Michael J. Devlin

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Michael J. Devlin
Born	November 1965
Occupation	Manager for Imo's Pizza

Michael J. Devlin (born in November 1965) is an American from Kirkwood, Missouri. He is best known as a suspect in the kidnapping of Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck.

1 Background
2 Alleged Crimes
- 2.1 Prosecution
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Background

Before his arrest, Devlin worked as a manager for Imo's Pizza and as a part-time funeral home worker at Bopp Chapel in Kirkwood.^[1]

[edit] Alleged Crimes

On January 12, 2007 Devlin was taken into custody and charged with the January 8, 2007 abduction of 13-year-old William "Ben" Ownby. Ownby was found on Friday, January 12. Upon his discovery, law enforcement officials found another missing teenager, Shawn Hornbeck. Hornbeck disappeared on October 6, 2002 at age 11 while riding a bike to a friend's house in Richwoods, Missouri. No one heard from Hornbeck again until he was discovered in Devlin's Kirkwood, Missouri apartment. The children were discovered after police noticed Devlin's white pickup truck, which matched the description of a vehicle in the vicinity of Ownby's disappearance, in the parking lot of his apartment complex where they were serving an unrelated warrant at the time. Hornbeck (aged 15 at the time of his discovery) lived with Devlin, masquerading as father and son. It is believed that Shawn was given the name Shawn Devlin by Michael Devlin, and is also alleged to have gone by the name Shawn Wilcox. He was separated from his family for a total of four years and three months. Both boys were reunited with their families after their discovery.

[edit] Prosecution

This section documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Devlin was charged with one count of kidnapping William Ownby in Franklin County as well as one count of kidnapping and armed criminal action for the abduction of Shawn Hornbeck in Washington County.^[2] On Thursday January 18, 2007 Devlin pleaded "not guilty" via closed circuit television on the charges of child kidnapping in the case of Ben Ownby despite the fact that the two boys were found in his apartment. Devlin has a preliminary hearing set for March 15, 2007. Prosecutors in the case said the 41-year-old suspect already confessed ^[3] The investigation is currently ongoing, and Devlin may face numerous state and federal charges. He is being held at the Franklin County Sheriff's Department on a $US1 million cash-only bail.^[4] He also has a $US3 million bond in Washington County. ^[5] In a January 2007 interview with the New York Post, Devlin was quoted as saying "I don't know how I'm going to explain myself to my parents." During the same interview he claimed to have been a happy person, though lonely since most of his friends had gotten married and disappeared.^[6]

On February 5, 2007, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch added 71 new felony charges to the existing charges previously filed by Washington and Franklin County Prosecutors. The first 18 counts (one count of kidnapping and 17 counts of forcible sodomy) pertain only to the kidnapping of Ownby. The remaining 53 charges are kidnapping and forcible sodomy charges related to the abduction of Hornbeck. ^[7] Each of these individual counts is a felony and carries the possibility of life in prison. ^[8]

On February 6, 2007, a motion by attorneys for Michael Devlin for a gag order against the New York Post and reporter Susannah Cahalan was denied in Franklin County Court. Franklin County Associate Circuit Judge David Tobben also denied a motion for her to turn over her notes to the the attorneys, and denied or refused to immediately hear two other requests by Devlin's attorneys.^[9]

On February 28, 2007 a felony indictment in Franklin County charged Devlin with one count of child kidnapping and one count of armed criminal action for allegedly using a deadly weapon in kidnapping Ownby. This grand jury indictment replaces the previous Franklin County kidnapping charge against Devlin and adds the weapon charge. ^[10]

On March 1, 2007, Devlin was charged in federal court with four counts of producing child pornography and with two counts of transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity in both Arizona and Illinois. According to prosecutors, all six counts involve Shawn Hornbeck who is only identified by the initial "S." ^[11]