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 ...
I know. I was hoping against reason that the monster took Shawn for something other than the usual with these scum.
A Poster Said that using scarsam to another poster who implied Shawn Deserved It . The Poster was insinuating that the freeper poster was Devlin by their comments
I can't imagine anyone believing that he wanted to stay with this guy - particularly in the beginning. After 6 months any desire to stay was a product of sheer mental and emotional abuse. The kid never had a choice.
I grieved for the most recent kidnapping assuming he was dead. I was overjoyed to learn he was alive - but when they announced a second boy was saved who had been captured 4 years earlier at the age of 10 or 11... I was crushed. My heart ached for his family and for him. They have much to go through still.
oh.......I don't get it, but that's ok!
People age 11 are able to think for themselves and are already embarked on their main life path.
This popped into my mind... how many of us have had a fight with our spouse, and when the spouse says "I didn't know, you didn't say anything" our reply is "well you should have just known."
Maybe he is thinking: The police are the authority, they should know. And if I tell them, they will just think i am lying to get out of trouble.
Sure he has to be comfortable at home. And allowing him to be a kid is fine. Smothering him isn't good either. But he still has to be protected and given guidance. Right now, other adults, like those on TV and in the media, are trying to take advantage him. He's spent the past 4 yrs having an adult take advantage of him and learned to survive that way. His parents need to step in and say "No More", not go with the flow.
They all need therapy.
Keep us informed and thanks for your post!
I would suggest you people wait until the entire story comes out before casting judgement on this child and his parents.
What I am reading on this thread is unbelievable. It sickens me that some insist on blaming the child.
There by the grace of God there go I. We really do not know how we would react if under the same or even the most horrible unimaginable circumstances.
Those of you who are "just trying to understand", there is no understanding of it until the facts are out.
Instead of spending your time in judgement, try spending time praying for these people.
The freeper who implied Shawn deserved had his post removed by a moderator . Another freeper was implying that the poster who thought Shawn deserved it ( Was Really Devlin Who Got Out Of Jail )
I understand your pov. I would avoid the press at all costs too. But, to be honest, if that route is taken, there are some who would be suggesting they were being too closed off (I remember that with the Smart case).
I think they are taking the approach of lets do this now, get the press off of our back, then we can start addressing the healing process.
I have read in this thread that the parents are to appear on Oprah; did this include Shawn? If not, just getting out there and addressing the questions and then going home is an ok path. Personally, I would tell Oprah to take a flying leap, but that is me.
You are now part of the problem. Return to engineering.
"Can lawdude please buy a brain?"
Well a$$wipe, in my world, the Constitution still applies. Apparently you are content to apply laws to suit YOUR IQ=10 mind. Perhaps it should happen to you? Now crawl back into your la-la hole.
Briefly had that idea go through my head too. What was Devlin's history before his adoption. Given his age, the effects of what a child goes through during an adoption were not understood that well. I was pondering that maybe he was just messed up enough to think that he needed to "adopt" a child and this is how he went about it.
I think I read somewhere that the family is financially ruined because of all the money they spent trying to find Shawn. I assume they are getting paid for the public appearances, money they could use to fund Shawn's extensive counseling that is going to be needed. While I don't think the appearances are necessarily a good thing, I can understand them if that is their thinking.
Must be a lib. Cant debate without resorting to name calling. Well lawdud there is this thing called common sense and I would hazzard to guess that you thought OJ was guilty also.
well, that goes all right out the window when someone tells you to come with them with a gun in their face!
I hope you don't think I was blaming Shawn. I was hoping to put the worm from post 16 back in his hole.
I am sorry that people thought that Devlin was out of jail on bond with my comment to the poster in post 16. He made comments that I expected to hear from Devlin's mouth through his attorneys and not from someone who is a freeper.
11 remains able to think and remains essentially the person he will be forever.
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