Partial skeletal human remains found during search for missing Deven relatives, Fayetteville police say
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — Partial skeletal human remains have been found during the investigation into the disappearance of two relatives, the Fayetteville Police Department said Friday.
For several weeks, detectives have been searching for 17-year-old Blake Deven and 27-year-old London Deven, whose disappearances were recently discovered despite the two not being seen for several years.
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On Friday, investigators said the police department and the FBI developed information that led them to locate partial skeletal human remains.
They said the remains have been sent to the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to be identified.
At this time, police have not confirmed who the remains belong to, and it could take weeks or months and do not always result in a positive identification, according to the police department.
During the weeks-long investigation, police and the FBI searched a home on Berriedale Drive in Fayetteville several times, which they said belongs to the Deven family.
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However, they said the human remains were not found at the home.
CBS 17 spoke to Raleigh/Wake City-County Bureau of Identification Director Sam Pennica about what happens when human remains are discovered and sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office. Pennica is not part of this case.
“There’s a lot of things they could still learn from the skeleton,” Pennica said.
He said the medical examiner tries to determine a manner of death. If things like age, gender or race could be determined, law enforcement could cross reference that to missing person reports, but there are variables.
“It just depends how much is left and what kind of condition it’s in,” Pennica said.
A woman who said she is London’s biological mother tells CBS 17 the FBI came to her home Wednesday and swabbed her for DNA. Pennica said DNA could be available in bones.
“That sample would have to be taken and then the analysts would have to determine the value of it,” Pennica said. “It may have been degraded too far, you just don’t know.”
The police department said no additional information will be released at this time.
CBS 17 is working to learn where the remains were found.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Blake or London is asked to call the Fayetteville Police Department at 910-578-2697 or the FBI at 1-800- CALL FBI or online.
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