Parents Suspect Abducted Son Was Abused

Michael Devlin Pleads Not Guilty To Kidnapping; Authorities Say He Confessed

(CBS/AP)  The parents of a kidnapped Missouri boy said Thursday they believe their son was molested during the four years he was missing, and his grandmother claimed his captor had awakened the boy every 45 minutes, apparently as a way to control him.

The comments came the same day the man suspected of snatching 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck in 2002 pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping another boy on Jan. 8.

Michael Devlin, a 41-year-old pizzeria manager, was accused of taking 13-year-old Ben Ownby just after he got off the school bus in Beaufort. A schoolmate's tip about a white pickup truck helped lead authorities to Devlin's suburban St. Louis apartment and to the dramatic rescue of both boys on Jan. 12.

Prosecutors said Devlin, who also is charged with kidnapping Hornbeck, terrorized the boy with a handgun to get him to cooperate.

Devlin's attorneys said Thursday that they may ask for a change of venue, reports CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith.

"There's no way we can get a fair trial in this county due to the amount of attention it's gotten," attorney Michael Kielty said.

The case has prompted authorities to investigate Devlin in cases involving two missing boys and one girl in eastern Missouri dating back to 1988.

During an interview with Oprah Winfrey on a show that aired Thursday, Hornbeck's parents said they have not asked their son what happened on the advice of child advocacy experts.

"OK, I'm going to go there and ask you, what do you think happened? Do you think he was sexually abused?" Winfrey asked Hornbeck's parents, Craig and Pam Akers.

Both nodded and said, "Yes."

While it is CBS News' policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual abuse in most cases, Hornbeck's case has been widely publicized and his name is well-known. Also, the family has gone public, conducting several national interviews.

Hornbeck's grandmother, Anna Quinn of St. Louis, told the AP on Thursday that the boy has not spoken Devlin's name and that he has said little to relatives about what he went through. But Hornbeck did tell his family that at times during his captivity, he would be awakened every 45 minutes by his captor.

"Think to yourself when you don't get enough sleep," Quinn said. "He had to do something to get his cooperation."

Hornbeck, who had dark floppy hair and piercings in his face when he was found, had a cleaner look in a taped interview with Winfrey. He said he always hoped for a reunion with his family.

"If it wasn't for Ben, I might not be here right now," Hornbeck said. "I'm thankful that he held in there for those few days. I told myself a long time ago I never wanted any kid to go through what I went through."

Hornbeck said he was not ready to discuss details of his abduction and the subsequent 51 months he spent living with Devlin. Winfrey said the boy told her off-camera that he was "terrified" to contact his parents during the last four years.

Kielty declined to respond to the claim of sexual abuse, saying he hasn't seen evidence in the case. "The only thing I have is an allegation," he said.

N.G. Berrill, a psychologist and director of the consulting firm New York Forensic and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said it makes sense to look into old cases now that a suspect is in custody.

Devlin "may have tried this before and not known how to pull it off," Berrill said.

He said a serial kidnapper tends to be "an isolated, socially awkward individual ... the kind of person people say that seemed OK and people didn't get to know them.

"He looks like an average Joe," Berrill said. "I suspect he has this need to keep kids. He's sort of collecting children."

Lincoln County, Mo., authorities called Devlin the "most viable lead" in the case of Charles Arlin Henderson, who was 11 when he disappeared while riding his bike in 1991 and has never been found.

The boy, known as Arlin, was, like Ownby and Hornbeck, about 100 pounds and from a rural town about an hour from St. Louis.

After 16 years, Henderson's mother is hoping for answers, reports Smith.

"Oh my God, Arlin could come home or I could know," said Debra Henderson-Griffith.

"We can't discount him in an investigation into any missing child," Lt. Rick Harrell said.

[sggunter1]

Some of the remarks that have been made on this subject, have basically made me sick. None of us know what happened in those four years, but if you have ever studied a mind of a sick person that abducts young boys, then you would know what he was up too when he took Ben. Shawn was to old for him, and he needed someone young again. Look at the other missing kids from that area that have never been found. It seems like Delvin has a pattern, when they get a certain age he does something with them. Ben and Shawn are both blessed to be home. Ben was proably going to replace Shawn, and thanks to the classmate that saw the truck, both kids are alive today.

[faithe2007]

Amen to that!

