Two missing boys (one missing for 4 YEARS) found alive in MO

apollonia666

Are any of you following this? I've been watching CNN since I got up this morning and it's definitely pulled a few tears. Wow.

Rescued boy's parents hail Missouri 'miracle'

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) -- Shawn Hornbeck smiled broadly at a news conference with his mom and stepdad Saturday, less than a day after they took him home, four years after he went missing.

"We're glad to have him home," said Pam Akers, choking back tears. "Shawn is a miracle here."

Shawn was found Friday in an apartment near St. Louis, Missouri, with William Ben Ownby, a 13-year-old known as Ben who had been missing since Monday.

"This is one of those rare rare things. To have one missing child found is just extraordinary," said Shawn's stepfather, Craig Akers. "To have two found at the same time is one of those things -- you don't even read about things like that."

"It's been like a dream. We're so fortunate. This is a prime example of why I've told everyone in this situation not to give up hope," Craig Akers told reporters as he teared up. He spoke in a room decorated with balloons and posters that read "Miracles do happen."

Shawn was last seen riding his bike to a friend's house in October 2002.

A suspect, 41-year-old Michael J. Devlin, was arrested Friday and has been charged with one count of first-degree kidnapping, said Franklin County Prosecutor Robert Parks.

Devlin was being held on $1 million bail, and more charges are likely, Parks said.

Craig Akers said: "It's hard to believe that somebody could be that brazen and just boggles my mind that somebody can just get away with it. This has been going on for four years, and he's been under our nose this whole time."

The boys were found in Kirkwood, Missouri, about an hour away from the Akers' home in Richwoods.

It is not clear what happened to the boys while they were with Devlin, but Craig Akers said Shawn had not been to school during the years he's been missing.

"All the questions will come later," said Pam Akers. "We're just trying to absorb that he's home."

The news conference was set up quickly to give hope to parents whose children were still missing, Craig Akers said. He remembered the day Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart was found -- on March 12, 2003, nearly a year after being kidnapped.

"I remember how much that raised our hopes, how much fuel that gave us to keep going," Akers said.
Boy told police who he was

The break came, thanks to a rusty white Nissan pickup truck that matched the description of that sought in the disappearance of Ben, last seen getting off his school bus in Franklin County, near St. Louis.

Two police officers in suburban Kirkwood went to a residence at the apartment complex to serve an unrelated warrant and spotted the pickup, Toelke told reporters. (Watch how police found the boysVideo)

"That resulted in the recovery," Toelke said.

Shawn identified himself to officers, Toelke said. He said Shawn's appearance had changed so much that he didn't recognize the boy.

"He looked like he'd probably grown quite a bit. He was a little taller and his hair was darker," he said.

"I'm sure the parents would have recognized him, but if he'd have walked into the office I don't know that I would have."

Video footage taken at the Franklin County Sheriff's Office showed both boys getting out of a vehicle. Ben's relatives met him at the sheriff's office, and police were notifying Shawn's family, Toelke said. (Watch the boys being escorted into the buildingVideo)

He said officers brought the boys Twinkies and doughnuts after they arrived at the sheriff's office.

Authorities divulged few details regarding the recovery, the investigation or the suspect.

"There's a lot of things that we don't know right now," Toelke said.

But he called the recoveries a "complete surprise. ... To have two endings like this is just unbelievable."

Chris Diamond, who shortly after the disappearance in 2002 co-founded the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation for families of missing children, told CNN's Larry King that the foundation's volunteers were ecstatic.

"Hundreds and hundreds of volunteers have helped search. We have scoured so many acres and acres of areas. We have tips from all over the country. We have just searched for him and we've never given up."

"There's kind of a gut feeling," Diamond added. "I had a feeling that hopefully one day we would have the kind of reunion that we're having tonight."

escap

Yeah, amazing story. I just want to find out why the kid was there for so long and was apparently well cared for. Why didn't he escape? What was the kidnapper's motive? WTF??!!

apollonia666

escap wrote: Yeah, amazing story. I just want to find out why the kid was there for so long and was apparently well cared for. Why didn't he escape? What was the kidnapper's motive? WTF??!!

Probably for the same reasons Elizabeth Smart didn't -- psychological terrorization, Stockholm Syndrome, etc.

I'm not entirely sure I *want* to know any of the details of what happened to this kid while he was with this guy.

gigi

I'm baffled too, escap. I mean the kid was out riding his bike around town. At some point didn't it cross his mind that the captor was a sicko or something and that he should get out of there? What could Devlin have possibly said to this kid. Especially to get them into the car.

apollonia666

Here's some of what Steven Stayner said of his years the captive of a pedophile:

I believe the single most important thing you can do to help find abducted children is to be aware of the problem and keep an eye out for suspicious 'family' situations around you.

For starters, many abductors are men appearing as single parents, with one child. They intentionally choose to live in isolated areas and are generally not socially active.

You should know that the first thing abductors often do is convince the child that their parents don't want them. My abductor faked phone calls to my parents. He actually told me he went to court to get legal custody. I was seven. I had nowhere else to turn. I eventually accepted the lie as reality.

The next stage was adapting for survival. This meant doing anything to avoid punishment. I actually helped my abductor keep the secret.

So don't expect abducted children to come up and ask for help. They're totally dependent on their abductors. And if they're being sexually abused, which is usually the case, the last thing they want is to draw attention to it.

I trusted no one. My greatest fear was that someone would find out the truth and confront my 'father'. I didn't know what he'd do. As bad as things were, I knew it could get worse.

To survive, abducted children must learn to lie. When people would ask me about my past, I made it up. I now assume people knew I was lying, but no one ever tried to find out why.

The full quote is here:
http://www.stevenstaynermemorial.org/Steven's Legacy.htm

The apostrophe seems to mess up the URL, but if you copy and paste the entire URL that should get you there.

Not all of what evidently happened with this Missouri kid fits what Steven Stayner described. To have been so completely convinced by this guy that he was left home alone while the guy was at work and even had friends and some freedom to leave the apartment, I can only assume the psychological abuse and brainwashing must have been really, REALLY bad.