Posted on 01/14/2007 3:20:26 PM PST by Mr. Brightside
Kidnapped US boy held captive four years in plain sight
55 minutes ago
ST. LOUIS, United States (AFP) - The joyful return of a missing Missouri boy to his teary-eyed parents raised more questions than answers about what happened during his four years' captivity to a stranger.
Shawn Hornbeck, 15, was kidnapped in 2002 while riding his bicycle in rural Missouri and was held, prosecutors say, in an apartment outside St. Louis.
He was found Friday as officials searched for another boy, Ben Ownby, 13, who disappeared Monday on his way home from school. Ownby was found at the same apartment.
At a press conference held Saturday in an elementary school auditorium decorated with balloons, Hornbeck's mother, Pam Akers, said in a breaking voice, that her boy, 11 when kidnapped, "has grown up on me," and said: "There is a lot of catching up to do."
"I still feel like I'm in a dream, only this time its a good dream, not my nightmare that I've lived for four and a half years," she said.
The boys did not speak at the press conference, making a mystery of what happened during the captivity.
"That will come in due time," Shawn's stepfather Craig Akers said. "If he doesn't want to discuss it, we won't."
Michael Devlin, 41, was being held Sunday on a first-degree charge of kidnapping related to Ownby's abduction, police said. However, Devlin has not been charged with kidnapping Hornbeck, although authorities said additional charges against him were expected.
Witness reports of Devlin's rusted white Nissan speeding away from Ownby's alleged kidnapping on Monday led police to his home, less than an hour's drive from Hornbeck's home.
Kirkwood, Missouri police officers Gary Wagster and Chris Nelson told CNN they had spotted the Nissan in Devlin's neighborhood while delivering a warrant in an unrelated case.
They said they contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation after Devlin acted suspiciously during questioning. "We saw something that was not right," said Wagster.
Both boys were examined at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis before returning to their respective homes.
Devlin, a pizzeria manager, told neighbors the boy was his son. The adolescent used the name Shawn Devlin, and was permitted to ride his bike outside the apartment, a neighbor boy, Tony Douglas, told Fox News.
"He said his name was Shawn Devlin," Douglas said Saturday. "I came over there almost every day."
When the boys stayed out after curfew, "Sometimes the cop would just drive us home," Douglas said.
Douglas's mother, Rita Lederle, also treated Shawn like a son.
"I really felt close to him, like a mother," Lederle told Fox. "I feel sorry for the parents, not knowing he was away from them four years," she said Saturday.
"If I'd known, I would have contacted the parents in some way."
Neighbor Cynthia Dixon, 54, said of Shawn, "He didn't look depressed or anything." She told the Los Angeles Times, "He could have come to any grown-up and said, 'This guy has taken me.'"
Mike Prosperi, Devlin's employer for 25 years, told CNN he never suspected Devlin was living with anybody: "I thought he lived alone. Everybody thought he lived alone ... never took a pizza home like to feed two people."
Although Devlin had no criminal record, he had several encounters with police, often over his belligerency and anger at coming home to find his parking space occupied by another car.
Shawn's stepfather said his son was unable to flee. "He's been held against his will, and since that time he's been threatened with his life," Craig Akers told ABC television Saturday.
"He thought ... it would be the end of his life if he tried to tell anyone or do anything."
I hope your statements are sincere.
And Steven Staynor's brother, Cary was the Yosemite murderer a few years ago. He killed 3 tourists and then a park employee.
No, apparently he isn't. The networks picked up the name Michael J. Devlin, and started showing pictures of a sex offender from Utah. That guy's name was Michael JOSEPH Devlin, and the perp in MO is Michael JOHN Devlin. Odd that there are two guys with the same first and last names, especially a name that's not particularly common, but there it is.
I didn't see the movie you are talking about, but another case years ago was very much like this.
A boy had been kidnapped and raised by his kidnapper as a son. Later, his kidnapper brought home a much younger boy that he had kidnapped. Only then did the older boy decide to do something. He took the younger boy and went to the authorities. I may be way off here, but I think the older boy's last name was Stanger or something like it.
About 5 or s years ago a woman and her teenage daughter and a friend were kidnapped in California, and a huge search was done to find them. Eventually their burned out car was found in the forest and the bodies were also found. I believe a female Yosemitie employee was also found beheaded. When they finally caught the killer it turned out to be the younder brother of the older kidnap victim.
This probably was turned into a movie, but this was real life events.
Someone mentioned that on another thread, but I'm curious as to where they got that info. From everything I've read, Shawn has said nothing about his time in MO since being found by the police. He didn't say anything at the press conference yesterday.
As for the woman saying that she treated him like a son, that was the mother of one of Shawn's friends from the neighborhood, NOT Devlin's mother.
Whatever this child did to stay alive is a miracle. I agree that he was not responsible.. he is a survivor, and thank God he is. A lot people will blame him and his parents..instead of the sad, sick person that originated the crime.
And it was his brother who killed the folks in Yosemite. I didn't remember if it was his younger or older brother.
I'm not the one you need to convince of this fact. There are some really bizarre people here who would blame the child.
I'm not the one you need to convince of this fact. There are some really bizarre people here who would blame the child.
This story is too weird for me. Something just ain't right.
Well...I keep wondering about it. I want to know why the boy stayed with him and apparently did not contact anyone on the outside for help. But in doing so I am not really blaming the boy. When I as why, I'm really wanting to know how mentally did it happen. How does one quickly learn to want to stay with an abductor? Is this like some beaten wives that do not leave? At least now we have both the kidnapper and victim alive and available to study. I'm just floored at what an almost miracle this is. Imagine the hope it must give families of missing children, even from years ago.
Congratulations on taking the high road and blaming an 11 year old boy, a little boy, earring or not, for being the victim of a much older adult kidnapper.
Yea, this kid should have known better, he should have fought back (sarcasm).
Who knows what this perv told him and what psychological means and threats were used to keep this kid under his control.
I’ve thought from time to time what I might do if faced by an armed intruder or a rapist. I’d really like to think I’d fight back in some grand heroic fashion but the survival instinct is strong and sometimes that means doing and submitting to what you think will keep you alive for one more day.
Theoretically if every Jew in Auschwitz rose up as one, they may have over taken their guards but they didn’t. Fear along with psychological manipulation is a strong captor.
Remember Patty Hearst? It's a phenomenon I don't think anybody can undertstand unless they've been through it. The Mom said he feared for his life. That's good enough for me.
I agree with you--not much of this makes sense. Weird, is how I describe it.
The police don't have a missng kids photo file to familiarize themselves with local missing kids?
What???
That may not be possible.
If it's an "adjoining town" to Kirkwood, you're talking about places like Webster Groves or Des Peres, which are even more upscale than Kirkwood, and private schools in these places don't come cheap, especially if Devlin was a pizza delivery guy.
I caught the same thing. Poor police work.
I read it the same way at first, too. I thought the neighbor boy's mom was the guys mother. And that raises an interesting question: didn't the kidnapper have any contact with his family during this time? There wasn't anyone who had some reason to be suspicious about this situation?
Good enough for me too. It's easy for people to say what they would do in a situation when they haven't actually experienced it.
I can't imagine the friend's mom and dad not asking questions about the new kid in the neighborhood.
"Where did you come from?" "Where is your mother?" "What school do you go to?" "Tell me about your grandparents."
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