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 was told absolutely not, but I dont' have the news on.
To be honest, Devlin is much better off in jail. He's safer, he will have decent care and although the Courthouse is older than dirt, it's still in pretty good shape, and the people out there are salt of the earth. Simple country, small town people.
i know I'm one of them, lol!
It's also clean as a whistle. The floors just shine. That's certainly better than being released in the public domain. He'll be fed and treated with respect. More than he deserves, but what he should be given under our law.
Lastly, it's MLK Day -- yes, even in Union, Missouri. I don't think he'd be processed out today under the circumstances.
I always figured that he let me go so easily because he really believed my mother would come looking for me. I never told anyone about it until I was 16 years old. I didn't do anything wrong except go off and play by myself w/o telling my mother but I still felt guilty and felt that it was my fault.
An early post on this thread may have given you that impression - I thought so, too, until I read it twice.
Someone had posted something in Devlin's defense and when I got to the thread, it had been deleted. Then someone else meanwhile had posted a smart-aleck response to that post before it was deleted.
The smart-a response said something like *Devlin, is that you? How'd you make the bail already?* (paraphrased).
Bless you for sharing what happened to you. It will help many realize just how inocent children are and how when something terrible happens to them they feel it is somehow their fault. I pray that Shawn and Ben get the best of help in dealing with what has happened to them. They will be in my prayers.
Thanks for straightening that out for me! I couldn't believe what I read, and obviously I just missed it. I hope and feel sure that Devlin will not be outside bars again!
No quiet little mouse here, bump!
Not likely that bond was posted. Today is a holiday and the Courts were closed.
Let's hope not. He's only being held on one charge of kidnapping right now, so when more charges are added, they may add another $1 million to the bond.
Probably not, since it's already an out-of-reach figure if he has no assets. However, it remains to be seen whether his other family members want to pony up some mortgages for the $100,000 needed. They might, once the shock wears off.
Mary Winkler, the minister's wife in TN who shot and killed her husband, got out on bond when her dad borrowed to the hilt against his home. She's free as a bird, working with the public in a dry cleaners, last I heard.
Let the Shias "hang" him. In fact, let's send all our pedophiles currently living off the fat to Iraq.
He made bail? Could you post the source?
Good points, all.
I am getting to the point that I think there are just way too many pedophiles and perverts out there. I also have an experience with a weirdo. When I was in 2nd grade, there was this guy that moved in next door - probably was in his early 20's. He'd put on "magic" shows (really lame by the way) for the neighborhood kids. Of course, as a kid, it didn't seem to hit me that here was a grown man hanging out with kids all the time. Anyway, one day, he invited me in. I was waiting for my little buddy to show up. He had a friend with him. He picked me up and asked me if I wanted to learn how big people kiss so (duh), I said, sure. I was clueless. This was in 1965 or 1966. Anyway, he started sticking his tongue in my mouth and I freaked out trying to pull away from him. Next thing you know my little friend showed up and I took off. God only knows what she saved me from, with two of them there. I never felt guilty or anything, just totally grossed out. I never, ever told my parents though because back then, this kind of thing was just not talked about. You seemed to escape a horrible fate as well.
I think that there are more perverts out there than ever get caught. A friend just told me about this old guy who used to pay little grade-schoolers money to show them their panties, and that was in the 50s.
sw
HE DID NOT MAKE BAIL. IT WAS SARCASM TO A PERSON WHO WAS BLAMING SHAWN.
Look at post 16 - then post 18 to see what was written in post 16 - then post 20
He seems to have but who knows what really goes on inside of a person. He's made a good life for himself. He's very caring and is a good husband and father.
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