Shawn Hornbeck Kidnap Case

[LtMarvel]

Incredible story out of St. Louis area (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/EED72841D131FE0A86257261001214F9?OpenDocument).

On Monday, January 8, a 13-year old boy went missing. A white pickup was suspected in the case. On Thursday night police serving a warrent in an unrelated case noticed the pickup parked at an apartment complex. The officers went to the apartment on Friday and found the boy and another boy who disappeared in 2002.

[rick]

I’m getting a really weird vibe from the older boy in this case.

I saw him in the press conference and he was frankly, extremely well adjusted and way relaxed for a kid who had been held prisoner for 3 years.

Plus if he’d been held as an isolated kidnap victim all of this time, what’s up with the pierced lip?


I have no idea about the facts of the case other then the basic rundown on the news, but like I said, I just get a real strange feeling about this one.

[Ontir]

When kids are taken by people who want to keep them, they often alter their appearance. With younger children, they dress them as the opposite gender, sometimes even making them live full-time as that gender, for years. Hair is often dyed, and adding a piercing isn't that outrageous, given the circumstances.

[Alex]

I have no idea about the facts of the case other then the basic rundown on the news, but like I said, I just get a real strange feeling about this one.

They showed a more recent picture of the kid, taken during his...captivity, and he was smiling.
A really big smile, it was kinda creepy.

[Grazzt]

They showed a more recent picture of the kid, taken during his...captivity, and he was smiling.
A really big smile, it was kinda creepy.

Two words: Stockholm Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome).

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Two words: Stockholm Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome).

BING BING......Yep thats pretty much it. The kid obviously has some issues deeply buried. Its been 4 years since he was taken and thru therapy he'll eventually get to the pain. He's masking it right now . Anyone remember the little boy years ago who had a TV Movie " My Name is Steven ? "

At 1st he tried to portray it like nothing had happened. But he couldn't keep it from showing. It finally burst loose and he admitted the painful details he tried to mask.

[zilch]

And i've probaby eaten at the restraunt where the kidnapper worked.

Which is about 10 blocks or so from a comics shop.

[Frodo-X]

BING BING......Yep thats pretty much it. The kid obviously has some issues deeply buried. Its been 4 years since he was taken and thru therapy he'll eventually get to the pain. He's masking it right now . Anyone remember the little boy years ago who had a TV Movie " My Name is Steven ? "

At 1st he tried to portray it like nothing had happened. But he couldn't keep it from showing. It finally burst loose and he admitted the painful details he tried to mask.

I Know My First Name Is Steven

Good movie.

[StoneGold]

And i've probaby eaten at the restraunt where the kidnapper worked.

Which is about 10 blocks or so from a comics shop.

You seem to know too much about all this...


Where were you on Dec. 18, 1982?

[Nikita]

What a sad story. Four years he's been missing. Yikes.

[LtMarvel]

I remember the original case, now that I've read a couple more articles. No one understood what had happened to the kid; all that was left was a bike on a rural road. It reminded me at the time of another missing kid from the 90s, only that case turned into a homicide that was solved.

I only hope that these two were the guy's first victims.

[rick]

Look, I don’t want anyone calling me names or telling me that I don’t understand the whole Stockholm Syndrome effect and all of that stuff, but I have got to say that I really think that I am finding the whole case of Shawn Hornbeck to be pretty suspicious, and I have some real doubt about just what is going on here.

Obviously, I have not been on the scene and do not have any access to the evidence, let alone talked to anyone involved, but it has become clear that with-in a few months of his disappearance this kid was walking around without supervision with access to friends, phones, the internet and even the police. And that is just not the typical situation in this kind of child snatching.

Sure he was 12 when that happened and that’s young, but come on guys, it’s not that young. At 12 you are certainly old enough to know that you go to the police when the bad man steals you.

And the kid was just so damm casual and playing to the cameras during that press conference. He was dressed like a normal teenager and he had at some point pierced his lip, which I thought was an odd bit of teen rebellion for a kidnap victim.

There was just nothing in his body English or his actions to suggest trauma.

So just what the Hell is the real story here?

This is the most unusual kidnapping I have ever heard of and the fact that the boy had regular chances to get in touch with his family, and was aware that they were looking for him is again something that makes no sense.

I know he is a kid and I am not saying that he wasn’t kidnapped. But there is something out of the ordinary going on in this case and I really believe that there are some fair but uncomfortable questions that really need to be asked.

[Davideaux]

I'm curious to see how this unfolds. Maybe the information from the other kidnapped child can shed some light on this situation?

[StoneGold]

Even if he was a runaway and the dude took him in, does that make things any better? If you think 12 was old enough for him to go to the police, the guy was old enough to not take in random runaway without notifying authorities.



It's a bullshit double standard, anyways. If this was a 15 year old girl acting all blase about her kidnapping, this wouldn't be coming up like this.

[J. Robb]

It's a bullshit double standard, anyways. If this was a 15 year old girl acting all blase about her kidnapping, this wouldn't be coming up like this.
That's very true. I doubt even O'Reilly would have made some comment on her "having fun" if the victim was female.

[rick]

Even if he was a runaway and the dude took him in, does that make things any better? If you think 12 was old enough for him to go to the police, the guy was old enough to not take in random runaway without notifying authorities.




I'm not saying anything in defense of the guy who he was living with. What ever his motivation, at the very least hiding the child from his parent was a repressible crime all on its own, and it certainly doesn’t explain the kid who he grabbed a couple of weeks ago.

But, while everything seems to show that Shawn Hornbeck was kidnapped, at the same time Shawn’s treatment as a kidnap victim as well as his own reaction to his kidnapping do seem to be more then a little out of the ordinary.

Honestly I am not sure what it is that has people so upset at other people for pointing out that this is not a normal kidnapping.

[J. Robb]

Honestly I am not sure what it is that has people so upset at other people for pointing out that this is not a normal kidnapping.
In O'Reilly's case, I think it was his wording. He seemed to imply that the kidnapper was offering the kid a better life than his parents did, even if that's not what he actually meant.

[Spackling Compound]

That's very true. I doubt even O'Reilly would have made some comment on her "having fun" if the victim was female.

This is sort of getting skewed here.
Sum up some of the differences you think that would be present in a case involving a girl instead of a boy, if the girl was given the same treatment as Hornbeck and acted like Hornbeck did after the kidnapping.

Also, don't know why O'Reilly wouldn't say that if indeed the "victim" was female she didn't have "fun" Don't really know much about what O'Reilly's comments have to do with it.

This is an odd case, and come to think of it, we've never really heard the end of the whole Jessica Smart affair. There are loose threads there.

[LtMarvel]

Some kids are sheep when it comes to adults. Be it religion or threats, some kids can be controlled through fear.

I just hope that these two are the only victims of this creep.