By Monique John 

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- A woman who adopted several children has been arrested and charged with the murder of two of them who haven't been seen for years.

Police say Avantae Deven is the adoptive mother of Blake and London Deven. She was taken into custody Wednesday and faces numerous charges in connection to their disappearance and deaths.

"Our evidence shows that both Blake and London are deceased," Fayetteville Police Chief Kemberle Braden said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. Braden said their adoptive mother is the person responsible for abusing and ultimately killing the children. He said part of the abuse included starvation.

Avantae Deven was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of concealment of death, one count of kidnapping related to London Deven's death, and two counts of felony child abuse related to Blake Deven's death. She was being held at the Cumberland County Detention Center with no bond.

QUINLAN BENTLEY   Cincinnati Enquirer

Two Clermont County parents are accused of torturing and "cruelly abusing" their five adopted boys, according to prosecutors.

Matthew and Charles Edmonson of Batavia were indicted Tuesday on five felony counts of child endangering in connection with the abuse, the Clermont County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release.

The children, who were all biologically related but adopted by the Edmonsons, were first brought to the married couple as foster children.

Prosecutors said the children had been in and out of the hospital for various reasons, including bruising, bleach burns and possible internal bleeding − symptoms that were all explained away by their adoptive parents.

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WKRC) - A Clermont County couple is accused of torturing and abusing their adopted sons.

Mother Matthew Edmonson and father Charles Edmonson face child endangering charges.

The five children are siblings and were born with many medical issues. The Edmonsons started as foster parents and then adopted the boys.

Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said the boys have been in and out of the hospital. The injuries included bruising, bleach burns, potential internal bleeding, and failure to thrive. Tekulve said the Edmonsons had explanations for the injuries.

A detective was investigating Charles for grooming and then engaging in sexual relations with a different adopted son, who was an adult at the time, when he found videos of the boys being "tortured, abused, and traumatized". Their treatment was said to be worse than that of prisoners of war.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Agents with Federal Bureau of Investigation spent Monday searching a home where a missing teenager and one of his relatives may have been.

Police announced they are searching for London Deven, now 27, who was last seen in 2019 in Fayetteville, amid a search for Blake Julian Trenton Deven, now 17, who was last seen in 2022, FPD said.

He said Blake was last seen at a Walmart on Ramsey Street, and detectives are trying to piece together a timeline for both Blake and London's disappearances.

"We're taking information that we are seeing from all different sources, and we are trying to put a factual timeline together," Braden said. "That's why we're asking for the public's help. Anybody that may have information over the past several years."

Police said they were able to "independently confirm" that London hasn't been seen since, and that the most recent photo of her was from around 2007 when she would have been about 12 years old.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- In a startling revelation, Fayetteville Police said Thursday that as the search for a missing teenager unfolds, one of his relatives may also be missing.

The stunning update came amid the investigation into the disappearance of Blake Julian Trenton Deven, now 17, who was last seen in 2022. FPD said Thursday that London Deven, now 27, was last seen in 2019 in Fayetteville.

Police said they were able to "independently confirm" that London hasn't been seen since, and that the most recent photo of her was from around 2007 when she would have been about 12 years old.

Though Blake Deven hasn't been seen in two years, police only recently learned about his disappearance while speaking to his family about a separate investigation. In addition, the latest picture of him is from 2012 when he would've been around 5 years old.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined the search for Blake. On Thursday, the FBI added a poster of Blake to its missing persons site.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Police are asking for the public's help in finding a Fayetteville boy who disappeared years ago.

While investigators were conducting interviews in a separate Fayetteville Police Department (FPD) investigation, several members of Blake Julian Trenton Deven's family reported that they had not seen him in several years.

On Wednesday, March 27, the FPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched three locations in Fayetteville for Blake as part of an investigation, police said.

Investigators also shared a photo of Blake that was taken in 2012 and an age-progressed photo showing what he may look like today at age 17.

ABC11 asked FPD when Blake was reported missing, but the department was unable to share any further information.

By The Brussels Times with Belga

Created just after World War Two, institutions run by nuns took in underage girls and pregnant unmarried women until the late 1980s. These women were subjected to unpaid labour, humiliating conditions, and in some cases, sexual abuse.

During childbirth, some women were given general anaesthetic while others had to wear a mask – all ways to prevent mothers from seeing their child, who were immediately separated after birth. Some women were even sterilised. Others were forced to sign a document renouncing their child or were told the child was stillborn.

The children were then sold for large sums – between 10,000 and 30,000 Belgian francs (roughly between €250 and €750), sometimes much more – to adoptive families.

Unkept or destroyed files are now making reunion processes extremely difficult, says Debby Mattys (57), who was put up for adoption by the nuns and spent over 20 years looking for her birth mother. "My mother was 18 years old when she had an unwanted pregnancy," she told Het Laaste Nieuws.

2 couples adopted, fostered nearly 30 kids

DEWITT TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Four adoptive parents living in mid-Michigan are each facing numerous charges in an alleged scheme to adopt children for financial gain and subsequently and secretly abuse them.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office on Monday announced dozens of child abuse charges against couples Joel and Tammy Brown and Jerry and Tamal Flore. Nessel’s office said the charges were brought against the DeWitt, Michigan couples after evidence was obtained relating to the “abuse against eight of the dozens of children adopted through their homes since 2007.”

Each of the four adults are facing separate charges including varying degrees of child abuse, conspiracy to commit child abuse, and failing to report child abuse. Jerry and Tamal Flore face the most charges -- 11 and 17, respectively -- including several counts of first-degree child abuse, which is a felony charge that carries a punishment of life in prison.

According to officials, the couples conspired to adopt children for financial gain with the particular help of Joel Brown, who was formerly employed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Service’s children’s services agency. Brown is accused of using “his expertise in the field of child abuse investigations and the child protection laws to circumvent detection of the ongoing child abuse in his own home and that of the Flores.”

MATT MENCARINI   Lansing State Journal

LANSING — The Michigan Attorney General’s Office has issued arrest warrants for two Clinton County couples in what the office has described as a conspiracy to adopt dozens of children and then cover up physical and psychological abuse "all for personal financial gain."

Jerry and Tamal Flore, and Tammy and Joel Brown are the subject of the warrants, the AG’s Office announced during a Monday afternoon news conference in downtown Lansing. All four had previously been charged, but those cases were dismissed by a prosecutor and judge.

"The allegations in this matter are heinous and egregious," Attorney General Dana Nessel said. "In the area of child abuse, the harms caused to an individual's mental health are often, unfortunately, overlooked. Abusive behavior by any parents — adoptive or biological — is unacceptable and will not and cannot be tolerated."

Nessel said her office is giving the Flores and Browns until Friday to turn themselves in to law enforcement.

BY: ANNA LIZ NICHOLS

The Michigan Attorney General’s office announced Monday that more than 30 criminal charges were filed against two Clinton County couples: Joel and Tammy Brown and Jerry and Tamal Flore, for organizing to adopt dozens of children from previously abusive homes for financial gain only to subject them to more physical and mental abuse.

“The allegations in this matter are heinous and egregious,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said during a news conference Monday, outlining some of the reports from the children, some of whom are adults now, including being beaten with a wooden oar.

“Abusive behavior by any parents, adoptive or biological, is unacceptable. It will not and cannot be tolerated. Our investigation has also highlighted just how much the law in these areas really needs to be amended to combat these types of crimes, which is likely much more prevalent in our state than any would care to admit,” Nessel said.

Both couples had been prosecuted before for child abuse, but the cases were dismissed.