Posted on 02/05/2007 4:31:34 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
For First Time, Officials Openly Accuse Michael Devlin Of Molesting Children
(CBS News) CLAYTON, Mo. A Missouri man accused of kidnapping two boys and holding one for more than four years was charged Monday with molesting them — nearly 70 times in all.
The charges were the first time authorities have openly accused Michael Devlin of molesting the children.
Devlin, a 41-year-old pizzeria manager who had previously been charged with two counts of kidnapping, was charged with 69 counts of forcible sodomy, all felonies and each punishable by up to life in prison.
St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCullough said 18 of the counts related to an abduction last month, and the remaining counts were related to an abduction several years ago, apparent references to the Jan. 8 disappearance of 13-year-old Ben Ownby and the 2002 kidnapping of Shawn Hornbeck, now 15.
For the four days he was held, Ben was molested four times a day, prosecutors said.
Both boys were found inside Devlin's apartment in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood on Jan. 12.
McCullough said the evidence includes interviews with all of the people involved. "Devlin acknowledged committing these acts," McCullough said.
Devlin has pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping charges.
Shawn was 11 when he vanished while riding his bike near his home in Richwoods. Ben disappeared after he got off the school bus in Beaufort on Jan. 8. A white pickup seen speeding away led police to Devlin, authorities said.
Authorities have said Devlin used a gun to threaten Shawn when he was abducted in 2002.
While it is CBS News' and The Associated Press' policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual abuse in most cases, the story of Shawn and Ben has been widely publicized and their names are now well-known. Also, their families have gone public, conducting several media interviews.
Last week it was learned that Hornbeck was ordered to guard fellow captive Ownby and hide him from police after they were repeatedly left alone in their captor's apartment, an official close to the investigation told The Associated Press Thursday.
Hornbeck's cooperation with Devlin was the result of what Hornbeck experienced during his first 30 days of captivity after Devlin allegedly kidnapped the boy in 2002, said the official who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
Hornbeck's isolation and abuse during that first month were so intense that the then-11-year-old's identity was torn apart, the official said. Over time, Hornbeck began to see Devlin as his protector and surrogate parent — a pattern common to many abuse victims, the official said.
"He's a victim. He was kidnapped. He was taken from his parents. He was forced to live with this guy. He was forced to accommodate," the official said.
Meanwhile, the investigation into Delvin has expanded, police say, with authorities searching one of his previous homes and investigators in Illinois looking into a possible connection to the 2003 murder of a 7-year-old boy.
St. Louis television station KTVI showed photos it obtained, apparently of Hornbeck, one of two missing boys found Jan. 12 in Devlin's apartment in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood. One of the photos shows a boy pointing a handgun at the camera.
General population will take care of him.
that little boy Ben was assaulted FOUR TIMES A DAY, OY.
Michael Devil
We all knew that this would be revealed, sooner or later.
.45 slug to the back of the temple will be better.
And this is EXACTLY why i vehemently opposed the media, Oprah and the stupid (go ahead and flame me) parents of the older boy for putting him on national TV!!!
I guess we will have to give the public all the lurid details. They should have even kept the younger boy off TV!
So all you amateur psychologists can now go on and on about how " all this public exposure was so healing for these kids." Lots of Maroons on these threads! you would think Freepers would be more protective of children from the media!
I vote for Daumerization. The sooner the better.
PING
Those poor boys. I pray that they can get the help they need to get on with their lives. Ba$tards that do this need to be executed (not humanely) & made examples of.
He just needs killing.
I don't know this for a fact, but I know the Hornbeck family relied heavily on the media during the 4 years Shawn was missing. I would imagine they felt obligated in a personal sense to make appearances. As i understand it, they only did one day of appearances and went back to their privacy after that.
Hello,
I knew that this was coming, and yet I am just sick. And the next person in this town (St. Louis) that tells me that Shawn "wanted" to be with Devlin, how COOL it was that he got to play video games and not go to school, I may just have to slap.
To those people, NOT you Halls, or the others that have kept this thread going, read the article. "What Shawn went through during the first month tore apart his identity". He was put through hell. He was 11! BOR, have you gotten it yet? He was 11.
MOgirl
Dear God.
What a nightmare.
My heart aches for these two boys.....Devlin is a bad machine(to quote Vonnegut) and what do we do with bad machines, we take them to the dumpster......hell is too good for this POS.
God Bless Shawn and Ben; heal them of their many wounds, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Article says: "Devlin acknowledged committing these acts."
I hope this means the defense attys will not try to portray Shawn as some kind of willing accomplice.
Nail this bastards balls to a tree stump and push him over backwards, then give him to general population.
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