The Lumberton Police Department and the FBI have arrested 34-year-old Michael Ray McLellan in connection with the kidnapping and murder of 13-year-old Hania Noelia Aguilar. McLellan was being held at the time of his arrest in law enforcement custody on charges unrelated to this case.

The Lumberton Police Department charged McLellan with 10 felonies on the following state charges;

• First-degree murder
• 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
• Concealment of a death

Hania was forced into a family member’s idling SUV and kidnapped from her driveway in the Rosewood Mobile Home Park in Lumberton on November 5, 2018. With support from the SBI and the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, the Lumberton Police Department and the FBI followed more than 850 leads and conducted nearly 500 interviews. The FBI’s Lab at Quantico conducted a forensic exam of the stolen SUV, recovered on November 8, 2018. The North Carolina State Crime Lab provided preliminary test results on Hania’s body, located on November 27, 2018. The results of those tests, including some received on December 7, 2018, and a thorough criminal investigation resulted in the current charges.

McLellan stood before a state magistrate at the Robeson County Detention Center in the early morning hours of December 8, 2018.

McLellan is currently being held in the Robeson County Detention Center with no bond. McLellan will have his first court appearance at the Robeson County Courthouse on Monday beginning at 9:00 a.m. Members of the media who attend the court appearance must seek permission from the Judge upon arrival regarding requests to have cameras in court.

The investigation is ongoing, additional charges could be filed as the case continues. Final autopsy and toxicology reports are not complete at this time.