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Not guilty plea in Missouri kidnap
Michael Devlin Arraigned On Charges He Kidnapped 13-Year-Old Ben
Ownby January 18, 2007
 (CBS/AP)
A man pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of kidnapping a
13-year-old Missouri boy who was found four days later in the man's
apartment with another boy who had been missing for more than four
years.
Michael Devlin, 41, is charged with
abducting Ben Ownby after the boy stepped off a school bus earlier
this month. The 41-year-old pizzeria worker and part-time funeral
home employee remained in the Franklin County Jail during the
arraignment, appearing through a video hookup. He's jailed on $1
million bond.
Devlin stood with his hands folded
in front of his stomach, wearing orange jail-issued clothing. He
mostly responded to the judge's questions with yes or no answers and
did not make a statement.
Associate Circuit Judge David
Tobben scheduled a preliminary hearing for March 15th.
Shawn Hornbeck, 15, who vanished 4
1/2 years ago while riding a bike near his home, was also found in
the apartment. Devlin also has been charged in Hornbeck's kidnappng.
Both boys have been asked by
investigators not to discuss details of their captivity.
Devlin also is under investigation
in the 1991 disappearance of another Missouri boy who still has not
been found. He is the "most viable lead" in the case of Charles
Arlin Henderson, who was 11 when he disappeared in 1991 and has
never been found, Lincoln County sheriff's deputies said.
Washington County, Mo., prosecutor
John Rupp said in a statement that Devlin, 41, was charged with
kidnapping and armed criminal action. The statement does not name
Shawn, but uses the initials SCH.
A probable cause statement released
by Rupp said Devlin "abducted SCH utilizing force for the purpose of
terrorizing the victim. After securing SCH, Michael Devlin
flourished a handgun in order to gain compliance of the minor child.
Michael Devlin then transported him out of the county and concealed
his whereabouts for four years and three months."
The long-missing boy, known as
Arlin, was, like Ownby and Hornbeck, about 100 pounds and from a
rural town about an hour from St. Louis. Both Hornbeck and Henderson
vanished at age 11 while riding their bikes.
"If you were to take a photo of
Arlin Henderson and you place it next to Shawn's picture, there is a
striking resemblance," sheriff's Lt. Rick Harrell said.
Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke
said his office and the FBI were investigating whether Devlin might
have been involved in other abductions. FBI spokesman Pete Krusing
would not discuss whether the agency was investigating a link
between Devlin and the 1991 case.
Devlin's attorneys did not
immediately return a call for comment Wednesday on the 1991 case.
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