Going West: True Crime - Hania Aguilar // 115
Episode Date: April 7, 2021In 2018, a 13-year-old girl was headed out to her aunt’s car to warm it up before their daily drive to drop her off at middle school when she was abducted from her own front yard. After security foo...tage helped put some of the puzzle pieces together, disturbing discoveries were uncovered- and as tips flooded this small North Carolina town, a body was found. This is the story of Hania Aguilar. *BONUS EPISODES* patreon.com/goingwestpodcast *CASE SOURCES* https://www.fayobserver.com/news/20190321/it-is-my-daughters-life-hanias-mom-sisters-attend-celebration https://abc11.com/hania-noelia-aguilar-missing-found-michael-mclellan/4672522/ https://abcnews4.com/news/local/autopsy-of-13-year-old-hania-aguilar-released https://abc11.com/amber-alert-hania-aguilar-has-been-missing-for-2-weeks/4718362/ https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article221767080.html https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-accused-killing-13-year-hania-aguilar-face/story?id=59723328 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jGD632ELV0 https://abc11.com/community-holds-emotional-vigil-as-search-for-abducted-lumberton-teen-continues-/4641631/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/646284453/?terms=Hania%20aguilar&match=1 ( https://www.newspapers.com/image/646284453/?match=1&terms=Hania+aguilar ) https://abc11.com/hania-noelia-aguilar-missing-found-michael-mclellan/4672522/ https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/nc-hania-noelia-aguilar-13-lumberton-media-maps-timeline-no-discussion.398719/page-17 https://wpde.com/news/local/documents-show-new-details-in-hania-aguilar-murder-case Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
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What is going on to Crime fans?
I'm your host Heath, and I'm your other host, Daphne, and you're listening to Going West.
Thank you, thank you everybody for joining us here today at Going West.
Hope everyone's having a great start to their week. Heath and I don't have much to update you guys on,
so we're just gonna get right into this case today.
Yeah, it's a beautiful sunny day today. We're in the studio, our favorite place to be, and
we're gonna get into this story. This is episode 115 of Going West, so let's get into it.
Now we're going to turn to that urgent search for a 13-year-old girl snatched at her North Carolina home as she was waiting to go to school.
Overnight, the FBI released new surveillance video of the SUV speeding away with her
inside.
Hanya Aguilar was last seen Monday outside her home in Lumberton, North Carolina,
waiting for relatives to take her to school.
That's when authorities say a man wearing all black and a yellow bandana covering his face
forced the girl into a green SUV like this one and SUV belonging to a member of her family.
They're going door to door with our agents and our investigators and task force officers
in the search for Hania.
Every day I seen her, she was smiling, green, and she didn't have a safe home.
Police chief Michael Biggnau says that they found a body that they do believe to be Hania's
and a body of water that wasn't visible from the road.
We're absolutely devastated.
I wish we had a
different outcome behind your family. Our work is not over. We will not stop
until we find a person responsible and we bring them to justice. Hania Aguilar was born on March 21, 2005 to parents Selsa Hernandez and Noé Aguilar
in Fort Paine, Alabama, followed by her two younger sisters.
But she, along with her sisters, were raised by her mom Selsa and stepfather Miguel Barera
in Lumberton, North Carolina, which is a small town of around 20,000 people located on the Lumber River.
Hania was an incredibly bright young lady growing up, she had perfect attendance, did very
well in all her classes, and even played the Viola, which is in the violin family, it's
known to be a bit harder to play than the violin, and she loved playing this instrument
but she also had a sporty side and played soccer.
By the age of 13, she knew she wanted to be in the Marines, but she was also very creative and
enjoyed drawing, so she had dreams of becoming an architect after serving in the Marine Corps.
Hania was the kind of girl who was always rocking a smile, even if she wasn't having the best day,
and she easily put smiles on other people's faces with her positive attitude and comforting ways, she was really something special.
Hania lived with her family and the Rosewood Mobile Home Park just off of Highway 41 in Lumberton, North Carolina.
