Pedophile Issues Agonizing Confession About Boys He Held Captive
Posted October 10, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Shawn Hornbeck’s parents sat in the courtroom weeping, as the man who kidnapped, tortured, tormented and tried to murder their son ran through a terrible litany of his acts – all without emotion. The curtain finally came down on the long, strange case of Hornbeck Tuesday, as a 41-year-old former pizzeria manager admitted his guilt in an abduction case that riveted the world.
Michael Devlin calmly told a Missouri judge how he used a gun to take the then-11 -year-old boy captive in 2002, after he spotted Hornbeck riding his bike not far from his home in the town of Richwoods. The pedophile admitted bringing the child back to his apartment and sexually assaulting him, then putting him back in his truck and driving him close to his home – where he started to strangle him.
Somehow, the little boy found the strength to fight back. “I attempted to kill (Shawn) and he talked me out of it,” the would-be killer confessed. Instead, Hornbeck agreed to do whatever his captor wanted to keep himself alive – a possible explanation for why he stayed with the man for so long, despite having access to a phone and the Internet. “We know now the details that made him not run away,” Shawn’s stepfather Craig Akers reveals.
Some four years later, Devlin claims he “wanted a boy” besides Shawn, who was now 15. He spent four months scoping out the perfect victim before choosing 13-year-old Ben Ownby on January 8th. He was taken at gunpoint and forced into the elder man’s truck after he got off his school bus just steps from his home.
Devlin related how he sexually abused both youngsters daily until a witness called in a tip four days later about a truck spotted at the scene of Ownby’s disappearance. That led them to Devlin’s apartment, the discovery of the kidnapped child – and the shock of finding the long missing Hornbeck traumatized but alive after so many years.
Devlin will never get another chance to prey on the innocent. His admissions to two counts of kidnappings and 69 counts of sodomy have led the judge to impose 18 consecutive life sentences for his crime and he will die behind bars.
Both boys remain out of the spotlight, and both are continuing to get long term therapy to deal with the horrors they were put through by a pedophile with no conscience – and now, no chance at freedom.
But despite his ordeal, Hornbeck remains optimistic about his future. “I’ve begun the process of healing and look forward to making up for the time I have lost with my family and education,” he writes on his website. “Our love, hope and faith have kept us strong and will see us through the days ahead.”
