MURDERED: Devan Duniver
When a beloved five-year-old falls victim to a brutal homicide, authorities quickly close in on a suspect no one could have predicted – a 12-year-old neighbor. But members of the community have their doubts, which are only heightened when prosecutorial misconduct is uncovered, leaving everyone to ask: did investigators go after the right person? Or did tunnel vision lead them to victimize yet another child?
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Please contact the authorities if you have any information about about the murder of Devan Duniver:
City of New Philadelphia Police Department
If you have any information about the murder of Devan Duniver in June of 1998 in New Philadelphia, Ohio, please contact the NPPD at 330-343-4488.
If you or anyone you know struggles with suicidal ideation, please know that help is available.
You can reach out to the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat with them at www.988lifeline.org.
You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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Episode Source Material
- 20/20: Gone Before the Storm (Season 44, Episode 22) via Hulu.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Women who found body think someone threw it, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Mom says son denied slaying, From Staff and Wire Reports via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Disbelief in murder case, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Witness describes man seen in woods, Beacon Journal Staff Report via Newspapers.com.
- Sentinel-Tribune (Bowling Green, OH): Body of missing girl found, by Associated Press via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Teen is convicted, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- Times Reporter (New Philadelphia, OH): ABC News ’20/20′ explores wrongful conviction in 1998 murder of New Philadelphia girl, 5, by Nancy Molnar.
- The Sidney Daily News (Sidney, OH): Girl’s death said homicide, by Associated Press via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Attorneys argue boy’s confession is ‘tainted’, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Teen-ager’s lawyers say search of home is illegal, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Details emerge before teen’s hearing, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Expert says DNA evidence is lacking, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Court throws out boy’s confession, by Kymberli Hagelberg via Newspapers.com.
- Courthouse News Service: Exonerated Ohio Man May Sue County & Prosecutor, by Courthouse News Staff.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Prosecutors argue boy knew his rights, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Will court hear boy’s confession of slaying?, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Woman testifies suspect was angry at girl, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): 12-year-old charged with girl’s death, from Staff and wire reports via Newspapers.com.
- Record-Courier (Kent, OH): New Philadelphia ponders murder, by Amy Beth Graves.
- American Psychological Association: Black Boys Viewed as Older, Less Innocent Than Whites, Research Finds.
- Frontiers in Psychology: The Science-Based Pathways to Understanding False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions, by Gisli H. Gudjonsson.
- The Daily Item (Sunbury, PA): Some Doubt 12-year-old is murderer, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Juvenile judge to start murder hearing, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): NAACP will review boy’s murder charge, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): NAACP’s Forbes joins defense of 12-year-old murder suspect, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Oh): Hearing to examine Statement cancelled via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Review discovers no bias by judge, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Expert witness says confession was coerced, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Teen’s hearing still on hold, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Will court hear boy’s confession of slaying?, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- Telegraph-Forum (Bucyrus, OH): Murder trial begins for boy accused of killing 5-year-old, by Associated Press via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Judge will allow confession, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Harris’ attorneys ask court to remove judge via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Judge denies charges of bias in court case via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Judge visits site where body found, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Lawyers begin defense for Anthony Harris, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- Times Reporter (New Philadelphia, OH): ABC News ’20/20′ explores wrongful conviction in 1998 murder of New Philadelphia girl, 5, by Nancy Molnar.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Teen awaits judge’s verdict, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- Record-Courier (Kent, OH): 13-year-old guilty of killing child in New Philadelphia, by Amy Beth Graves.
- Record-Courier (Kent, OH): Teen who killed New Philadelphia girl to remain in state custody for 8 years, by Associated Press.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Conviction appealed in murder of girl, 5, by Phil Trexler via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Police interrogation at issue in appeal via Newspapers.com.
- Record-Courier (Kent, OH): Tuscarawas County Juvenile Judge Linda Kate said it, by Associated Press.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): What is going to happen to Anthony Harris?, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Court throws out boy’s confession, by Kymberli Hagelberg via Newspapers.com.
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL): Ruling could put prosecutor on trial, by Maurice Possley via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Lab Tests unable to link boy to neighbor’s death, by Janet Frankston via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Girl’s unsolved slaying stirs up controversy, by Peter Krouse via Newspapers.com.
- The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH): Teen given freedom; Victim’s family decries boy’s release, by Kymberli Hagelberg and George W. Davis via Newspapers.com.
- The National Registry of Exonerations: Anthony Harris, by Maurice Possley.
- In re: Anthony R. Harris, a minor (2000). Court of Appeals of Ohio, Fifth District, Tuscarawas County.
- Anthony Harris v. Amanda Spies Bornhorst, et al. (2006). United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.
- Anthony Harris v. Amanda Spies Bornhorst, et al. (2008). United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
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