Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby
On October 6th, 2002 a then 11 year old Shawn Hornbeck was last seen on his way to visit a friends house in Richwoods, Missouri. He never made it to his friends house. His parents fought hard to try and find him, never giving up no matter how much time had passed. As days turned to weeks, weeks to months and months to years, it did not seem as if Shawn would be coming home. His parents started the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation however, never giving up hope and believed one day they would find their son. Little did they know that this would happen, only after another young boy would go missing. On January 9th, 2007, an amber alert was issued for 13 year old William “Ben” Ownby after
he had gone missing on the 8th of January. Mitchell Hults, 15 years old, got off the bus with Ben that day and had seen a small white pickup with a camper shell speeding away in the direction Ben had going after getting off the bus. This seemingly small clue proved to help authorities find not only Ben Ownby but also Shawn Hornbeck. On January 11th, Kirkwood city police officers served an unrelated warrant on an apartment complex when they noticed a white truck matching the description given of the vehicle that authorities had been searching for in the Ben Ownby investigation. Those officers went to the apartment the following day and found not only Ben Ownby but a now 15 year old Shawn Hornbeck.
he had gone missing on the 8th of January. Mitchell Hults, 15 years old, got off the bus with Ben that day and had seen a small white pickup with a camper shell speeding away in the direction Ben had going after getting off the bus. This seemingly small clue proved to help authorities find not only Ben Ownby but also Shawn Hornbeck. On January 11th, Kirkwood city police officers served an unrelated warrant on an apartment complex when they noticed a white truck matching the description given of the vehicle that authorities had been searching for in the Ben Ownby investigation. Those officers went to the apartment the following day and found not only Ben Ownby but a now 15 year old Shawn Hornbeck. 41 year old Michael Devlin, who’s apartment the boys had been located in, has now been charged with one count of first-degree kidnapping. Although the boys have been found, many questions remain about the suspected kidnapper and his motives. At the time of this article, he is still awaiting trial.