Clayton, Mo.
The Missouri pizzeria manager accused of kidnapping two teenage boys and holding them prisoner was charged this week with sexually abusing them. Michael Devlin, 43, faces 69 counts of forcible sodomy, 17 of them for committing “deviate sexual intercourse” with Ben Ownby, 13, who was held for four days in Devlin’s apartment earlier this year. The remaining counts apply to Devlin’s alleged abuse of Shawn Hornbeck, 15, who was Devlin’s captive for four years. Devlin has not entered a plea on the abuse charges, but he “acknowledged committing these acts,” St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCullough said. Investigators say Hornbeck was so terrorized by Devlin that he helped guard Ownby, sometimes at gunpoint.
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