Good. God only knows what that pervert told and did to him to keep him from seeking rescue.
I think the Stockholm Syndrome is in danger of being renamed the Devlin Syndrome.
My deepest prayers for the boy and his family.
Wonder if this young man succumbed to the Stockholm Sydrome?
Is there any indication of sexual abuse?
This is getting too weird. And I'm kicking myself for thinking about some 90's punk-rock tune about a kid who sees his face on a milk carton. Anyone remember the song? :)
The Shawn Hornbbeck case seems stranger than we are being led to believe. The media has hauled out all the predictable talking heads, former FBI profilers (what a pack of losers!) and even a few dubious psychologists, as well. But the facts stand as they are: the Hornbeck boy had plenty of opportunities to escape, but he did not. Why not? The media heads would have us believe that he was everything from scared to brainwashed. But, the amount of time involved, over 4 years, throws all of that into question. After all, even fear has a shelf-life. There seems a lot more to all of this than we will ever be allowed to know.
My wife saw that post the other day and wondered about it.
I have always thought there was way more to the Elizabeth Smart deal then we were allowed to hear and I think this one is going to play out the same way.
Could this have started out as a runaway that this sick pervert took advantage of? I wouldn't be against putting money on it. Could guilt of the child have played a part in his continuing to stay hidden in plain sight, I wouldn't be opposed to betting on that either. Is it possible that this sick monster played off those feelings? Ha, probable if not absolutely on that one.
One thing I am sure of, like Elizabeth Smart, we will never really know.
One thing I would like to present. SOOOOOO many kids are taken every year and so few get a spotlight shined upon them such as these examples. In return for the spotlight being shown on them to find them, they should reciprocate and let us all in on the rest of the story whatever it may be. Without that happening, people will just tune out when these things are spotlighted and the spotlight will lose it's effectiveness.
In media, leaving someone hanging does create drama, drama that keeps folks coming back for more. Do that too many times, or do not produce after the benefits reaped from "To Be Continued...." then people will just ignore later attempts.
This is a case where blatant exploitation can be used for something good, that being finding these missing children, I would hate to see that ruined and this tool removed.
I'll play amateur shrink and suggest that if the young man did this he was experiencing the Stockholm Syndrome. He may have bonded with his kidnapper.
Stayner was re-united with his family and was given the reward for rescuing White.
The case against Parnell was stronger for Stayner's kidnapping so he spent the next several years having to re-live his kidnapping in court and it about drove him crazy. He attempted suicide several times until he met a wonderful girl who he married and had two children with. Sadly, Stephen was killed a few years later by a hit and run drunk driver.
Even odder, Stephen's younger brother Cray grew up to be a serial killer (see Yosemite killer Cary Stayner)
Seems like they are going to have difficulty proving any kind of crime as to which consent would be a defense.
I don't care what anyone says about the boy not using seeming opportunities to escape or get help. They have no idea what sort of private hell he most likely was going through. Children are very malleable by those who know what to say. He might very well have given up hope.
Like someone said in an email to John Gibson's Your Word- everyone's talking about why didn't the boy ask the cop for help- why didn't the cop recognize the boy??
Maybe the kidnapper kidnapped him not for sexual reasons, but to have a permanent best friend. Maybe the boy had a lot of freedom, didn't have to go to school, could spend most of his time playing video games and was allowed to eat as much pizza and candy as he wanted. I hope that's the case.
This is seriously messed up. Prayers to this boy and his family.
I would suspect that everyone one of you know someone who is being mentally and verbally abused and you wouldn't know it. There are methods of manipulating the way people think that we do inherently as human beings. There are many many marriages, parent/child, office, etc relationships out there that are patterned on abuser/abusee relationships. The problem is that such control is so insidious that it's often difficult to understand that it's happening. Particularly due to our magnificent ability to adapt.
I worked in an office on a contract basis where the manager regularly demeaned the employees. It was done in such a way that it was hard to identify but when you know what to look for it's quite apparent. The way in which this manager communicated effectively controlled these individuals - it gave her power and made things productive but I watched as these people regularly struggled emotionally to cope with the environment.
My point is that people, more often than you realize, submit to abusive behavior thinking they have no choice and they do so for years on end at all age levels. We should not be surprised at Devin's behavior. He was clearly being abused and survived.
The weirdness of this story will eventually come out. We have not heard the entire story.
I don't know if anyone watched the presser tonight on the 17th, the media is bilge. I don't know how they do not digust themselves. What a bunch of sick MFs, they accuse this child of what they do on a daily basis. Geez, yuck!