Man accused of killing teen, leaving body in IW, set for Feb. 12 arraignment

Published 11:16 am Monday, February 10, 2025

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The arraignment of a Newport News man accused of killing a Williamsburg teenager and leaving her body in a remote area of Isle of Wight County two years ago has been delayed to Feb. 12 because of January’s snowstorms and his having changed lawyers.

Public defender Antoinette Bacon withdrew as counsel to 23-year-old Andarius McClelland in early November. The court appointed criminal defense attorney Stephen Plott in her place.

The change pushed McClelland’s arraignment, where he’s to enter a plea and be informed of his trial date, from Nov. 20 to Jan. 22. The arraignment was postponed again to the current date on account of the snowstorm that blew through Isle of Wight County overnight Jan. 21 to 22.

An Isle of Wight County grand jury indicted McClelland last May on charges of first- and second-degree murder, as well as use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, all connected to the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Aonesty Selby.

When 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 pack nearly 4 miles outside the town of Windsor where they found her body. McClelland was arrested and charged with the crime three days later.

In 2023, the court had appointed a clinical psychologist to perform a competency and sanity evaluation at the request of Bacon. Handwritten notes in court filings listed McClelland as incompetent as of Aug. 3 of that year, but had deemed him competent by Feb. 1, 2024.

McClelland faces 20 years to life in prison on the first-degree murder charge and between five and 40 years if convicted on the second-degree charge.

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. When he confronted Andarius about the missing firearm, Andarius allegedly told his brother he’d “needed to get rid of the gun” and sold it, according to court documents.

On Jan. 16, 2023, the state medical examiner’s office in Norfolk determined Selby’s cause of death to be a single gunshot wound.