The Child Protection eNewsletter

Missing Missouri boy found…with another boy missing four years… 

Police searching a suburban St. Louis home for a boy missing for almost a week found him and made an even more startling discovery — a 15-year-old boy who had been missing for more than four years.  msnbc.msn.com  The stunning development came when both 13-year-old Ben Ownby and 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck were found at an apartment in Kirkwood, miles from the rural locations where the boys disappeared 4 1/2 years apart.  Ben vanished from the gravel road near his home in Beaufort, Missouri, 60 miles southwest of St. Louis, last Monday afternoon.  Shawn was last seen in October 2002 riding his bike near his home in Richwoods, Missouri, about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis.  The boys were found in an apartment occupied by Michael Devlin, 41, who has been charged with one count of first-degree kidnapping, Toelke said.  Devlin is jailed on $1 million bond at a location the sheriff would not disclose.

Citing unnamed law-enforcement officials, the New York Post reported that child pornography was found on the home computer of Michael Devlin, the 41-year-old, 300-pound pizza-parlor manager accused of kidnapping the two Missouri teenagers.  foxnews.com  The find could lead to federal child-pornography charges for Devlin who has already been arrested in connection with the kidnappings.

In their first in-depth network television interview since their kidnapped son was rescued, the parents of 13-year-old Ben Ownby talked to TODAY exclusively about the ordeal and the family's joyous reunion Friday at a Missouri police station.  msnbc.msn.com  TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira conducted the interview Monday via satellite with Ben, his sister Amanda, 19, and his parents, William "Don" Ownby and Doris Ownby.  Holding one of the model planes he collects, the straight A student who had been missing for four days grinned broadly, smiled and laughed frequently with his family throughout the 17-minute interview.

15 year old Shawn Hornbeck lived openly with Devlin, leading many to assume that he was his son.  abcnews.go.com  But amid the rejoicing over the return of the two boys, there are lingering questions about how their alleged kidnapper could have hidden them in plain sight.  Some people are asking why Hornbeck, who didn't go to school during the time he lived with Devlin but hung out with friends, had a cell phone and rode his bike around alone, didn't just walk away from his captor.  usatoday.com  Mental health experts say this troubling case is hardly so simple, and that Hornbeck was likely kept mentally shackled by terror and domination from the man accused of kidnapping him, 41-year-old Michael Devlin.  abcnews.go.com  Good Morning America reports that “Stockholm Syndrome” may have made it psychologically difficult for the boy to leave.  abcnews.go.com

Meanwhile, Ed Smart, father of Elizabeth Smart, the missing Utah girl who was found living openly with her abductor just a few miles from home, told Good Morning America that the boys' experiences likely will have changed them from the children their parents once knew.  abcnews.go.com  "They've gone through an ordeal that, you know, to us is the worst nightmare that we could expect," Smart said.  "And reconnecting and trying to overcome the issues that come because of that experience is, you know, something that just takes time and love and really re-establishing those relationships."

ABC News also takes a look at new technology aiding in the recovery effort of missing children.  abcnews.go.com  For more information about missing children, visit http://www.missingkids.com

Federal judge rules abuse victims can sue Vatican… 

Three men who accuse Catholic priests of sexually abusing them in childhood can pursue damages from the Vatican in a negligence lawsuit, a federal judge ruled Thursday.  foxnews.com  The ruling by U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II lets the men pursue their claim that top church officials should have warned the public or authorities about priests in the Louisville Archdiocese who were suspected of abusing children.  William McMurry, the plaintiffs' attorney, said the ruling could open the way to take depositions of Vatican officials and to obtain copies of church records and documents.  "Our whole purpose is to hold the Vatican accountable," McMurry said.

Many lawsuits stemming from the clergy sex abuse crisis have named the pope, the Vatican and other high-ranking church officials as defendants.  But the Holy See is typically immune from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.  Judge Heyburn dismissed claims that the Holy See was negligent by failing to protect children entrusted to the clergy.  He also threw out claims of deceit and misrepresentation by the Vatican.

Jeffrey Lena, a California-based attorney for the Vatican, said the ruling was in many respects favorable to the Holy See because the remaining allegations rely on the unproved assumption that U.S. bishops act as agents of the Vatican.  He predicted that claim would not be borne out as the case proceeds.  Vatican officials declined to comment.

In other news... 

A suspended Pennsylvania high school teacher on trial for allegedly photographing teenage boys in revealing clothing was found dead in a car at his house.  cbsnews.com

A Pennsylvania couple and an another woman have been charged with corruption of minors after police say they videotaped a 2-year-old girl drinking shots of tequila and smoking cigarettes, because they “thought it would be funny.”  thetimes-tribune.com

A New York City mother taking her premature baby home from the hospital smothered the newborn on the bus with his blanket and put his body in the trash.  ap.org

A Palm Coast, Florida man is being held without bond on 20 counts of capital sexual battery, 10 counts of first-degree sexual battery and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child, after a 12-year-old girl’s diary was found.  local6.com

A former Colorado high school basketball coach faces 39 charges for allegedly hitting male students in the groin, showing them pornography and pouring water on his players then driving them to games in the winter with the windows rolled down.  abcnews.go.com


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