Abducted boy marks 1st anniversary home

Shawn Hornbeck and his family are forever changed by a kidnapper who kept them apart for more than four years. They have taken the past year since the teen's astonishing rescue to settle into "a new normal," his stepfather said Friday.

Shawn, now 16, was discovered in a suburban St. Louis apartment Jan. 12, 2007, as authorities searched for Ben Ownby who had been snatched four days earlier when he got off the school bus in a nearby county. Both boys were safely reunited with their parents.

Their abductor, Michael Devlin, has been convicted for kidnapping and abusing the boys and is expected to spend the rest of his life in a Missouri prison.

Devlin's name is no longer spoken among Shawn's family members. "Part of that is not allowing him to take up one more second of our time," said Shawn's stepfather, Craig Akers, 46.

He and Shawn's mother, Pam Akers, 44, held hands on a couch in their rural home, while Shawn, now a high school freshman, was at class.

It is "a new normal," Craig Akers said. "There's no way our lives will ever be the same as they were before Shawn's disappearance."

Shawn was kidnapped in October 2002 while riding his bike near his home in the Washington County town of Richwoods.

In 2007, a classmate of Ben's noticed a white pickup truck speeding away from where Ben was taken not far from his home in rural Franklin County. The description of the vehicle led authorities to Devlin, and the boys were found in his Kirkwood apartment.

Ben's parents did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.

Shawn's family said they want him to enjoy his everyday experiences. After working extensively with a tutor, he's gone from a fifth-grade level when just freed from his captor to a 3.9 grade point average at a private school in the St. Louis area. He's just one year behind other classmates his age. He plays basketball and roller hockey, and loves baseball and riding his motorcycle.

But Shawn's parents also say it can be hard to give him freedoms, the independence a 16-year-old seeks. They've let him go to the movies with friends, but got lunch nearby and shopped in the same mall. On another occasion when he went out, Pam Akers joked, "It was call me when you get there. Call me when you leave, and bring me the ticket stub."

While Shawn was missing they didn't seek counseling. These days, each of the three sees a separate counselor, and they also have therapy sessions together. It has helped tremendously, they said.

They blamed themselves for letting Shawn go on a bike ride alone the day he was taken, and say they still do.

Shawn has been journaling, which his parents think has helped him. "Once he has it on paper, he's able to flip that page and then turn the page," Craig Akers said.

Shawn's return has allowed his loved ones to move forward, including moving into a donated home that was built for the family after the boy's return.

When Shawn was gone, 11 family members were staying in Craig and Pam Akers' old house. The couple didn't vacation away from the area, fearing they might miss an important call.

Shawn's married sisters, Jackie Huncovsky, 22, and Jenny LaMar, 21, have since moved out of the family home, but stop by often to talk or play video games with their brother, Pam Akers said. Shawn, now an uncle to three, has gotten to know the niece and nephew born while he was gone.

Shawn's family will mark the first anniversary of his return with a private "family fun day," Pam Akers said. She said she knows the public is interested in celebrating with them and suggested they could create their own family days together to mark the anniversary.

Members of the public, long accustomed to seeing photos of a sweet-faced 11-year-old with bright brown eyes who went missing, spot the family whenever they go out.

In Richwoods, they are treated as they have always been. Elsewhere, they have a unique celebrity, recognized by strangers who want to hug them or shake their hands. Shawn sported a lip piercing at first, but has since removed it; his longer hair has been traded in for a closely cropped style.

The couple work part-time at a logistics company, but maintain their focus on the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation, formed after the boy vanished.

They each easily clock at least 40 hours a week working for the foundation, which focuses on preventing child abductions and efforts to find missing children. Shawn has pitched in at foundation events to produce identification cards for children.

In November, the couple helped find a 15-year-old runaway from suburban St. Louis. The two, acting on a tip, took a flight to California to bring the girl home while the girl's parents attended to a gravely ill family member.

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat," Pam Akers said, explaining how wonderful it was to help reunite another family with a missing child.