One of the woman’s remaining adopted children told police he hadn’t seen his brother in years, leading to the discovery of two children’s remains in a burn barrel after Avantae Deven claimed one was “at a Buddhist retreat in the mountains.”
A woman has been arrested and charged with the murders of two of her adopted children not seen for years. Authorities in Fayetteville, North Carolina became aware of the situation after one of Avantae Deven’s surviving foster children made a mental health call to police.
According to local ABC affiliate WTVD, officers responded to the call of a child who told them he hadn’t seen his brother Blake in years. Blake had last been seen in 2022, when he was approximately 15 years old.
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When officers questioned Deven, she initially said that Blake “was possibly at a Buddhist retreat in the mountains,” said lead investigator Sgt. Jeff Locklear. They ultimately coordinate with the FBI on the case as more details unfolded.
As authorities dug into the disappearance and death of Blake, they learned of another death in the family, a young girl named London last seen in 2019. Avantae did not report either child missing at the time, and only reported them missing this year.
While investigating multiple homes the family had lived in, officers found remains at multiple residences, before making their most harrowing discovery. Inside of a metal burn barrel were the remains of two distinct individuals, a girl between the ages of 15 and 19 and a boy between the ages of seven and 10 years old. The bodies had purportedly been dismembered.
Lab tests positively identified the body of the girl as London. According to investigators, London died of starvation and neglect, per Raleigh NBC affiliate WRAL. London had special needs, per her siblings. Testing continues on the boy’s remains.
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Aside from these horrific discoveries, per police, they uncovered the living conditions inside the Deven house, attributing them at least to Blake’s likely death. According to the investigators, the deceased were among five adopted children from three North Carolina counties: three boys related to one another, and two girls not related by blood to anyone else.
After interviewing the children, social workers detailed some of the alleged living conditions in the home, including the children being kept in a small, dark room and given little to no food. According to the children, they could “earn” food by writing papers to apologize for their behavior.
They also expressed that they were beaten at times to the point where they would have needed medical assistance, with Locklear saying they lived in “inhumane conditions” and were only offered “natural cures like honey.”
In their press conference, police said they have the forensic evidence to support allegations of torture, starvation, and isolation. They also said that interviews with the children led them to believe London died in the same manner as Blake. They also told police someone was made to participate in disposal of her body.
“All of us have soft spots for children and cases with children are the most difficult that we deal with,” Cumberland County District Attorney Billy Weset said in the press conference, per WRAL.
“The fact that this involves allegations of the abuse in the death of children was certainly the thing that grabbed my attention first, particularly the manner in which the allegations suggest the way they died,” he continued.
On Thursday, Deven was charged with first-degree murder, concealment of death, kidnapping and felony child abuse, according to WRAL. She is being held without bond at the Cumberland County Detention Center and could face the death penalty for the murder charges alone.
If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
