Suspect Charged In The Kidnapping, Rape & Murder Of Hania Nicole Aguilar, 13

Michael Ray McLellan, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder and a string of sexual assault charges and is being held without bond.

December 10, 2018

Michael Ray McLellan [Robeson County Sheriff's Office]; Hania Noelia Aguilar [Federal Bureau of Investigation]

By: Catherine Townsend

Related To:

LUMBERTON, NC — The FBI and Lumberton police have made an arrest in the kidnapping and murder of 13-year-old Hania Noelia Aguilar in North Carolina.

Michael Ray McLellan, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder and a string of sexual assault charges and is being held without bond.

ABC 13 reports that these charges include first-degree forcible rape, statutory rape of a person under 15 years of age or younger, first-degree sexual offense, statutory sex offense with a person 15 years or younger, first-degree kidnapping, felony larceny, felony restraint, abduction of child, and concealment of a death.

Aguilar was abducted before school at her home at the Rosewood Mobile Home Park in Lumberton, North Carolina, on November 5.

She was standing in the driveway when a man wearing black with his face covered by a yellow bandana forced her into her aunt's SUV, which she had started for her family to drive her to school, and drove away.

The FBI later released video-surveillance footage a few days later that showed a man walking toward the mobile home park at around the same time the kidnapping occurred.

A body was discovered on November 27 in Robeson County, and after forensic testing, the FBI announced that they believed that it was Aguilar.

The agency also reportedly performed tests on the stolen SUV. It was preliminary results from the North Carolina State Crime Lab on the vehicle and on the body that led to the charges against McLellan, the FBI said in a news release.

Police have stated that McLellan was already in custody on unrelated charges. He is being held on no bond, and is expected to appear in court on Monday.

Read more: ABC 13

Next Up

DNA Ties Two Virginia College Students’ Homicides To ‘Back-To-School Killer’

One victim’s mother called Jesse Matthew Jr. "a serial rapist and murderer who had been hiding in plain sight."

How The Abduction And Murder Of A 9-Year-Old Led To The AMBER Alert System

The AMBER alert system first debuted in 1996 as a collaboration between news media and police in Arlington, Texas. Named for Amber Hagerman, the alerts have helped find more than 1,000 abducted children.

The Twists And Turns Of The Infamous Susan Smith Case

On October 25, 1994, the 23-year-old South Carolina mother drowned her two young children.

5 Disturbing & Bizarre Facts About Dee Dee Blanchard

Inside the murder of this allegedly abusive mom that brought Munchausen by proxy syndrome into the spotlight.

Man Arrested After Tech CEO Found Murdered In Her Baltimore Apartment

Pava LaPere, a rising tech star in her twenties, was murdered in her Baltimore home. After a few days on the run, Jason Dean Billingsley, 32, was arrested and charged with her murder.

Kidnapping Victim Helps Orchestrate Her Own Rescue By Holding Up Sign Saying 'Help Me'

A 13-year-old girl was rescued after holding up a sign from the window of Steven Robert Sablan’s car in a Long Beach, California parking lot.

How Convicted Pedophile Larry Nassar Escaped Justice For So Long

“He in fact is, was, and forever shall be, a child molester, and a monster of a human being,” one victim says of the disgraced doctor.

DNA Helps Solve The 1984 Cold Case Murder Of Donna Macho

New Jersey teen Donna Macho was brutally attacked and murdered in 1984, and after nearly three decades, her killer was positively identified.

Woman Discovers Grim Truth About Her Husband After Living As His ‘Prisoner’ For Years

“He took away my sense of being; he took my mind,” Terry Patzer recalls of her husband, Russell Tillis.

Quebec Prisoner With 89 Convictions Charged In Young Girl’s 1994 Murder

Nearly 30 years after the body of 10-year-old Marie-Chantale Desjardins was found behind a shopping center, 61-year-old Réal Courtemanche has been charged with her murder.