LUMBERTON, N.C. (WBTW) — The man accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 13-year-old Hania Aguilar in Robeson County six years ago will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty on Friday, authorities said.
Michael McLellan pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and admitted to killing the teen after kidnapping her from her driveway in the Rosewood Mobile Home Park in the Lumberton area on Nov. 5, 2018. His guilty plea also includes charges in crimes involving two unrelated victims that took place in October 2016 and July 2018, Lumberton police said Friday morning in a news release.
“Everyone in the Lumberton Police Department is humbled and grateful to bring justice for Hania, her family and the community,” Lumberton Police Chief Micahel McNeill said in the news release. “This case has shown our relentless commitment and tireless efforts to hold violent criminals accountable for their actions. Before you go to bed tonight, please pray for Hania’s family to begin to heal their broken hearts.”
An indictment returned on May 6, 2019, charged McLellan with first-degree murder, first-degree force sex offense; statutory sexual offense with a person less than 15 years of age; larceny of a motor vehicle; felonious restraint; abduction of children; concealing/failing to report the death of a child; first-degree forcible rape; statutory rape of a child younger than 15; and first-degree kidnapping.
McLellan had been scheduled to stand trial on several occasions through the years, but there were numerous delays before his guilty plea on Friday.
Officials said Aguilar was forced into a stolen SUV that was later found in Lumberton. A body, which was later identified as that of Aguilar, was found on Nov. 27, 2018, off Wire Grass Road in the Lumberton area.
“The FBI has worked tirelessly from the day Hania was callously taken from outside her home to right now, when justice was served,” Robert DeWitt, the FBI Special Agent in Charge in North Carolina, said in the news release. “We hope Hania’s family and McLellan’s other victims are in some way comforted knowing he will spend the rest of his life in prison for his vicious crimes.”
The case haunted the community for years.
“I miss her. We all miss her,” family friend Kimberly Gaugh said in November 2020 on the two-year anniversary of her death. “This whole community misses that little girl … Hania was just a beautiful beautiful girl, taken way too soon. She should be here living a long joyful life.”
Lumberton police, the Robeson County District Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of North Carolina were all involved in the case.
This is a developing story. Count on News13 for updates on-air and online.
