[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]St. Louis Post-Dispatch[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]October 13, 2007 6:00 AM[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]ST. LOUIS On the day Michael J. Devlin admitted holding two boys captive, he told FBI agents he often thought of returning Shawn Hornbeck to his parents and then killing himself, according to the agents' reports.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]"I'm a bad person," Devlin told the agents.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Devlin led them on Jan. 12 to his small apartment in Kirkwood, Mo., where officers freed Shawn Hornbeck, then 15, and William "Ben" Ownby, 13. Devlin kidnapped Shawn from Richwoods, Mo., on Oct. 6, 2002, and made Shawn accompany him on Jan. 8, when he kidnapped Ben from near Beaufort, Mo.[/FONT]
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[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]After describing how he pondered killing himself, he told them, "As much as I (expletive) up, I (expletive) Shawn up but I still love him."[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Devlin also told how, a month after kidnapping Shawn in 2002, he drove the boy to Washington County, Mo., with plans to strangle him because a gunshot would be "too messy."[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Devlin tied Shawn's arms, covered his mouth with tape and began choking him but realized he "couldn't do it."[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]"Devlin stated that they were both crying," the reports say. "Devlin then told Shawn that he couldn't keep leaving work to take care of Shawn at lunch. They came to an agreement. Shawn told Devlin that he would just forget about Devlin trying to kill him and that he would just be satisfied with being alive."[/FONT]
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[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]On the first night of captivity, Devlin tied a rope around Shawn's waist and tied it around his own hand or waist before going to sleep, Shawn told the officers.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]The next day, before he went to work at the Imo's pizza shop in Kirkwood, Devlin tied Shawn to a futon and put duct tape over his mouth. He repeated the practice for about the first month of the boy's captivity, Shawn said. Devlin would come home on his break and let Shawn "go to the bathroom and feed him," the report says. "Before leaving to return to work, Devlin retied" him.[/FONT]
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The FBI reports say agents M.L. Willett and Christina Kinney approached Devlin at 12:10 p.m. Jan. 12 at the Imo's pizza in Kirkwood to ask about similarities between his white 1991 Nissan pickup and the one sought in Ben's disappearance.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Devlin denied being in Beaufort until the agents pressed him on the truck's tires, warning that "tire tracks are like fingerprints."[/FONT]
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He became nervous, admitted that Ben and also Shawn were in his apartment and said, "I'm a bad person."[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Here are other key elements in the FBI reports:[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Devlin first spotted Shawn while driving toward property he co-owned at Woodland Lakes Estates, in a remote area of Washington County. He passed the boy, stopped, watched him ride his bike down a gravel road and followed him. He bumped Shawn's bike with the pickup, jumped out to feign concern and forced him into the truck.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]On Jan. 8, when Devlin abducted Ben, Shawn was aware of Devlin's plans but "did not have a choice in the matter." Shawn's role only was to keep the other boy calm.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Shawn was angry at Devlin "for making another boy go through the things he had gone through," the reports say. Devlin forced Ben to sit between him and Shawn and to put his head down, lest he be seen. Shawn talked with Ben about food and television. When they got to the apartment, Devlin instructed Shawn to watch Ben.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]When
Devlin and the agents went to his apartment after his confession, "Devlin told Shawn that none of this was his fault and if the police asked him anything just to tell the truth."[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Devlin said he had sexual thoughts about boys all his life but did not act on them until he took Shawn. Devlin said he quit babysitting as a teen because of those thoughts. He said he never has had adult male sex partners.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Devlin had a phone conversation with his mother shortly after Ben's abduction in which his mother noted that his truck was similar to the one being sought. "During the telephone conversation, Devlin's mother jokingly commented, 'Are you going to be arrested?'" the reports say.[/FONT]
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