Curiouser and curiouser:
link
Apparently the younger boy, the 11-year-old, Ben, is ready to go back to school.
He was not, it has been ascertained, physically or sexually abused by kidnapper Michael Devlin. He was left alone in an apartment with 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck for most of the 4 days he was kidnapped, while his kidnapper worked two jobs; Devlin apparently had little contact with him beyond telling him that if he left, Devlin would "kill him and his whole family".
Shawn Hornbeck, on the other hand... by all accounts, has been free to come and go as he pleases for years.
He has been posting on the internet for at least two years, authorities said today... usually under the name "Shawn Devlin" (his kidnapper's last name). He has posted on various forums and myspace pages as "DevilDevlin" and "ShawnDevlin".
He has posted pictures of himself on various sites, with a pierced eyebrow, a pierced lip, and three rings in his ear.
He posted on
his parent's own website, a website for missing children, which bore his name. He posted under the name "Shawn Devlin".
What he posted was:
"How long are you planing (sic) to look for your son?"
He posted a partial picture of himself, his eyebrow piercing.
Okay, here's my prediction.
Want to hear my prediction?
Shawn Devlin was a runaway. He was either abducted by Devlin four years ago or went with him by choice.
Either way, he stayed with him by choice.
Why? Because the man was never home, and Shawn and his friends had the apartment all to themselves. Because he didn't have to go to school. Because Devlin bought him a nice bike and a cool game system. Because he was allowed to dye his hair strange colors and get all the facial piercings he wanted. Because he could stay out as late as he wanted.
What else does any boy want, at fifteen, besides freedom from authority, freedom to do whatever he wants?
My guess is that Shawn was
not molested by Devlin and did not have a sexual relationship with him (although Devlin might or might not have wanted that). Shawn
had the freedom to leave. I think Shawn
would've left, or told, if unwanted sexual advances had been foisted upon him by Devlin. I think Devlin is a lonely, psychologically disturbed man who wanted a boy. A sort of quasi-son/ quasi-friend. I think Shawn came along somehow and fit the bill. I think maybe Devlin got tired of Shawn after awhile (as evidenced by the long hours he spent away from home, working both a day job
and a night job). Maybe Shawn had started blackmailing him. Maybe they just didn't get along anymore. neighbors report hearing a lot of arguing coming from the apartment.
Either way, though, Devlin couldn't just
ditch Shawn, couldn't kick him out of the apartment, couldn't tell him to go home to his parents. Not without getting busted for kidnapping him in the first place.
Shawn was probably getting ready to leave on his own (although not to go back to his parents), or at least making noises about it.
So Devlin kidnapped another boy to fill Shawn's previous role in his life, a boy who was the same age Shawn was when Devlin first got him.
This is all just my personal speculation.
So far, authorities are speculating that Shawn was "a victim of brainwashing" or was "held captive by terror" or some such.
But his taunting message/ clue on his
parents' own missing child website is a tip-off for me.
He knew his parents' anguish. He didn't much care.
So anyway, that's my theory. I could be totally off-base.
But trust me, I am intimately familiar with the minds of rebellious teenage boys, and I wouldn't be surprised if a
lot of fifteen-year-old boys wouldn't have been happy with the set-up that Shawn Hornbeck had, over at Devlin's.
No threats would've been required to keep some boys there; just buy them a six-pack of beer, a pack of smokes, and a quarter ounce of pot once in a while; buy them the latest video game system; let them get tattoos. It's like that island in Pinnochio, where all the bad boys went, and got turned into donkeys.
I've also known a few older men, weird, creepy, socially awkward loners like Michael Devlin (who was, by all reports, a nice guy; had worked at the same pizza parlor for twenty years, had no criminal record. Was quiet and socially inept. Weighed 300 pounds. Wasn't in the greatest health and had recently lost a toe to diabetes), who seek out the company of young teenagers for whatever reason. Who bribe teenagers to be their friends, to hang around with them and keep them company. Their ultimate goal is not necessarily to have sex with these teenagers. Maybe they just to like to look at them. Maybe they're just lonely, and don't feel comfortable around other adults.
But whatever the case... I'm looking at the clips of Shawn and his mom, reunited, and I'm looking at his posture and his body language, and I'm thinking, he's not going to be with her long. He doesn't
want to be with her. He's going to leave again, as soon as he can.
That's what I think.
And this Michael Devlin guy did a horrible thing, even if my theory is correct and he didn't abuse either of the boys. The trauma he put those families through is unimaginable. But it's also possible that if Shawn Hornbeck hadn't been holed up safe in Devlin's apartment all these years, piercing his lips and diddling on the computer, he might've been somewhere else, like on the street getting hooked on heroin and murdered.
At least he's alive.
I'm probably just biased.
I don't
like Shawn Hornbeck, for what he did to his mother.
Of course, psychologists are explaining that away too; he was in a state of psychological bondage... he was subconsciously trying to leave clues by trolling mom's website, etc.
I don't know. Maybe they're right.
Time will tell.
