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Missouri kidnapper's Xbox live connection

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alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
http://www.gamertagradio.com/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=3172

p_DevilDevlin.jpg


In case you missed the news story earlier this week 13 year old William “Ben” Ownby disappeared after getting off his school bus in suburban Missouri. A witness told police he saw a white truck speeding away from the area, when the owner of the truck was identified a search warrant was issued for the apartment of Michael Devlin, 41 of suburban St Louis Missouri. Upon serving the warrant police found Ben at Devlin’s apartment, and in a shocking twist they also found Shawn Hornbeck, now 15 years old, who had disappeared after going for a bike ride 4 years earlier.

It turns out that Devlin is not only the owner of Xbox Live gamertag appropriately named “DevilDevlin”, but had also registered an account on Gamertagpics.com. Gamertagpics.com is a popular social networking site for Xbox Live members. While 41 year old Michael Devlin was the owner of the profile on Gamertagpics, the profile features a picture Shawn Hornbeck which appears to have been taken outside Devlin’s apartment. The profile on Gamertagpics was registered in 2005 and has been inactive for 232 days, but DevilDevlin was last seen online playing Saint’s Row on 1/13/2007 according to his gamercard. The gamertag was likely shared by Michael Devlin and Shawn Hornbeck, or used by Shawn exclusively, as this Sunday’s Washington Post reported “Residents said they often spotted Shawn out and about, visiting friends on his bicycle or playing video games with the apartment door open.” Either way I know speak for everyone at Gamertag Radio when I say we’re just glad this tragic story had a happy ending. Game on Shawn!

Special thanks to Zamees and Misty of Gamertagpics.com for their help with this story.

here is the gamertagpics site
http://www.gamertagpics.com/users/d/De/DevilDevlin/
 
from the CNN story
Devlin's arrest stunned his friends and neighbors. Several said Devlin presented Shawn as his son, and they believed him. (Watch what is known about Devlin Video)

People in Kirkwood, a St. Louis suburb, said they had seen Shawn spend time biking on his own and hanging out with friends, apparently unwatched by Devlin.

Investigators are looking into why Shawn did not use that apparent freedom to tell authorities who he was or to contact his parents.

Bill Romer, Devlin's landlord, said the suspect had identified Shawn as his son and listed him as a second occupant in the unit.

"I don't know what I would have or could have done differently," he said. If he had run a background check on Devlin, it would have only shown traffic violations.

Romer said other residents also believed the story. "They actually said, 'You look exactly like Shawn Hornbeck.' Shawn blew it off and said, 'Whatever.' It is all really strange," he said.

Psychologists who study kidnappings say abductors sometimes convince children that they are their real parents or that their real parents aren't coming for them.
 
dirtmonkey37 said:
Yeah, same question...
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He'd been there for 4 or 5 yrs so he had somehow been brainwashed into thinking it was OK. The guy who took them must be a great talker because i would give a kick to the balls and run.
 
Great King Bowser said:
Stockholm syndrome?
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Extra effect with Xbox360. Just kidding. I dont thing the kid that age would feel pity or sorry for their kindappers. I guess the kidnapper is a lonely gamer and just need friend, but he couldn't find one so kidnap them instead. Apparently he lets the kid play whatever game without reviewing the ESRB rating and such. I think the kid must feel like in a palace or something. I wonder what their parents think right now. A kid who is pleased to be away from their parent :/ awkward moment, I'd say.
 
alr1ghtstart said:
Psychologists who study kidnappings say abductors sometimes convince children that they are their real parents or that their real parents aren't coming for them.
Click to expand...

Psychologists say a lot of things.
Most of it bull.

As far as we know, neither boy ever tried to escape.
While the media attacks Devlin, no one will really give a crap as to why the boy stayed there for so long. They'll blame it on psychological trauma (stockholme's syndrome, etc.) and not consider the possibility that the boy simply ran away.

This is bad because you lose valuable information on what makes some kids do these things. Just like when pedos get caught on myspace, no one really asks why (in some cases) that 14 year old was out looking for those pedos just as much as they were looking for them.
 
I'm kind of hoping he has a GAF account too.
 
MrNibbles said:
Psychologists say a lot of things.
Most of it bull.

As far as we know, neither boy ever tried to escape.
While the media attacks Devlin, no one will really give a crap as to why the boy stayed there for so long. They'll blame it on psychological trauma (stockholme's syndrome, etc.) and not consider the possibility that the boy simply ran away.

This is bad because you lose valuable information on what makes some kids do these things. Just like when pedos get caught on myspace, no one really asks why (in some cases) that 14 year old was out looking for those pedos just as much as they were looking for them.
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I trust some sort of investigative person or group will look into it... but the media will sensationalize it, and we won't here the truth of it. If it ever is uncovered.
 
Maybe the kid wasn't taken and just ran away to live with a guy who owned an Xbox that he met on the internet. Also, not to suck the funny out of the thread, but I would be amazed if the kid was never molested by this guy.
 
sooperkool said:
So the kidnapped kids just stayed there hanging out ??
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I guess you haven't heard all the details. Apparently he freely stayed with the guy out of fear. Well, at least that is what the experts are saying.
 
LakeEarth said:
The kid had a cellphone. WTF?!
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And he had access to the guy's truck. On CNN yesterday they were also reporting that the kid went online and posted at the site his parents set up to find him. He asked how long were they planning on looking for their son.
 
MrNibbles said:
Psychologists say a lot of things.
Most of it bull.
Click to expand...

The Nobel Prize for Medicine this year has been awarded to MrNibbles who has systematically destroyed the "mostly bull" science of Psychology! Congratulations, MrNibbles.

