A 63-year-old woman in the US has been arrested and charged with killing two of her adopted children after their bodies were discovered inside a burn barrel. According to the Independent, two of Avantae Deven's adopted children, Blake and London Deven, hadn't been seen for years. London was last seen in 2019, but her mother never reported her missing. Blake hasn't been seen since 2022, but Deven didn't report him missing until earlier this year.
Authorities in Fayetteville, North Carolina were alerted of the situation in 2023 after one of her surviving foster children made a mental health call to police. When cops investigated the multiple homes the family had lived in, they found remains at multiple residences. Detectives found a burn barrel with partial human remains inside it. Forensic tests revealed that they belonged to a female aged 15 to 19 and a male aged 7 to 10.
Investigators believe that Deven abused the children and ultimately killed and dismembered them. As per NBC affiliate WRAL, London died of starvation and neglect while testing continues on the boy's remains.
More chilling details released by the authorities this week revealed that the siblings, along with three other adopted children, had lived in brutal conditions while in the care of Deven. Blake and London were adopted by Deven in 2013 and 2011 respectively, according to court documents obtained by ABC11.
They were kept in a small, dark room and given little to no food. They were allegedly able to "earn" food by writing hundreds of paragraphs to apologise for their behaviour. The children told social workers that they were also beaten at times to the point where they would have needed medical assistance.
During a press conference, police said they have the forensic evidence to support allegations of torture, starvation, and isolation.
''We believe he (Blake) was mentally abused and starved. His body could not sustain the inhumane treatment. Then, Avantae developed a plan to hide Blake's remains. She forced another person in the household to participate,'' Sgt. Locklear said. London Deven died ''in the same painful way that Blake died, starvation and neglect,'' Mr Locklear added.
Deven is now facing two counts of first-degree murder, concealment of death, kidnapping and felony child abuse, according to the Fayetteville Police Department. She is being held at the Cumberland County Detention Center with no bond.
"All of us have soft spots for children and cases with children are the most difficult that we deal with. The fact that this involves allegations of the abuse in the death of children was certainly the thing that grabbed my attention first, particularly how the allegations suggest the way they died,'' Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West said.
