Welcome back, Crime Connoisseurs. I'm your host Grace D! We finished Part 2 of Victoria Martens's case last week, which was rough, and I'm willing to bet you guys feel the same way. So today's case is one that has a happy ending.
A young boy goes missing after he rides his bike to his friends, only to never make it there. His parents searched all over and put every last dime they had into trying to find him. Years go by, and there is no trace of their son. Then, another boy goes missing in a nearby area, and the searches are amplified. Who was responsible for these missing boys, and what happened to them? This is the case of the Missouri Miracle.
On October 6, 2002, 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck took off riding his lime green bike to his friend's house near Richwoods, Missouri. Richwoods is a small town just outside St. Louis. Shawn took the same route every time, and his parents trusted him to go it alone.
By the time Shawn should've arrived home, he wasn't there. His mom, Pam, and stepdad, Craig, thought maybe he was running late. But after 45 minutes and still no call or sign of Shawn, panic set in.
Pam and Craig jumped in their car and started driving around in search of Shawn. They went to places where they thought he might have been, but there was no luck. They went to the friend's house where Shawn was supposed to be. But when they arrived, they were informed that Shawn never made it to his friend's house that day. So, Pam and Craig headed back to their house, got out their phone list, and started calling everyone they knew and could think to call about Shawn missing.
At the time, no one knew that as Shawn was riding through the area, he was bumped by a white truck. Michael Devlin, the driver, rushed over to Shawn to see if he was okay, or so Shawn thought. Devlin kidnapped Shawn within seconds and told him he "was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Devlin took Shawn to an apartment in nearby Kirkwood, where he was held captive. For the first month, Shawn was restrained and nearly strangled by Devlin. Devlin sometimes deprived Shawn of sleep, waking him every 45 minutes. He was threatened with horrific consequences if he ever said a word about his abduction to anyone else.
Devlin had a temper. He was obsessive about his parking spot and once called the police in the middle of the night to report that someone had parked there.
Other than that, Devlin was unremarkable. He was adopted as a child and was a quiet, withdrawn, unathletic kid who grew up to be an edgy loner.
Devlin worked at Imo's Pizza during high school and just stayed there. He was called "Devo" and was never late, never sick, and never missed work, and because of that, he was eventually made manager.
According to a neighbor, Laura Aguilar, he moved into the Kirkwood apartments in 2001 or early 2002, arriving alone and accompanied by a black cat. In the fall of 2002, though, Laura noticed a young boy was now living with him but just assumed he was Devlin's son.
The two seemed normal enough. Another neighbor, Krista Jones, observed Devlin teaching the boy to drive his pickup truck, while others saw the two pitching a tent outside the apartment.
In January 2003, the Akers started the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation to help other families find their missing and abducted children. Pam and Craig spent every dollar to their name to find Shawn and made multiple media appearances to raise awareness.
One appearance was on the Montel Williams Show, and they were desperate for answers. On this show, they met self-proclaimed medium Sylvia Browne. She told Pam and Craig that Shawn was abducted by a man named Michael, who was tall like an NBA player, and that he drove an old blue Chevrolet pickup truck. The following is part of the transcript of Pam and Craig talking with Sylvia that I obtained from CNN:
CRAIG: Can you tell how far from the area he was taken?
SYLVIA: Maybe about 20 miles.
CRAIG: And he's still within a 20-mile radius even now?
SYLVIA: He's still within a 20-mile radius of -- let's say, here's where you are, 20-mile radius, but it's really southwest of where you are.
CRAIG: Southwest.
SYLVIA: So whatever is southwest, because it looks like this is -- here we go again with the wooded, with the -- you know, the wooded areas. So southwest of you.
PAM: Is there any landmarks around?
SYLVIA: Yeah. Strange enough, there are two jagged boulders, which look really misplaced. Because everything is trees, and then all of a sudden, you've got these stupid boulders sitting there.
MONTEL WILLIAMS: And he could be found near there?
SYLVIA: He's near the boulders.
PAM: Is he still with us?
SYLVIA: No.
CRAIG: Do you see the bicycle anywhere?
SYLVIA: I think the -- see, here's what's strange. I think the--the--the bicycle is in another state in a dump.
The search focused on finding Shawn's body in that prescribed area for the next three weeks after the taping of this episode. They search failed to find Shawn's body because he was still alive and 50 miles away.
While Sylvia got it right about Shawn being abducted by a man named Michael, that was about all she got right. Michael is one of the most common names in North America, so it very well could just be dumb luck she picked that name.
After believing that Shawn wouldn't tell anyone the truth about who he is or the abduction, Devlin gave him some freedom and privileges. Shawn no longer went to school but was instructed to say he was homeschooled. Devlin allowed him to watch tv, play video games on an Xbox 360, and ride his bike. He also gave Shawn a cellphone, allowed him internet access, and to make and hang out with friends.
