John Jefferson
Background: Michael McLellan in court (WTVD/YouTube). Inset: The key made by McLellan for his attempted escape (Robeson County Sheriff’s Office).
A North Carolina man convicted of murdering a 13-year-old girl in 2018 attempted to escape police custody twice on the day he received a life sentence for his crime.
Michael Ray McLellan, 40, was in court on Friday, Nov. 22 for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to killing Hania Noelia Aguilar. But according to police, he had an escape plan in mind the entire time he was being transported to and from court. Using a homemade key to release himself from his leg restraints, McLellan made two attempts to escape before and after appearing in court.
Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins told WTVD, a local ABC affiliate, that McLellan first tried the key he made to free himself from his leg restraints in the car on the way to the Robeson County Courthouse, but he was stopped by deputies when they noticed something unusual going on in the back seat of the car.
As Wilkins recounted to The Robesonian, as McLellan was being transported to and from court, he reportedly said, “You’re going to love this. You’re going to love this.” The sheriff said that he believed McLellan was referring to his escape plan.
On the way back from court, McLellan tried again. But this time, he was able to get his hands on one of the deputy’s weapons by reaching through a ventilation hole in the plexiglass that separated the front and back seats. In his phone interview with WTVD Wilkins said, “The deputy slams on the brakes and was able to get a hand on the gun as it was being pulled back by McLellan. A little fight took place right there before the gun, and the passenger detention officer sprayed him with pepper spray. He immediately released the gun and leaned back in the seat and said, ‘You got me. You got me.””
Wilkins added, “We knew McLellan had nothing to lose in this situation.”
Two homemade keys were taken from McLellan, and guards at Central Prison, where McLellan was set to spend his life sentence, were told about the new inmate’s plans.
McLellan was originally charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree forced sex offense, statutory rape of a child, statutory sex offense with a child, first-degree kidnapping, felonious restraint, abduction of a child, concealing the death of a child and larceny of a motor vehicle. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
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