'Stunned joy,' thanks surround return of missing Missouri boys

Published: 2007-01-19

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- People in the St. Louis suburb of Richwoods reacted with "stunned joy" to the news that two local boys who had been reported abducted, one more than four years ago, were found alive and safe Jan. 12, said Father Robert C. Liss, pastor of St. Stephen Parish in Richwoods. During a Jan. 14 Mass, members of Immaculate Conception Parish in nearby Union thanked God for the return of Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. The parish is home to Ben's grandmother, parishioner Charlene Grus. Shawn was abducted from Richwoods four and a half years ago at age 11. Ben, 13, was taken Jan. 8 after he got off a school bus near his home in Beaufort. The two were found Jan. 12 at the Kirkwood apartment of Michael J. Devlin, 41. On Jan. 18 Devlin pleaded not guilty of abducting Ben, and charges against him were pending in the 2002 disappearance of Shawn. Said Father Liss: "The whole town remembers exactly what they were doing when they heard the news (of them being found). ... Everybody was just elated."

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