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Dallas CBS Channel 11
Parents Discuss Discovery Of Missing
Missouri Boys
January 13, 2007
"Shawn is a miracle"
(CBS News) BEAUFORT, Mo. For better
than four years, Shawn Hornbeck's parents dealt with their grief
over the 11-year-old's disappearance by devoting themselves to
bringing missing people home.
On Saturday, they showed off their
best argument for hanging onto hope — the boy, now a shaggy-haired
15-year-old, joined them at a news conference a day after police
found him and another recently abducted boy at a suburban St. Louis
apartment, both alive and apparently well.
“Shawn is a miracle here,” his
mother, Pam Akers, said Saturday at an elementary school in his
hometown of Richwoods. “We're glad to have him home. I still feel
like I'm in a dream, only this time it's a good dream, not the
nightmare I've had four-and-a-half years.”
Hornbeck did not speak, but he
smiled often, his mother's arm draped around him, and seemed at
ease. He was much bigger than pictures of the missing 11-year-old,
his hair darker and longer.
Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby
disappeared 4˝ years and 40 miles apart. Police were stunned to find
both boys — alive and apparently well — in the same suburban St.
Louis apartment.
The shocking development Friday was
hailed as a miracle in two rural Missouri communities — Richwoods,
where Shawn was 11 when he disappeared on Oct. 6, 2002 — and
Beaufort 40 miles to the north, where Ben, 13, hadn't been seen
since getting off a school bus Monday afternoon.
A routine search warrant led police
to investigate the Kirkwood, Mo., apartment dweller, Michael Devlin,
41, an Imo's Pizza manager and part-time funeral home worker. He was
charged with first-degree kidnapping and bail was set at $1 million.
An elated Franklin County Sheriff
Gary Toelke, who headed the search for Ben, began a news conference
Friday by telling reporters, “We have some good news and we have
some probably unbelievable news.”
The key to finding the boys was a
beat-up white pickup truck spotted by a schoolmate of Ben's who got
off the bus at the same time. The friend saw the pickup speeding
away about the time Ben vanished from the gravel road near his home.
On Thursday night, Kirkwood city
police officers saw a white truck matching the description. They
traced the owner, contacted the Franklin County Sheriff's
Department, then searched Devlin's home Friday and found the boys.
“We had one little lead to follow
up and that was the white truck," Shawn's stepfather Craig Akers
said this morning. "Without that, we might not be here today.”
There were no immediate details
about what police found inside the apartment, or how the boys might
have been detained. Toelke said authorities were still trying to
learn the motive behind the abductions. Franklin County Prosecutor
Robert Parks said more charges are likely.
“There are a lot of things we don't
know right now,” Toelke said.
After being reunited with their
families, both boys were taken to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's
Hospital in St. Louis for evaluation. Hospital spokesman Bob
Davidson said both were in good spirits.
“The boys were smiling and appeared
very pleased to be with their families,” Davidson said. “Obviously
the families were incredibly tickled to have the boys back. It's a
thrilling night.”
Ben's uncle, Loyd Bailie, told The
Associated Press that Ben was delighted when he saw his parents.
“His eyes lit up like silver
dollars,” Bailie said.
In Kirkwood, one of Devlin's
neighbors, Rick Butler, 43, said FBI agents came to his door
Thursday night and showed him a picture of Ben.
He said he had not seen the boy but
had seen another boy he believes was Hornbeck. He said he saw no
evidence that the boy was scared or trying to get away. He even saw
Devlin and the teen pitch a tent in the courtyard.
“I didn't see or hear anything odd
or unusual from the apartment,” Butler said. “I just figured them
for father and son.”
Shawn's stepfather, Craig Akers,
said the couple was in their car driving home from work about 4 p.m.
Friday when the Washington County prosecutor called and asked him to
pull over. The prosecutor told Akers he was “95 percent sure” they
had found Shawn.
“Those were the sweetest words I
ever heard in my life,” Akers said. “We spent the next couple of
minutes crying.”
At being reunited, “there really
weren't any words,” Akers said. “There was that split second of
shock.
“Once I saw the face, I said, 'Oh
my God, that's my son.'”
Asked how Shawn was doing, Craig
Akers said, “He's in good health. He's in good spirits. Obviously
glad to be home.”
Everyone broke into tears and Ben's
parents embraced him as tightly as they could, Bailie said.
Ben seemed in good health, but was
hungry. Sheriff's deputies brought in sandwiches and a honey bun and
Ben instantly devoured the sweet, Bailie said.
In Kirkwood, law enforcement
officials congregated outside the modest brick apartment where
Devlin lived. Temporary lights and trailers were set up in the
apartment complex courtyard as a cold, driving rain fell.
There were no immediate details
about what was inside the apartment, or how the boys might have been
detained.
The two disappearances had
similarities. Both boys seemed to vanish without a trace, both from
quiet rural areas. Richwoods is about 50 miles southwest of St.
Louis, in Washington County. Beaufort is about 60 miles from the
city, and about 40 miles north of Richwoods.
Shawn Hornbeck disappeared from his
rural home when he was 11. He went for a bike ride and never
returned. His parents, dozens of volunteers and sniffer dogs
searched for weeks. The couple set up a Web site and listened to
anyone who offered a tip.
In the years since, Shawn's
parents, Pam and Craig Akers, devoted themselves to missing child
cases. They were reunited with their son in Union, the Franklin
County seat and where the sheriff's department is.
Craig Akers quit his job as a
software designer to devote his time to a foundation bearing his
son's name. They depleted their savings, borrowed against their
retirement and talked to psychics. The financial strain forced both
of them back to work.
Akers said the case should provide
hope for all families with missing children.
“I've said all along, 'We will not
stop until we find Shawn.' Well, here we are,” he said.
Overwhelmed with emotion at the
press briefing this morning, Akers acknowledged the difficulty of
speaking his appreciation to the many who’ve aided in his family’s
search over the years. “‘Thank you’ doesn’t seem to do it,” he said.
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Shawn is a miracle here," his
mother, Pam Akers, said. "We're glad to have him home. I still feel
like I'm in a dream, only this time it's a good dream, not the
nightmare I've had four-and-a-half years."
William "Ben" Ownby (L) and his family at a Jan. 13, 2007, news
conference about his discovery by authorities after being missing
for four days.
William "Ben" Ownby, at a Jan.
13, 2007, news conference about his discovery after being missing
for four days.
Photo of Shawn Hornbeck before
he disappeared four-and-a-half years ago. (File) Laura Recovery
Center for Missing Children
Shawn Hornbeck, who had been
missing since 2002, appears at a Jan. 17, 2007, news conference
about his discovery at a home belonging to Michael Devlin in
Kirkwood, Mo.
Michael Devlin has been charged
with first-degree kidnapping and bail was set at $1 million after
William "Ben" Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck were found in his apartment.
(File) Franklin County Sheriff |
