need to add title here

Kidnapped

September 5, 2009 8:00 PM

In Full: They were each kidnapped at age 11 and held captive for years. How did Jaycee Lee Dugard survive? Shawn Hornbeck knows and shares his incredible story.

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by behooved October 23, 2009 6:13 AM EDT
the technology is available we can microchip our pets and GPS can easily track our cell phones, then why in the world in 2009 can't we permanently microchip and/or GPS chip our children somehow? sure seems like it would give parents & law enforcement officials an advantage on the pedophiles & perverts. there are too many of these sad stories and they are all both heart wrenching as well as life altering. we need to protect the children.
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by rn1lori October 22, 2009 12:31 PM EDT
Shawn Hornbeck and his parents, Pam & Craig are amazing people...bright lights of their own...calling all angels.
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by dianaclifford October 15, 2009 1:43 AM EDT
To the person who asked why Shawn Hornbeck did not call 9-1-1; comparing it to how even their 3 year old can do this. It's hard not to use words like ignorant in here because this kid 'survived'! I survived an abduction/rape because of the stalkholm syndrome, (where one simply becomes friends with the abuser in order to have them see you as human...and no you aren't thinking...'I'm gonna play this person and then get away'. You see, they would be able to see through that and when you want to live, you do what you have to do to make this happen. I am a doctor of psychology now, and I cannot express enough that this boy did everything right!!! He would not have survived otherwise. I think the interviewers made the perfect comment when they stated that Shawn was so grateful the guy did not kill him that he felt he had to follow through on his end of the bargain. When you are in a situation like this, you don't think like you do in hindsight. It is like watching a movie where you see someone walking and wonder.."why don't you see this guy hiding around the corner up there stupid???" You are on the outside looking in...you have zero idea how traumatic it is...what dissociation feels like, and how absolute the psychological shift is that helps these people to survive. Chances are...if he would have tried to run or call 9-1-1, he would be dead today. Maybe he wouldn't but he was not taking any chances. I hope you will appologize for this comment because it adds to the deep shame and guilt this poor young man must already have within him. However, he is clearly a centered person, with an immense amount of intelligence and self love. He had a good nurturing start to life and this has brought him this far after such a tragedy.

Good For You Young Shawn. I sincerely hope you will do something amazing with this experience because you have more to offer the world than you may even realize...or maybe you do....lots of love and prayers for you and yours brave soul
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by San_Diego_Girl October 3, 2009 12:28 AM EDT
Shawn- WOW!! You are an amazing person!!! I can not put into words the amount of respect I have for you and your family! Continue to be who you are, you are 1% of the population when it comes to the respect you have for yourself, your family and your life!
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by jessica_1125 September 23, 2009 6:15 AM EDT
I don't fault CBS one whit for including the ignorance of those who don't or can't understand the mind-crushing damage, fear, mind-numbing and control that goes hand in hand with child abuse and/or abduction. If anything, it makes those "doubters" look exactly like what they are: ignorant, uneducated buffoons. A news organization has a duty to present all sides--even if some of those sides are painfully wrong or ignorant.
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by diana196464 September 18, 2009 12:32 PM EDT
This country needs to start a child identification system, I mean every child needs to carry a legal ID... when you are stopped in any circumstance by police... you are asked to produce ID.. .most of us produce a driver's license or dept. of motor vehicle ID (not a license).... IF A KID IS STOPPED ON A BIKE BY A COP, THE COPS SHOULD ASK FOR ID....
A NATIONAL CHILD ID SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE IN PLACE... if you an adult stopped by police for a traffic ticket the cop should ask for ID from you and your juvenile passengers!!! either kids have a passport (like my 11 year old son does) or each state issues an ID for every child similar to a driver's license, with a scan bar on the back. this information would list the child's parent's/legal guardians.. if you get stopped by a cop with a kid and NO ID for the kid... then you're questioned by police to prove the child belongs in your custody...
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by diana196464 September 18, 2009 12:32 PM EDT
This country needs to start a child identification system, I mean every child needs to carry a legal ID... when you are stopped in any circumstance by police... you are asked to produce ID.. .most of us produce a driver's license or dept. of motor vehicle ID (not a license).... IF A KID IS STOPPED ON A BIKE BY A COP, THE COPS SHOULD ASK FOR ID....
A NATIONAL CHILD ID SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE IN PLACE... if you an adult stopped by police for a traffic ticket the cop should ask for ID from you and your juvenile passengers!!! either kids have a passport (like my 11 year old son does) or each state issues an ID for every child similar to a driver's license, with a scan bar on the back. this information would list the child's parent's/legal guardians.. if you get stopped by a cop with a kid and NO ID for the kid... then you're questioned by police to prove the child belongs in your custody...
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by diana196464 September 18, 2009 12:27 PM EDT
We need to program our children to know what to do if they are kidnapped. How to reach out to anyone to get away... how to flee ... how to NOT MENTALLY LET GO OF THEIR LIFE BEFORE THEY WERE KIDNAPPED. this case of Shawn staying with this man after being kidnapped at 11 ... and not running is unbelievable to me.. I have an 11 year old son and he is strong and smart and I cannot imagine him not running or telling neighbors or other people he was left with while the kidnapper was at work that he was kidnapped and CALL 911!! helll... why didn't Shawn CALL 911???????????????? EVERY KID IN THE COUNTRY KNOWS HOW TO CALL 911... MY SON DID IT WHEN HE WAS 3 JUST BECAUSE KIDS ARE TAUGHT TO DO THAT IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY OR FOR HELP!!!
WE NEED TO EDUCATE OUR KIDS HOW TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES IN THIS SITUATION.... EDUCATE EDUCATE EDUCATE...
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by JustLikeU322 September 13, 2009 8:29 PM EDT
I am also a survivor. It took many years to finally be able to share my story. I must share that I was offended by the remarks of Shawn's former neighbors as they appeared to blame Shawn for not being rescued sooner. Just know, Shawn, that there are many of us who truly do understand.

