About the two boys missing Missouri boys.....?

Question

I read articles and watched the news,but the oldest one that has been abducted for 4 1/2 years isn't that alittle weird and seems like the boy didn't care about running away? Don't say he feared trying to escape within the whole 4 1/2 yrs because he had many opportunities.So, what you think?

Answer 1

Remember Elizabeth Smart? The perp THREATENS them, perhaps beats them (or worse). Come on. he was 11 when he was abducted and that jerk conditioned him. Don't judge that boy. You don't know his story and maybe he doesn't want it told and I wouldn't blame him at all.

Answer 2

I can only imagine the fear he felt at 11 years old being kidnapped. At that age a child is just not able to cope with this type of situation. The fear, confusion, uncertainty. If he had tried to run and been caught again, what horrors would he have faced? If he tried to run and didn't know where to run to what would have happened?

Later it was just a way of life, similar to abuse victims, trust me after a while being in an abusive situation you don't know how to run. With all of the self-doubt, fear, insecurity, etc. that comes with being a teenager, then to add this on top of it! I think he must be a very strong young man!

If you really listened to his step-father it sounds like Shawn did try to reach out, on his own website, his step-father hinted at the fact the posts from "Shawn Devlin" were actualy from Shawn. The posts go back to 2005, he even lists his town as Kirkwood. For starters how in the world could an imposter have come up with that name and town prior to when he was found?

So, yes he did try to reach out, but didn't really know how.

Answer 3

I don't think anyone knows what really happened yet. They aren't going to release everything because they are both minors. I am sure in a few years there will be a Barbra Walter's special and we will learn everything. I would think that the guy (monster) that had him threatened him with something, he was a little when he was taken. Or he could have told him his parents wouldn't want him back after all the bad things the guy made him do. Who knows.............but I can't see talking about him like he should have done more to get away!!

Answer 4

This boy was kidnapped at the age of 11 and God only knows what he has been through. There is a term for the reason Shawn didn't run away - it is called Stockholm syndrome, the psychological bonding of a kidnap victim to his/her captor.

I'm sure the man who took Shawn told him his parents didn't love him, threatened to kill his family, abused him, brainwashed him (he was just a child - that is why these men go for children, they are easily manipulated) and/or all of the above. Verdin took control of Shawn's thinking and thus didn't need to lock him in to keep him any longer.. In Stockholm Syndrome, the victim comes to believe that the captor somehow "loves" them because it seems without that they couldn't survive. A kidnapper is almost always physically, emotionally, and/or sexually abusive. After removing every bit of trust the child ever had for those that loved him, he comes to "relate to" his abuser. He/she often feels badly for the captor because he or she believes there is noone else to turn to. The kidnapper often tells the child a sad story of all they have been through to bring out the child's natural guilt and compassion. He comes to identify with his captor in that they are both "victims" of a sort. The kidnapper is a master manipulator. The formation of this mind-set is a method of survival.

Shawn and Ben have been through a horrible ordeal. Nearly every kidnapped child found alive after a long search has a diagnosis of Stockholm syndrome. More on that here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

P.S. To "favored" - are you KIDDING?? A kidnapper knows how to manipulate the mind of a child. Please sincerely look into what you are saying before you say it. Your lack of empathy is outrageous. NEVER is sex between an adult and a child an "affair". This was an 11 year-old boy we are talking about! Yes, he is 15 now (still a child!), and every child found alive in these cases suffer from very similar problems because of the extent of their trauma. I cannot believe you would judge the victim; it's terrible. Also, there was NO liitle girl who "chewed her way out" of being kinapped. Please, a 6 year-old barely has adult teeth. A man, 28, in Australia was abducted and chewed the rope which tied him. This is the story: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20837283-5006784,00.html
Please try to understand that your outlook on this is actually dangerous. Can you imagine what it must be like for any victim of a crime to have to defend themselves to someone telling them it "didn't really happen as it did", when only they know the real truth? Imagine being blamed for being raped or beaten. Look into Stockholm syndrome. Better yet, see if you can't get the DVD or video of a television movie from 1989 called "I Know My First Name Is Steven". Here's one site to buy it: http://www.sell.com/22CL7F
I'm sure eBay carries it as well, or check if it is a rental at your local video store. I think you may come to understand what Shawn has gone through a bit more after you watch Steven Stayner's story. It is also a terrific film.

Answer 5

He was 10 or 11 when he was kidnapped. That's a pretty impressionable age, and by all accounts the guy wasn't abusing him in any fashion. So it's entirely possible the kid just got comfortable with living with his kidnapper. If adults in high stress situations can develop feelings of sympathy for their captors, think of how much more complicated it gets when you're dealing with a child.

Answer 6

Well, since I wasn't in his shoes, I would have no idea why he would stay with a complete stranger after being kidnapped. I really believe that he must have been scared of what that freak would do if he ran away. Those freaky people know what to say to scare the living daylights out of a child, that's why they choose them as their victims. I don't think you should make a judgement like yours until you have been in the same shoes yourself.

Answer 7

Quite often children who are kidnapped that young are severely psychologically messed with. They are convinced that it is in their best interest to stay, or that someone will hurt them, or their parents, or ect, if they attempt to run away. People can be very, very sick, and can come up with a lot of reasons to convince an 11 year old (at the time) that there's good reasons not to leave.

Answer 8

Well we don't know how he was locked up. I thought of the same thing and wondered couldn't he yell or break a window or a door,but still we don't know what happened inside the apartment and how he was kept inside.

Answer 9

no the person or people who held him probbaly said they would kill his parents or did other things to him to make him feel like he had to be there. People who get kidnapped have this happen to them all the time they are tricked into psychologically thinking they can't leave

Answer 10

He was kidnapped on that day...but i don't think he was kidnapped for 4 years!!! At 16 you gotta take me farther than 200 miles from my house to KIDNAP me! At some point, it's not kidnappinig and molestation, that's an affair! Remember that little girl who got kidnapped and CHEWED her way from her kidnappers? And she was only 5! This guy was 5'11", and big and should have TRIED to get away. The only reason you wouldn't leave would be because you woudn't want to...

PLUS the news said that he had his own cellphone! And access to the internet. Look at the younger boy in the interviews; he's happy, smiling, wants to be home....but the OLDER guy, not so happy.....There's something that doesn't add up there ....