Missouri families revel in safe return of sons

BEAUFORT, Mo. - Two boys kidnapped four years apart and found in the same suburban St. Louis apartment smiled shyly but said nothing to media at two hug-filled news conferences Saturday, a day after they were rescued.

The boys’ parents clung to them and focused on their joy at the shocking outcome, saying little about the 41-year-old man charged in the case or how the teens were treated.

The boys — 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck, abducted more than four years ago, and 13-year-old Ben Ownby, taken after getting off his school bus Monday afternoon — smiled shyly and appeared at ease.

“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’s stepfather, Craig Akers, said he and his wife were in disbelief when they were reunited with the boy.

“There was that split second of shock,” he said. “Once I saw the face, I said, ’Oh my God, that’s my son.”’

“We’re just so thankful for everything everyone has done,” he said. “We’re very fortunate to have had some of the best support anyone could have asked for.”

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.

The rescue unfolded when a routine search warrant led police to investigate a 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 held in the Franklin County Jail on $1 million bond.

‘Some probably unbelievable news’
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.

“Without that, we might not be here today,” Akers said on Saturday.

On Thursday night, Kirkwood city police officers were serving a warrant on an apartment complex when they noticed a white truck matching the description. They contacted the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and determined where the owner of the truck was, then searched Devlin’s home Friday and found the boys.

NBC VIDEO A uniquely joyful family reunion Jan. 13: Craig Aker, stepfather of a 15-year-old Missouri boy who was found after being missing four years, describes his family's elation. Nightly News

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.

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