and the FBI were both investigating the kidnapping of Hania Noelia Aguilar. “Hania is a Hispanic female, five feet tall, weighing approximately 126 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue shirt with flowers and blue jeans. Hania’s family is working with law enforcement and fully cooperating with investigators to locate the teen,” the FBI reported before the girl’s body was found.
Here is the sequence of events described by the FBI:
According to the FBI, Hania “was outside her home at the Rosewood Mobile Home Park located at 3525 Elizabethtown Road, Lumberton, North Carolina, on November 5, 2018. A witness saw a male subject dressed in all black and wearing a yellow bandana force Hania into a green, 2003 Ford Expedition with South Carolina license plate NWS-984. On November 8, the stolen SUV used in the kidnapping of Hania Aguilar was found near Quincey Road in Lumberton, North Carolina.”
The FBI also released further details, saying, “Hania was outside her home at the Rosewood Mobile Home Park located at 3525 Elizabethtown Road, Lumberton, North Carolina, on November 5, 2018 just before 7:00 a.m. She had gone outside just before her family left to drive to school. A witness heard her scream, looked outside, and saw a male subject dressed in all black and wearing a yellow bandana force Hania into a relative’s vehicle that was parked in the driveway. The vehicle is a green, 2002/2003 Ford Expedition with South Carolina license plate NWS-984. The paint on the hood is peeling and there is a Clemson sticker on the rear window. An Amber Alert was issued. The Amber Alert remains active; the vehicle information has been removed.”
The girl’s body was then discovered in a body of water “about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the mobile home park where she was kidnapped” on Nov. 5, AP reports.
3. Michael Ray McLellan Has Spent Time in Prison & Was Accused of Shooting a Woman
michael ray mclellan
Michael McLellan.
McLellan has a very serious criminal history.
In 2009, McLellan was accused in the shooting of a Fairmont woman three times on New Year’s Eve. According to the Robesonian, “Michael Ray McLellan forced his way into 21-year-old Teena Lewis’ home at gunpoint before beating her and then shooting her.” She was also “punched several times, shot twice in the torso and once in the leg.” She was recovering from the attack at the time of the newspaper article.
The story says that it wasn’t clear why McClellan went to that house and a 2-year-old watched the attack. Police alleged he had been drinking heavily, the Robesonian reported.
In the death of Hania, Michael Ray McClellan has been accused of these offenses:
1st Degree Murder,
1st Degree Forcible Rape,
Statutory rape of a person under 15 years of age or younger,
1st Degree Sexual Offense,
Statutory sex offense with a person 15 years or younger,
1st Degree Kidnapping,
Felony Larceny,
Felony Restraint,
Abduction of Child,
Concealment of a death.
According to North Carolina Department of Public Safety records, McLellan has spent time in prison. He was jailed most recently on February 8, 2018, on a felony breaking and entering charge and was released from custody on June 6, 2018. He remains on parole until March 3, 2019.
michael mclellan
In 2007, he was sentenced to jail in connection to a 2005 case on charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or seriously injure and first-degree burglary. He was on parole until 2016 in that case. He also has a previous conviction for assault on a child.
4. Authorities Had Released Surveillance Video in the Case
The Lumberton PD & #FBI asked residents of Robeson County to check their properties this weekend for clues or anything unusual that might be linked to Hania Aguilar’s kidnapping. Did you walk your property today to help us #FindHania? If not, there’s still 3 hours of daylight. pic.twitter.com/051HAvfULP
— FBI Charlotte (@FBICharlotte) November 18, 2018
In the Hania Aguilar case, the vehicle used in the kidnapping was eventually found.
“The stolen SUV was found just before 8:00 a.m. on November 8 off Quincey Drive in Lumberton, North Carolina,” the FBI reports.
“Someone called 911 and said they saw the vehicle backed into the woods. We immediately secured the scene and brought in the FBI’s Evidence Response Team to process the vehicle for evidence to find Hania.”
The suspect was wearing all black. “The 911 call to report Hania’s abduction was made by a neighbor when a relative ran over to get help. The call came in to the Robeson County Communications Center at 6:54 in the morning on November 5, 2018,” the FBI says.
True story. This list of charges reminds me of an incident my brother, a former probation officer witnessed in court one day:
A Mexican immigrant was being arraigned on a double murder charge. The prosecutor stood and began reading the charges against the defendant (who of course was pleading not guilty) who was becoming visibly agitated as the list grew longer and longer. Finally he stood up and shouted “No! I only kill two!” The courtroom erupted.