Part II of II
Shawn Hornbeck related that for the first month of his captivity by that fiend Michael Devlin he was tied up on a futon, a type of sofa, while Devlin was at work. Since this was before Shawn had been terrorized into making what his mom refers to as his “deal with the devil” not to try to escape and to be obedient to his abductor, I would assume that at that point had the boy been able to escape he would have. Shawn used the word “tied,” so I assume he meant by rope. Had he been handcuffed or chained, I assume he would have said that. For the boy to have been left like that for a month for several hours a day without ever once having been able to free himself, it would appear that Michael Devlin also knew what he was doing in tying the child up. For Devlin to apparently have had such (apparently justified) confidence in his diabolic handiwork, I assume he had had some experience in such matters.
Authorities and others have speculated that it would have been most unusual for Devlin, in his mid-thirties at the time he abducted Shawn Hornbeck, to have never had any previous criminal contact with kids. Yet, he had no criminal record, just numerous traffic tickets and some civil tax problems with his state income tax bureau. Although there is no proof at this juncture that Devlin ever killed a kid (or anyone), by his actions in regard to Shawn (and his intentions in regard to Ben Ownby as related by Shawn), it does not appear as if Devlin could be ruled out as a man who would not go so far as murdering his victims to keep them quiet.
One of the cases of missing children in which authorities are interested in investigating Devlin is that of Steven Kraft, a 12-year old boy who went missing February 15th, 2001 in Michigan. Devlin’s family owned property in Michigan and the route to it from Devlin’s apartment in Missouri would have taken Devlin very close to where Steven lived and vanished from. Furthermore, police are reported to have discovered proof that Devlin had indeed been in the Michigan area at the time that Steven Kraft vanished. However, there is no physical evidence.
I believe there is a very good chance (and again, I hope I am wrong here) that the bound and gagged boy in the Google Image I referred to previously is indeed Steven Kraft. It is known by the Shawn Hornbeck case that Devlin liked to make tapes of his victims and their sufferings, at least Shawn’s. Perhaps he took one or more photographs of Steven if he had been his abductor. Within the photograph of this boy, there might well be enough seen of the room in which the photo was taken for the authorities to identify it as having been taken in the Devlins’ Michigan property.
The boy in the Google Image photo is presented in profile and unfortunately I cannot find a profile photo of Steven Kraft. However, looking at the two photos I find a very close resemblance to the unknown boy in the photo and the photo of Steven Kraft found here:
http://www.pollyklaas.org/missing/old-images/images3/StevenKraft3.jpg
The hair color and texture of the two boys look to be identical, as well as the styling, though it is slightly longer on the boy in the Google Image. The eyes, eyebrows, nose and head shape all look identical to me and by using one’s imagination and imagining what Steven Kraft would have looked like in profile at that age, I believe the resemblance is uncanny.
You can find the Google Image the way I did, the way I described above. The photo of the boy tied up on the sofa-like thing is currently on the first page and stands out by its red ambience. You can enlarge the image to get a good look and compare it to the photo of Steven I link to above. After you insert “Noreen Gosch” and the hits come up, just a look a little down the page for the images.
Once again, I hope I am wrong, and I hope others will report back that I am off base; that the boy in the Google Image is certainly not Steven Kraft, because the implications of my being right are not good. But if not, are the police and FBI aware of this photo? If so, have they been able to link it to Devlin’s property in Michigan? If the property has been remolded since then, maybe one of Devlin’s (totally innocent) family members might be wiling to identify it as having been taken at their property in Michigan. The Devlin property in Michigan was basically used in the summers by the family. In February, it is likely that Devlin could have been assured that he would have had the place to himself.
Whether or not Michael Devlin was involved in the disappearance of Steven Kraft, I hope I am wrong that the boy in the Google Image is Steven and that whoever the kid was that he’s just fine today. I hope.