That was the last many people would see of Shawn . After being attacked with an ice pick behind bars, Devlin was placed in protective custody to live out his sentence. Pamela married Shawn's stepdad, Craig Akers, in 1999. ), couldn't he have mentioned "I'm Shawn Hornbeck, I've been kidnapped?" What did Michael Devlin do to the boys he kidnapped? He is serving 74 life sentences. Posted Jan 19, 2007, 12:00PM EST. Georgia Lee Moses, 12, of Santa Rosa, California, was last seen alive on August 13, 1997. Willett said Devlin told her he was a bad person and admitted to having both Ben and Shawn. Do Men Still Wear Button Holes At Weddings? They spent every penny they had to find Shawn, and made multiple media appearances to raise awareness. Craig Akers died July 15, 2019, from bladder cancer. He was 11 years old. Shawn Hornbeck was an 11 year old boy who was kidnapped while riding his bike to a friend's house near Richwoods, Missouri.Shawn had taken this path many times before but this time, Shawn passed by Mike Devlin who bumped him with his truck. "McNamara did an online property search and learned that a man with the same name as Devlins father owns a home in western Michigan, right near the lake," Reidy writes. The late Walter Hornbeck was 60 when Shawn was born to him and his wife, Pamela Akers. Akers kicked him out of the house when the boy was just 6 months old, and the couple divorced in 1992, about a year after Shawn was born. In the series premiere, the HBO documentary on The Golden State Killer shines a brief light on the case that catapulted McNamara into the true crime genre. And Devlin's work friends and acquaintances have said they didn't have a clue about any of his possible romantic attachments or sexual proclivities. As you know, police found 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck in an apartment of 41-year-old Michael Devlin last week, along with 13-year-old Ben Ownby. A captor can confine a child with psychological barriers as much as physical ones. Writer Michelle McNamara died in her sleep on April 21, 2016. Which Teeth Are Normally Considered Anodontia. Whatever happened during Hornbeck's four years with Devlin, he undoubtedly faces a difficult road ahead. ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) A Canadian man learned the man who tried to abduct him years ago, was Michael Devlin. At 1:59 a.m. on Dec. 1, 2005, someone using the name "Shawn Devlin" asked in a forum on the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation Web site: "How long are you planing (sic) to look for your son?" At the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival, you will find a palate-dazzling smorgasbord of cuisines and cocktails in which to indulge. He's a serial killer, 4 victims before being caught. Shawn Hornbeck, 15, watches as his parents, Craig and Pam Akers, talk to the media Saturday in Richwoods, Mo . It's one of the most perplexing questions to emerge from the tale of the two missing Missouri boys who were found last Friday: why didn't Shawn Hornbeck, 15, the older of the two, simply flee? He admitted to abducting Ownby. He never arrived. credit ichael Devlin, 41, is escorted out of the Franklin County Courthouse Monday in Union, Mo. On the shelves were what appeared to be a variety of sexual toys, including a dildo. McNamara's observations were always notable because of her intense attention to detail, and even though her post landed on True Crime Daily a day before the arrest, officer and media attention largely failed to recognize McNamara's accomplishments. Meanwhile, for his tip and information, Mitchell Hults received a reward that included a new pickup truck. Once Willett got in line for lunch at the pizzeria, Devlins behavior immediately raised her concerns, she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a Wednesday interview. "To become psychologically infantilized," he explains, people's "infant needs for food and love are met and they begin to feel a primitive, primordial gratitude toward the person taking care of them." Palmer said he remembers the face of the man who tried to abduct him 22 years ago, but it wasn't until recently he put the name of Michael Devlin, to that face. In his honor, his family started the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation and Search and Rescue Team. He kept the boy tied up in his apartment for a month. But amid the rejoicing over the return of Ben Ownby, 13, and Shawn Hornbeck, 15, there are lingering questions about how two boys and their alleged kidnapper could have hidden in plain sight . On Jan. 8, 2007, Devlin abducted Ben Ownby at a bus stop in Beaufort, Missouri. "I'm a bad person," she said he confessed to her. Am I missing something or was he just that scared? At the time of his arrest, Hornbeck also lived with Shawns older sisters, Jackie and Jennifer, who were then 7 and 6, respectively. The young boy believed his family would be harmed if he attempted to escape or contact the police. Family members of 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck said they believe he was molested during the four years he was missing and, at times, his captor woke him every 45 minutes in an apparent attempt to . Willett spoke at length with Devlin while they sat in the backseat of an FBI vehicle. but sadly she died at just . What's more, he disappeared four years ago as a little boy, but has now returned home as a teenager. He also pleaded guilty to all the charges against him. He didn't quite look or sound like a 15-year-old boy should. On January 12, 2007, police and FBI agents entered the apartment and located Ben Ownby and a second boy sitting on a sofa quietly. And were there characteristics of life with Devlin--no school, ample time for video games--that made it appealing to stay there? Did he perhaps leave