Now I know a lot of you are probably thinking, how in the world did he have all that access and never reach out for help or tell anyone who he really was? You see, Devlin had Shawn so brainwashed that he genuinely believed Devlin would kill him or his family if he ever told the truth, so much so that this next part will have you in disbelief.
On August 15, 2003, just ten months after Shawn was abducted, he made a police report for his missing bike. He went down to the Kirkwood Police Station, identified himself as Shawn Devlin, and said his bike was stolen from outside his apartment building. This is just TEN MONTHS, TEN MONTHS after he went missing and missing person fliers were plastered EVERYWHERE, and the officer who took the report never put two and two together. Shawn's case quickly went cold.
As Shawn grew older, he dyed his hair, painted his fingernails black, pierced his ear, eyebrow, and lip, and was basically like an average teen. During his time in captivity with Devlin, Shawn became best friends with another boy named Tony.
Tony spent nights at Shawn's, a messy one-bedroom apartment where Shawn slept on a futon in the living room. Dirty dishes were often piled high in the sink, and trash was lying on the floor. To Tony, Devlin seemed quiet, and he liked Final Fantasy, a role-playing video game. He never saw Devlin affectionate with Shawn, though they would sometimes play fight by punching each other jokingly. From time to time, Devlin blew up at Shawn, one time for somehow messing up his Final Fantasy game.
Shawn told Tony stories to conceal his true identity. He said his mother had been killed in a drunken-driving accident, claimed he attended a private school to explain his absence from public school, and later said he was homeschooled. He even started spending holidays with Tony's family, saying his father was away seeing relatives, whom, Shawn said, he didn't care for.
Tony and Shawn became best friends. The two boys had ridden bikes together, gone skateboarding, hung around the mall, and played video games like Dragon Ball Z and Gears of War. Tony, his brother Larry, his sister-in-law Kelly and his mother, Rita, had seen posters on park benches and the local TV news about Shawn Hornbeck being a missing person from the Richwood area.
One day, Shawn was over at the Douglas home, and everyone was in the living room watching TV. As the image of Shawn Hornbeck flashed across the screen, accompanied by a message reporting his disappearance, family members started exclaiming, "Wow, you kind of look like him," and "That's so weird." But, Kelly says, Shawn just blew them off, saying, "No, I don't. Shut up," and "Whatever." The Douglas family left it at that. Shawn was older at this point and never gave them any indication that anything was wrong or that he was the boy on the posters and tv. Instead, he acted in the opposite, denying over and over that it was him.
So many false reports and claims made by people pretending to be Shawn hurt Craig and Pam, but they never gave up hope. They worked harder to find Shawn and get to the truth. A message came in for them on the website they had set up to receive tips. It said, "How long are you planning to look for your son?" it was signed...Shawn Devlin. Craig dismissed the message, thinking it was another hoax by people pretending to be their son.
On September 29, 2006, an officer came across a young man riding his bike at night wearing all dark clothing and without reflectors on his bike. It was Shawn. The officer stopped him to take down his information and let him know that drivers would have a very tough time seeing him in the dark.
During this interaction, Shawn gave his name as Shawn Devlin. When the officer asked for his date of birth, Shawn said July 7, 1991, 10 days off from his actual birthday, July 17. This was almost four years since Shawn's highly publicized missing person case happened, and the officer didn't recognize him as the missing child, so nothing was done at this point.
Eight days later, on October 6, 2006, Pam and Craig circulated a computer generated aged progressed photo of what Shawn might look like at that time on his fourth anniversary of when he went missing.
This shows Devlin's power over Shawn because these are now two incidents that Shawn had with the police alone, one being just ten months from when he went missing. Shawn lied about his name and birthday, and he never asked for help or indicated that he was Shawn Hornbeck and was kidnapped!
Unfortunately, as Crime Connoisseurs, we are aware that when men like Devlin abduct a child at a young age, that child gets to a point where they begin to get too old for their capture. Shawn Hornbeck was not an exception. Shawn was now 15 years old, and Devlin wanted another young boy.
On January 8, 2007, Devlin was looking for another young boy when he came across 13-year-old Ben Ownby at his bus stop in Beaufort, Missouri. When Devlin abducted Ben, he made a big mistake. He never checked to see if anyone was around.
Ben screamed and yelled when Devlin took him, and 15-year-old Mitchell Hults was outside when he heard Ben's cries for help. When he looked around, he saw Devlin put Ben in the truck and take off. He took note of what Devlin and his truck looked like. Mitchell would become a saving grace in this case.
Mitchell reported what he witnessed to the police. Another mistake Devlin made with abducting Ben was that he had no idea what type of kid Ben was. You see, Ben was the type of kid to tell his parents where he was going and when he would be home. So when Ben never returned home from school, his parents, Doris and Don, quickly searched for him and asked neighbors if they had seen him. This is when they learned of what Mitchell witnessed and reported to the police.
