Shawn Hornbeck's family gets first look at new home

STLtoday-St. Louis ^ | 03/15/2007 | By Aisha Sultan

[keats5]

RICHWOODS — When Shawn Hornbeck first walked through the doorway of his family's new home Tuesday evening, his jaw dropped and he backtracked right out of the house.

A moment later, he opened the front door again, still smiling ear-to-ear and headed straight toward his new room.

He was floored again. Shawn stood outside the blue room, with its small plasma television mounted on the wall, an encased poster of his favorite movie, "The Fast and The Furious," and an iTunes home audio system on his dresser.

Excerpt- See link for rest of story and photo of house.

[keats5]

Ping!

[FethFiada]

that's awesome!

[presently no screen name]

Incredible story! I cannot imagine how overwhelmed mom, dad and Shawn are - Shawn being found and, now, a brand-new furnished home with no mortgage.

[Bigg Red]

"This is not just a home," Craig Akers said Wednesday. "This is a testament that good will always triumph over bad."

&&
Nice story. I pray that God will help this poor young man to heal.

[nuconvert]

Thanks for posting

[StarCMC]

Cool story! Thanks for posting!

[GOP Poet]

Wow. Touching. Good always overcomes evil. Always.

[SteveMcKing]

I feel badly for the parents.

As for Shawn, the boy is a turkey. It's real lucky that he is "just a kid" and can be forgiven.

[Politicalmom]

What's your excuse for being a turkey?

[Choose Ye This Day]

Forgiven for WHAT?

[Nephi]

Another testament of the benefit to society when government is limited. People made the choice of their own free will to bless this family. Socialists would've denied them this opportunity by confiscatory taxation and the Akerses would've remained in squalor. Just imagine what the giving would be like if people weren't enslaved to the federal and state governments for half of their lives?

[SteveMcKing]

Some part of his actions spoke of a runaway. Not principally - he was still the victim of kidnapping and threats. I know it was scary and difficult at times, and we can't expect too much from a kid.

Sorry I called him "turkey". That was excessive of me.

[Politicalmom]

You call repeated homosexual rape of an 11 year old "scary and difficult", and then blame the CHILD?

You are disgusting.

[TheSpottedOwl]

That is such a wonderful story. Even the unions kicked in to pay off their old mortgage! The Lord works in mysterious ways. May He heal Shawn and raise him up...

[keats5]

Perhaps you haven't followed this story after the initial media blitz. Ben Ownsby, the 13 year old, was forcibly sodomized on the average of four times a day for the short time Devlin had him in custody. Try to imagine how that would affect you at that age, and remember Shawn was only ten when he experienced this "initiation." Shawn was also the victim of repeated sodomy throughout the years of his captivity and was forced to appear in pornographic videos (which were found on the premises).

Remember, Shawn was only ten when first kidnapped. Ten year olds do not typically run away. Ben Ownsby was kidnapped at gunpoint. It's logical to presume Devlin did the same with Shawn.

Now try to remember. When you were ten years old, what would you do to keep pornographic videos of yourself off the internet. How would you feel about your parents and friends seeing that?

Now are you beginning to understand why he didn't escape?

[raccoonradio]

>>Shawn being found

I recently read a (revised, updated) version of I KNOW MY
NAME IS STEVEN, about a 7 yr old who was abucted in Calif.
by a man who kept him for 7 years and sexually abused him.
Then the man decided to start looking for a younger victim
(Steven, whom he'd renamed "Dennis", was apparently getting a bit too "old" for him) so the perv kidnapped 5 year old
Timmy White. Just took both of them. Sound familiar? Like
this guy abducting Shawn and then trolling for another
victim, and abducting him...

what's even more sad about the case of Steven is that
a) he actually felt sympathy for the perv because he had
taken care of him (yeah, but kidnapping, oral and
anal copulation...); b) the perv (Ken Parnell) got yet
another light sentence, and c) Steven was killed in
a motorcyle/car crash when he was only 24...

[Halls]

PING

[Halls]

thanks for the ping! great news! I've been out of town and just got back!

[seekthetruth]

Thanks for the ping! Wonderful news! Shawn and his family are still in my prayers! I haven't fogotten Ben and his family either!:)