We must NEVER, EVER blame a child. Period.
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by gcboyd September 11, 2009 7:01 PM EDT
How is it these sickos are still out there taking our precious children. Just recently one of them again released to PaloAlto, Ca neighborhood near a daycare and school!

What can we do to protect the children?

These sexual sicko's do not loss the urge! Send them somewhere on an island where they can never come in contact with anyone under the age of 18 yrs old. Keep them locked up! We need to protect the children from these creeps. As I child a man attempted to molest me, luckily my parents were close by! It can happen so quickly.
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by findingbutch September 10, 2009 10:22 AM EDT
Greetings,

My sister and I were sexually molested by our neighbor "Butch". She was just four and I was only six. We share the same birth date; however, two years apart. I told my story to millions on CBS morning news in July of 2007. I'm 46 today and the pain will always be part of my memory; however, I refuse to allow those memories to ruin my future. I am a survivor. I have created a website www.findingbutch.com to help those who have endured the same pain and need a place to open up.

Someday ...I hope to tell my story at length.

Ron
www.findingbutch.com
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by SurvivorCBG September 8, 2009 6:17 PM EDT
Firstly there was no reference to Jaycee Lee Dugard in the programme, only the tagline at the top. Hornbeck's case, right down to the rescue following a second kidnapping, has a much closer link to Steven Stayner's abduction and rescue in the 70s based on what happened, rather than just numerical ages. It's a shame that society in general hasn't grown up much in 30 years and there doesn't seem to be any less of the voyeuristic questioning aimed at Shawn Hornbeck that Stayner had to endure once he survived to return in the 1980s, and that was back when child abuse was borderline tolerated compared to how it's treated now. Dugard is basically getting the space she needs considering how much further the abuse went and it's a shame the news media couldn't treat a male victim with the same respect.

If as is reported on Shawn Hornbeck's official site, the programme makers spent nearly a year with the family recording 100 hours, to show footage of a relative of one friend stating "I'd like to think he could've told me" was time better spent elsewhere, like hearing more from Ben Ownby, it was the boys' story and not the place to give a platform to the doubters - you can read their views online.

Oh and another thing, before and after my abuse I was able to do plenty of childhood stuff that made me smile...as it was, get this, *childhood*! Happy stuff also happens to kids who have been hit by any form of child abuse between birth and high school graduation - and there is no reason to tell someone who would mete out the kind of misguided judgement and comments that Hornbeck has had to endure, he told the police what was necessary to help put the perpetrator away forever in lieu of other evidence - he owes nothing to anyone after that.

To make out like the entirety of someone's life was a cover-up or that they were complicit due to one bad event that they decline to share with you, however long it lasted, is plain ignorance, but there's an army of people out there that still see ignorance as bliss, even regarding child abuse.
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by SurvivorLewis September 8, 2009 5:15 PM EDT
I would like to reflect what DJ and Scott said and i hope that society does learn something from this tragedy.

Lewis
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by SurvivorScott September 8, 2009 2:39 PM EDT
As a survivor. Abused for nearly 8 years... I never told anyone.

The guilt and shame of it all was bad enough, and I didn't have someone beat me, threaten me with a gun, choke me, and tie me up.

Why is it ok in our society to abused as a girl, but if you're a boy, it's somehow your fault??? Complete ignorance is what it is.

Shawn did what he had to in order to survive. In his 11 year old mind his only choices were to obey or die. There was nothing else. Those who insinuate otherwise, are severely uninformed and uneducated on what trauma like that does to a person.

I hope attitudes in this country can change, I hope awareness can be raised. It's definitely more than needed as abuse statistics go up every year.
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by neveragain33 September 8, 2009 11:40 AM EDT
I am very upset at the media and the general population and the neighbors of Shawns when they stated "why did you not tell?". *** - I thought. Here is a boy age 11 being "abducted", beaten, sexually assaulted and threatened with death. Even an adult would have trouble dealing with this but, a child/boy OMG get a clue.

Shawn was/is frightened. Who would NOT be terrified - REALLY terrified if you were taped to the furniture all day, beaten, choked and sexually assaulted at any age but especially as a child.

People get a clue. This boy is TERRIFIED. Does it help in our own sense of shame at not be able to help this boy to ask a stupid question and put the blame onto a troubled boy by asking the question "why did you NOT tell?"

Give the boy a HUG.

DJ
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by l80bug79 September 6, 2009 12:13 AM EDT
This story is enough to make anyone believe in miracles. God bless Shawn, Ben and both their families.
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