Mystery deepens on Mo. boy’s 4-year absence

[drunkguy]

KIRKWOOD, Mo. - While his alleged kidnapper was away at work, teenager Shawn Hornbeck apparently had access to a computer and may have put photos of himself online and posted a chilling message on a site created by his own desperate parents: “How long are you planning to look for your son?”

A series of Web postings under the name “Shawn Devlin” — Devlin is the last name of the man suspected of kidnapping Shawn and posing as his father — came to light after Shawn’s rescue from an apartment in Kirkwood last week.

Investigators would not comment on the postings, and it was not immediately known if they were, in fact, created by Shawn. But if so, they add to the long list of clues that no one seemed to pick up on during the 4½ years after the boy vanished.

this whole story is just bizarre

[homedog]

Doesn't make any sense at all, does it dg??

[Oddessa]

Bizzare , but they become brainwashed and eventually sympathize with their captors over time....there was just a segment on CNN about it. Larry King 2nite I think.

[homedog]

Something happens. Not sure what it is but something definitely happens. Doesn't make sense at all.

[drunkguy]

kid is fucked for life basically

and I am all for criminal defendent's right (god knows I've benefitted from them at times) but this is the kind of case where you should say fuck the trial. He has 2 abducted kids in his house, just take him out back and shoot him on the spot

on the other hand, I am sure the boys in prison will have lots of fun with him...

[Don Eagleston]

Agree Oddessa. Kid was brainwashed big time. It is very sad. I like kids, but parents get threatened when I talk to them. Almost not worth it; upsets them and me. Didn't use to be that way. Not sure whether there are more perverts now or we just didn't know about them in the old days. Kid will need much counselling to get on with his life.

[drunkguy]

Originally Posted by Don Eagleston

Didn't use to be that way. Not sure whether there are more perverts now or we just didn't know about them in the old days.

was watching the twilight zone a few weeks ago, main character of this episode was an older single man who hung around with kids all the time

couldn't help but think that something like that would never happen today, everyone would immediately think he was some kind of child molester

[ElmerTLee]

its called stockholm syndrome.

[Mr Falcone]

The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in an abducted hostage, in which the hostage exhibits loyalty to the hostage-taker, in spite of the danger (or at least risk) in which the hostage has been placed. Stockholm syndrome is also sometimes discussed in reference to other situations with similar tensions, such as battered person syndrome, rape cases, child abuse cases, and bride kidnapping.


The syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm, Sweden, in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28 in 1973. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to their victimizers, and even defended their captors after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. The term was coined by the criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during the robbery, and referred to the syndrome in a news broadcast.

It is sometimes referred to as Helsinki Syndrome; however, this may simply be due to the erroneous naming of the syndrome in popular media, for example by an expert psychologist and author who is a guest on a news program in the first Die Hard film.

[Minnow]

Even worse for the parents, I think.. at least the kid was (apparently) deluded into thinking his life was ok with the monster who grabbed him. His folks and the rest of his family's have had 4 years of a living nightmare, and I agree.. the end is not in sight. I just can't imagine a *normal* life anytime soon for this family.

[Dell Dude]

If I was this brat's father I would send him back to live with the molester.

[count zero]

Ready, fire, aim.

You start off acknowledging you don't understand what happened, then you're calling for the guy to be shot out of hand. Is there not plenty of time to see justice done once the whole story comes out? I mean, if the guy had just blown the kid away on the street, no one would even be talking about it here.

[drunkguy]

i understand what happened, some sick fuck is running around abducting children

i don't understand why the kid didn't run away but that is for him and his psychiatrist to work out over the next 40 or so years

is there plenty of time to see justice done? who gives a shit? when you have 2 abducted boys hidden in your apartment, one for 4.5 years, well, there's not really a whole lot of explaining your way out of that one

[count zero]

You'll have to excuse my ridiculous statements. Imagine my embarrassment when I realized I'd basically asked you to question why something could push your buttons to the point where you'd call for a person whose story you've never heard to be murdered out of hand.

Just react to whatever your glands squirt into your bloodstream. Nobody ever went wrong that way.

[Pancho Sanza]

Originally Posted by Dell Dude

If I was this brat's father I would send him back to live with the molester.

Im sure your old man feels the same about you.

[Uncle B]

this shit is getting weirder by the friggin day.


you guys seein the pics of this Hornbeck kid, that were taken while in 'captivity'?


the ones with him pointing a gun at the camera, etc.??


just... really fuckin odd.

[Bucky]

It makes you wonder?

This Devlin character - he has no immediate family ever come to visit him? Parents - siblings - friends - nothing - nobody who would say - who's this kid?

On top of that, there was an abduction before Hornbeck's in this general area that is quite similar and that boy was never found. I know everyone has constitutional rights but if there was ever a case for truth serum this might be it.

[Minnow]

Must be extremely difficult for his parents.. imagine 4 years of the very worst kind of suffering imaginable, and the kid could have contacted them anytime? Obviously the kidnapper messed him up, and there had to be some aspect of how much cooler it was with him, no school, no rules, whatever the dude brainwashed him with. But still, very disturbing!

[Uncle B]

Boy rescued after years of captivity hopes to return to school

A teenager found more than four years after he was abducted from his hometown has been tutored privately since his astonishing return home in January and may attend a private school in the fall, his stepfather said Monday.

The family deliberates daily about what's best for Shawn Hornbeck, now 15, whose incidental rescue after years of captivity drew international attention.

"Initially, we thought this would be the easy part," said Craig Akers, whose stepson did not attend classes while missing. Readjustment, he said, "is difficult in its own way."

"There's not a handbook on how to deal with this."

The comments came a day after Shawn, his family and others cleaned up damage after vandals struck a memorial that had been built in his honor in his rural hometown of Richwoods when he was missing. Police continued to search for suspects Monday after someone drove over the site.

Shawn was 11 when he was abducted while riding his bike near his home in October 2002. In January this year, another boy, 13-year-old Ben Ownby, had been missing for four days when police searched the suburban St. Louis, Missouri, apartment of Michael Devlin, a 41-year-old pizzeria manager. Police were startled to find both boys inside. Devlin is charged with kidnapping and sexual abuse and has pleaded not guilty.

While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify suspected victims of sexual abuse in most cases, the story of Shawn and Ben has been widely publicized and their names are now well-known.

Shawn, who has not done interviews since shortly after he was rescued, hopes to graduate from a public high school with his former classmates, Akers said. The family is considering a private school with limited class sizes for the coming school year. He has done well in his studies, especially in science and math.

"It would be feasible for him to rejoin his grade level some time next year," Akers said.

Shawn is also doing well socially, Akers said. He loves to ride his all-terrain vehicle and is hoping for a motocross bike for his 16th birthday next week. His parents have allowed overnight stays with friends, but he is always supervised and in the presence of a relative or family friend.

Akers said he and his wife, Pam, know that will have to change eventually. "As you can imagine, it's hard to let him out of your sight," he said.

In public, some people whisper and point, or approach Shawn and want to shake his hand. The attention can make Shawn uncomfortable, but he understands "he's been part of a lot of people's lives," Akers said.

Among those reaching out to the boy have been celebrities. Shawn met skateboarding legend Tony Hawk last month. He and his friends got basketball tips from former St. Louis University and Boston Celtics star Ed Macauley. His family tries to keep such meetings, which happened in the St. Louis area, out of the public eye.

"When we do take advantage of an offer, it's to let Shawn enjoy something he normally wouldn't have an opportunity to do," Akers said.

In the future, Akers said, it's possible Shawn will be more active in the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation, started by the family after Shawn's disappearance to support child safety and aid in the search for missing children.