On the morning of Monday, November 5, 2018, Hania woke up early to get ready for school and headed out to her aunt's car to turn it on and
get it heated up before heading off to her eighth grade classes at Lumberton, junior high school.
And this was something she always did in the fall and winter months, and I remember doing this
as well. It gets very very cold in the fall and winter, so you get to go heat up the car before
heading off to school. And she always did this for her family so that the car would be nice and warm.
This just goes to show you even more
about who she was as a person.
But on this November morning,
when Hania headed out to the car,
something terrible happened.
Neighbors heard a scream and witnessed a man
wearing all black along with a yellow bandana over his face,
forcing 13-year-old Hania Aguilar
into her aunt's green 2002 Ford Expedition
outside of her house and they immediately called 911.
And Hania's cousin had actually witnessed this happen from the window as well,
so her family was aware of what happened immediately.
Police arrived to the scene within minutes of receiving these calls,
so just after 7 a.m. that morning, and even requested the assistance
of the FBI.
Because at this point, they have a child abduction on their hands and they want to stop this
crime from going any further and just bring Hania home.
Just minutes before Hania had been abducted, another neighbor noticed the same man enter
the Rosewood Mobile Home Park, and she had said that something about him just kind of gave
her a bad vibe, and she had said that something about him just kind of gave her a bad vibe,
and she had never seen him before.
And the minutes later, he abducts Hania.
By 10 a.m. that morning, an amber alert was issued for her to quickly inform all residents
in the general area to be on the lookout for the SUV as well as for Hania herself.
So everyone was desperately searching for this 5-foot, 125-pound
Hispanic-young lady with long black hair and brown eyes wearing a blue shirt with flowers and denim
jeans. The FBI also quickly put together a $15,000 reward, which was later raised to $25,000,
but another $5,000 was added to it by the governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, leading to the location of Hania.
Since Amber Alerts are only issued if you have all the right criteria, you can probably already guess that Hania's aunt was able to provide the license plate number of her car, which was NWS-984 from South Carolina.
The hood of the car had some peeling paint, and there was a Clemson University sticker,
which is in South Carolina, on the back of the vehicle.
And all this information was listed on the missing poster that was distributed that very
same day.
So, basically, this unknown man had just been walking around the neighborhood, saw
Hania getting into the car to start it, and then pushed her into the car and stole it.
So it's obviously unknown if he was looking to abduct a child that day, or if he was trying
to steal a car or rob someone, at least at this point in the story, but one of the neighbors
specifically saw this happen and that's what was reported to police.
Well one thing that's definitely interesting to me is the fact that he pushed
Hania into the car because at that point he could have just pushed her
aside, hopped into the car and stole it because the keys were already in the car.
So that kind of leads me to believe that he was probably trying to abduct a child that day.
Right, and I'm just really glad that at least two people saw this, you know,
because imagine if nobody saw this happen and then suddenly the car's gone and nobody can put
the piece of the puzzle together? Yeah, exactly. That makes it a lot harder for investigators to kind
of follow the tracks of this person. Right, so very good that people saw this and now they just have
to figure out where the car is going. The next day, which was Tuesday, November 6, 2018, there was still no sign of Hawnia.
Since the Amber alert had been sent out three hours after she was abducted because they
had to gather all the information for it first, her abductor could have easily fled the area
by 10 am that same morning.
And I know that some of the neighbors were Spanish speakers, so the police had to get a translator to help get all the information correct, so that might have delayed it as
well. But yeah, that's a big issue in this case is that there was that gap of time when
nobody knew to look for this car. And they were working as fast as they could, but there
was that slight delay. So...
Well, luckily, the media was picking up on this story pretty quickly, and an FBI agent
even read a message during a news conference written by Hania's mother, Celsa, and it
stated, I just want my daughter back with me.
I'm here waiting for you, I love you, and I only care about you.
I don't have anything against whoever did this to you, I just want you back.
Before this news conference took place, investigators already had 50 leads that they were following
up on, and the news conference only brought more tips into the local station.
