shawn hornbeck
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Shawn Damian Hornbeck (born in 1991) is a former kidnap victim from Missouri.[1] He was reported missing by his family on October 6, 2002,[2] after not returning to his rural Missouri home in Richwoods, Missouri from a bicycle ride. Following his abduction, his stepfather founded the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation, a charity organization devoted to the search and rescue of other abducted children.
On January 12, 2007, he was discovered living with a 41-year-old man, Michael J. Devlin in Kirkwood, Missouri. Devlin was charged in the kidnapping of Ben Ownby, who was found living with Devlin and Hornbeck. Devlin is being held on a $1,000,000 bond.[3]
Some news sources suggested Shawn may have fallen victim to Stockholm syndrome, in which hostages or kidnapping victims sometimes befriend their captors.[4] Some news organizations say he also may have posted messages to the guest book of the web site his parents set up to find him.[1] At 1:59 am on Dec 1, 2005 a "Shawn Devlin" posted on the ShawnHornbeck.com forum, asking "How long are you planing [sic] to look for your son?". Then at 2:56 pm the same day, "Shawn Devlin" wrote the forums again, asking if he could compose a poem for the family. The poem never appeared on the website.[2] Online profiles were also created on Yahoo, in the name of Shawn Devlin, and on MindViz.com,[3] described a Shawn from St. Louis as a white atheist with a pet cat. Pictures were included, showing a boy presumed to be Shawn.[4]
Shawn Hornbeck apparently was allowed outside unsupervised, as his abductor Michael Devlin worked as a manager at Imo's Pizza and also at a funeral home. On a pretaped interview with the Oprah Show[5], which aired Thursday January 18, 2007, Shawn said he never tried to escape because he was too "terrified," he also stated that he often prayed to be reunited with his family. When asked if they thought Shawn had been sexually abused, his parents nodded their heads yes. Shawn, during his captivity, did not attend school, but had friends. Tony Douglas, a neighbor who lived in the same apartment complex, was Shawn's best friend and spent nights over in the Devlin apartment. Shawn told Douglas that his mother had died in a car accident and that he went to a private school. According to Douglas's stepmother, Shawn had seen the story of his kidnapping on TV but brushed off inquiries. "There was times when we would see something about Shawn Hornbeck on TV," Douglas said. "He would be in the room. We would even kind of giggle, you know, 'you look just like Shawn Hornbeck.' He never acted upon it, no response, nothing. He didn't look sad, get up and go out of the room, anything that would lead to us believing that he was actually Shawn Hornbeck."[5] Tony Douglas also was seen in a truck, with Shawn driving.[6] Students from Visitation Academy, a private girls school, say that on December 9, 2006, Shawn attended a school dance with his girlfriend, who is a student at the school. [7]
Notes and references
- ^ Missing US teens discovered alive. bbc.co.uk (2007-01-13). Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
- ^ Shawn Hornbeck's Mother Calls It a Miracle. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2007-01-13). Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
- ^ Mitch Marconi (2007-01-13). Rescued! Missing Boys Ben Ownby, Shawn Hornbeck Found Alive. The Post Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
- ^ Officers had 'rapport' with alleged abductor. CNN.com (2007-01-15). Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
- ^ Hornbeck Seen For Years. KTVI (2007-01-13). Retrieved on 2007-01-16.
- ^ Kidnapped Missouri Boy Apparently Had Computer Access. Fox News Channel (2007-01-15). Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
- ^ Students at Visitation say Shawn dated their classmate. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (2007-01-19). Retrieved on 2007-01-19.
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