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."
Sean's family appears to be a good family who have gone through hell. I hope the creep who caused this hell for them will be punished and put away forever.
It seems his kidnapper put profiles all over the internet of Shawn. See the updates toward the bottom.
http://truecrimeblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/amazing-development-in-terrible-story.html
Besides, an 11-year old could be brainwashed to a certain extent, and made to believe that this is his new life. Young people adapt very quickly to living circumstances. Who knows? The fact is, we don't know anything about this poor boy's circumstances, nor is it really our business. It's the police's and the family's.
This guy was pretty big, around 300 lbs, I think. I am sure most people would try to fight like hell at first, but I think Devlin would easily have been able to overpower most 11 year olds. He may also have had weapons that he used to keep Shawn in fear for his life, until he had him 'trained' to comply. He probably threatened Shawn from time to time when he felt it was necessary. Doesn't it say something like that at the end of the article anyway?
According to statements at the press conference yesterday morning, Shawn was not schooled all these years, but told others that he went to a private school in the next town over from Kirkwood.
SQ: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.
His dad DID mention the comment about the age-progression image being an "insult" during the presser. I think most of the information we're getting is coming second-hand, in that I don't think Shawn has said anything to the press directly, but he may have spoken to the police (or maybe not, I just don't know). Some of what we're learning is coming from his dad or from other people who knew him while he was missing (but didn't realize that Shawn was the missing child that was being sought after).
Is that clear as mud?
As to why he didn't tell anyone that he was the child in the picture, I understand that he was most likely threatened to not reveal anything to anyone in order to spare his life. This is a common way for the perp to control the kid. It happens all the time to people who are sexually abused, much less kidnapped and held against their will, so the victim complies out of fear.
What's not right is that a 36/37-year old man kidnapped and held captive (psychologically if not always physically) a kid for 4+ years. If Shawn was really living in the complete open, then Devlin's co-workers would have known about Shawn, and his family would have known about Shawn, but apparently they didn't. People who knew Mike Devlin before Shawn was kidnapped never knew he was with Devlin, only people who hadn't known him until he moved into the apartment where the boys were found. It doesn't all make sense to us yet, and it may never make complete sense, but thank God that both boys were found alive and in relatively good health.
Don't make the assumption that Shawn was the new kid in the neighborhood. Both kids could have moved there about the same time, the other kid may have moved in after Shawn.
Also, some kids are shy when they first start meeting others, and don't talk about their families much. For example, I have a brother 2 years older than me, and nobody at high school knew that he was my brother until they became friends with me separately and by coincidence. One friend had even told me that he thought my older brother was an only child who only had a father (there were six of us, and our parents were married for 53 years before Dad passed away!) So it happens, even to "normal" kids. (Yes, I scolded my brother about that, but he insisted that it wasn't intentional. I had to admit he was rather shy about some things.)
I wonder if the guy told the kid this and the kid really believed it. That could explain a lot.
I guess there are no nosey neighbors anymore. No one noticed that he didn't go to school? Even if he said he went to private school...he would have to GET there and home.
There's a lot of areas where someone could have picked up on something weird. We live in a very small, close knit community and homeschooled for our first year here and EVERYBODY knew it. People talk here and there are no secrets.
I really don't see how they could miss him not getting picked up by a bus, or going to a bus stop. And a pizza delivery guy makes enough to support himself and send his son to a private school out of town? And the kid never went outside during the school day, ever?
Your thoughts are mine exactly. They lived in an apartment where there is WAY less privacy than a home, yet nothing seemed out of whack?? Did anyone get suspicious 4 years ago when this kid just shows up? Just bizarre.
Only thing I can think of is that he was truly mentally messed with by Devlin into thinking that his family didn't want him, even though there were flyers and tv spots. Frightening that someone could mess with a child's mind like that, but it happens all the time.
On the subject of privacy, Devlin's landlord just couldn't believe this happened - and mentioned he didn't see how he could've kept it all hidden, that there are no curtains on the windows in the back bedroom and they open onto a public area!
It's a good thing they weren't all that close, really. I found another of his brothers and he's a 4th grade teacher right there in their older hometown.
I agree. I feel certain that he was threatened into compliance, and so never reacted. If he had shown what was really going on, he probably figured he'd be dead. Who knows if Devlin would've followed through, Shawn knew enough that he didn't want to test it out, at least until Ben came along. When Ben asked if the FBI was there to take him home, and the answer was positive, I'm sure that gave Shawn the courage to reveal his true identity. God bless his precious heart!
For instance...what if he had been on restriction or if he was riding his bike in an area where he wasn't allowed and then the abduction took place? An 11yr old may not have been able to rationalize what happened and may have blamed himself or thought his parents would be mad at him for disobeying. Throw in the emotional turmoil of sexual abuse and it's just a huge mess.
To adults, 4 years is just time. In childhood, 4 years is a huge span in emotional and physical development. He would have been extremely vulnerable.
What? Excuse me, but if you go back and read my post you will see that I am responding to another poster's comments on the boy's lip piercing and earrings. I was simply pointing out that he already had one earring in the picture circulated at the time he disappeared. My implication was that the new ones might have been a result of his own teenage taste, not necessarily the abduction. I was in no way suggesting that the earring had anything to do with his being targeted by his kidnapper. The victimization of a child is a particularly odious crime. I was in no way, shape or form blaming Shawn for his ordeal. I'm sorry if that is what came across.
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