The Crazy World We Live In! Blog

Not long after the dramatic return of kidnapped Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck, people asked WHY DIDN'T SHAWN RUN AWAY SOMETIME OVER THE 4 YEARS OF HIS CAPTIVITY?? Psychology may provide a possible explanation.

[More:]

All over the news and internet, people are still asking the same question ? why didn't Shawn Hornbeck run away?? Implied in that question, is that perhaps Shawn didn't WANT to leave? One talk show host, Bill O'Reilly asked the outrageous question outright and hinting at laying blame for his 4 year incarceration at the boy's feet when he asked: "Could it be that Shawn liked his life and did not want to leave?"

Bull pucky is the answer. No one wants to abandon their life. No matter what Devlin could have offered, no matter if Shawn was happy about not going to school...forget it. Shawn did not choose this life. Period.

Even research on children horribly abused by their own parents suggests that these children STILL WANT TO STAY with those parents. So could have life in the Hornbeck home been so horrible and life with Devlin so fantastic, that this young man would choose Devlin? Patently ridiculous. Our psychology simply doesn't work that way. No research has ever indicated anything like that....except perhaps prisoner research into THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME.

And boy, did the media jump over that one. But let's be clear: incidents of the Stockholm Syndrome are rare indeed and pretty much confined to political prisoners who are incarcerated for a very long time. So if not the Stockholm Syndrome, then what??

So what might be the explanation? Fear and most of all GUILT.

The most obvious answer is that Shawn had tried to escape at some point and failed. And perhaps when he failed, the "punishment" for his attempt(s) was so severe as to discourage him and also for him to believe that it was impossible. Further, kidnappers often threaten to hurt others -- most usually the victim's family. But there might be other explanations as well....

And we won't know the real psychological reasons until we hear from Shawn, but I would be that when the full story comes out, we will learn that Shawn was sexually abused.

But what might that mean in its entirety? Was he forced to commit acts as well as be acted upon? And for a strapping adolescent boy, might he have had a sexual reaction. What I'm getting at here is just suppose this boy is being forced to participate in sex ? s

Suppose Devlin for example, is giving him oral stimulation, might the young man get an erection? And then once having one or perhaps even coming to climax, what would be the psychological effect of having a sexual response to the abuse? Probably GUILT and perhaps a sense of confusion that somehow he liked it, especially when the abuser is controlling him. That just might make Shawn feel tainted and somehow responsible.

Once he's abused sexually, and has a physical response to that abuse, he is a changed person. And one step removed from being the boy he was. How can he possible return now to the loving home of his parents? Now that he is a sullied, "I-enjoyed-it” sexually-used plaything.

Additionally, consider the "freedom" Devlin allowed him. By letting the boy he was sexually abusing to have friends and live a life seemingly independent, is in actuality another way of enslaving him. Shawn has a secret. So even with his new friends,...no matter how close he is to them...he cannot be himself. What if Shawn did tell someone? What would be the response? What would he FEAR the response might be?

And finally, a last MAJOR FACTOR might be WHAT ELSE DID SHAWN OBSERVE AND PARTICIPATE IN? Did Devlin force him to participate in illegal activities? For example, it appears Devlin had a thing for 11 year olds. That?s how old Shawn was when he was taken, as well as Ben Hornsby. Currently, police are looking into the disappearance of another boy, taken at 11 years of age, in 1991. Could it be that Devlin took boys at 11, kept them for a few years until they completed puberty and then moved on to another 11 year old? Could it be that Devlin enlisted Shawn?s help in capturing and holding Ben? In "breaking him in” as it were?

And if Shawn wasn't the first, where are the others? Dead? When and how? Could Shawn have participated in their release or demise?

Shawn Hornbeck was captured by Devlin at the age of 11. And was undoubtedly abused psychologically and most likely, also abused sexually and physically. I think when we hear all of it, we'll understand that Shawn Hornbeck believed that Shawn Hornbeck was dead -- to himself -- and all that was left was this sad victimized Shawn Devlin.