After checking numerous cameras near Hania's home, police uncovered surveillance footage
of the SUV driving away from the scene at 6.52 a.m., and they urged the surrounding areas
to check their home security cameras
if they had them to see if they caught anything useful as well.
Shortly after this, a video wasn't covered
from that Monday morning of said man
walking near some homes outside
of where the Rosewood Mobile Home Park is.
But the video surveillance is extremely grainy
and black and white, so you really can't see much at all. Regardless,. But the video surveillance is extremely grainy and black and white, so you
really can't see much at all. Regardless, they release the video to the public hoping
someone could identify this man.
And we posted all the videos and photos from this case on our socials. But yeah, super
frustrating all around that, the man was seen walking, but no one knows really any distinguishing
features because of the bandana he was wearing, and he stole Hania's car, so they can't just look up the plate numbers.
It's just a mess, and none of the available surveillance footage is really doing much,
but the FBI did just hope that at least someone could potentially recognize maybe his mannerisms
or the way he walked, or someone else who had seen him that day would remember better details
after seeing the video.
Yeah, I feel like that's the most frustrating part of any true crime case when there is
surveillance involved.
It's like, you really have to pick up on certain things.
There are mannerisms, there are eye color, just a lot of different things.
And honestly, I feel like in most of the cases we've covered, the surveillance footage that we're working with,
and this is even in 2018, and it was still black and white and grainy.
So I feel like a lot of people haven't updated their home security or their business security,
you know, maybe because it's expensive, so I totally get it.
But we're usually working with security footage that isn't very good.
I know that's so true. It's usually always just like you can never really recognize the person's face.
And I mean, this person, like you said, is wearing a bandana.
So it's incredibly hard.
Exactly.
And an issue with this video and just this man walking around the neighborhood
is that the residents of the area often saw people that they didn't recognize walking
around the mobile home park.
And as it wasn't known
to be the safest area, vacant or abandoned trailers were frequently broken into, so any of the locals
noticing this one particular man was a bit of a stretch. Two days after she went missing, on Wednesday,
November 7, 2018, a very emotional vigil was held at the Northeast Park in Lumberton, where dozens
of Hania's friends and family members came together to show their support in hopes for
her safe return.
Her mother spoke at the vigil who again is Selsa and again stated that she just wanted
her daughter back and then spoke directly to Hania saying, wherever you are, I'm with
you.
A handful of teachers and fellow classmates
also told the media how wonderful Hania was,
and that they just wanted her to come back safely
so they could see her in the halls again to spread joy.
But the day after the vigil, a very worrisome discovery
was made by some teens.
At 8 a.m. on Thursday, November 8th, some teenagers noticed the green 2002 Ford Explorer
backed into some woods on Quincy Road in Lumberton, North Carolina, which is about 8 miles
or 13 kilometers from the Aguilar home.
However, Hania wasn't in or near the vehicle, and neither was her abductor.
Meaning that whoever the man was had abandoned the car and somehow gotten her out of the
area unseen.
Police immediately blocked off the road leading to the SUV and taped off the scene so
they could seepfully process the potential evidence inside the vehicle and figure out where
Hania was taken. This is just so tragic because once this happens, it's almost as if you're kind of stuck
because now this SUV really kind of doesn't mean a whole lot.
I mean, it does. There is some potential evidence inside the car, but now it's so much harder
to track Hanya's whereabouts.
Yeah, this is a really, really bad sign.
And processing this crime scene took a couple of days, and while this was being done, investigators
asked that everyone living within one mile of this location look on their property for
any clues.
Whether it be their shed or outdoor building, the police were wondering if the abductor
was hiding out with Hania somewhere in the area since they didn't know how they would
have been able to get out of the area without being seen or noticed.
During another news conference, FBI investigator Andy De La Rocha stated,
�This pursuit will be relentless, and you who are out there that has information,
you who are directly involved in this, and you who may have information about whatever
happened afterward, we're going to come after this, we're going to pursue this, and you who may have information about whatever happened afterward, we're going to come after this, we're going to pursue this, and we're going to pursue the people
responsible, and we will not stop until justice prevails.
