NC woman faces death penalty; police say she murdered adopted children Blake and London Deven
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Avantae Deven the adoptive mother of Blake and London Deven was taken into custody Wednesday and faces numerous charges in connection to their disappearance and deaths.
She made her first appearance Thursday afternoon in a Fayetteville courtroom. She's facing five felonies including first-degree murder and child abuse. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
"The allegations are certainly some of the worst that I've seen in the almost 25 years that I've been doing this," Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West said.
The judge ordered Avantae to be held in jail without bond until at least her next probable cause hearing, which is scheduled for July.
"I know the allegations can't be any worse. I do have complete trust and confidence in our judiciary," Avantae's defense attorney said.
Wednesday afternoon, Fayetteville police revealed some gruesome news regarding Blake and London, who haven't been seen in years.
The lead investigator said officers responded to a call to Avantae's house on Berridale Drive in November 2023 on an attempted suicide by a child call and that led to an investigation into Blake Deven's disappearance. The juvenile who the call was about told police "he hadn't seen his brother Blake Deven in about five years and the last time he saw him he had a broken arm. He then told police Blake is now dead."
Police said the adoptive mother (Avantae) hadn't filed a missing person's report on Blake. She did file one after police initiated the investigation.
Who is Avantae Deven?
Police said Avantae Deven moved to Fayetteville in 2015 with her elderly mom and five adopted children. The children were three boys who are biologically related and two girls who are not related to each other or the boys.
Police and the Department of Social Services (DSS) interviewed the children who all gave graphic details of the horrific treatment they endured by their adoptive mother and they also revealed what possibly happened to Blake and London.
The children said they were kept in a small room that was kept dark and were given little to no food. They told police they could earn food by writing papers apologizing for their behavior. Investigators said forensic evidence supported the allegations of torture, starvation, and isolation.
Police said Deven tried to throw off detectives with different stories that prolonged the investigation.
"Initially, she was giving us a story that Blake was possibly at a Buddhist retreat in the mountains," lead investigator Sgt. Jeff Locklear said.
Police said Deven had a family acquaintance to pretend to be Blake during a visit from the Cumberland County Department of Social Services (DSS). Detectives tracked down the person who admitted he took part in the impersonation at the behest of Avanate Deven.
Investigators interviewed people connected to the case and were told that for many years three of the five adopted children endured extreme forms of torture, abuse and neglect. They said the three oldest children were kept in extremely small rooms in complete darkness with no method to maintain their hygiene and were given little to no food. They were also forced to use a small plastic container for restroom purposes for days, weeks or months at a time.
Police said they interviewed a person who once lived in the house. That person confirmed to police what happened to Blake. The person said Blake died in 2017 at the home after long durations of being abused, starved and tortured. The person said despite pleas from the other children Avantae refused to call for medical help when Blake collapsed and went unconscious. Instead, the person said Avantae hatched a plan to hide his remains until she could decide how to dispose of them permanently. She later decided to dispose of them in a burn pit in the backyard.
Avantae then moved the family from Eichelberger Drive to the current home on Berridale Drive. During the move one of the children who was being abused left the home and the state, documents state. That person returned after some time away and asked Avantae about London. They said Avantae said "I had to put her in a mental institution." They told police that only two boys were at the house at the time.
Police after the investigation started they along with DSS made more visits to the house which made Avantae nervous. She allegedly reached out to the person who had run away but returned and stated that London wasn't in a mental institution but had died after having a seizure at the house on Berridale and needed help getting rid of evidence. According to the person, Avantae used leverage of what happened to Blake to get them to help her remove carpet, flooring and other items that could be potential evidence. They were told to help repaint and paint areas inside the house to erase anything incriminating. They were told to drive to a remote location and burn the items.
After learning this, police said they were still able to find items of evidentiary value inside the house that corroborated stories of torture, starvation and isolation. They were also told about a metal burn barrel in the back of the house. That's where police said they found two sets of remains and lab tests have identified one as being those of London Deven. The other set of remains hasn't been positively identified as Blake, but police stated in their report they believe those remains are Blake Deven.
Police said video was recovered from a Walmart that shows Avantae, who had another child with her at the time, purchasing a red cooler just like one of the children described. Police said they believe Avantae had kept Blake's remains since 2017 when he was murdered at the house on Eichelberger Drive.
WATCH | Timeline in Blake and London Deven Case