willingly with Devlin when he vanished four years ago? The charges did not name Shawn Hornbeck, but authorities have alleged that Devlin held him captive from October 2002 until police found the boy in January. Both Shawns mother and stepfather spent all of their money and retirement savings looking for Shawn and paying investigators to help aid the police. There wasnt a day when I didnt think he was just gonna kill me, says Hornbeck, adding that his story features a lot of gory, nasty details that a lot of people really cant handle., For more on Shawn Hornbecks ordeal, pick up PEOPLE on newsstands Friday, How Jayme Closs, Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard and Others Survived Headline-Making Abductions, Shawn Hornbeck Says He Kept Hoping for a Rescue, Exclusive New Details on How a Captive Nevada Mother Hid the Sticky Notes That Saved Lives, FBI Agent on How She Got Shawn Hornbeck's Kidnapper to Confess 10 Years Ago: 'My Spidey-Senses Were Up', In 'Captive Audience', the Stayner Family Opens Up About Navigating an Impossible Reality in the Spotlight, VIDEO: Shawn Hornbeck Describes His Kidnapping Ordeal, Feds Indict Kidnap Suspect Michael Devlin. The couple appeared on The Montel Williams Show shortly after Shawns abduction to raise awareness of the case. Police went on a search for Hornbeck, but were unable to discover the boy's whereabouts. Other members of the organization founded the Missouri Valley Search and Rescue Team to continue the mission of helping families of missing children and adults. As details of his four years of captivity in Kirkwood, Mo., emerge, it seems that he had countless opportunities to escape. Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. I hope both young men are doing well. After four years, he was found alive. In a split second, Devlin kidnapped Shawn, telling the boy that he, was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Five years later, Devlin kidnapped 13-year-old Ben Ownby in the same truck. He was 11 years old. My Spidey-senses were up, almost immediately.. Shawn and the girlfriend attended a dance on Dec. 9 at the St. Louis Priory School, an all-boys Catholic school. That inmate, identified as Troy Fenton, wrote a letter to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and said he attacked Devlin because of the heinous nature of Devlins crimes. That evening, then-Fraklin County Sheriff Glen Toelke made the stunning announcement bothboys had been found and were alive. Sorry for the tangent, Im watching the documentary right now. JOHN WALSH, HOST, AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: When he kidnapped this boy, he probably broke him down psychologically. Contrary to what Browne told the family on national television, Shawn was still alive. Shawn Hornbeck, now 17, and his parents recounted their story during an interview with CBS News' "48 Hours Mystery," in which he discusses details of his captivity for the first time. Another factor that could have deepened Hornbeck's feeling of helplessness: the possibility that he was sexually molested. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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Story Highlights NEW: Shawn Hornbeck, 15, catches up with relatives he hasn't seen in 4 years Officers had 'an uneasy feeling' after talking to kidnapping suspect They alerted the FBI . - Michael Devlin was a cunning manipulator of the children upon whom he preyed. But in 2002, at 11 years old, he was out riding his bicycle not far from his home in Richwoods, Missouri when . After hearing the news of Ownbys abduction, true crime investigator and late wife of comedian Patton Oswalt, Michelle McNamara began investigating the boys abduction. 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It was the first kidnapping for ransom in the history of the United States, and would be the major event of its kind until the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. But one neighbor, Laura Aguilar, says that more than four years ago, before Hornbeck arrived at the apartment complex, she observed something through Devlin's street-level bathroom window that disturbed her. Devlin decided to kidnap a 13 year old boy named Ben Ownby on January 8, 2007. On Oct. 6, 2002, 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck straddled his lime green bike and headed to a friend's house near Richwoods, Missouri, a small town just outside of St. Louis. Following Ownbys abduction, true-crime writer and internet sleuth Michelle McNamara examined the case and discovered a connection between Ownbys kidnapping and Hornbecks disappearance. Shawn had taken this path many times before but this time, Shawn passed by Mike Devlin who bumped him with his truck. Years later, in 2007, Ben Ownby went missing. Shawn Hornbeck was an 11 year old boy who was kidnapped while riding his bike to a friends house near Richwoods, Missouri. Both boys allegedly had been kidnapped by Devlin . "She next searched 'Missing boys SW Michigan,' and found a case in Benton Harbor in which the victim closely resembled Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck.". Though Ben was two years older than Shawn, he looked young for his age, and both boys . He got out in 1997 when Shawn was six, but the two had no further contact. The rapes resulted in seven children, including a twin who died shortly after birth, police say. But what I wonder is that on the at least four occasions Shawn spoke to a police officer (I know of him going there over a missing bike and him being driven home by a cop after missing curfew. Psychologists say it would be healthiest for him to work through his issues gradually, but a court trial may force him to confront painful experiences before he's ready. 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