Okay...that is a good enough answer...please just don't yell at me for mentioning it. LOL
The truth is...none of us know what we would do...or what that Devlin creep did do or say to Shawn.
I have one question that keeps niggling at my brain...
You know that message that Shawn supposedly entered on the website that his stepfather set up about his abduction...asking how long they were going to keep looking..was signed Shawn Devlin.
Well...Shawn spelled "Shawn" is a sort of different way to spell it...I see it spelled as "SEAN" more often.
Why didn't the people reading those posts, his parents?...not have an alarm go off...having someone posting on that site with a name spelled exactly like their son's???
I mean..I would think...even just for the heck of it...they might try to get a computer expert to find out where that post came from...just in case.
Do you see what I mean??
Yes, I understand what you are asking, only answer I can come up with is they had a lot of pranksters over the years and assumed this was one more. What it shows is you can never make assumptions and followup on every lead, no matter what.
I know you're not asking me, but I grew up with the name being spelled Shawn before I ever heard of Sean. It might be a regional thing (or not). I see it spelled both ways frequently enough. IMHO people are trying too hard to understand why in hindsight (which is 20/20) none of us were able to figure out that the boy called "Shawn Devlin" from Kirkwood was one and the same as Shawn Hornbeck from Richwood.
The two posts probably left by Shawn Hornbeck was a fascinating piece of information. I hope other parents of missing children and webmasters of these sites are currently reviewing their message history. Out of curiosity, I scanned most of the messages left on their website and only these two stuck out (of course with 20/20 hindsight). Maybe the FBI could do some sort of analysis of this case and develop some search program for keywords, phrases, poster's name, number of times the last name was mentioned, etc. to kick out messages that might warrant furher review.
The spread of the internet being in most households, may save a few more of these children who have survived but don't have the ability to break free. It was very sad to read those messages, realizing he had reached out, but still noone came for him (because they didn't know what they were reading). Thankfully he's safe now.
I see what you mean. Makes my heart break reading those posts by Shawn. I need to go have a good cry....