So you really have to hand it to the FBI investigators on this case as well as the Sheriff's
Department and all the locals who are putting their time into this case because they really
try to great deal to find Hania safe.
By the following evening, Hania still hadn't been returned home.
So since she grew up in a Christian household, her church in the neighboring town of Red
Springs, North Carolina, had dozens of people come out and get together and pray for her
safety.
So again, just a lot of members of this community coming together and showing their
support for this amazing young girl. So again, just a lot of members of this community coming together and showing their support
for this amazing young girl.
But the evidence in the SUV did not look good.
Investigators discovered 17 clothing items
found inside the stolen vehicle,
including the shirt, pants, and undergarments
that Hanya was wearing the day she went missing.
On the underwear, Seaman was found as well as DNA on the searing wheel.
So as absolutely tragic as this was, there was some DNA to work with that could help lead
them to the man behind this, and since no blood was found, they just hoped that they could
do so while she was still alive.
So while the investigators awaited the results of the DNA test, they also asked the general
public to check their personal security cameras again, but this time for the people living
in the vicinity of where the car was found.
They hoped to catch the abductor on camera to help identify this man before they were
able to catch him via DNA, since time was very much of the essence
But the days came and went and tips continued to flood in yet this man remained unidentified by Thanksgiving day on November
22nd the FBI had nearly 800 leads and they had already conducted over 400 interviews
So they had their hands very full
Meanwhile, Hania's family spent
their first Thanksgiving without her. Five days later, on Tuesday, November 27, so
three weeks after Hania was abducted from her front yard, a body was found at
wire grass road and pinewood road, just three miles or five kilometers from where
the stolen SUV had been dumped, and 12 miles or 19 kilometers from where the stolen SUV had been dumped,
and 12 miles or 19 kilometers from her home.
The FBI had been searching the farmland in that area since the car had been found,
and at around 4.45 pm that Tuesday afternoon, they finally found something.
It was the unclothed body of a young girl laying face down in 4.5 feet of water, which by the
way was 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 4.5 degrees Celsius, with a broken plastic folding table
and a tire laying on top of her as if maybe the killer was trying to conceal her remains.
Although they still had to run some tests as well as an autopsy, they
felt certain that the body was that of 13-year-old Hania Aguilar. After comparing Hania's dental
records to the body they discovered, it was confirmed to be hers. While the police informed
Hania's family of their gruesome discovery, a medical examiner got to work to determine how exactly this poor girl
died, while the FBI was out there still desperately trying to find the man who did this.
Hania's body had reached a mild to moderate state of decomposition, and due in part to this,
it was extremely difficult to determine her cause of death. As we assumed from the evidence found in the stolen SUV,
her body showed signs of sexual assault,
and it was clear that she had died by homicidal violence
as there were no signs of drug abuse found in her body
nor any sign of disease or death by natural cause.
After excluding numerous causes of death
by homicidal violence, the medical examiner came to the conclusion
that Hania's death was most likely asphyxia, meaning that the killer had either strangled
or suffocated her or obstructed her airways in some mechanism.
But since they couldn't be completely sure of this, they had to rule her death as undetermined,
but classified her a manner of death as homicide.
They also weren't able to
conclusively say how long she had been deceased for.
Yeah, with decomposition, I know there's a lot of elements involved, especially since
she was in 40 degrees of water. We know that her body was in a mild to moderate state
of decomposition, but we still just don't know how long she had been in there, which obviously
knowing that would be helpful to determine when her murder occurred.
Right, yeah, but that's the hardest thing, you know, like whether has a lot to do with
it.
That's true.
It was environment.
It was November 2, so it was a chilly month.
About a week and a half later, on Saturday, December 8, 2018, police announced that an arrest was made in Hania's case
after DNA from the SUV was a positive match to a 34-year-old man named Michael Ray McClellan.
