Devan Duniver was killed in the early 2000s, and her murder is still unsolved. She went out to play in June 1988 but never returned and her disappearance became her mother Lori’s worst nightmare.
Who Is Devan Duniver’s Mother, Lori Duniver?
The children had returned after a week at their father’s house in Cambridge, Ohio, on June 27, 1998.
Devan and Dylan went out to play around 11:30 a.m. Devan was nowhere to be seen when Lori went to get the kids at 1:50 p.m. that day.
She remembers seeing Anthony, then a 12-year-old, and their neighbor, a few minutes later.
He came around the corner and told Lori he was on his way home from school.
Lori later handed Anthony $5 to help with the search after Anthony stated he hadn’t seen Devan.
Lori eventually contacted the authorities and reported her daughter missing on June 27.
Devan’s body was discovered the next day in a forested location about 150 feet from his residence. She had been stabbed in the neck multiple times.
How Did Devan Duniver Die?
Devin’s body was found in the woodland behind her home in New Philadelphia, Ohio, in 1998, and police arrested Harris and charged her with murder. In 2000, an appeals court ruled that Harris’ tape-recorded confessions were key evidence in support of his indictment, and he was released under duress.
Devan disappeared after she went outside to play. When her mother, Lori, discovered Devan was gone, she spent the afternoon looking for her and called the police in the evening. Harris and his family lived in the same apartment complex as the Dunivers and aided in the search.
Hundreds came out to help in the search.
The next day, Devan was found in the woods behind her home dead with multiple stab wounds to her neck.
Investigators claimed Harris provided inconsistent details about where he was and what he was doing during the time the girl was missing when he was initially questioned.
Two weeks after Devan’s body was found, the police called Harris and his mother Cyndi to the stationhouse, where the then-12-year-old Harris was placed in an interrogation room with Thomas Vaughn, the police chief of nearby town Millersburg.
Harris’ mother could watch through a two-way mirror but was unable to hear what was being said.
Anthony Harris, who was charged at age 12 for murdering his five-year-old neighbor Devan Duniver, speaks in his first TV interview after his conviction was overturned about the impact of the 1998 unsolved case.@JohnQABC reports tonight on @ABC 20/20. https://t.co/Gg68tVvQtb pic.twitter.com/wtrW3GyDOZ
— 20/20 (@ABC2020) May 6, 2022
Harris ultimately confessed and was charged with murder. His case was a juvenile proceeding and, therefore, absent a jury; Harris’ fate was determined by Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Linda Kate.
Harris’ attorney Tarin Hale tried to suppress the taped confession from evidence but the motion was rejected by Judge Kate.
“My statement was very clear, there is no evidence in this case. That’s all you need to know from me. There’s no evidence here,” Hale told “20/20.”
Harris, however, would get a second chance on appeal.
On June 7, 2000, the Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and determined that Harris’ confession was coerced.
Harris was released the next day.
Jeanne Arbogast, who coached Harris a year before Devon’s murder, spoke exclusively on ABC News’ 20/20 show for the first time since Harris’ ordeal. She said she regrets the community’s response to her former student’s arrest and sentence.
“I envision my student sitting in that meeting, or standing at my desk, doing his best to answer the question the way he thinks I want him to answer,” she told ABC News.
Arbogast, who was not called to testify at Harris’ trial, focused solely on the proceedings, saying Harris deserved more support.
“I think our predominantly white community has let him down. I think there should be a group of people behind Anthony saying ‘no way,’” she said.
Arbogast said she was disturbed by reports that Harris had been interviewed by a police officer alone and confessed to the murder. Harris told ABC News that he felt enormous pressure to plead guilty so he could go home.
Arbogast said Harris would “answer questions in the way he thinks adults would expect him to answer.”
“I feel like they asked him guiding questions, and he answered them in a way that he was helpful,” she said. “I just don’t think they even bothered to figure out what happened to this little girl.”
Arbogast said Harris’ case was with her long after he was released from prison.
In 2009, after publishing a follow-up article on the case, she wrote a letter to the editor of The American Lawyer, expressing regret that Harris had not done more during her two-year legal battle.
“I never told Anthony that I thought he was a good student and that I believed in him. Never for a moment did I feel guilty, let alone believe in him. Maybe others will too,” she wrote.
Arbogast said she hoped those who mistook Harris for the murder would remember the trauma and express remorse.
“But I hope one day he won’t be seen by the naysayers,” she said. “I hope this story gets his story right.”
Devan Duniver’s murder remains unsolved.
The last time the investigation picked up was in 2005 when Richard Dobbins was appointed as special prosecutor. He conducted a two-year probe and ultimately concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone.
Wenger, Niarchos and Milliken told “20/20” they were never contacted by the special prosecutor to discuss the case.
Ryan Styer, the district attorney for Tuscarawas County, Ohio, which currently has the files related to the special prosecutor’s investigation, told “20/20” in a statement that, after reviewing the findings, he believes investigators “invested a lot of time conducting many interviews of witnesses and known persons of interest.”
He said he also feels there’s insufficient evidence for prosecution but has asked authorities to speak to the witnesses from the trial “20/20” interviewed.
