A mother allegedly claimed that her son fled to a Buddhist retreat but actually starved him and her other adoptive child to death.
Avantae Deven, 63, has been jailed after her adoptive children were discovered buried in a barrel.
Her adoptive son, Blake Deven, 17, was reported missing in late March after family members did not see him for a few years, according to the Fayetteville Police Department.
A week later on April 4, investigators announced that they had identified another possible missing relative, London Deven, 28, who was last seen in 2019 in Fayetteville.
(Picture: Fayetteville Police Department)
In mid-April, detectives found partial skeletal remains which were sent to the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Last Tuesday, the police department stated that ‘partial human remains found during this investigation were forensically tested and were determined to belong to two people’.
A private lab confirmed that one set belonged to London, and testing on the other set believed to belong to Blake continued.
‘Initially, she was giving us a story that Blake was possibly at a Buddhist retreat in the mountains,’ Sgt Jeff Locklear told Law & Crime.
The mother told a similar story in a 911 dispatcher.
‘He is generally religious. He used to go back and forth about a Buddhist retreat… but this time he never called back,’ she said on the call obtained by WTVD.
‘My daughter did one once for six months, and she called, so I thought OK. He’s really independent, strong and brave and bossy, so it’s not really unlikely of his character.’
Avantae has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of concealment of death, a count of kidnapping in connection with London’s death and two counts of felony child abuse linked to Blake’s death.
She is has been booked into Cumberland County Detention Center with no bond.
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