Mom of missing Fayetteville siblings Blake and London Deven accused of exploiting ailing mother

A Fayetteville woman who police say waited years before recently reporting two of her adopted children missing is accused in a civil court petition of financially exploiting her ailing mother.

The request for an emergency order of protection was filed by the Cumberland County Department of Social Services on behalf of 95-year-old Leonie Maxwell.

In its request, DSS states that Maxwell is unable to advocate for herself because she is on a ventilator in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center after sustaining an anoxic brain injury in November.

The April 10 filing alleges that her daughter and caretaker, Avantae Deven, 61, had not responded since March 27 to calls from hospital staff concerning "necessary medical decisions" for Maxwell and that on March 30 when a welfare check was conducted at Deven's home, no one answered the door.

Everything we know so far: Timeline of events in the Fayetteville case of two missing adopted siblings

March 27 was the same day that the Fayetteville Police Department served three search warrants — including on Deven’s current and previous Fayetteville homes — in the hunt for her missing 17-year-old adopted son Blake Deven.

Police records show that Avantae Deven reported Blake as a runaway on Jan. 19. The record indicates he was last seen at the Ramsey Street Walmart.

During the investigation into the teen’s disappearance, law enforcement learned another of Deven’s adopted children, London Deven, 27, hadn’t been seen since 2019, officials said.

On April 12, authorities announced that human skeletal remains had been recovered during the search for the two. The identity of the remains is pending the outcome of an examination by the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, police said.

‘Their mysterious disappearance’

While the records focus mainly on Maxwell's rapidly declining health and her finances, the missing children are listed as one of the reasons an emergency order is required.

"FBI agents have been to (Maxwell's) hospital room to question her with regard to her daughter/current caregiver's children and their mysterious disappearance,” the record states.

Judge Toni King found on April 11 that the emergency order was warranted because there was "a substantial likelihood that respondent may suffer death or irreparable harm if emergency protective services are not provided."

DSS said in its filing that Maxwell is unable to communicate because of her condition, cannot consent to the protective services and that "no other person is able or willing to arrange for protective services."

In an April 15 order continuing the first court date set for the following day, District Judge Cull Jordan III stated that Avantae Deven could still visit her mother in the hospital but was not in control of Maxwell's care.

"Avantae Deven shall give no directives or instructions to medical personnel treating respondent and shall ... treat all medical personnel with dignity and respect at all times," the continuance order states. "In the event Ms. Deven causes any disruptions at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, hospital staff may terminate Ms. Deven's visit with respondent and remove her from the premises."'

Assets frozen

In addition to the request by DSS to control Maxwell's medical care, District Court Judge Toni King ordered that Maxwell's assets — noted to be more than $15,000 — be frozen and directed Wells Fargo to turn over financial records for February through April.

"The order was sought because of the information and belief that you were being financially exploited by your caretaker," according to a notice intended to inform Maxwell of the court's order.

A hearing that had been set in the matter for Wednesday was continued to next month.

Who is Avantae Deven?

Public records on Avantae Deven are scarce and the Fayetteville Police Department has declined to provide additional information on the disappearance of her adopted children.

What can be discerned from court dockets is that Deven adopted London in 2011 in Buncombe County and she adopted Blake from neighboring Madison County in 2013. Adoption records are sealed once finalized in North Carolina.

Records from the N.C. Division of Non-Public Education, which maintains home school records, indicate that a home school named Deven Academy opened in 2007 in Buncombe County. Since then the Deven Academy has had several address changes and phone numbers in both Buncombe and Madison counties before its current registration at the Deven family home on Berriedale Drive. Fayetteville Police Chief Kemberle Braden said at a news conference earlier this month that the family moved to the area in 2015.

Blake or London Deven do not appear to have ever attended public schools in Cumberland County, according to a spokesman for the district.

In addition to the adoption record, Buncombe County records also show that Avantae Deven was granted a divorce in 2006 after living separately from her husband for five years. It states the couple was married in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1996 and they shared no property or had children in common. The record shows that Deven was unsuccessful in locating her estranged husband to serve him with the papers, even going so far as to run notices in a Montana newspaper. The North Carolina court granted the divorce because the couple had been separated for at least 12 months, the record states.

Cumberland County property records show that Nelson & Johnson LLC owned and then sold the Eichelberger Drive home the family previously lived in June 2019. That same month, Nelson & Johnson LLC purchased the Berriedale Drive home Avantae Deven currently lives in.

The business, Nelson & Johnson LLC, does not appear to be registered in North Carolina, but New Mexico records list Avantae Deven as a member of Nelson & Johnson LLC, established in New Mexico in 2016. The business purpose is listed as: "Gatherings for various artist showings and book sharing/readings. No selling entailed."

The contact information for Deven shows a Sedona, Arizona, address and notes that correspondence should be "C/O David Novick." Novick did not respond to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Mom of missing Blake and London Deven accused of neglecting mother