But it seems his involvement had actually been mentioned from the start.
Just four days after Hania had been abducted on November 9th, someone who called themselves
K-H had contacted Hania's tip line and reported that she knew someone named Michael Ray
that may have had something to do with the crime.
And she was basing this off of the video that the FBI released to the man walking.
So when the FBI called her back around two and a half hours later, she mentioned
that Michael Ray had shown up to the deer field mobile home park over the weekend, and when
police arrived to search the area, she saw Michael run to the wooded area behind the
mobile home park, which was obviously very suspicious to her. She didn't have Michael's
last name, though, so there
wasn't too much police could do, and of course, hindsight's 2020, but she did tell the FBI that
he had been released from prison a couple months prior and gave a full description of him saying
he was a slender black male with tattoos of tear drops under one of his eyes, and that he usually
wore dark hoodies and carried two guns.
She also mentioned that a couple years prior, Michael had been arrested for beating an
auto sales employee and stealing a car off the lot.
Also by the way, Michael McClellan was interviewed by the FBI on November 12th, so one week after
Hanya went missing and just days after the SUV was found.
He was asked about the Ford Expedition a couple of times during the interview and Michael
denied ever having seen it before, but he was actually kept in custody due to a warrant
that was already out for his arrest.
A month earlier, on October 13, 2018, Michael McClellan had attempted a robbery in Fairmount
North Carolina, which is near Lumberton, as well as a second degree kidnapping charge, for a carjacking gone wrong.
So, piece of shit.
There was also a second warrant put out for Michael McClellan's arrest the day after the
robbery and carjacking on October 17, three weeks before Hania was abducted, because
Michael had also violated the terms
of his recent release from prison.
So this guy had already done this before, and he was free.
Yeah, so when police brought him into question him about Hania's case, they used this opportunity
to finally charge him with the crimes that they should have done so a month prior, and
even crazier.
In September 2017, so over a year before Hanya was murdered, the Robusing County Sheriff's
Office, which is the county that Lumberton is located in, received evidence from North
Carolina's crime lab that connected Michael McClellan to a rape case from the previous year
in 2016, meaning if they had acted on this evidence when it was discovered, Hania
Aguilar would be alive today.
It's really disappointing to see how much it seemed the local police cared about finding
Hania, but then realize how much they dropped the ball regarding imprisoning Michael beforehand,
so this entire case could have been avoided, because obviously they didn't know that Hania
was going to be abducted and raped and murdered, but if you have DNA results proving that a local man raped someone and there's an open case for it,
like why are you not seeking justice for that victim?
And putting this asshole behind bars.
So yeah, you put out a warrant for him, but like how hard were you really looking, you know?
And why didn't you seriously pursue him a year earlier?
It just makes you sad.
And I'm not here to come down on people who worked hard on this case
because I really don't know what goes on behind serving, you know, a warrant to arrest someone.
It sounds like Michael was very much on the move anyway,
so I can't just sit here and say that police didn't try to arrest him at all
because I really don't know.
But I do know how disappointed the sheriff was knowing all this after the fact because he stated it
Angers me and I've got a deal with it. Yeah, that's just so unfortunate that they were put in this position where I mean they really they really had him
I mean they could have had him previous to this and a life could have been spared
But again hindsight is 2020 well also if you think about it
They were able to find him on November 12th
hindsight is 2020. Well, also if you think about it, they were able to find him on November 12th when they
wanted to question him and then they're like, oh wait, there's a worn out for this guy.
We better just book him while he's here.
So clearly it was not hard to find him.
If you were looking into him because of Hania's case, you know what I mean?
Like, he's obviously not that hard to find then.
So you should have done that a month earlier.
Yeah, and it sounds like this guy had a pretty long criminal history So we're gonna get into that. Yeah, he may have been somebody you wanted to keep your eye on consistently
Especially knowing I mean and they knew they knew that he had raped a person previously
And they knew that he had tried to car jack somebody so it's like putting those two pieces together
It's like you why didn't you arrest him? I just I just in my brain
I just don't understand why it wasn't done.
