Man accused of killing teen, leaving body in IW, deemed competent to stand trial
Published 4:13 pm Wednesday, August 21, 2024
- Andarius McClelland
A Newport News man accused of killing a Williamsburg teenager and leaving her body in a remote area of Isle of Wight County last year has been deemed competent to stand trial.
When 18-year-old Aonesty Selby’s family didn’t hear from her for two days, they headed across the James River Bridge the night of Jan. 13, 2023, to look for the teen by following location pings from Selby’s cellphone. The search took them to a dirt logging path nearly 4 miles outside the town of Windsor, where they found her body.
Three days later, the Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office and Newport News Police Department arrested and charged Andarius McClelland with second-degree murder.
In March of last year, the court appointed a clinical psychologist to perform a competency and sanity evaluation at the request of McClelland’s public defender, Antoinette Bacon. A handwritten note in an Aug. 3, 2023, court filing asserted McClelland, as of that date, “remains incompetent.” Another handwritten note on a Feb. 1, 2024, filing now asserts McClelland now “is competent.”
According to the Isle of Wight County Circuit Court docket, a grand jury indicted McClelland on May 10, meaning they found sufficient evidence to prosecute him. McClelland’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 16 at 9:30 a.m., when a trial date will be set.
McClelland faces a sentence of five to 40 years in prison if convicted on the murder charge and an additional mandatory minimum three-year sentence if convicted on the related charge of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Sheriff’s Office investigators contend in court filings that Selby left her Williamsburg home at 1:18 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2023, for a date with McClelland, whom she knew as “Darius.” Court filings allege Amnesty to have received $30 from “Lucas Duke,” another alleged alias for McClelland, via a CashApp account, and to have used the money to hire an Uber driver to take her to an apartment McClelland shared with his brother, Andricus.
The car reportedly arrived at McClelland’s apartment roughly half an hour later. Andricus, according to the filings, told police that Andarius and Selby were both at the apartment the night of her disappearance, and that Andarius had asked to borrow Andricus’ 2021 Dodge Charger to give Selby a ride home. The car was seen at 10:47 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2023, leaving Isle of Wight and entering Newport News.
Andricus allegedly told police it had been returned to him covered in dirt. Andricus also allegedly told police he’d discovered his Glock 9mm pistol missing from a nightstand drawer after Andarius left with Selby, and that when he confronted Andarius about the missing firearm, Andarius told him he’d “needed to get rid of the gun” and sold it.
On Jan. 16, 2023, the state medical examiner’s office in Norfolk determined Selby’s cause of death to be a single gunshot wound.