What will you be using your $1 million prize money for?
 
One of the oddest stories that I've read in a while.

Shawn is left unsupervised at the apartment.

Shawn is allowed to go outside unsupervised.

Shawn gives no visual or verbal indication that he's in danger when folks notice him and say that HE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE SHAWN THAT WAS KIDNAPPED.

That's just odd. Don't get me wrong. You don't kidnap kids. Regardless of what condition they lived in prior to the abduction, you can't just swipe children.

But something isn't adding up. This kid is living with a man in a rural area, with numerous opportunities to mention that he's in danger. Yet he doesn't. Whuh?
 
Shawn was told that if he tried to escape or notify anyone, he and his family would be killed. He was eleven when he was kidnapped. At eleven years old, you were probably still putting skid marks in your Super Mario Bros. underwear, so cut the kid some slack.
 
the best thing about this story is I have a friend by the name of Michael Devlin.

Well I used to have a friend called michael devlin, he's just devildevlin now.
 
MrNibbles said:
Psychologists say a lot of things.
Most of it bull.

As far as we know, neither boy ever tried to escape.
While the media attacks Devlin, no one will really give a crap as to why the boy stayed there for so long. They'll blame it on psychological trauma (stockholme's syndrome, etc.) and not consider the possibility that the boy simply ran away.

This is bad because you lose valuable information on what makes some kids do these things. Just like when pedos get caught on myspace, no one really asks why (in some cases) that 14 year old was out looking for those pedos just as much as they were looking for them.
Click to expand...

The kid was 11 when he vanished. I doubt he was "out looking for those pedos."

WTF?
 
urk said:
Shawn was told that if he tried to escape or notify anyone, he and his family would be killed. He was eleven when he was kidnapped. At eleven years old, you were probably still putting skid marks in your Super Mario Bros. underwear, so cut the kid some slack.
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Oh please give me a break. There are only 2 scenarios here in this situation.

1. The kid actually wanted to leave home.

2. He didn't want to come back.

I mean look at it from the POV of a person his age. No school, play the latest videogames all day, free cell phone, access to wheels, go outside when you want etc. Damn, if that's kidnapping these days, alot of young boys would sign up. Yeah, i'm sure the guy who kidnapped him said "Look here boy, these are the terms, I will take you to my house, make you play all these awesome games, give you a free cell phone, drive my truck, ride your bike, hang out and lounge all day and you won't go to school. If you don't do that, your family dies!!"

:lol

If this was me at 11, I don't think I would even want to go back home. Why would I? WHY WOULD I??

FYI - This would never happen to a black kid.
 
btf1980 said:
Oh please give me a break. There are only 2 scenarios here in this situation.

1. The kid actually wanted to leave home.

2. He didn't want to come back.

I mean look at it from the POV of a person his age. No school, play the latest videogames all day, free cell phone, access to wheels, go outside when you want etc. Damn, if that's kidnapping these days, alot of young boys would sign up. Yeah, i'm sure the guy who kidnapped him said "Look here boy, these are the terms, I will take you to my house, make you play all these awesome games, give you a free cell phone, drive my truck, ride your bike, hang out and lounge all day and you won't go to school. If you don't do that, your family dies!!"

:lol

If this was me at 11, I don't think I would even want to go back home. Why would I? WHY WOULD I??

FYI - This would never happen to a black kid.
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So, the butthole rapes. I'm sure you would have been down with those at 11 too.
 
urk said:
So, the butthole rapes. I'm sure you would have been down with those at 11 too.
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You're assuming things. Maybe he was just his friend. Kidnappers don't let their victims "roam" around freely. Kind of defeats the purpose of kidnapping.

Not saying that there was not anything sexual, but i'm not going to jump the gun and label this guy as a pedo. We don't know that. We don't know if he molested the boy. What I do know is this, the boy had ample opportunities to leave, he didn't. He was left unsupervised, he went outside, he had freedom. Don't give me that afraid shit.
 
urk said:
You are a beacon of compassion.
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If the child was 5, I can understand. He's 15 now, was "abducted" at 11. At what point does common sense play into all this?

My scenario is this - He didn't want to come home and knew exactly what was going on.

Yours is - He was kidnapped and afraid. Well, when the bad man who kidnapped you left to his job at the pizzeria, instead of playing Gears of War on the 360 your kidnapper bought you, how about f'kin walking out the door and leaving? If he locked it, then use that cell phone your kidnapper bought you and call somebody. C'mon man. He was even leaving messages on the website his parents made for him. People can't be serious about this kid being that naive are they?

Of course, his parents will never acknowledge the first scenario, that their son actually went to shack up with some weird guy that works at a pizzeria. Denial is a bitch.
 
Wow reading alot of your posts here it seems you people are willing to left this guy off the hook because the children didn't run away!

First off if you read the story early on he threated to kill them (Shoot them) He had guns around as well to scare them, he constantly told them thier parents were not coming for them. week after week no one showed up and the kid started believing what was told to him and relied on the adult for food, shelter and basic life needs. This is the Stockholm Syndrome.

So he decided to give them XBOX and video game games to play to help bond to them. Had this been my child I think I would still find a way to get this man alone and actually do something most people might regret and end his pathetic life...

this man should be sent to prison and ace raped for a long time..

Regardless of what the child thinks, he is not an adult and can not make the decisions and understand what is going on.
 
Dorfdad said:
Wow reading alot of your posts here it seems you people are willing to left this guy off the hook because the children didn't run away!
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No one said anyone should be let off the hook, what the man did was wrong. But we need to look at the behavior of the boy as well. What did he do to facilate his escape? Did he even want to escape?
 
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