Boy, 13, missing and feared kidnapped in Franklin County

BEAUFORT, Mo. -- For hours before 13-year-old William "Ben" Ownby turned up missing, neighbors saw a beat-up white pickup cruising his rural neighborhood. A schoolmate saw what was possibly that same truck speeding away about the time Ben disappeared.

On Tuesday, the mysterious pickup was the focal point in the search for Ben, last seen Monday afternoon after getting off the school bus near Highway 50 in Beaufort, an unincorporated town about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis.

Authorities believe Ownby was abducted. An Amber Alert was issued Tuesday as the Franklin County Sheriff's Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI were joined by dozens of volunteers in the search.

FBI special agent Roland Corvington said stranger abductions are extremely rare, so it's likely Ownby at least met his abductor some time before.

Roland said two FBI profilers would arrive in the area Wednesday to assist the investigation by compiling a portrait of the kind of person likely to have abducted Ownby.

Police stopped and questioned motorists along a highway about the disappearance of 13-year-old William "Ben" Ownby on Tuesday in Beaufort, Mo. Searchers fanned out in wooded areas Tuesday looking for the boy, who disappeared after stepping off his school bus a day earlier. The FBI is investigating, and officials fear the boy may have been kidnapped. (Jeff Roberson ~ Associated Press)

Speaking to a pool of television cameras, Corvington urged the abductor to leave Ownby in a safe place.

"We're coming after you," Corvington said.

Ben's father, William Ownby, said his son was last seen by a fellow student after the two boys got off the bus after attending middle school in nearby Union.

The boys separated and Ben's friend told authorities he looked back minutes later to see a white pickup truck with a camper shell in an apparent hurry, backing into a ditch briefly before speeding away.

William Ownby said neighbors had spotted the same truck cruising up and down a county road near his wooded subdivision earlier that day.

Franklin County Sheriff Deputy Travis Blankenship looks in a drainage pipe on Buth Lane, Tuesday morning, Jan. 9, 2007, near Ben Ownby's home outside of Beaufort, Mo. Ownby, 13, was last seen Monday afternoon after getting off the school bus near Missouri Route 50 in Beaufort, an unincorporated town about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, J.B. Forbes) ** MAGS OUT, NO SALES, TV OUT **

"We have a tight-knit community here and when there's something out of place, people notice," Ownby said.

Ownby was at home Tuesday, surrounded by family and friends, as police, firefighters and volunteers searched the woods near his home, looking for Ben or clues that might lead to him.

"The longer this goes on, the more stressful it gets," Ownby said.

Some volunteers rode on horseback and ATV's, while others searched on foot. Helicopters fanned out over the area.

More than a dozen Lincoln County Sheriff's deputies manned a roadblock along Highway 50 Tuesday afternoon, near the last spot where Ben was seen. They questioned motorists and passed out fliers with Ben's picture.

"Everybody's willing to help," Beaufort Fire Chief William Borgmann said. "Everybody wants to do something."

Ben is white, 4-foot-10 and weighs about 100 pounds. He was last seen wearing a hooded St. Louis Rams windbreaker and blue jeans.

William Ownby said he usually meets his son at home every afternoon at 3:45 p.m. He called police Monday around 4:10 p.m. when he realized his son was missing.

Police searched Ben Ownby's computer hard drive Monday night and ruled out the possibility that the teen had left with a stranger he met on the Internet, his father said.

Ownby said the abduction came "out of the blue," and he couldn't imagine why anyone would be motivated to take his son.

Sheriff Gary Toelke asked that residents in the region keep an eye out for the white pickup. It had the word "Nissan" written in black letters on the back, but authorities weren't certain it was a Nissan.

Toelke described the pickup as beat-up. It had dents and rust and lacked hubcaps. The camper shell had one continuous window along the sides, with what appeared to be a ladder rack on top.

"The public is going to be very important in solving this because somebody has seen that truck," Toelke said. "Somebody knows where it is."

He also said the boy was carrying a black backpack that may have been discarded along a road.

Ownby described Ben as a straight-A student, a Boy Scout who loves to play computer games. He said the boy was dropped off every day at the same bus stop, about 500 feet from their home.

Memories are still fresh in Franklin County of another high-profile kidnapping less than four months ago.

Police say Lonedell resident Shannon Torrez slashed the throat of her neighbor and stole her infant child Abigale Woods, or "Baby Abby" as she became known in the five days she was missing.

Woods was recovered after Torrez's sister-in-law contacted police. The child is back home with her parents while Torrez is jailed on $1 million bond.