Archive for the ‘Missouri’ Category
Oprah interviews the Hornbeck family
January 19, 2007
Yeah, I watched Oprah “go there” yesterday questioning the parents of Shawn Hornbeck, the Missouri boy just found by the police after being held for 4 years against his will by Michael Devlin. She asked the parents if Shawn was sexually abused.
Dan Savage asks was it in Shawn’s best interests for the parents to go on Oprah in front of the whole world and answer the question “Was he sexually abused?” They, by the way, answered “Yes.”
Oh God! The parents said that some social service organization was in touch with them…didn’t they ask if it would be “good” for Shawn to go on Oprah so soon?
I noticed that when Shawn was questioned by her he WAS able to say he didn’t want to answer some of her questions. He told Oprah he prayed to get through it.
And how come the family (and Shawn?) agreed to it so soon? And did you notice the younger boy, Ben, I think his name is, was not there?
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I hope prayer does right by him now. The road ahead will be hard, very hard.
Check out my January 13th and 16th posts on the Missouri kidnappings.
maryt
More about kidnapped Mo. boy…
January 16, 2007In an ABC News article By Jim Salter, Jan 16, 2007 (AP)—
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ShawnHorbeck who is now 15, was 11 when he was kidnapped in 2002 while riding his bike near his rural home.
Shawn apparently had the freedom to go outside, and perhaps even to use phones and the Internet.
A series of Web postings, some under the name “Shawn Devlin,” have raised questions about whether he was trying to send clues about his real identity.
At 1:59 a.m. on Dec. 1, 2005, a “Shawn Devlin” asked in a forum on the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation Web site: “How long are you planing (sic) to look for your son?” Shawn’s parents, Craig and Pam Akers, started the foundation to help find their son and other missing youngsters.
Later that same day, at 2:56 p.m., Shawn Devlin wrote to ask if he could compose a poem for the family. The poem never appeared in future postings.
Other Web profiles also appeared to be of Shawn, including the profile on mindviz.com, which described “Shawn” as a single atheist with a pet cat living in Kirkwood.
Investigators would not comment on the postings, and it was not immediately known if they were, in fact, created by Shawn or by someone else. Either way, they add to the long list of clues that no one seemed to pick up on while the boy was missing.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday cited anonymous investigators as saying that Devlin kept Shawn from fleeing by threatening to kill the boy and his entire family, perhaps explaining why Shawn passed on ample opportunities to get away. Devlin’s attorney, Michael Kielty did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday seeking comment on that allegation.
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Dr. Juliet Francis, a clinical psychologist and consultant for the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, said it is not unusual for a bond to develop between an abductor and the child.
“It developed when someone feels that their life is being threatened, but they aren’t killed,” she said.
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It’s kinda like waiting for the other shoe to drop, ya know. How will Shawn turn out after 4 years under the domination of this man Devlin? What’s behind that smile in the picture above?
maryt
Missouri man arrested for kidnap of 2 young boys
January 13, 2007
It’s only out on Reuters so far but it’s an amazing story:
The police went out to find Ben Ownby, 13, who had last been seen on Monday near his Beaufort, Missouri, home. When they went to apartment of Michael Devlin, a pizza parlor manager, they found not only Ownby but Shawn Hornbeck, 15, who was last seen on October 6, 2002, riding his bicycle in the St. Louis suburb of Richwoods.
“A tip about a white pickup truck seen in the vicinity of Monday’s suspected kidnapping of Ownby led authorities to Devlin’s Kirkwood, Missouri, apartment, law enforcement officials said. Devlin’s bail has been set at $1 million. “
That’s all that’s known right now but I’m sure we’ll hear more in the future. The parents are ecstatic, of course, I’m sure the parents of Shawn Hornbeck are particularly thankful.
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Will these boys be all right? Particularly Shawn Hornbeck who had been kept for 4 years. There aren’t any answers yet…
maryt
