A Virginia man has been arrested for the death of a missing Williamsburg woman whose body was later found in rural Isle of Wight County, deputies said.
21-year-old Andarius McClelland admitted to shooting and killing Aonesty Selby after an argument over their relationship.
Family members reported Aonesty Selby missing after she was last seen on Wednesday, Jan. 11. She had just turned 18 the day before her disappearance.
On Friday, Selby’s body was found on a dirt logging path near Blue Ridge Trail in Windsor, in a remote area of Isle of Wight County. Investigators said she had been shot.
Police confirm Selby’s family found her body, after a friend noticed the teenager shared her location with her Wednesday night. However, her friend did not see the message until Friday, when she learned Selby was missing. She immediately told Selby’s family.
On Tuesday, Isle of Wight Sheriff’s deputies said that they, along with help from the Newport News Police Department, arrested McClelland for Selby’s death. He was charged with second-degree murder and the use or display of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
“The loss of their loved one, Aonesty Selby, was senseless,” said Isle of Wight County Sheriff James Clarke Jr.
The Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office shared several documents outlining the investigation into Selby’s death so far, and what led to McClelland’s arrest.
Deputies got a report of a woman found dead on a hunting path near Windsor, which is where Selby was found, dead from a single gunshot wound to her head.
Selby’s phone was also found at the scene, which investigators took for a forensic download.
The phone didn’t have any activity after 10 p.m. on Jan. 11, but investigators found a Cash App money transfer of $30 from “Lukas Duke” and an Uber ride from Williamsburg to Newport News earlier in the day.
The Uber ride left Williamsburg at 1:18 p.m. and arrived in Newport News at 1:49 p.m.
Selby was living with a roommate at the time of her death. An interview with the roommate said that she was dating a man named Darius, and that she had seen the two of them on Facetime together.
McClelland later told investigators he and Selbey had an “on and off” relationship for two months, according to Cpt. Tommy Potter of the Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators looked deeper into the Cash App information for “Lukas Duke” and found the device linked to the account was registered to Andarius McClelland.
McClelland has a brother who lives at the address in Newport News that Selby went to with her Uber ride. His brother also owns a 2021 Dodge Charger.
Its tags were logged as leaving Newport News shortly before 8 p.m. on January 11, and then it was logged again as leaving Isle of Wight County and returning to Newport News at 10:47 p.m. Records also showed that this was the only time the car had left the Peninsula within the last 30 days and gone to Isle of Wight County.
In an interview, McClelland’s brother said that McClelland had borrowed his car that night to take Selby home and that she had been at the apartment with them earlier.
When his car was returned to him, the brother noticed that there was dirt on the vehicle that was later determined to be consistent with the dirt on the path where Selby’s body was found.
Investigators said that the brother also kept a Glock 9-millimeter pistol in his nightstand.
Once he noticed it was missing, he confronted McClelland, who said that he needed to get rid of the gun.
“On the morning of Friday, January 13, Andarius McClelland attempted to sell that firearm but was unsuccessful,” said Potter.
McClelland was the last person that police could connect to Selby before her death.
McClelland told investigators he and Selby wanted to go somewhere to smoke marijuana and decided to drive to Isle of Wight County in his brother’s car.
“At some point an argument was head over there relationship,” said Potter. Andarius tells investigators that he had the firearm on this person and fired the weapon, striking Aonesty. He said he then panicked, left the area and went back to Newport News. “
“To have this answered leave us room to just mourn her,” said Ebony Selby, Aonesty’s aunt.
In a just a few days, Selby’s family went from celebrating her life to mourning her death.
Her family reported her missing on Friday, days after her 18th birthday.
Her aunt called Selby sweet and said the high school senior looked forward to life. She and other family members just wants to know why this happened.
“My only questions would be to him,” she said. “What’s wrong with you?”
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