Missouri Kidnapping Twist: Hornbeck Helped Lure Ownby?

Shawn Hornbeck was forced to help kidnap Ben Ownby, KMOV-TV News 4 in St. Louis is reporting.

Police say that Michael Devlin, 41, grabbed Ben, 13, after he got off his school bus, Jan. 8 in Franklin County, but the television station reports that Devlin had help.

Law enforcement sources say that it was Shawn Hornbeck, 15, a kidnapping victim himself, who grabbed Ben on the rural road to his home and then pushed him into the truck used to abduct him.

Those sources tell News 4 that Hornbeck was forced to push the boy to the floorboard of the white Nissan truck while Devlin drove. Ben was “held with a gun and duct tape,” the report claims.

Pediatric psychiatrist Dr. Robin Park says that Devlin would have had to desensitize and brainwash the Shawn for months to get him to do something so clearly wrong, but was not surprised at the possibility, likening Shawn’s captivity to that of a prisoner of war.

This case gets more bizarre as details emerge. It also highlights the need to keep Hornbeck, Ownby and the families out of the spotlight so that the investigators can do their work and figure out what happened, how the kidnappings occurred, and whether Devlin may have kidnapped others.

UPDATE:
Note that some of this is speculation and uncorrobotated details. There's still a long way to go before we know what happened and how Devlin came to kidnap Owenby, Hornbeck, and whether Hornbeck was somehow involved in the kidnapping.