Hornbeck Seen For Years
annein...@gmail.com
Last Edited: Saturday, 13 Jan 2007, 8:09 PM CST
Created: Saturday, 13 Jan 2007, 8:09 PM CST
.
Reported By Andy Banker
Kirkwood, MO (KTVI) --
Shawn Hornbeck lived a rather "public" life in the years following his
2002 abduction, his friends said Saturday. They knew him as Shawn
"Devlin", the supposed son of kidnapping suspect Michael Devlin.
Hornbeck's friends said Hornbeck hardly seemed to be held captive,
living in Devlin's Kirkwood apartment.
"He was able to go out like normal kids, skate, ride his bike, to the
movies. In 2003, I took him to the Forest Park balloon races," said
Kelly Douglas. She said Hornbeck was the best friend of her husband's
little brothers. "He even went up to the Energizer balloon. They gave
out free markers and crayons. He's a normal kid, sitting there coloring
right on the ground inf front of everybody, never giving any indication
that he was kidnapped and longing for his family," Douglas said. She
said she'd also taken him to the St. Louis Zoo.
Hornbeck's friend, David Douglas, said he, his younger brother, Tony,
and Hornbeck, lived near each other in the apartment complex. He said
the three of them often played video games together. They even had
sleepovers.
"Me and my brother would be able to spend the night at his house, he'd
be able to spend the night at hours. That's how much freedom he had.
When we were over at his house, he referred to his dad. They had a
father-son relationship. That just blocked us even more from thinking
it was him [Hornbeck]," said David.
He said Shawn was even allowed to stay at his big brother's home in
South St. Louis. He also said they often walked around Kirkwood
together, ate at fast food restaurants, and hung out at the QT station
near I-44 and Big Bend.
Kelly Douglas said they'd been with Shawn when news about the search to
find him was on TV. "There was times when we would see something
about Shawn Hornbeck on TV. 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."
"I said, you look exactly like him," David Douglas said. He'd say,
'whatever' and stuff like that. It wouldn't phase him.
They said Shawn told them his mother died in a car accident at the
hands of a drunk driver, but said nothing else about his past life.
They said he told them he went to a private school in Kirkwood.
They described alleged kidnapper Michael Devlin as "very quiet" -- not
overly concerned about Shawn's whereabouts.
They regretted being unable to figure out the truth about Shawn. But
David said, Kirkwood police even missed the clues. He said police
stopped the boys when they were off school one day. "We ... got
stopped by a cop. They even asked us what school we went to, to see if
we were [supposed to be] off. They didn't recognize him either."
"He had so much freedom you would never have looked at him and thought
this was a kidnapped child. He was really fun. He was outspoken,
goofy. He teased just like everyone else did, you know, goofing
around," Kelly said. "I'm sorry we couldn't have noticed and done
something. The only thing I'm not sorry for is getting to know Shawn.
I just hope that he still can live a normal life and hopefully stay in
contact with us."
She said her family hopes to share their photos of Shawn through the
years with his parents, Pam and Craig Akers.
Copasetic
<annein...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1168757751.8...@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
EnEss
"Copasetic" wrote:
> <anneinchicago wrote:
>> They said Shawn told them his mother died in a car accident at the
>> hands of a drunk driver, but said nothing else about his past life.
>> They said he told them he went to a private school in Kirkwood.
> I read that he never went to school during the past 4 1/2 years.
That's what his dad told the media, and I'm sure it's true. The private
school thing obviously is a cover story the boy was brainwashed into telling
people. How heartbreaking that he could've been rescued at any time, it
sounds like....but was too thoroughly brainwashed to believe he could get
away safely.
NS
(add sbc before global to email)
b
Anyone considered the possibility that perhaps he was reated well and
was ambivalent about leaving/trying to leave? Maybe the guy just wanted
a son and didn't molest him..... I wonder if the boy was not getting
along with his family when he left OR if he had done something he
thought would upset them. Was the man threatening to kill his family?
As soon as the parents started talking about how he was threatened I
figured this was one of those cases where the kid was out & about in
plain sight.
I've heard about kidnapped people being afraid to leave. This part
about the people confronting him and him STILL denying it is one I
haven't heard of before. Even him speaking with police, having full
internet access. Only after the other boy was kidnapped did he "turn
himself in". For his own sake I really hope that this wasn't a Stayner
situation. How did the guy know which kids to take (i.e. who wouldn't
run away)?
With that internet message was he taunting his parents or trying to get
them to give up/ assuage their fears? so strange no-one investigated
that post....
And the police are being EXTREMELY close-lipped about this...... only
mentioning kidnapping still..... this is a strange story....
