After reunions, questions mix with joy

KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- Somehow, after all the dashed hopes and dead-ends, after the four years of fruitlessly searching forests and mine shafts and Internet bulletin boards, Craig and Pam Akers still expected they would hear news of their kidnapped son.

They just never expected the news would be this good.

The cellphone rang Friday afternoon as the couple drove home from work through a cold sleet. The county prosecutor was on the line. He advised them to pull over as their hearts began to pound.

"The next words were, 'We're 95 percent sure we've found Shawn and he's alive,' " Craig Akers said yesterday. "Those were the sweetest words I ever heard in my life."

Police found Shawn Hornbeck alive and seemingly well Friday when they searched a suburban St. Louis apartment for a second kidnapped boy, 13-year-old Ben Ownby. Officials said Ownby, who was snatched last week on his way home from school, also was unhurt.

Yesterday, questions mixed with joy over the recovery of the boys. Investigators are trying to determine what drove the alleged kidnapper, how he treated the boys, and how he kept them hidden in plain sight in his home about an hour from where they were kidnapped.

Both boys appeared healthy and at ease during news conferences yesterday, smiling as cameras flashed and video cameras whirred. Their parents did the talking, speaking of prayers answered, and asking for privacy to let it all sink in.

"Shawn is a miracle here," Pam Akers said. "I still feel like I'm in a dream. Only this time it's a good dream, it's not my nightmare I've lived for 4 1/2 years."

Authorities charged Michael Devlin, 41, a pizza shop worker who moonlights at a funeral home, with one count of kidnapping, but revealed little of what they know. Devlin was jailed in lieu of $1 million bond pending his arraignment later this week.

Publicly, officials marveled at the rescue of two teenagers kidnapped four years and 40 miles apart, one of them all but given up for dead. Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke summed up the mood when he told reporters, "We have some good news and we have some probably unbelievable news."

The path to finding Shawn, now 15, began when Ben was reported missing on Monday after a school bus dropped him near his home. A friend of Ben's told police that a white pickup truck sped away on the gravel road at about the time Ben disappeared.

Kirkwood police saw the truck, obtained a search warrant, and wrote the uncommonly happy ending. The boys met their disbelieving families at the sheriff's department.

Craig Akers, who is Shawn's stepfather, told reporters in an elementary school gym yesterday what it was like when he laid eyes on the gangly teenager with floppy hair, a hooded sweat shirt, and a pierced lip.

"The last time we saw him, he was yay tall and 11 years old. It kind of throws you for a second," said Akers, who once quit his software design job to start the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation to help missing children. "Once I saw the face, I said, 'Oh my God, that's my son.' "

Akers said he felt Shawn was probably going to be all right when he asked, as they drove home after midnight, if they could stop at McDonald's.

Little is publicly known about the life Shawn led after he vanished or whether he made an effort to try to escape. As Shawn sat close by, smiling and occasionally hugging his mother, Akers said the whirlwind had left them no time to question him, adding that they did not want to press him for answers before he was ready.

Akers did say the teen has not attended school for four years.

Neighbors said Shawn was not physically held captive. He lived with Devlin on the ground floor of a modest apartment complex adjacent to railroad tracks. Residents said they often spotted Shawn, visiting friends on his bicycle or playing video games with the apartment door open.

Teddy Wilson, 56, a lawn and feed store worker, saw the alert for the white pickup but did not put two and two together. "I'm kicking myself for not noticing sooner."