LUMBERTON, NC (WTVD) — A man pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree murder in the 2018 death of a 13-year-old Hania Aguilar.

Michael Ray McLellan admitted to kidnapping Aguilar from the driveway and then killing her and removing her body. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He also pleaded guilty to charges of assaults on two other unrelated victims that occurred in October 2016 and July 2018.

“Everyone at the Lumberton Police Department is humbled and grateful to bring justice to Hania, her family and this community. This case showed our relentless commitment and tireless efforts to hold violent criminals accountable for their actions,” said Lumberton Police Chief Michael McNeill.

On November 5, 2018Aguilar was abducted outside her home in Lumberton. A man wearing a black and yellow bandana forced her into a stolen SUV while she warmed up her family’s car to go to school.

Her body was discovered weeks later at the bottom of a shallow pond about 10 miles from where she was abducted.

About 10 days later, the FBI and the Lumberton Police Department arrested McLellan — who was already in custody on charges related to another case — in connection with her kidnapping. McLellan’s DNA then linked him to an unrelated, unsolved rape case from October 2016.

It was revealed that investigators had McLellan’s DNA and the rape kit from the 2016 case before Aguilar was kidnapped.

A Robeson County Sheriff’s Office investigator was later fired and a second employee resigned. Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins Jr. did not say the Aguilar case was the reason for the firing, but said before the investigation concluded that they were investigated in connection with the Aguilar case.

Robert M. DeWitt, the FBI’s special agent in charge of North Carolina, said: “We hope that Hania’s family and McClellan’s other victims take some comfort in knowing that he will spend the rest of his life in prison for his vicious crimes.”