And it, thank you for bringing that up, because it is a lot more infuriating once we get into his previous criminal history.
Because this guy has a really lengthy criminal history, so it's like, yes, this is the guy that you want to watch,
so why weren't you doing that?
Yeah, I mean, really, only scratching the surface with the two most previous crimes before Hania's
abduction. Right. And I mean on top of all of this, of course, it was really hard for Hania's
family to come to terms with it. Because at the end of the day, this man should have been in prison
on November 5th, 2018, and Hania should have been able to go outside and heat a per-ant's car
like she always did,
and carry on with her day and go to school like the normal Monday it would have been.
Selsa Hernandez, who again is Hania's mother, told the local news,
If this man committed crimes before, I don't see the reason why he's free.
I don't understand.
I'm right there with you.
And three different law enforcement agencies had the means and the power to bring
the three separate charges to Michael McClellan for three whole weeks before Hania's abduction,
and it just wasn't done. And not only did this outrage everyone who knew Hania, but it
outraged the entire community to know what absolute negligence had occurred in their own
town.
After Michael McClellan was positively identified
by his DNA match in early December,
some people came forward with stories regarding seeing him
or encountering him around the time of Hanyu's abduction.
And this is how we're gonna get into
why police even question him in the first place.
So someone who knew Michael McClellan said that
he spoke to Michael shortly before Hanyu's
abduction would eventually take place, and Michael had a black and silver handgun on him
and said he was going to do licks.
In other words, commit robberies.
And Michael specifically described that he was going to rob a mobile home park on North
Carolina 41, which is where Hanye's home was.
And the reason he wanted to rob this particular area is because, quote, his Spanics lived
there and they have money and drugs.
But Michael also pointed out that he knew the area had cameras, so he was going to wear
his yellow bandana to cover his face.
He specifically wanted to wear this one because he says he didn't want people to know he was
black, but instead maybe think he was a Hispanic gang member.
It was also reported that Michael had confessed to a friend that he was responsible for what
happened to Hania, and that quote, her body is in the pond on wire grass road.
And this had actually been told to police over two weeks before her body was even found.
And even Hania's own mother had heard about this since it had been circulating on social media
and she asked police, well the police told Selsa that they were just rumors.
Oh my god. So literally they could have found our body earlier.
They're like, ah, now that's just a rumor,
don't listen to that.
And it was true.
Oh my god, that is, okay.
That's at the point where you have to stop
and you have to say, are you trying?
Because you should be following up on everything
in an investigation.
I know they had so many tips, like hundreds of tips,
but if someone is literally saying that they heard
the bodies in this particular area, you should probably go look there, and I know they were,
because after they found the car, they had been looking out on that land, and that's how they
eventually found her body, but it just seems like there's... there really just seems to be negligence.
And also, in a previous report that had been made, two people explained that on the morning
of Hania's abduction, a man matching Michael's description came to their home in the
Deerfield Mobile Park, which again is a few miles away from where Hania lived at around
9.30am or 10am, which is about two and a half hours after Hania had been abducted.
He was wearing all black and had a yellow bandana on and a yellow bag with him and he was
all wet.
He had a cup of loose change with him and asked the two people if he could wash his clothes.
Not suspicious at all?
Yeah a little weird.
And he was also trying to sell two video monitors.
Those people let him wash his clothes and said that while he was there, their phones
chimed with the amber alert for Hania, but Michael's phone didn't go off, so either he
didn't have one, or it was turned off. And isn't that crazy to think about that they're
getting an amber alert about an abducted girl? And the abductor is in their freaking
house washing his clothes. Insane. Like, honestly, knowing that afterwards must have been mind-blowing.
And by the way, when the green SUV was processed,
Hania's aunt verified that a cup of change
in two video monitors were missing from the car.