[perm3800]

Why is this topic even a story, let alone a headline on all mass media?? His parents think he was abused. Of course they do. Heaven forbid they have to face the fact that he didn't come home because he didn't want to come home. New stepfather, new hormones, a buddy willing to let him ahng out playing games and doing whatever he wants and not go to school??? Mr. Devine may actually be asexual or socially immature and it may just have been a boyz clubhouse, no girls allowed thing. We may never know. But the face of Shawn says he just spent 4.5 years doing whatever he wanted, endless sleepover and no abuse.

[thgdriver]

On the radio last night, a news commentator said, A few years back on the Montel Williams show a psychic said the boy was DEAD. So MUCH FOR THAT bull shi!. I AM GLAD THEY ARE BOTH ALIVE TO TELL THEIR STORY.

[faithe2007]

Notice that no one has said anything negative about Ben; SCH is the one in question. If people on here expressing their views of his unusual behavior and explanations were merely malicious, wouldn't they also be sharing some of that with Ben?

Then perhaps the reason they're not is because it's reasonable to hold a 15 y.o. to a higher standard. Persons younger than 15 have been tried as adults for murder and sexual crimes; obviously several states consider a 15 y.o. to have the mental capacity of an adult when it comes to making common-sense decisions about one's behavior.

SCH had 4.5 years to escape. By his own admission, he didn't try once. Instead, he played video games, stayed out after curfew, lost the cell phone that Devlin gave him, rode bikes all over kingdom come with his friend from the apartment bldg., went to the Mall to get lip and ear piercings and God knows what else.

If SCH *had* called 911 on Devlin, then Ben wouldn't have been abducted. But SCH's deeds went beyond that: He *assisted* Devlin in holding Ben captive while Devlin was away at work. At some point, SCH stopped being a victim (assuming he ever was one) and crossed the line to become a co-conspirator.

This is no different than the '70s case involving Patti Hearst.

15 y.o. is definitely old enough to be held accountable for one's actions or *lack* thereof. SCH is less a victim we should take pity upon than a suspect who should not be spared hard-line questioning by the police and his parents.

[yoopermom]

To those of you that feel Shawn ran away%u2026
You are talking about an eleven-year old child. Even if he ran away, why would any grown man bring him into his home and let him live there without notifying someone? I also thought going on National TV was a poor judgment on both families part, but until we are put in that situation we can%u2019t judge them. Who knows how we would react. I don%u2019t think they should have told the world that they thought he had been sexually abused and I think it was in poor taste for Opera to even ask. Unfortunately, as proven on this message board, even though he is a victim, people will find a way to blame him.

I also thought Shawn was acting funny, but again, how can I say how someone should react when I have never been put in that situation. Who knows what things this man told him. Until you have been in this type of situation, leave the analyzing too the experts!

My thoughts and prayers are with both families.

[liz19792006]

I agree with Meswin I would not risk my family's life....And in time he will come out and tell his family what happened you know he might be waiting on Devlin to be behind bars for good before he speaks...So that he can insure his family's safety...if you ask me leave the kid alone let him feel safe for once ..he can't because of everything going on....Can't everyone be thankfull that he is alive and Safe now...And Shawn needs to deal with this situation the best he knows how and hopefully intime he can come to trust people once again.....

[meswin]

i am kind of on the fence on this one. yes people who are free to do what they want day after day can sit here and ask why he didn't run or contact his parents or the authorities. but who knows what this boy really went through? would any of you risk the lives of your families, your loved ones, to break free from a captor who is threatening them? would you run for your life if it meant your child, your mother, your father, your family, would die if you did? or would you stay in a place where you were fed, clothed, had reasonable access to the outside world, to keep your family safe? i don't believe they should have dragged that kid on oprah to talk about his experience so soon though. oprah showed poor judgement to grill this kid on the past 4 years on national television only a week after he was found. i don't know if the kid ran away. i don't know if he was abducted, but wanted to stay with the abductor. nobody but abductor and abductee know what went on behind closed doors for 4 years. i think the one thing that we all need to remember and be thankful for is that tonight, this kid is back with his family.

[jeannec3]

MidMoRuss,
You've got your facts wrong. Shawn didn't have the truck when he got picked up for being out late with his friend. The boys where out late riding BIKES ! The truck belongs to the abducter. I'm sure the abducter would NEVER let Shawn drive his car. And Shawn's neighbor friend said that Shawn didn't go to school. I think the abducter was letting Shawn run free because Shawn was over the age limit he wanted. Maybe by the time he was done with him,he was hoping Shawn would run away.