Copasetic
"b" <butter...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1168789433.5...@m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
Strange indeed.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=110827&provider=top
A family member told NewsChannel 5 that Ben was actually able to watch
television during his captivity, and he saw some of his family members
making pleas on television for his safe return.
There remain many questions. Among them, how the kidnapper was able to hold
the boys in captivity. A family member says Ben was not physically
restrained or held in the apartment.
Copasetic
"Copasetic" <deepsp...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:45aa65af$0$4883$8826...@free.teranews.com...
http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=110847&provider=top
Craig says Shawn told them he was aware of some of the efforts to find him,
over the course of the past four years. He saw some of the vigils,
anniversaries, and the age-progressed photographs. In fact, Shawn told Craig
he saw his own image, on a park bench, outside of a grocery story.
Cliff and Linda Griffith
news:1168789433.5...@m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
> Anyone considered the possibility that perhaps he was reated well and
> was ambivalent about leaving/trying to leave? Maybe the guy just wanted
> a son and didn't molest him..... I wonder if the boy was not getting
> along with his family when he left OR if he had done something he
> thought would upset them. Was the man threatening to kill his family?
> As soon as the parents started talking about how he was threatened I
> figured this was one of those cases where the kid was out & about in
> plain sight.
>
<snip>
> With that internet message was he taunting his parents or trying to get
> them to give up/ assuage their fears? so strange no-one investigated
> that post....
>
> And the police are being EXTREMELY close-lipped about this...... only
> mentioning kidnapping still..... this is a strange story....
Having read the new articles posted today, I do wonder if perhaps the man
*did* treat Shawn well (perhaps a bit unsupervised, but "well" in a kid's
opinion), and that maybe the man simply wanted a son or a "friend" and went
about it in entirely the wrong way. It's probably not likely, but possible.
So far, I think I've missed any reference to an internet message from the
boy. Maybe I'll see it later, since I'm reading from bottom to top.
Linda
Copasetic
"Cliff and Linda Griffith" <grif...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:Afvqh.35$Je...@newsfe02.lga...
belong to Shawn.
http://truecrimeblog.blogspot.com/?p=252
b
maybe he was a pervert OR maybe he was just a lonely man spoiling the
boys.... shawn didn't go to school - perhaps he was lonely and asked
for a "brother"? this may be closer to the women/families who steal
babies type crimes than the sexual predator type crime
remember also shawn's biological father had died in a car accident
about 3 years prior perhaps this man was similar in some way to his
biological father
and in those crimes often the abducted kid may not want to go home....
and not because they hate their birth family
he also tried calling "his father" at work when the FBI agents first
arrived.... using a different name
this is just really odd
in the stayner case.... the predator had specifically researched
families and gone after a boy who came from an unhappy home and was
abused - so he knew he could be controlled - think - he told stayner
that his parents didn't want him back and stayner believed it - a child
from a happy home would have been tough to sell that line.... he was
abused but as soon as he realised the truth - when a second boy was
kidnapped - he left on his own voilition WITH the boy
he was never alerted to the fact that people were looking for him or
confronted...... and he had said that he had hoped that his teachers
would ask him.....
completely different situation from this one and SO WEIRD
b
OH MY GOSH
he set up profiles
he even posted pictures of himself - and it really does look like him
http://mindviz.com/profile.php?id=dirtbike_rider
was there ever any indication that he might have been a runaway - i
don't recall that at all
this just gets stranger
nimue
snip
>
> in the stayner case.... the predator had specifically researched
> families
Really? How did he do that in those pre-internet days?
> and gone after a boy who came from an unhappy home and
was
> abused
Huh? I never heard that Steven Staynor was abused by his real parents.
Where did you hear that? Please provide a link.
> - so he knew he could be controlled - think - he told stayner
> that his parents didn't want him back and stayner believed it - a
> child from a happy home would have been tough to sell that line....
Maybe. Maybe not. Victor Hugo once said, "It is fatally easy to make small
children believe they are terrible." I do remember hearing Steven Staynor
had some type of fight with his father over a school grade before he was
abducted and somehow the abductor found that out and used that. I am not
even sure if I am right about that. Anyway, please provide a link.
> he was abused but as soon as he realised the truth - when a second
> boy was kidnapped - he left on his own voilition WITH the boy
>
No, iirc, he didn't realize the truth. He thought the courts had given him
to this man. He was so brainwashed he didn't know his name was Steven
Staynor, hence the title "I know my first name is Steven." This made what
he did all the more heroic. He had no idea he was saving himself.
> he was never alerted to the fact that people were looking for him or
> confronted...... and he had said that he had hoped that his teachers
> would ask him.....
