Kriti Mehrotra
When 5-year-old Devan Duniver suddenly went missing from her New Philadelphia, Ohio, home on June 27, 1998, it left not just her loved ones but also the entire nation baffled to the core. That’s because, as explored in ABC’s ’20/20: Gone Before the Storm,’ she was found stabbed to death less than a football field away the very next day despite there having been a continued, extensive search for her. It was ultimately ascertained her body had likely been moved, with her killer being her 12-year-old African American neighbor/friend Anthony Harris, but the latter was definitely not at all true.
Anthony Harris’ World Turned Upside Down in 1998
It was reportedly around the mid-1980s that Anthony was born in Ohio to Cyndi Harris as her second child, only for her to raise her brood to always be genuinely respectful to those in uniforms. The truth is this single mother’s own father was a US Air Force veteran, so she did kind of understand the pressure on their shoulders as they served their nation as well as the public as a whole. That’s why she did her best to educate her sons about the importance of being standup citizens, neighbors, and people in general, according to the original production, which is why the events of 1998 shattered her belief.
As per Anthony’s own account, he was walking back from a friend’s place through the woods behind his apartment building at 1:45 pm on June 27, 1998, when he was stopped by Lori Duniver. He obviously knew her since they were neighbors, and he had often even spent time in her home playing with her two young children — 8-year-old Dylan and 5-year-old Devan — so he paid attention. She immediately, frantically told him she couldn’t find her little girl before offering him $5 to help search for her, which he admittedly took without hesitation because that was a big amount for him back then at age 12.
More importantly, Anthony did help look for Devan all across the nearby area since it was rather well-known that she was independent and had a tendency to wander off by herself, but to no avail. In the end, with a storm coming, Lori was left with no choice but to call the police to file a missing person’s report in the evening, which sparked an extensive hunt for the child throughout the night. Nobody could have ever imagined she would be found stabbed to death nearly 24 hours after she was last seen at 1:30 pm, only for her neighbor to confess and be arrested for her murder a little over two weeks later.
Anthony Harris’ Childhood Was Marred By the Ordeal
After Devan’s murder, everyone close to the Dunivers was questioned by the investigators. In the days to follow, some of Anthony’s statements really piqued their interest. That’s because this nervous 12-year-old was inconsistent with the details of where he was at the time she went missing and was also actually seen walking home from the wooded area where the girl was found on June 28. Therefore, on July 15, 1998, officials requested Cyndi to bring her son to the police station for a voice-stress analysis, described to her as a polygraph for minors, just for him to be interrogated instead.
According to records, Anthony was placed in an interrogation room with Millersburg Police Chief Thomas Vaughn, with his mother being allowed to watch from an adjacent room through a mirror. It’s imperative to note Cyndi could only see what was going on despite it having been indicated to her that she could hear too, yet she let the questioning go on as she believed in the system. However, what ensued was an 80-minute intense interrogation of the young man without his parent or a lawyer present, at the end of which he admitted to having killed Devan before asking for his mother in tears.
It was only when Cyndi came into the room that she realized what had happened, and even though Anthony said he immediately retracted his confession to her, he was still placed under arrest for murder. The latter now asserts he was coerced and tricked into admitting something he never did, with the investigator going as far as to falsely tell him he would be able to return home if he just confessed. What followed was his detainment in a juvenile facility, bench trial per statute laws for proceedings involving minors, and his conviction for murder despite there having been absolutely no physical evidence against him.
Anthony Harris Fought Hard for Justice
While Anthony was sentenced to the maximum term for a minor — incarceration until he turned 21 — in March 1999, his lawyer didn’t hesitate to file an appeal upon getting additional counsel. Thanks to their unwavering efforts as well as the actual limited evidence available in this horrific matter, his conviction was overturned by the Fifth District Ohio Appellate Court on June 7, 2000. They actually also concluded the state had violated this youngster’s Amendment rights on July 15, 1998 — he was taken into custody without evidence, the Miranda warning read to him was improper, and his confession was coerced while he was already in a state of fear — so the latter was tossed out of this case for good.
Thus, upon having spent the better part of two years behind bars, Anthony was released for good on June 8, 2000 — he is proud of the fact he didn’t let anything break him even on the worst of days, including when his cellmate once tried to force himself on him. He then indicated he simply wished to close this chapter, yet after a few years of unsuccessfully trying to settle down, he filed a federal civil wrongful conviction lawsuit in August 2023 on the grounds the police zeroed in on him without even following up on other possible suspects.
The very next year, this then-18-year-old followed his family’s footsteps and applied to enlist in the Marines, only to be rejected once the prosecutor on his case contacted the recruitment office. Anthony had already disclosed the details of his trial, conviction, as well as exoneration to them, yet Amanda Spies Bornhorst vehemently telling them he would always remain a suspect led them to have serious doubts. He was thus rejected on this basis alone, following which he amended his lawsuit to add claims of aiding and abetting, malicious prosecution, defamation, plus tortious interference with a prospective employer against Amanda.
After All Legal Battles, Anthony Harris is Now Moving Forward
In the end, while the cities of New Philadelphia and Millersburg agreed to settle with Anthony for $1.5 million as well as a formal written apology in February 2005, Amanda and Tuscarawas County settled for $2.2 million in September 2008. The latter never gave an apology in any way, shape, or form, yet it didn’t hinder the then-active-duty Marine official from deciding to move on with his life, all the while avowing to actually help find the person responsible for killing Devan. As for where Anthony is today, it appears as if this 38-year-old Marine veteran is now based near his mother in Florida, where he is moving on without any resentment in his heart by serving as a union ironworker to the best of his abilities.
Read More: Cyndi Harris: Where is Anthony Harris’ Mother Now?
