Oprah Meets the Parents of the Boy Who Went Missing for 4 Years | The Oprah Winfrey Show | OWN

it is the story that has been on all of our minds last week 13-year old ben Ownby was reportedly abducted just outside st. Louis minutes just minutes after getting off of the school bus four days later detectives track Ben down to the apartment of a local pizza parlor manager he was 41 year old Michael Devlin in a shocking twist not only did police find then they also discovered 15 year-old Shawn Hornbeck another Missouri boy who had vanished four years ago I sat down with Shawn Hornbeck and his family in their very first interview since this incredible miracle story broke we began with Shawn's parents and his aunt can you take us back to the day if you will October 6 2002 how did you first know that he was missing but he was gone when huh he was supposed to be home at 5 o'clock and of course Shawn always ran just a low of wait so we lo late so we always gave him alone leeway as he was 11 years old at the right yeah and the closer it got to 5:30 quarter to 6:00 I just had this gut feeling him I in my stomach I turned around my husband and I told my said Shawn's that home I said then something's wrong and so when she said something's wrong Craig did you all immediately jump into well that was when we jumped in the car and went to you know different places where he might have been went to where he we thought that he was supposed to have been earlier in the day they said that they hadn't seen him so and we come back home and get out the phone list and start making phone calls was he's calling going to a game he was supposed to been going to a friend's house okay that's when the nightmare starts that's when it really started to sink in from speaking with Shawn what do you now believe happened on that day October 6 2002 we still have not had the opportunity to speak to Shawn about that day or the four and a half years since then the time is gonna come we have told him that when he's ready he will speak to us he will come to us of course we are gonna be all getting in a therapy because I believe that needs to start right away but what if I never wanted to come to talk about it what if he feels that I never want to talk about it that was the past and then that's something I'm gonna have to deal with yeah because don't you want to know yes I do I definitely do want to know I want to know as much details as possible as much as I can bear to know but as far as that day I believe he will talk to us eventually about it Pam that's a very interesting word you use as much as I can bear do you sense perhaps that he feels that whatever has happened is not something he wants to share because he doesn't think you can bear it yes you do feel that I do you do and you're shaking your head nodding Cheri because as his aunt he has said he doesn't want to see the sadness in his mother's eyes anymore and his father he wants to give them some peace hmm and he he just wants to see him smile more mm-hmm so what do you think have you thought of obviously you've thought about this what kept him from escaping you know they're all these theories now and you hear commentators on television talking about why he didn't theories about why he didn't what do you ask and what is the answer for yourself why he didn't escape eventually I will ash on that but I honestly and truly in my heart filled that in some way or another he had to have felt either he was gonna be threatened or his sisters or myself or his dad I honestly believe if if the alleged person would have said you can leave at any given time there'd be no recourses everything would be just fine Shawn when it came home in a heartbeat yeah I honestly feel that he felt like he couldn't because of somebody's safety who's I don't know yet is that what you believe Craig oh yeah I mean there has to be something being held over over his head something somehow to to keep him from you know from trying to leave from trying to get away there's no way in the world that if he that was able to do whatever he wanted to do and could have walked away at any moment there's no doubt in my mind that he would have you know there's definitely something that that stopped that from happening tell us how you got the call that the police had found your son how did that happen we were on our way home from work and now we was driving down a highway both of our cell phones go to ringin and it happened to be the prosecuting attorneys office and we had missed the phone and actually Arista callin and with divorced male and when I listened my voicemail and knew it was prosecuting attorney John group when he says Pam please call me back immediately of course first thing you know popped in my mind is okay oh my god what News says he has cuz I knew he had to have had some news to be calling me did you think maybe he was calling to tell you that they found the body of your son that wasn't a back of my mind I definitely I thought of that you know and then I had told myself you know you can't think of that yet we don't know and he tells you what when I heard Craig save just a few minutes I'll have to find somewhere to pull over well when he said that it was like the world just stopped it was like okay why is he having us pull over you know what news that he has us that we have to pull over fire and it took us a few minutes to pull over so it seemed like it was forever and did you at that time think it was the worst news I did and then we got pulled over and Craig was talking to him and then I heard Craig say he's alive when I heard that the last thing I had heard I'm sorry yeah the most wonderful news we cut yeah I can just imagine I can just imagine so tell me what it was like when you first saw your son's face who then saw him first did you see him together we would under room together I think I did go in a room I did go in the room first and Shawn immediately stood up and I had no doubt in my mind I mean it cuz Craig didn't make the comment to me you know it has been four and a half years he says Pam you know how are we gonna know and then he looked right at me and he says you're gonna know I said I said yeah I'll know I don't know immediately I walk in that door as soon as we got in there doing he sir I said oh my god that's my son and I love you and we knew right then you knew it I knew it even what half years later and as much as he has changed I knew it so when you saw him the first thing you said to him was I love you I love you and your home in your home what did he say he says it's glad to be home he said glad to be home hi youtubers I'm excited to give you an update about our own YouTube channel now you can find new videos every day they're the kind of videos that will make you look at life differently they may even make you laugh a little bit subscribe to the own Channel today and we'll see you on YouTube

Channel: OWN

Views: 259,370

Rating: 4.7869468 out of 5

Keywords: Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey Network YouTube, Oprah Where Are They Now, Where Are They Now Oprah, Iyanla Fix My Life, full episodes, Super Soul Sunday, Oprah Winfrey Show, The Haves and The Have Nots, Have and Have Nots, If Loving You Is Wrong, Iyanla Vanzant, Oprah Life Class, oprahwinfreyshow, The Oprah Winfrey Show, oprah show, oprah interview, maya angelou, Parents of the Boy, Missing for 4 Years, Shawn Hornbeck, Missouri boy, Pam, stepfather, Craig Akers

Id: Nai6fM99JYs

Length: 7min 27sec (447 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 30 2018