A Newport News man on Wednesday was sentenced to 40 years behind bars in the slaying of a Williamsburg teenager three years ago.
Andarius T. McClelland, now 25, was accused of shooting Aonesty Selby, a senior at Warhill High School, on Jan. 11, 2023. That was the day after her 18th birthday.
McClelland — Selby’s on-again, off-again boyfriend — was accused of leaving her body on a remote hunting trail in Isle of Wight County.
Last July, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a gun charge, with the plea deal cutting the maximum sentence to 43 years from life.
At a sentencing hearing Wednesday, Isle of Wight Circuit Judge L. Wayne Farmer sentenced McClelland to 40 years to serve on the combined charges.
The hearing was an emotional one, Isle of Wight Commonwealth’s Attorney Georgette Phillips said Thursday.
Five of the slain teen’s family members — her mother, sister, grandmother, aunt and cousin — testified about their loss, with 10 other supporters in the courtroom.
“It was touching,” Phillips said. “They talked about everything that they will miss, because Aonesty’s life was taken at such a young age. Everyone’s memory of her was that she was a very bright, vibrant young lady — always happy, always wanting to help, and always trying to see the good in everyone.”
McClelland did not have any witnesses testify. But 14 of his relatives, including his mother, brother and two sisters, submitted written character references to the judge, saying he was always kind and respectful growing up.
James City County police reported 18-year-old Aonesty Selby was missing on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. The Williamsburg resident’s body was found in a remote area of Isle of Wight County on the same day.
His mother, Penny McClelland, began her letter by acknowledging Selby’s family. “There are no words that can ease their pain, and I grieve deeply for their loss,” she wrote.
But Andarius “has never been a troublemaker,” she added.
“We never had any issues with him at home, and he was always willing to help with family and neighbors,” she said. “He’s a kind-hearted man. This situation is completely out of character for him, and it has broken all of our hearts to see him in this position.”
She asked the judge give him a chance at redemption.
Before being sentenced, McClelland delivered a quick one-sentence apology to Selby’s family, saying “I’m sorry.”
Phillips asked the judge to hand down the maximum 43-year sentence. McClelland’s attorney, Stephen B. Plott, sought a sentence within state sentencing guidelines of between 12 and 22 years.
Farmer gave credit to McClelland for pleading guilty to the slaying. But the judge also noted that McClelland initially attempted to cover his tracks and claimed the shooting was accidental.
“He left her, did not call for help,” Phillips said Thursday. “He destroyed — well, attempted to destroy — evidence to conceal his guilt.”
Andarius McClelland, 22, of Newport News, is charged with killing Aonesty Selby, 18, on Jan. 11, 2023.
The prosecutor said Farmer noted that McClelland spent two years “playing with the court,” seeking mental health evaluations to avoid culpability. He had a most recent evaluation in December that again found him competent.
“He would feign to have a mental illness,” Phillips said. “It was very clear to the evaluators that he was just exaggerating his symptoms.”
Farmer also noted that McClelland was convicted in a March 2024 assault and battery on a jail officer while being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk. He landed a year to serve in that case.
Aoenesty Selby’s family called James City County police on Jan. 13, 2023, concerned they hadn’t heard from her in two days.
Later that day, one of Selby’s friends noticed her phone was “pinging” on a location-sharing service from the Blue Ridge Trail in Isle of Wight.
Selby’s parents and aunt went to the trail that night. A gate blocked vehicle access, but they walked up the dirt path on foot, according to a statement of facts Phillips submitted to the court last July.
Two miles up the trail, Selby’s mother called 911 to say the family had found the motionless teenager on the roadway — still dressed up as if to attend a party.
Later, sheriff’s investigators learned someone in Selby’s phone contacts had sent her $30 by CashApp in the afternoon of Jan. 11. She then took an Uber to an apartment in Newport News’ Oyster Point section.
Deputies traced the contact’s phone number to McClelland and learned the apartment in question was leased to his brother.
The brother told deputies that McClelland borrowed his 2021 Dodge Charger on the night of Jan. 11, leaving at 8 p.m. “with a female matching the description of Aonesty,” the statement of facts said.
The brother said that the Charger had mud splatters on it when McClelland returned it. Flock Safety cameras captured the sedan returning to Newport News from the James River Bridge later that night.
Investigators also learned that McClelland’s brother owned a Glock 9mm handgun that he kept in a dresser.
But he later told police that McClelland had called to say the gun was “dirty” and they needed to get rid of it. Another man said McClelland initially gave him the gun to sell, but then suddenly wanted it back.
Police later found the handgun in the brother’s dresser drawer. According to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, the gun fired the bullet found in the teenager’s body when she was killed.
McClelland also provided conflicting accounts of the evening. He first told deputies that Selby borrowed the Charger to pick up a cousin, “and never came back.” But he later said he and Selby drove the car to a “country area” after buying cigars.
“He told investigators that after they got out to smoke, they began hearing noises in the woods,” Phillips said in the statement. “He described being startled by Aonesty stepping towards him, causing him to fire the gun.”
He initially said he left the gun at the trail. But when deputies told him they had recovered the firearm at his brother’s Newport News apartment, McClelland acknowledged breaking down the gun and cleaning it in bleach.
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com
