Questions Linger Over Kidnapping Details

Investigators who made the incredible discovery of two kidnapped boys abducted four years apart and kept in the same apartment are staying mum about details of the case while they look into what motivated the abductions and how the children were treated.

The boys — 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck, abducted more than four years ago, and 13-year-old Ben Ownby, taken after getting off his school bus Monday afternoon — were hidden in plain sight just an hour's drive from their hometowns.

"It's hard to believe that somebody could be that brazen," said Craig Akers, the stepfather of Hornbeck, who was abducted in 2002 at age 11.

In back-to-back news conferences Saturday, parents of the teenagers told of an outpouring of hugs, kisses and "I love yous" following the discovery in this St. Louis suburb Friday that they described as nothing short of a miracle.

"To have Shawn back is a miracle. I still feel like I'm in a dream only it's a good dream, not the nightmare of my last four-and-a-half years," his mother Pam Akers said.

"We're just ecstatic," Ben's mother Doris Ownby said, "don't want to let him go or out of our sight - he doesn't want us to hold on to him but we have."

The sons smiled often by their parents' sides but were told not to answer questions. Police said they could not discuss details of their investigation of 41-year-old Michael Devlin, who was jailed on $1 million bond on a kidnapping charge and could face more charges before an arraignment later this week.

Shawn said he hadn't been to school since his abduction, but that he did get outside on his own — and knew his family was looking for him. As for the question of whether Shawn ever had an opportunity to escape — and why he didn't try, police say it's just too early to know for certain.

Bob O'Brien at the Center for Missing and Exploited Children outside Washington says, sometimes, children feel they can't leave.

"There's some manipulation by the abductor to make the person feel comfortable and feel like actually their life will be spared," he said. "It works on the mind of a child. It works on the mind of an adult."

In 2002, Elizabeth Smart was found after being held for nine months by a religious zealot. After her return, there were questions about why she didn't flee her captors, even though she had many apparent opportunities.

The family of Shawn Hornbeck says it was knowing that Elizabeth was eventually found that gave them hope.

"We are so happy for them," Elizabeth's father Ed Smart said. "We just hope that every parent out there — especially all of our friends that haven't had their children come back — hold out that hope that they're out there, 'cause I believe there are some still out there."

Shawn and Ben are safely home this morning. Craig Akers, marvels that their boy was so close-by all these years.

"It's mind boggling that it was that easy to hide someone in plain sight. This has been going on for four years, and he was under our nose the whole time," he said.

Neighbors in the two-story, brick apartment complex said Devlin, a burly, 300-pound man with wire-rimmed glasses and a beard, hardly appeared to be keeping secrets. He had lifelong ties to this middle-class suburb of 26,000, family in the area, and apparently no criminal record beyond a pair of traffic fines. He was often seen coming and going from his jobs at a pizza parlor and a funeral home, and nothing seemed odd about a teenager seen hanging around his place.

The landlord at the apartment, Bill Romer, said he was in the apartment once to fix a plumbing problem and saw the teen, apparently Hornbeck, sleeping.

"As far as I knew, that was his son living with him," Romer said. "The kid's bedroom didn't even have curtains on the windows."

Rick Butler, 43, who lives across the street, said he saw no evidence that the boy was scared or trying to get away. He even saw Devlin and the teen pitch a tent outside in the complex, which sits near railroad tracks and Interstate 44 in a working-class section of well-to-do Kirkwood.

"I didn't see or hear anything odd or unusual from the apartment," Butler said. "I just figured them for father and son."

Harry Reichard, 33, who lives in the apartment directly above Devlin's basement apartment, said he would hear arguing and banging noises at all hours coming from the apartment.

The Devlin family released a statement through their attorneys Saturday expressing gratitude to law enforcement for returning the boys safely to their families.

"Just as we are relieved that both Ben and Shawn are now safe, we hope that Michael will be safe as the facts of his case are revealed," the statement said.

Both boys were abducted from rural areas of eastern Missouri, both about an hour from metro St. Louis. Hornbeck disappeared Oct. 6, 2002, while riding his bike in Richwoods in Washington County. Ownby was taken soon after getting off a school bus Monday afternoon in the Franklin County town of Beaufort, a beat-up white pickup seen by a schoolmate the only real clue.

The key to finding the two boys was the white truck, reports CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano. A schoolmate spotted it in the area just after Ownby disappeared on Monday.

When FBI agents walked into a suburban St. Louis apartment a day later, 13-year-old Ownby asked them, "Are you going to take me home?" Another teenager in the modest dwelling identified himself as Hornbeck — reported missing 4 1/2 years ago.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 58,000 children are the victims of non-family abductions. The vast majority of those children are returned safely.