Since this was a confirmed abduction, the FBI was immediately brought in. Now, it's important to point out here that while Ben was 13, he looked MUCH younger than he was, so Devlin didn't realize his actual age. The FBI quickly got to work tracking down the truck and suspect.
After hearing the news of Ben's abduction, true crime investigator Michelle McNamara also began investigating the kidnapping. You may recognize this name. Michelle led the investigation into the Golden State Killer. Michelle found connections between Shawn and Ben.
Michelle linked the two abductions before the police did and used online maps to guess as to where they were being held. Michelle theorized that Devlin was drawn to boys who looked younger than their age. In fact, she was close to solving the case of the boys on her blog just a day before a major break in the case.
On January 11, 2007, two Kirkwood police officers, Gary Wagster & Chris Nelson, responded to a call at Devlin's apartment complex for an unrelated incident. As they were leaving, Wagster said the Nelson, "are you seeing what I'm seeing?" It was the white pickup truck from their bulletins, down to Mitchell's description of the rust and dirt.
When they saw the truck, they called their station to run a background check on the truck. Once they confirmed who the truck belonged to, they started looking for Michael Devlin. As they walked around the building, they spotted Devlin taking out his trash. Wagster recognized Devlin as an employee of Imo's Pizza, where Devlin was the manager.
They approached Devlin and started questioning him about the truck. He confirmed for them that the truck in question was, in fact, his. As Wagster and Nelson talked with Devlin, he became increasingly defensive. He started clinching his fists, darting his eyes and became evasive when Wagster questioned him. They became more suspicious of Devlin, and Nelson had a gut feeling something was wrong. They asked Devlin if they could search his apartment, and he declined.
The officers contacted the FBI about their encounter with Devlin and the truck. Wagster and Nelson kept watch of the apartment and Devlin, and the next day the FBI showed up at Imo's while Devlin was working and confronted him. Devlin seemed nervous and distant while questioned by special agents Lynn Willet and Tina Richter in the back of an FBI car. He kept saying he needed to return to his "godson," Shawn.
They asked Devlin if they could search the truck, and he consented. As Willet and Ritcher continued questioning Devlin, he began to break and said he was a bad person. After pressing him more, Willet eventually got a confession from him. Devlin admitted to kidnapping Ben, and shockingly to them, he said he had Shawn too.
On January 12, 2007, the FBI went to Devlin's apartment in the 400 block of South Holmes Ave. They entered the apartment and found two boys playing a video game on the couch, Ben Ownby, who they recognized immediately, and a much older Shawn Hornbeck.
Then Fraklin County Sheriff Glen Toelke was in his office at the Franklin Co Jail when he heard officers down the hall talking about the stunning possibility. Toelke told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "At first, I thought it was some kind of sick police joke. Then, Roland Corvington of the FBI came in and said, 'it's true.' The command post errupted. People talk about life changing events, that's what it was."
Later that day, Pam and Craig were driving when they received a phone call. One of the prosecutors who called them knew the news would be so shocking he told them to pull over before he would tell them anything. He told them that Shawn had not only been found but that he was alive! This was the best news they were hoping to receive, but it was still very shocking over four years later.
When Pam and Craig were reunited with Shawn, Pam said that although he looked very different from the little boy she remembered, she immediately recognized his face as her son. She said he had all the same features that she had lovingly adored as she watched him grow as a child, yet, something was very different. He'd gone through a lot of trauma that changed and matured him.
Now that Shawn was home, he had a lot to catch up on. When he came home, he noticed how his parents left his room exactly as it was when he went missing back in October 2002. But only his room was the same. Childhood friends had grown up and made new friends, and his older sister had gotten married.
Later that night, Sheriff Toelke announced that both Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck were found and alive. Their discovery and rescue became widely known as the "Missouri Miracle."
Later, Devlin admitted to prosecutors that he kidnapped Ben because Shawn was getting too old for his liking, unwittingly confirming McNamara's theory.
Prosecutors in Franklin, Washington, and St. Louis counties went after Devlin with numerous charges, including kidnapping, use of a deadly weapon, molestation, and production of child pornography.
When Ben was reunited with his parents, Doris said she didn't want to quit hugging him. Doris and Don were reluctant to let Ben out of their sight. They kept Ben out of school for a little bit and let him return after seeing and speaking with counselors.
Just days after Shawn was returned home to his family, he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. He looked different from the photos of the rescued young man from days prior. He had a haircut, removed all his piercings, and his fingernails were no longer painted black. Shawn wasn't really comfortable with being on camera as he was adjusting back to life, but he agreed to do the Oprah Winfrey Show in hopes that his story could provide hope to other families of missing children.
