SPEAKING OUT
Inside Anthony Harris’ overturned conviction for unsolved murder of Devan Duniver, 5, after coerced confession aged 12
A 12-year-old boy was coerced into confessing to a murder he did not commit and was given the maximum sentence for it.
Anthony Harris lived in the same Ohio apartment complex as 5-year-old Devan Duniver.
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She went missing on June 27, 1998, after going outside to play.
Harris and his family along with several others helped search for Duniver, but the next day her body was discovered with several stab wounds to the neck.
This was now a homicide investigation.
While conducting interviews, investigators claimed Harris's answers were inconsistent while he was providing details about where he was and what he was doing when Duniver went missing, .
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Two weeks later police asked Harris and his mother to come to the police station.
He was placed in an interrogation room with Thomas Vaughn, the police chief of nearby town Millersburg.
The 12-year-old's mother could only watch through a two-way mirror and was not able to hear the conversation.
Harris repeatedly denied having anything to do with the murder, but the pressure from Vaughn proved to be too much.
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"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 said in an interview with 20/20.
He ultimately confessed and was charged with murder.
Since he was a juvenile, there was no jury and his fate was decided solely by Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Linda Kate.
Harris' attorney Tarin Hale tried to suppress the taped confession from evidence but the motion was rejected by Kate.
"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 told 20/20.
Kate found Harris guilty in 1999 and sentenced him to the maximum, incarceration until he turned 21.
Three members of the initial search party for Duniver said they believe there were elements of the case that had been overlooked.
Donna Wenger, Nancy Niarchos, and Jim Milliken all said they searched near the area where Devan's body was found and didn't see her.
They believe her body was left at the location later.
All three testified as witnesses during the trial.
They said they recall seeing a man in the area who was wearing a long-sleeve plaid flannel shirt, which they said was odd given that it was exceptionally warm out on the summer day.
"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?'"
The following year, Harris was awarded a second chance.
On June 7, 2000, the Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and determined that Harris' confession was coerced.
Harris was released the next day.
He says he isn't bitter about the charges, but he is upset Duniver's real killer is still on the loose.
"The girl's dead, my life has been destroyed, and this guy, this individual's still free right now," he said during an interview with 20/20.
The case hasn't been looked into since 2005 when Richard Dobbins was appointed as special prosecutor.
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He conducted a two-year probe and ultimately concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone.
The special interview with Harris from two years ago will air on 20/20 on May 6, at 9pm.
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