LINCOLNTON, N.C. (WHKY) – Three men are headed to prison for more than 20 years apiece following guilty pleas in a murder case. On Thursday (September 24) the defendants accused in the killing of 16-year-old Edwin Jaziel Morales Hernandez in December 2024 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Lincoln County Superior Court. The incident was investigated when the body of the boy was found on the side of Whitehouse Drive. The victim had suffered a gunshot wound and appeared to have been killed elsewhere. The defendants are 37-year-old Larue Lipscomb, Jr., of Gastonia, 19-year-old Isaiah Lipscomb of Clover, SC, and 22-year-old Michael Byrd, of Kings Mountain, NC.

Detectives with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office developed leads and evidence that led them to Kings Mountain and to South Carolina, where search warrants were executed and items were seized including a gun and a vehicle. It was later determined that the vehicle seized was occupied by all three suspects and the victim at the time of the murder.

Detectives said the suspects had intentions of committing a robbery of the victim when he was shot inside the car and his body was dumped on the side of the road not far from his home. This information was obtained through the recovery of digital evidence by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Digital Forensics Lab and through interviews with the suspects. All three defendants received sentences of 276 to 344 months or 23 years to 28 years, 8 months active imprisonment by Superior Court Judge, Honorable Daniel Kuehnert.