An adoptive mother in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is accused of shocking crimes, and now, one of her adopted daughters has come forward with disturbing details.
In June 2024, 63-year-old Avantae Deven was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, along with charges for concealing deaths, felony child abuse, and kidnapping. These charges are connected to the tragic deaths of her adopted children, Blake and London Deven. The Fayetteville Police Department announced these findings, shedding light on a horrifying case.
But the story has taken another grim turn. One of Avantae’s adopted daughters, Cherish Deven, has spoken out about her role in what law enforcement describes as a terrible cover-up. Her claims have revealed a deeper layer to this already heartbreaking situation.
In September 2024, media outlets obtained a recording of a phone call from April 2022. In the call, someone—later identified as Cherish—described helping to dismember her brother Blake’s body. The details are horrifying.
“She made me buy a trash can to keep him in for a month,” the caller said, her voice distorted in the original recording. “I had to watch his body burn. It’s been on my mind, and I don’t know what to do.”
The recording also revealed how Blake’s death allegedly happened. According to Cherish, Avantae starved him until he died.
“She didn’t call an ambulance. She didn’t call the police. She didn’t even try to make up a story. She just let it happen,” Cherish said.
The caller’s identity wasn’t revealed at first since police hadn’t charged them with a crime. But this week, Cherish identified herself as the voice behind the recording in an interview with the media.
In her heartbreaking confession, Cherish recalled being just 16 or 17 years old when her adoptive mother allegedly forced her to dismember her brother. Initially, she said she was 18 at the time but later clarified her age.
“She made me buy a saw to cut him up,” Cherish said in the recording. “She told me I had to do it. It wasn’t a choice. She said, ‘You’re doing it, or you’ll get in trouble.’ I was just a kid. I didn’t know what to do.”
Cherish hasn’t been charged with a crime, and she believes it’s because authorities understand she was coerced into doing something unimaginable.
“It’s not like I wanted to do it,” she explained. “I was forced. Everyone knows that—detectives know that. But it still haunts me.”
Investigators say Blake was abused and starved to the point where his body couldn’t take it anymore. His last known sighting was in 2017 when he was just 10 years old. London, another of Avantae’s adopted children, was a teenager with special needs when she died. Both children’s remains were later found burned inside a barrel.
Authorities believe Avantae devised a plan to hide Blake’s body and forced Cherish to help.
“She was mentally and physically abusive,” said Sgt. Jeff Locklear during Avantae’s arrest. “Blake’s body simply couldn’t survive the inhumane treatment he endured.”
Cherish has shared her pain and anger over her adoptive mother’s actions. “I hate you,” she said in an emotional statement. “You told me you loved me. You said you’d be there for me, but you never were.”
Avantae had adopted five children in total—three brothers who were biologically related and two girls who weren’t related to the boys or each other. Now, what was supposed to be a loving family has turned into a devastating story of betrayal and tragedy.
