Posted on 01/15/2007 8:27:11 AM PST by Halls
Kidnap victim Shawn Hornbeck was "brainwashed" into staying with his abductor after being told his parents no longer wanted him.
His kidnapper also threatened to shoot the 15-year-old after snatching him off the street.
Friends of the teenager have revealed Michael Devlin, 41, had at least three guns in the apartment where Shawn was held captive.
Tony Douglas, 15, who was Shawn's best friend, said: "We both knew there were guns in the house. Michael told us that he had the guns and were for his protection."
Shawn's stepfather Craig Akers, 45, has revealed his son's life was threatened by Devlin while he lived with him in a ground floor flat in Kirkwood, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri.
(Excerpt) Read more at thisislondon.co.uk ...
That's not the part I don't get. I understand why she robbed the bank, but if she had time to escape - I mean literally knew she could just walk away at any time while her captors were "at work", that's the part I wonder about. Apparently, a lot of people don't wonder very much.
Okay...that is a good enough answer...please just don't yell at me for mentioning it. LOL
The truth is...none of us know what we would do...or what that Devlin creep did do or say to Shawn.
I have one question that keeps niggling at my brain...
You know that message that Shawn supposedly entered on the website that his stepfather set up about his abduction...asking how long they were going to keep looking..was signed Shawn Devlin.
Well...Shawn spelled "Shawn" is a sort of different way to spell it...I see it spelled as "SEAN" more often.
Why didn't the people reading those posts, his parents?...not have an alarm go off...having someone posting on that site with a name spelled exactly like their son's???
I mean..I would think...even just for the heck of it...they might try to get a computer expert to find out where that post came from...just in case.
Do you see what I mean??
That is where the Stockholm Syndrome comes into play. None of us can understand it because we haven't lived it.
Yes, I understand what you are asking, only answer I can come up with is they had a lot of pranksters over the years and assumed this was one more. What it shows is you can never make assumptions and followup on every lead, no matter what.
I know you're not asking me, but I grew up with the name being spelled Shawn before I ever heard of Sean. It might be a regional thing (or not). I see it spelled both ways frequently enough. IMHO people are trying too hard to understand why in hindsight (which is 20/20) none of us were able to figure out that the boy called "Shawn Devlin" from Kirkwood was one and the same as Shawn Hornbeck from Richwood.
They did. On Thursday night, the neighbors heard screaming from what they thought was the apartment in back of theirs. The police officers arrived on Thursday night, checked the apartment in back of theirs, all were asleep and left.
The next morning, the police arrived to serve a warrant for a traffic violation at the apartment above those who had called, and the young man asked the police officers if they were there about the truck. The police responded, "no, we're here to serve a warrant." When the police were about to leave, the young man asked them to look at the truck again. They did, and it went from there.
Also, the Assistant Manager at the Imo's Pizza Parlor went to the police when he couldn't ignor the nagging little voice in his head that his Manager owned a truck just like the one described and that Devlin had been absent from work on Monday and Tuesday of that week. He felt like he was crazy to be talking to the police about the boss he had had for 20 years, but he couldn't deny that prompt he was getting from his conscience. That's how it came down. Even the police said they couldn't believe it because they had frequented the Imo's location which is two doors down from the police station and city hall.
There had been no indication that anything was wrong according to the neighbors or employees, until Ben was brought into the picture. That's the first scream they'd ever heard. No one suspected that Shawn wasn't Devlin's son. We have lots of private school students in Kirkwood, so no one thought it was particularly odd that the kid didn't go to the public schools. Lots of Catholic Schools, lots of private academies. Nobody thinks a thing of it. If you don't attend church, you wouldn't know who goes where.
Amen.
I think it may be summed up by fight or flight. I can tell you that my husband and his sister were raised in the same home, with the same crap. They are exact opposites, complete and total in every aspect of their personalities, lives, thinking, self reliance, integrity, everything. Some people believe their self worth is what others tell them it is, some people believe their self worth is what they themselves value it to be.
I think that is what forums like this are for...discussing things like this..right??
But, asking the question I asked..COULD be a question that the authorities in charge of looking for kidnapped people MIGHT use as a reason to check out any and all posts on a blog with a derivation of the victim's name.
I would think that any questions we bring up can be used as a way to possibly point out things that could be used in the future.
I think if a child of mine was kidnapped...any kind of discussions that could perhaps yield a question or answer that I or the authorities hadn't thought of...would be welcome.
But..I get the hint guys....everything I have typed on this thread has bothered someone....so I am outta here.
devlin's face should be used as the definition of the word scumbag in the dictionary.
oh God, that means the night before they got Shawn and Ben out that likely Ben was experiencing something horrible inside that apt! I can only imagine what it was like for him those few first days. It is likely what Shawn experienced his first few days with Devlin, unfortunately Shawn never got away till now. So sad!
I love that story and must say "Red Chief" is a term I've used to describe my son when he was a youngster. Years ago, when I'd take both my children to the mall, I'd hold my daughter's hand like there was no tomorrow. Yet, I'd give Red Chief a considerable amount of space to roam. I knew in my heart, kidnappers would return him in less than five minutes. My, how times have changed.
My prayers go out to both these boys and their families.
The two posts probably left by Shawn Hornbeck was a fascinating piece of information. I hope other parents of missing children and webmasters of these sites are currently reviewing their message history. Out of curiosity, I scanned most of the messages left on their website and only these two stuck out (of course with 20/20 hindsight). Maybe the FBI could do some sort of analysis of this case and develop some search program for keywords, phrases, poster's name, number of times the last name was mentioned, etc. to kick out messages that might warrant furher review.
The spread of the internet being in most households, may save a few more of these children who have survived but don't have the ability to break free. It was very sad to read those messages, realizing he had reached out, but still noone came for him (because they didn't know what they were reading). Thankfully he's safe now.
I believe I heard somewhere that this boy's father had died just 2 years before this all took place. Plus his step father was somewhat a new male role model, so those factors plus whatever evil, horrifying things this man did or said to this kid left him pretty mixed up.
I think it should be a new entry: The Devlin Treatment: followed by a description of something terrible done to punish pedophiles and also used as a hopeful deterrant to anyone who is thinking about doing something terrible to a child.
Reading this thread, it appears some people are abit too think skinned to discuss this matter objectively.
I enjoy reading EVERYONE'S opinion, even if it doesn't coincide with my own.
Txsleuth, I've always valued your input in any discussion on this forum...FWIW.
sw
Thank you.
I have always respected yours, also.
I also think that there is no such thing as asking TOO many questions when a child's life is at stake.
I see what you mean. Makes my heart break reading those posts by Shawn. I need to go have a good cry....
That was my point, why would the kid subject himself to that kind of exposure? It's not rational, the poor kid would have been better off at home, out of the view of the cameras.
You have a point. I am betting that every family that has a blog for a missing child is rereading every post. Did Shawn really leave them messages, or was it devlin taunting them?
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