Anthony Harris, a former marine, was 12 years old when local police pressured him into confessing to murdering his five-year-old neighbor Devan Duniver. He was charged and later convicted of the crime as prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence against him. And now, the 36-year-old is sharing his story for the first time in an exclusive interview with ABC News 20/20.
According to legal documents, Duniver went missing from her New Philadelphia, Ohio, neighborhood on June 27, 1998. The young girl disappeared while playing outside her home. When her mother, Lori, discovered her daughter was gone, she immediately searched for the child and called the police later that evening. Harris, who lived in the same apartment complex as Duniver, helped search for the five-year-old.
The following day, Duniver’s body was found in a wooded area behind her home with multiple stab wounds to her neck. When investigators questioned Harris, they claimed he provided inconsistent details regarding his whereabouts while the girl was missing.
Two weeks later, police called for Harris and his mother Cyndi to the police station, where police chief Thomas Vaughn interrogated the then-12-year-old.
Audio obtained from the interrogation revealed Vaughn repeatedly questioned Harris and whether he killed Duniver. Though he denied killing the young girl, the Ohio native said he later recanted his story after Vaughn pressured him.
“The investigator, he had basically told me that, ‘If you confess to this murder, you can go home.’ It’s like, ‘Okay. Well, I’m over here scared, so I want to go home,'” Harris recalled.
Harris ultimately confessed and was charged with murder. However, since his case was a juvenile proceeding, there was no jury; his fate was determined by Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Linda Kate.
Though Harris’ attorney Tarin Hale tried to conceal the taped confession, Judge Kate denied the motion.
“My statement was very clear. There is no evidence in this case. That’s all you need to know from me. There’s no evidence here,” Hale said during the televised special.
Three members of the search party who foraged the area for the missing girl in 1998 told 20/20 they believed vital evidence was ignored by authorities investigating the case.
Donna Wenger, Nancy Niarchos, and Jim Milliken said they didn’t see the young girl during the search, believing her body was placed in that location.
Wenger, Niarchos and Milliken testified during the trial and recalled seeing a man in the area wearing a long-sleeved plaid flannel shirt, leading witnesses to question the man’s whereabouts.
“I thought, ‘My God, is that guy ever creepy,'” Niarchos told “20/20.” “He was so suspicious looking, and he was right there. I thought, ‘What is he doing here?'”
In 1999, Harris was found guilty, and Kate sentenced him to the maximum, incarcerated until he turned 21.
Two years later, Harris was given a second chance to appeal his sentencing. On June 7, 2000, the Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and ruled that Harris’ confession was coerced. He was released the next day.
While his conviction was overturned more than 20 years later, Harris said the horrific crime still haunts him.
“She was so young, and she had passed away,” Harris tearfully shared with Quinones in 2020.
The Ohio native said he was frustrated that Duniver’s killer had never been identified or captured.
“The girl’s dead, my life has been destroyed, and this guy, this individual’s still free right now,” Harris said.
“There’s no sense to be bitter,” the exonerated man told 20/20. “Even though it hurt a lot, it didn’t destroy my core as a person, the things I believe in, the things I grew up to become. That’s why I don’t hold resentment in my voice when I speak.”
Duniver’s killing remains unsolved. In 2005, the investigation resumed when special prosecutor Richard Dobbins conducted a two-year probe and determined that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone.
Harris said he wants justice for the young girl’s killing and will continue searching for the person responsible for her murder.
“We’re going to figure this out [and] give her some kind of closure,” he said.
The interview aired on May 6 on ABC.
