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Teenager Recounts 4 Years As Captive

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The Associated Press

Published: September 25, 2008

ST. LOUIS - A Missouri teenager who was kidnapped and held for four years said he figured his days were numbered when his abductor decided to take another boy, according to transcripts from a television interview released Wednesday to The Associated Press.

Shawn Hornbeck, now 17, and his parents recounted their story during an interview with CBS News' "48 Hours Mystery," in which he discusses details of his captivity for the first time.

"The days got slimmer," he said. "'Cause it's a replacement. When you get a new car, what do you do with the old one? You usually get rid of it, right?"

Shawn was 11 when he was kidnapped by Michael Devlin in 2002 near his home in Washington County, Mo.

He and Ben Ownby, another kidnapped boy, were found in the suburban St. Louis apartment of Devlin, who is serving life sentences for kidnapping and abusing the boys.

But Shawn said death didn't scare him. His greatest fear during his years of captivity was that he would never see his family again, he said.

The show also includes an interview with Ben Ownby, who was 13 when Devlin abducted him in January 2007. Both boys were found four days after Ben's abduction.

Shawn was taken while riding a bike to a friend's house in October 2002.

"From day one, he had the gun. He had the power," Shawn said. "The thing that sticks out the most is, he said, 'You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.'"

Not a day went by that he didn't think Devlin would kill him, he said.

"I'm not gonna lie; there was times when it seemed like I was better off dead than living through" the captivity, Shawn said.

Devlin had said he would kill Shawn if he ever tried to run, a threat Shawn's family has called a "deal with the devil."

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