So between the monitors, the cup of change,
the bandana, the clothes, and the fact that he was wet,
all just kind of tells us that this was
Michael McClellan. Oh, I mean, yeah, without a doubt. And also, this could mean that Hania was dead
and put into the water that she was later found in before the amber alert even went out, which is wild
to think about. So maybe he dumped Hania's body in the water, hence why he was wet, and then
abandoned the car, and then either walked or hitchhiked from the area, and just kind
of carried on. Michael McClellan was from the neighboring town of Fairmont, North Carolina,
and has a long-standing and very serious criminal history.
If you didn't already know, or if you didn't already guess that.
So aside from everything we've mentioned already, he was accused of shooting a 21 year old woman
three times in a torso and leg and beating her on New Year's Eve in 2009.
His multiple previous felony charges as well as breaking and entering, and he has faced
charges for assaulting a child as well as an assault with a deadly weapon and intent to kill charge. And there's more, but that's just a few of them. So on
December 8th 2018, police announced that Michael was charged with first-degree
murder, first-degree forcible rape, statutory rape of a person under 15 years of
age, first-degree sexual offense, statutory sex offense with a person
15 years or younger, felony restraint, felony larsony, first degree kidnapping, abduction
of a child, and finally concealment of a death. Six months later, on May 17, 2019, Michael
was indicted by a grand jury for all the charges and the
case would then move forward in the court system.
Unfortunately, during this whole entire case, Hania's father, Noé, Aguilar, couldn't
help search for her or be with the rest of the family since he was back home in Guatemala.
Despite everything that was going on, the US State Department still denied
his temporary visa request,
and he wasn't even able to attend Hania's funeral
after her body was found.
No way said, I had hoped they would find it
in their hearts to let me be there for my daughter's funeral.
But North Carolina's governor,
the same one who donated $5,000 to Honyas' reward fund, asked the
US government to reconsider, but he still wasn't granted access to the country.
Which is so, so sad to think about that his-
Horrible.
If she was abducted, you know, she was missing, then they found her body, and then they
found her killer, and he couldn't be there for any of it because they just wouldn't
let him.
God, that's just, uh, makes me infuriated.
So on December 8th, 2018, Hania's funeral was held at the Lumberton High School gym
and over 1,000 people attended to show their support and give their condolences.
Most everyone wore purple, Hania's favorite color, and many people who knew her told the
crowd of their favorite Hania's favorite color, and many people who knew her told the crowd
of their favorite Hania memories.
Knowing Hania had wanted to someday become a Marine, numerous Marine acted as her poly bears
and placed her casket on a horse-drawn carriage that was taken to the Meadowbrook Cemetery in
Lumberton where she would be buried.
Michael McClellan has not confessed to his role in Hania's case and his trial has yet to happen,
but it's scheduled for June of this year, which is 2021. He's still currently being held in jail,
a waiting-set murder trial, and if there are no delays, more details surrounding the case could
be released in just a couple months. And we will make sure to update everyone as more information comes forward
on this tragic, tragic story.
[♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.
Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode,
what a tragic case.
And, you know, like we said, we'll keep you guys updated on everything that's coming out.
Hopefully justice will be served very swiftly.
Yeah, I'm so glad they caught him, but I'm just, it's so upsetting how avoidable this case
was and how much potential Hania had and she had a whole life ahead of her and she was
so young and that's why I really wanted to cover this case because reading it I was just so fucking
mad.
Yeah and on top of all of that the fact that Hania's father couldn't be there for it just
really breaks my heart.
Oh my god yeah just so much anger.
Like you're just so mad during this whole case so thank you guys for sitting through it
and thanks so much for listening to this week.
Also thank you so much to all of our patrons
who have joined in the last week.
That's where we do bonus episodes.
We do full length ad free bonus episodes.
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It really helps support the show.
So thank you everybody.
Yeah, and I'm working on a doozy for you guys right now.
So stay tuned for that.
Ooh, I'm excited.
So first and foremost, thank you so much to Autumn,
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I think it's Mariah.
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Oh, Cal!
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I did it fine.
She did it for me.
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All right, guys, so for everybody out there in the world, Cheerio and Don't Be a Stranger.