Missouri teen had Web presence while captive

ST. LOUIS – At least two Web sites that purport to be Internet profiles of a “Shawn Devlin” include photos of teenager Shawn Hornbeck, who was allegedly kidnapped by 41-year-old Michael Devlin four years ago and freed on Friday night when police found him with another missing boy inside Devlin’s apartment.

It is unclear who created the 2-year-old Web pages, linked to by the Web site The True Crime Blog. But they feed into growing questions about how the boy who was kidnapped in 2002 continued to live openly with the man neighbors believed was his father in a rundown apartment complex in a suburb of this city. Witnesses say Shawn, now 15, was frequently left alone, had friends and rode his bikes over the streets of the upscale town of Kirkwood.

Shawn’s stepfather told ABC News Saturday that Devlin, who weighed 300 pounds and reportedly had a ferocious temper, made Shawn fear for his life. And mental health experts said there were many reasons a child in his position might appear at liberty but not truly be free.

“In these cases, abductors usually set down some ground rules for survival,” said Terri Weaver, an associate professor of psychology at St. Louis University who studies trauma, who noted that Shawn was only 11 when taken. “Fear is such a powerful emotion, especially when fear is backed up by actions … as time goes on it becomes harder and harder to speak out.”

Devlin remained in jail Sunday on $1 million bail. He faces a single charge of kidnapping, but authorities say that could grow. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday quoted friends who said Devlin, who was adopted into a large local family as a child and worked as a pizzeria manager as an adult, became withdrawn after developing diabetes and having a toe amputated in 2002.

Devlin’s attorneys did not return repeated calls for comment. The rural Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, which is handling the investigation, said there would be no comment until Tuesday. The Hornbeck family could not be reached; when asked about the online appearance of “Shawn Devlin” at a news conference Saturday, they said they knew nothing about it.

One of the Web pages, on a Yahoo group, has photos of the eyebrow-pierced teenager that Shawn has matured into.

Another profile on the networking site mindviz.com says the site is for friends and describes him as a white atheist living in Kirkwood attending high school – although Shawn apparently did not attend school during his captivity.