The Letter He Never Sent - Episode 64

The Confession That Couldn't Have Been True: The Murder of Devin Dunnever

A five-year-old girl vanished from her home in New Philadelphia, Ohio, while her mother was upstairs for less than thirty minutes. When her body was found the next morning, a forensic pathologist confirmed she had been moved — meaning the crime scene the police built their entire case around was never real. A twelve-year-old boy eventually said yes to a question he had answered no to dozens of times before, and that single word cost him years of his life.

In this episode, we explore the seventeen words Anthony Harris spoke to his mother the moment she entered that interrogation room, a man in a long-sleeved flannel shirt spotted inside the search perimeter by multiple volunteers who was never identified, and a Brady violation involving a false alibi that a circuit court later said no reasonable prosecutor should have ignored. Was this a catastrophic failure of one small-town police department, or something more deliberate? The forensic science and the interrogation tape point in directions that cannot both lead to the same person.

Case Details

Victim: Devin Dunnever, age 5, child resident of New Philadelphia, Ohio.

Date: June 27–28, 1998.

Location: New Philadelphia, Ohio, USA.

Case Status: Anthony Harris was convicted in juvenile court, then fully exonerated in June 2000 after his confession was ruled coerced and involuntary. Devin Dunnever's murder remains officially unsolved. A special prosecutor reviewed the case from 2005 to 2007 and found insufficient evidence to charge anyone. No suspect has ever been tried for her death.

Episode Key Points

- Livor mortis on Devin's right side contradicted the position in which her body was found, confirming to forensic pathologist Dr. Charles Petty that she had been moved after death — yet police never pursued a vehicle or second location.

- Multiple volunteer searchers testified under oath that the area where Devin was found had been searched repeatedly before her body appeared there, placing her death timeline in direct conflict with the prosecution's theory.

- A man wearing a long-sleeved flannel shirt buttoned to the neck and wrists in late-June heat was observed inside the search perimeter by volunteer Nancy, who also noted a beige car with its trunk open and a blanket inside — neither the man nor the car was ever identified.

- Jamie, Lori's ex-boyfriend and a convicted felon legally barred from contact with Devin, had previously held Devin hostage for three days and had recently sought reconciliation with Lori. His alibi was provided by a person using a false name and a false Social Security number — yet Captain Urban never personally spoke to him.

Devin Dunnever, New Philadelphia Ohio homicide, juvenile false confession 1998, Ohio cold case unsolved, Anthony Harris exoneration, true crime, homicide, investigation, forensic science, criminal minds, murder, unsolved mysteries, true crime English.