[book54552134]

It is amazing the degree to which Americans are obsessed with aberrant sexual behavior. To many, it is a glaring defect in the American social structure.

[glidescube]

"The parents of this boy have affirmed that stupid people shouldn't breed. ... gone on Oprah, and said that although their son hasn't said so, they believe he was sexually abused during his ordeal. Don't they realize that by broadcasting this to the entire world that their son is going to be belittled, harrassed and treated differently by his peers aqt school?
'Posted by besttyper'"

What are you talking about. The kid's won the lotto! Soon there'll be books out and then a movie deal. The kid is financially set for life! Unfortunately he's paid a vey high price for his fame.

[billzor]

His parents shouldn't breed? He liked being held against his will, (and God knows what else?) What is the purpose of saying things like that? This child has done nothing to deserve such pathetic and useless cynicism. Mean people suck.

[porion]

Let's just thank our stars that this boy is home where he belongs. Devlin had no right to take him. At the least he kidnapped the child at the worst he abused, degraded, threaten and tortured the boy at gun point and maybe worse...the boy is what, 110 pounds tops and is being assaulted by a 290 pound pervert, frightening, abusive man??? Elizabeth Smart, in less time, walking the streets clost to her home did not try to run...she did NOT enjoy her captor, she FEARED him....maybe they threaten to kill parents and then in a time period....it becomes reality to the child, and their spirits are fearful and they surrender to the awfulness of their captures...let's just be human for a moment and be grateful, that one child (thankfully 2 in this case) is home...let's remember to thank the real hero, and that's a child who survives captivity at any cost. And the other hero, the young boy who was able to account for the white truck leaving a the area at the time of a child's abduction, without truly knowing what he was witness too! ALL of this is a miracle if they exsist for abuducted children...now what I want to know is "where in the world is Jason Wetterling"?

[tdl_cfisdedu]

gingergargoy,where on the internet did you find his family web page?( in your comment posted jan 18-12:44pm)

[tdl_cfisdedu]

Dasil27, you said that Shawn posted comments on his own missing web site? Where did you see this poster?

[nothappyatall]

The parents of this boy have affirmed that stupid people shouldn't breed. ... gone on Oprah, and said that although their son hasn't said so, they believe he was sexually abused during his ordeal. Don't they realize that by broadcasting this to the entire world that their son is going to be belittled, harrassed and treated differently by his peers aqt school?
Posted by besttyper


Exactly right, and THIS whole media circus on this, the allegations, rumors and all the rest are making this WORSE, it reminds me of the nwspaper story here about a mom whose young TEEN AGED daughter opened the mail and catalogues and one of them was a catalogue for mild pornography tapes etc. The article went on to say that the girl screamed and ran to mom and was ALL upset. Why? because she saw a NUDE man on the cover of the catalogue.

SCREAMED AND RAN to her mommy all upset and crying because she saw a PICTURE of a nude man on the cover of a catalogue. Sounded to me like mom was teaching major PARANOIA because that level of reaction is NOT normal.
We are rapidly turning kids into paranoid babbling morons who scream and run if anyone so much as LOOKS their way.
This was a teenager not a 5 year old, a TEEN never saw a picture of a nude man before? where was mom's *** ed years before?

[susanhelit]

Keep up with the case, and you'll know the facts.

He's already been charged - abduction with a weapon, and a police spokesperson has already said (with a little heat and contempt for those requiring him to answer so stupid a question, imho), that Shawn was abducted at gunpoint and there was no previous contact between them.

Threats have also been confirmed by Shawn's parents. Being human, they're not pressing him to relive all the details so quickly after he's finally escaped his 4 year nightmare.

[nothappyatall]

"The parents of a kidnapped Missouri boy said Thursday they believe their son was molested during the four years he was missing,"

They can "believe" anything they wish, but believing doesn't make it fact, till the proof is presented in a court of law and found valid, this was an abduction and kidnapping.

[faithe2007]

And you _know_ with 100% certainty that he was abducted vs. ran away...how?

[mgpm-2009]

For anyone, especially at this early stage, to assume that this boy enjoyed being kidnapped at 11 years of age and stayed with his kidnapper because he liked being with him more than being at home is almost as sick as what Mike Devlin did himself. Why is anyone passing judgement on this child? We have NO idea of what he has been through. Leave him alone. He's been through enough without you armchair psychologists pecking at him like a bunch of vultures!