Fayetteville residents concerned by developments in search for missing relatives Blake, London Deven

Monique John Image
Monday, April 15, 2024
Residents concerned by developments in search for missing relatives
Recent police searches and the discovery of partial human remains have shocked residents of a Fayetteville neighborhood.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- The ongoing investigation into the disappearances of Blake Deven and London Deven continues to raise questions and concerns after authorities announced Friday that they found partial skeletal remains while investigating the case.

The police report for 17-year-old Blake Deven's disappearance lists a home on Eichelberger Drive as his adoptive mother's address. However, the neighbor living next door said that the woman doesn't live there anymore and that a new family has moved in. People in the neighborhood told ABC11 that they saw Fayetteville police officers and Federal Bureau of Investigations agents searching the area April 6.

"This whole area was engulfed with every car you can think of and the FBI. And there were cars parked up here blocking this way so you couldn't get in down here," said Earl McKoy, who lives in the neighborhood.

ALSO SEE | FBI search home linked to Blake, London Deven

London Deven, now 27, was last seen in 2019 in Fayetteville. Blake Deven was last seen in 2022 at a Walmart on Ramsey Street.

The most recent available pictures of Blake Deven, left, and London Deven.
Fayetteville Police Department

The neighborhood is quiet now, but it wasn't that way as investigators searched for clues regarding the missing relatives. That home would be the second residence the police and the FBI have searched in this investigation; the first house being on Berridale Drive.

On Friday, police said they found partial skeletal remains that the state's chief medical examiner's office is testing. Police wouldn't say where the remains were found but noted they were not found on Berridale Drive. Meanwhile, people living near the home on Eichelberger Drive said they are worried about how this will all turn out.

"I thought there was something major, crime, because I'd never seen any crime scene with the FBI involved with the police until I saw all that. And then when I saw the FBI, I said, 'this is serious business,'" McKoy said.

It's unclear whether authorities found anything at the Eichelberger address. ABC11 has asked Fayetteville Police and the FBI for more information about the makeup of the skeletal remains and where they were found. Authorities have so far declined to elaborate further.

ALSO SEE | Fayetteville teen reported missing years after he was last seen, police make public plea

Investigators say the Fayetteville Blake Deven hasn't been seen since 2022 and his family just recently notified them about his disappearance.