Fayetteville woman says mother forced her to dismember adoptive brother's body

A woman admitted to WRAL Investigates that she dismembered the body of one of two adopted siblings who investigators say were killed by their adoptive mother.

Cherish Deven said she dismembered the body of Blake Deven, the boy investigators say Avantae Deven abused and starved to death. Avantae Deven is charged with the murder of Blake Deven and London Deven.

Cherish Deven is Blake’s adoptive sister and Avantae was her adoptive mom.

A recording obtained in September 2024 by WRAL Investigates from Cherish Deven’s partner reveals a family member admitting to helping dismember Blake Deven’s body.

In December 2024, Cherish Deven said she is the one on the recording.

“She [Avantae] literally had me buy a [expletive] saw to cut his [expletive] open and [expletive] disintegrate the [expletive] body,” Cherish Deven said.

During WRAL Investigates’ interview, Cherish Deven said she was 16 or 17 when she dismembered Blake Deven’s body. However, in the recording, she says she was 18. WRAL Investigates is working to verify that part of this story.

WRAL Investigates asked Cherish Deven why she sounded so terrified in the recording.

“I was afraid of what Ava was going to say and do because I know the type of woman she is,” Cherish Deven said.

WRAL Investigates asked Cherish Deven what specifically Avantae Deven asked her to do in dismembering Blake Deven’s body.

“There was no asking,” Cherish Deven said. “There was just, ‘You do it. You’re doing it. If not, you’re getting in trouble.’

“I’m sitting there as a young child just thinking, ‘Oh, my God. What do I do?’”

Cherish Deven said she told detectives she was forced to take part in the crime. She said trauma pushed her to admit to dismembering Blake Deven’s body.

WRAL Investigates asked Cherish Deven if she’s remorseful about her part in it.

“It wasn't that I was like I wanted to do this on my own [dismember the body],” Cherish Deven said. “Again, I was forced to do it.

“Detectives know this. Everybody knows this already … It disgusts me that I can live with myself knowing what I've seen, what I've done, because someone led me on and forced me to do something as a child myself.”

Cherish Deven says she should be considered a victim as well for what she endured.

“I am a victim, regardless of what anyone says,” she said.

Avante Deven, who adopted Cherish, Blake and London Deven in the 2000s, is in custody on murder charges.

WRAL Investigates reached out to the Fayetteville Police Department and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office to weigh in on Deven’s comments. WRAL Investigates is still waiting to hear back.

WRAL Investigates asked Cherish Deven why she reached out to do the interview.

“I’m tired of the harassment and people thinking that they can just go on my Facebook page or comment on my page and stuff like that, something that's not true,” she said.

When Fayetteville police arrested Avantae Deven in June 2024, police said they believe Blake Deven was abused and starved to the point that his body couldn't handle any more torture and he died.

Cherish Deven said she would tell her former adopted mother, “I hate you. You told me that you were my mother, you told me that you loved me. You told me that you would be there for me and you never were.”

She said the abuse she endured from her adopted mother led to the death of her brother and her actions afterward.

“I went through a lot as a child, and for me to sit here right now today talking to you about it is even hard for me,” Cherish Deven said.

Cherish Deven said Avantae Deven would hit them with curtain rods, lock the adoptive siblings in a bathroom and starve them.

“It got to the point where I was hiding dog food in the vents just to eat, because I was that hungry,” Cherish Deven said in May 2024.

WRAL Investigates confirmed Avantae Deven adopted five children across three North Carolina counties: One from McDowell, one from Buncombe and three from Madison.