In the interview with Oprah, Pam and Craig said they believed that Shawn was sexually abused during his time in captivity. Shawn said he spent his days sleeping and playing video games and how he was instructed to tell people he was being homeschooled even though he wasn't. Shawn went into detail about the abuse, the lies he was made to tell, and his years in the apartment. He told Oprah, "I prayed to God that one day I would be back with my family every night, and I crossed myself every night."
Shawn spoke about Ben Ownby. Ben was mainly quiet during the four days he was abducted. Shawn said, "I feel thankful that he held in there for those couple of days, and I'm sorry for what he went through because I told myself a long time ago I never want any other kid to go through what I went through. But I am thankful for him for holding in there, and I'm happy that he's back with his family." Shawn attributes being found because of Ben's abduction.
When Shawn said about writing the message on the website, Craig said he was haunted by dismissing a series of messages made on the website. He said, "Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined it was my son who had done that." Craig assumed the messages were more hoaxes.
Also on the Oprah Winfrey Show was Dr. Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler, an MSNBC analyst, and author of the book Facing Down Evil. Dr. Van Zandt was also a kidnapping victim when he was 7 but was lucky enough to escape quickly.
As a victim and law enforcement officer, Dr. Van Zandt understands why those in Shawn and Ben's situation wouldn't call home. He warns people not to buy into the "psychobabble" they might hear on tv. He said, "The bottom line is, if you're 11 or 13 and you've got a potentially 6'4, 300lbs aggressor, you do what you have to do to survive sometimes."
During Shawn and Ben's healing process, Dr. Van Zandt said it's imperative not to ask one single question: don't ask why? Why didn't you call? Why didn't you pick up the phone or ask for help?
He says the answer is "because he was traumatized, because he was frightened because he was in survival mode. There are emotional handcuffs. There are psychological prisons we can be in without bars. We need to give these two kids some kind of slack and let them have time to find themselves. Let them create new memories."
Dr. Van Zandt says it's essential to communicate openly with your children should tragedy ever strike. If there is anything parents need to teach their children, it's that they can tell them anything. He said, "They can come to us and share anything...we're kind of a sounding board for them. We'll listen, but we won't criticize."
Dr. Van Zandt said that because of his own feelings of shame, he didn't tell his mother about his own abduction until he was well into his adulthood. It's vital to let traumatized children know that whatever happened isn't their fault.
Shawn later reported that Devlin physically abused and threatened him with guns to kill him if he tried to call for help or escape. Devlin was charged with 80 counts of sexual assault, kidnapping, and attempted murder. In October 2007, Michael Devlin pled guilty to all the charges against him in four courthouses and received 74 life sentences, 170 years of federal time, and an additional term of 2,020 years. Devlin's life sentences totaled more than 4,000 years combined.
Devlin won't be eligible for parole until he's 100 in 2065. He was transferred to Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri.
Micthell Hults, the 15-year-old young man, who helped officials by giving details of the abduction and Devlin's truck, received a new truck as a reward for his tip and information.
In April 2011, a fellow inmate, Troy Fenton, attacked and stabbed Devlin with a homemade icepick. Fenton wrote a letter to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch saying he attacked Devlin because of the heinous nature of his crimes. After the attack, Devlin was placed in protective custody to live out his sentence.
In May 2013, the Akers family determined they no longer had the time and resources to commit to the foundation and rescue team. Due to a lack of funds at the time, The Shawn Hornbeck Foundation closed. Members helped found the Missouri Valley Search and Rescue Team to continue the work the Akers started.
Shawn told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2013 that what he went through will always be part of his life. When the Post-Dispatch asked him how he felt about a similar missing child case at the time, he responded that when missing children are found, it doesn't necessarily bring back bad memories for him from his years under the control of his captor. Instead, it brings good memories of the day police walked him into a room to be reunited with his parents.
Lynn Willett retired from the FBI in 2010. She still stays in touch with her colleagues who helped solve the case.
Michelle McNamara passed away on April 12, 2016, at the young age of 46, while aiding in the investigation of finding the Golden State Killer. She died just 12 days before the killer was caught and identified as Joseph James DeAngelo.
Unfortunately, Craig Akers passed away on July 15, 2019, two days before Shawn's birthday, at 57, after battling bladder cancer.
Shawn Hornbeck married and became a father. Both he and Ben Ownby still reside in the St. Louis area. Shawn and Ben are attempting to live everyday lives as much as possible after such horrific circumstances.
The 'Missouri Miracle' shows that determination, quick thinking, and an eye for detail can bring a cold case to justice.
And that's the case of the Missouri Miracle. The last two episodes were tough, so I wanted this week to have a happy ending. Be sure to follow and download Crime Connoisseurs wherever you listen to your podcasts. Have a case you want to suggest? Go to Linktr.ee/crimeconnoisseurs and click the Case Suggestion tab. In the meantime, keep it classy, connoisseurs, and I'll catch you on the next case!