Parents rejoice after 2 Mo. boys found

Yahoo News/AP ^ | 01-13-07 | CHRISTOPHER LEONARD

[mfnorman]

BEAUFORT, Mo. - For better than four years, Shawn Hornbeck's parents dealt with their grief over the 11-year-old's disappearance by devoting themselves to bringing missing people home.

On Saturday, they showed off their best argument for hanging onto hope — the boy, now a shaggy-haired 15-year-old, joined them at a news conference a day after police found him and another recently abducted boy at a suburban St. Louis apartment, both alive and apparently well.

"Shawn is a miracle here," his mother, Pam Akers, said Saturday at an elementary school in his hometown of Richwoods. "We're glad to have him home. I still feel like I'm in a dream, only this time it's a good dream, not the nightmare I've had four-and-a-half years."

Hornbeck did not speak, but he smiled often, his mother's arm draped around him, and seemed at ease. He was much bigger than pictures of the missing 11-year-old, his hair darker and longer.

[i_dont_chat]

No, this is not the same boy.

I will do some research and post a link to THAT kidnapping.

[i_dont_chat]

Here is the story about the photo left on the doorstep.

The disappearance of Johnny Gosch

http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_256144541.html

http://www.johnnygosch.com/

[Riverine]

I have to say he was very non-descript. Banality of evil I suppose.

[Riverine]

He supposedly worked there for 20 yrs. What kept the older boy at home will be interesting to find out. He was seen playing with other kids in the apt. complex but identified himself right off when the police came in the door.

[wayne_b24]

wow!
hurl.
did he seem the type?

[Riverine]

No, he just seemed like some guy behind the counter. All I remember is giving him an order.

[rabidralph]

Thank you, for digging that up. I had never heard of the Gosch boy and this case (Hornbeck) just pricked my memory of the doorstep photos. You FReepers are a fount of knowledge, everyday!

[Hildy]

That was a very sad story. Of course we were all thinking about it when we heard about this boy. Steven had a very hard time adjusting when he got home. He got into some trouble, and wound up dying, I believe, in an accident.

His brother, Cary Steyner, ended up to be a serial killer.

So next time you think you're family is screwed up, think about this one.

[keats5]

He looks very pale for a Missouri boy. I know there's a report that he was outside once pitching a tent with the perp, but his skin tone says he wasn't outside much.

[keats5]

I've heard some amazing testimonials about hopeless lives restored through Christ.

[A knight without armor]

Strange how I just happened to see that movie one time years and years ago on tv and now I reference it so much.

[Hildy]

Yea, it was deeply disturbing.

[A knight without armor]

It is tragic and it is fascinating at the same time. Eleven years old is a pretty big kid. I think an eleven year old can be contrary and sneaky when parents are trying to get them to do something positive much less some stranger. Eleven is old enough to use a phone, plan, etc. This is one case I hope a true life book does come out of it. Like you say, if nothing else serve as a warning.

[A knight without armor]

I just read this cnn.com story. He worked at the pizza parlor plus at the Bopp Chapel funeral home. Ever hear of that place? He worked 2 days a week ALL NIGHT. Amazing how he confined the boys all that time.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/13/missing.devlin/index.html

[Hildy]

You wanna see something really bizarre? Here's a cached page from the Hornbeck website they kept over the years. Someone named Shawn Devlin from Kirkwood actually wrote a message in 2005 saying, "HOW LONG DO YOU PLAN TO LOOK FOR YOUR SON?" It could have been Shawn, but it was probably the perv.

Click here

Scroll down to December, 2005 and the post by Shawn Devlin from Kirkwood!

[Valpal1]

One of the things they tell their victims is that they will kill other family members. Having been traumatized by the predator, the threat is easily believable.

The movie was based on a true story, btw.

[keats5]

I remember hearing that Shawn told someone else (a neighbor?) that his mother was killed by a drunk driver. Maybe the perv convinced Shawn of that. He may have also convinced Shawn that the stepfather had no custody of him now that the mother was dead. Maybe he told him he would be even worse off in foster care.


Who knows? That sure would explain the way Shawn kept staring at his mother during the press conference. He did seem happy to be home.

[weberly]

i agree with you! his poor little mind and body have been decimated by one man who is an evil creature, a cruel pathetic liar thief and coward. just a hard fact, but thank God he survived, it's over. and he does have his life back now, he can recover. he is removed from the captor, he can't get him now. what i don't get is people asking questions like how, when we've already learned all about it from past cases. pedos are expert at their mind game and they have easy victims, kids. that's all there is too it, and i doubt that these details could be taught to kids so as to make them invulnerable after being caught. can you actually remember what it's like to be an 11 year old? i barely can, we don't want to think about how easy we really were, and it's hard to remember accurately. i'm already so broke up reading the possible posts from shaun, i swear i can't handle any more detail than that, thank god his family is possibly more equipped to handle it correctly. how can anyone look at those soulful eyes of that lovely boy and associate him with any more pain, at least maybe the other boy can take some of the pressure off him in the prosecution, etc.

[weberly]

he's told him all kinds of crap. and if anyone is wondering what the kid has been doing for 4 and a half years, 24 hours a day, i would say Staying Alive. Good job! i feel he was possibly rescued in the nick of time, and we cannot know if he might have ever escaped at some point in the future. as an object of scrutiny i would hope he'd be honored as a survivor, given the respect he has earned, and allowed to reclaim his life.

[keats5]

Well said.