>
> completely different situation from this
It certainly sounds like this situation was very different from the Steven
Staynor situation.
> one and SO WEIRD
No kidding -- there are a lot of questions being raised. Please provide
some links about the abuse in Staynor's family. I have never heard of the
things you mention in the Staynor case and would like to read about them. I
wonder how I missed that stuff.
--
nimue
"As an unwavering Republican, I have quite naturally burned more books
than I have read." Betty Bowers
b
> b wrote:
>
> snip
> >
> > in the stayner case.... the predator had specifically researched
> > families
>
> Really? How did he do that in those pre-internet days?
like anyone else did - look up families ask neighbours
>
> > and gone after a boy who came from an unhappy home and
> was
> > abused
>
> Huh? I never heard that Steven Staynor was abused by his real parents.
> Where did you hear that? Please provide a link.
there are many
if you just look up info on the family
http://www.karisable.com/skazstaynor.htm
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2003-01-15/news/news.html
not that i think spanking is necessarily abuse
but there are other articles to indicate that the family was not always
the happiest
and also possible sexual abuse by another relative
there is a very very very detailed article about the family in a
profile of cary stayner
>
> > - so he knew he could be controlled - think - he told stayner
> > that his parents didn't want him back and stayner believed it - a
> > child from a happy home would have been tough to sell that line....
>
> Maybe. Maybe not. Victor Hugo once said, "It is fatally easy to make small
> children believe they are terrible."
to easily convince a kid that their parents didn't want them any more?
especially one older than 4 or so?
i can't imagine believing that
sounds like the parents were loving but didn't show much affection,
especially the mom
see the article
that might cause a child tyo doubt, not just the abuse
I do remember hearing Steven Staynor
> had some type of fight with his father over a school grade before he was
> abducted and somehow the abductor found that out and used that. I am not
> even sure if I am right about that. Anyway, please provide a link.
see above
>
> > he was abused but as soon as he realised the truth - when a second
> > boy was kidnapped - he left on his own voilition WITH the boy
> >
> No, iirc, he didn't realize the truth. He thought the courts had given him
> to this man. He was so brainwashed he didn't know his name was Steven
> Staynor, hence the title "I know my first name is Steven." This made what
> he did all the more heroic. He had no idea he was saving himself.
http://www.salon.com/mwt/hot/1999/07/30/steven_stayner/index1.html
read the 4th and 3rd paragraph from the bottom
>
> > he was never alerted to the fact that people were looking for him or
> > confronted...... and he had said that he had hoped that his teachers
> > would ask him.....
> >
> > completely different situation from this
>
> It certainly sounds like this situation was very different from the Steven
> Staynor situation.
>
> > one and SO WEIRD
>
> No kidding -- there are a lot of questions being raised. Please provide
> some links about the abuse in Staynor's family. I have never heard of the
> things you mention in the Staynor case and would like to read about them. I
> wonder how I missed that stuff.
there is an even stranger article about the hornbeck boy in LA times
some excerpts
"Devlin, a manager at a pizza parlor who worked nights answering phones
at a funeral home, kept to himself. The youth everyone assumed was
Devlin's son was just as private, fleeing into the small apartment when
neighbors even smiled at him. He rode his bike around this comfortable
suburb even during school hours - he did not attend school - and
occasionally took Devlin's white pickup for a spin."
"A day after police found Shawn and a 13-year-old boy missing since
Monday in Devlin's apartment, residents struggled to understand how
Shawn could have been a captive who lived in plain sight.
And, they recalled, he appeared to have as much freedom as a teenager
could have.
He sported multiple piercings and carried a skateboard. Neighbors said
he had a friend who regularly came over, tossed a football around with
him and occasionally spent the night. A girl recently began to visit,
and she and Shawn were seen holding hands.
Though the door to Apartment D was almost always closed, neighbors
occasionally spotted Shawn sitting on the couch inside, playing
Nintendo."
The stepfather, in my mind, sounds so ungrateful - it is the sense of
community that prompted someone in the apartment to notify the police
about the truck
if the boy was denying he was hornbeck and appearing happy on what
basis were people supposed to do more..... he even interacted with cops
on several occasions
read the article apparently his "dad" wasn't home much and he got to do
as he pleased.... he has sites up all over the internet.... went out at
all hours..... no school.... played with friends, had a girlfriend,
obviously very well fed (unlike kampusch) - he was living a life (at
least outwardly) that many teenagers of that age would like
even stranger the ownby family is stating that their boy was not
restrained or forced to stay in the apartment
i am now wondering - this is a stretch - since both boys spent SO MUCH
time online and gaming - if hornbeck had invited ownby over...... OR if
hornbeck was convincing ownby to stay..... how on earth could ownby
have been immediately "brainwashed" into staying in the apartment when
he knew people were looking for him..... the man wasn't even home....
shawn was going in and out of the apt.....
another terrible thought came to me - what if hornbeck himself picked
up ownby for innocent reasons and didn't realise that it would cause a
commotion and so they were "lying low" for a while
i am holding to my previous assertion that he may have seen the guy as
a replacement for his dead father
and even his whereabouts on the day he disappeared were strange.....
was the guy on the prowl.... or was this a chance encounter?
