These types of cases are so baffling. You wonder why the kids didn't collar a stranger, or a cop - someone - and tell them they were kidnap victims. I saw the pizzeria owner where the perp worked being interview. How could someone work for you for 25 years and yet you are in the dark about this? It's all so strange.
It's pretty scary to see how kids are manipulated and threatened into emotional entrapment. As an adult, it's hard to comprehend being too afraid to ask for help. In light of this case, we've talked to both our sons (11 and 13) about how these creeps lie and intimidate their captives. We don't want to scare them too much, but if, God forbid, they are ever abducted, we want to give them a little better chance of getting back home.
I guess he had enough self control to avoid giving himself away. He seems to be pretty high functioning in a low rent kind of way.
Not really. I read somewhere (not in the article linked) that the boy might have even occasionally come to work with his abductor, running food out to waiting cars. The St. Louis Post Dispatch mentioned that the alleged abductor might have told people that Hornbeck was his "godson." St. Louis is a very Catholic community and godparents are close to their godchildren here; it's not just an antiquated custom. From what I read, this whole thing is very believable.