The second gunman in a murder-kidnap case that spanned three counties has been sentenced to life without parole.
Bryan McLean was found guilty Wednesday (May 22) of first degree murder, and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in Bladen County Superior Court. Superior Court Judge Quinton McGee handed down the sentence.
McLean’s co-defendant, Demecus McMillan, was sentenced to 27 to 34 months in prison in January.
The District Attorney’s office said that on Aug. 12, 2021, McMillan and McLean went to the Kelly community searching for Tasheena McMillan, the defendant’s estranged wife. She was staying at the home of Christopher Clibbons and his three daughters. Mrs. McMillan had fled her home due to domestic violence, Asst. District Attorney Allan Adams told the court, and had known Clibbons since high school.
McLean and McMillan went to the home on Lightwood Knot Road around 11 p.m., while Clibbons and two of his children were playing video games. The defendants fired a shotgun through the front door of the home, striking Clibbons and narrowly missing the children.
Mrs. McMillan was in a bedroom with the youngest child, and tried to call 911, but the defendants took her phone and forced her into a white Nissan automobile.
The children managed to escape without injury and took shelter at a neighbor’s house.
The suspects then drove to Willard, in Pender County. Mrs. McMillan’s phone and the shotgun used in the killing were thrown out of the car in Pender County. Mrs. McMillan managed to escape and run to a neighboring home, where she called 911.
A broadcast was given to be on the lookout for Demecus McMillian to Bladen and surrounding counties along with a description of a vehicle. The Wallace Police Department located McMillan at his residence in Wallace and Tasheena McMillan was located safe by Pender County Deputies. A crime scene search was conducted at the residence of Clibbons in Kelly as well as McMillian’s home in Wallace for evidence in the case.
Adams said Chief Deputy Morgan Johnson led the response and investigation. Investigators found evidence in Bladen, Sampson and Pender counties that pieced together the case. Adams also praised the efforts of 911 telecommunicators deputies in all three counties.
The State was represented by Chief Assistant District Attorney Allan Adams, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Hunt, and Victim Witness Legal Assistant Valerie Woolard.
