ST. LOUIS — More than four years ago when Shawn Hornbeck was snatched near his home, he was known as a spunky little boy who liked to ride his bike, play basketball, draw cartoons and spend time with his stepfather.
Last week when he surfaced in a stunning conclusion to a kidnapping case, Shawn was a 15-year-old who had grown more than a foot, had a pierced lip and shy smile. But the change went beyond his appearance.
As details trickled out, it appeared Shawn had settled into a domestic life with Michael Devlin, the man who allegedly abducted him and then on Jan. 8, snatched a 13-year-old boy and brought him to his suburban St. Louis apartment. Both boys were rescued last week by police after acting on a tip.
The early picture that emerged of Shawn's life in suburban Kirkwood was a teenager enjoying regular activities: skateboarding and bike riding with a friend. A neighbor saw Devlin teaching him to drive his pickup. Others in town assumed they were father and son. The boy also told police that Devlin was his last name.
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What happened during this 51 months when he apparently lived with Devlin remains a mystery.
And while some may wonder why Shawn didn't escape over the years, experts say no one should rush to judgment about a boy stolen from his loved ones at age 11.
"Most 11-year-olds taken from their support systems are in a state of shock," said Dr. Sharon Cooper, a pediatrician on the faculty of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. "Their worry is who is going to provide their basic needs."
Shawn, she said, was "was totally displaced from his family and home. This offender had established a new life for that child and he accommodated that."
Cooper, a consultant for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, also said it's much easier to dupe a younger kid than a teen.
"When you take a pretty young child away from the city they live in, after a while the child becomes compliant and complacent in the environment they're in," she said.
John Rupp, prosecutor in Washington County, dismissed any suggestion that Shawn had run away. "Shawn was abducted against his will," he said. "Period. End of story."
Kidnapping suspect charged
At a news conference Wednesday, authorities charged Devlin with Shawn's kidnapping and said the 41-year-old pizza parlor worker had used a gun to threaten the boy when he was abducted in 2002.
Devlin is also under investigation in the disappearance of another Missouri boy 16 years ago, The Associated Press has learned. He is the "most viable lead" in the case of Charles Arlin Henderson, who was 11 when he disappeared in 1991 and has never been found, Lincoln County sheriff's deputies said.
The long-missing boy, known as Arlin, was, like Ben and Shawn, about 100 pounds and from a rural town about an hour from St. Louis. Both Shawn and Arlin vanished at age 11 while riding their bikes.
"If you were to take a photo of Arlin Henderson and you place it next to Shawn's picture, there is a striking resemblance," sheriff's Lt. Rick Harrell said.
Washington County Sheriff William Schroeder also said it's hard for anyone to fathom Shawn's ordeal. "This is something so bizarre that the normal individual cannot grasp what this then-11-year-old boy went through."
Shawn accompanied his parents to Chicago for the Wednesday taping of an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show. He sat in the front row, gripping his sisters' hands, but he didn't answer questions.