I wonder if this will even go to trial or if some plea deal will be
struck with the kidnapper that will prevent things from coming out.....
If the boys were not sexually assaulted, a defense attorney could have
a field day with all of this....
b
the stayner family had a long history of sexual abuse & mental illness
the children were abused by the uncle and father
the kids were already in trouble before parnell came on the scene
http://venus.soci.niu.edu/~archives/ABOLISH/aug02/0531.html
i hold with my previous assertion that these quasi-runaway abductions
don't normally happen to children from happy stable backgrounds - or ,
at least, the "successful" ones don't
http://venus.soci.niu.edu/~archives/ABOLISH/aug02/0531.html
the sooner people admit it the easier it would be to protect children
as long as it's always painted black & white (parents and children
blameless saints - perps evil monsters) then it will continue
i'm not saying hornbeck hated his parents.... his smile looks so
genuine - but there is evidence that some element of choice may have
been involved in his new life and i really don't understand the ownby
kid - given that he was only there a few days and that the family is
not claiming that he was threatened
kampusch was definitely mistreated and probably didn't have an
opportunity to go out for a long long time and sounded like she took
one of the first opporunities where she was completely alone BUT she
also had a difficult family history and there is some weird stuff about
her parents knowing her abductor
Copasetic
Hornbeck was only in the 5th grade when kidnapped, we don't know
what transpired in the first days after the abduction.
nimue
Thank you for the information. It was incredibly disturbing. It certainly
supports your theories. Nothing like this was mentioned in the movie, iirc.
I guess it wasn't known until Cary became a serial killer. What a terrible
story.
>
> i'm not saying hornbeck hated his parents.... his smile looks so
> genuine - but there is evidence that some element of choice may have
> been involved in his new life and i really don't understand the ownby
> kid - given that he was only there a few days and that the family is
> not claiming that he was threatened
>
> kampusch was definitely mistreated and probably didn't have an
> opportunity to go out for a long long time and sounded like she took
> one of the first opporunities where she was completely alone BUT she
> also had a difficult family history and there is some weird stuff
> about her parents knowing her abductor
--
Cliff and Linda Griffith
> >
> > So far, I think I've missed any reference to an internet message from
the
> > boy. Maybe I'll see it later, since I'm reading from bottom to top.
> >
> > Linda
> >
> Check here about the internet messages plus yahoo profiles that likely
> belong to Shawn.
> http://truecrimeblog.blogspot.com/?p=252
>
that they add to the case.
Linda
Karl S
> Maybe. Maybe not. Victor Hugo once said, "It is fatally easy to make small
> children believe they are terrible."
The only Victor Hugo I know of was a French writer. Is there also a Victor
Hugo that is/was a child psychologist?
Uncle Clover
Would one need to be in order to make such a profoundly obvious observation?
Children are hyper-sensitive and can be damaged easily, it's not even a topic
for debate as far as I can tell.
--
L8r,
Uncle Clover
_________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reality is the soul's refusal to accept oblivion.
_________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
al2...@aol.com
b wrote:
> Anyone considered the possibility that perhaps he was reated well and
> was ambivalent about leaving/trying to leave?
I'm afraid that EnEss believes every kidnapping story that comes her
way.
EnEss still thinks that Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped.
Regards,
Alex K.
Torrence Bobhrod
doerc'. (George W)
FragileWarrior
news:vrqqh.26762$QU1....@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net:
Even more heartbreaking is that he now has a good probability of becoming a
sexual predator himself.
FragileWarrior
news:45aa65af$0$4883$8826...@free.teranews.com:
Fear. "If you leave, if you tell, if you do anything to get me in
trouble, I will find you and kill your entire family" is a pretty good
threat to use on a kid.
Uncle Clover
You think so? I mean with all the attention and everything, I'd think he'd get
all the help he could possibly ever need. And even if he didn't or it didn't
work or he doesn't want it or "whatever", one would think he couldn't too easily
get away with anything with that shadow of "those four years" following him
around for the rest of his life. But I do believe you're right as far as how
the experience - if he was sexually abused - might have affected him.