Missouri Abduction Suspect: "I Was Lonely"

Michael Devlin, the man accused of kidnapping two Missouri boys, says he still hasn't decided how to explain himself to his parents, who have not visited him since his arrest.

"It's much easier talking to a stranger about these things than your own parents," Devlin told the New York Post in an interview published today. He is accused of kidnapping teenagers Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby.

In two jailhouse meetings with reporters Devlin talked about his life before and after his arrest, but refused to discuss the criminal charges or the alleged crimes.

Devlin said only his lawyers have visited him since his arrest, although his parents and siblings live nearby.

The Post said Devlin appeared downcast and red-eyed during the first interview Friday, but was smiling and more upbeat during an interview Saturday.

"I feel nothing," he said in the first interview. "I hide my emotions from other people. I hide the way I feel."

Around 2002, he started losing contact with close friends, most of whom he knew from Imo's, the pizza parlor he managed in Kirkwood.

"I guess you could say I was lonely. All my friends starting getting married and having kids," he said. "Hanging out with friends just becomes a lower priority (for them)."

He says he was relatively happy during the four years Hornbeck lived with him before being found at Devlin's apartment January 12th. He declined to say if he's ever had a girlfriend but said he's not interested in romantic relationships.

The 41-year-old pizzeria manager is accused of taking 13-year-old Ownby just after the boy got off a school bus Jan. 8 in Beaufort, Mo., about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis. A schoolmate's tip about a white pickup led authorities to Devlin's apartment in Kirkwood, Mo., a St. Louis suburb, where they found Ownby and Hornbeck on Jan. 12. Shawn had been missing since 2002.

Devlin pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of kidnapping Ben. He also is charged with kidnapping Shawn but has not entered a plea in that case.

The 6'4", 300 lb. inmate says he's being kept away from other prisoners at the Franklin County jail because his lawyer and guards think he may be attacked. He says he thinks that is likely, and he'll deal with it when it happens.

But he says he's not a danger to himself, calling it "bizarre" that he was kept on suicide watch the first two days he was in jail.

Devlin spoke of having a "normal" childhood. "It was happy as far back as I can remember," he said.

While growing up in Webter Groves, Mo., he did not express much enthusiasm for school, saying he "wasn't much of a student," and dropped out of a Jesuit university after one semester.

Devlin described himself as an outdoorsman, particularly fond of hunting and fishing, but amputations of two toes because of his diabetes forced him to give up those hobbies. Currently his interests have included playing video games, a pastime police say Devlin shared with Hornbeck.

If not for being in jail, Devlin told a reporter, "I'd be in front of my computer screen playing 'Final Fantasy XI.'"