More charges filed against kidnapping suspect Devlin

POTOSI, Mo. -- Seven more charges, including attempted murder, have been filed against a former pizzeria manager accused of kidnapping two boys and holding one of them for four years.

Michael Devlin already was charged with kidnapping Ben Ownby, 13, in January in Franklin County and with kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck, then 11, in 2002 in Washington County.

He also was charged with several counts of forcible sodomy in St. Louis County, where Devlin allegedly kept the boys, and with federal counts of pornography and transporting a boy across state lines.

Washington County prosecutor John Rupp filed additional charges Monday against Devlin, accusing the 41-year-old of attempted murder, kidnapping, armed criminal action, three counts of forcible sodomy and one count of attempted forcible sodomy.

The new charges allege that Devlin tried to suffocate "SH" after kidnapping him. The papers give only the initials, which match Shawn's name.

Rupp declined to discuss details of the charges he announced Tuesday. He said the crimes occurred through early November 2002 in Washington County but would not say if Devlin was keeping Shawn in the county, instead of at his apartment in St. Louis County. Shawn disappeared in October 2002.

A copy of the new charges said Devlin committed the sex crimes against "SH" on Oct. 6, 2002, the day of the kidnapping, and in the days after the kidnapping. The charges also said Devlin tried to suffocate the victim.

Michael Kielty, an attorney for Devlin, said prosecutors have not provided details of the allegations against his client.

"Again, we haven't seen any evidence," Kielty said. "We have requested it time and time again."

Shawn and Ben were found Jan. 12 at Devlin's apartment in Kirkwood. Ben had been kidnapped four days earlier after getting off a school bus near his home in the Franklin County town of Beaufort. Shawn, now 15, was kidnapped while riding his bike in the Washington County town of Richwoods.

While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual abuse in most cases, the story of Shawn and Ben has been widely publicized and their names are now well-known. Also, their families have gone public, conducting several media interviews.

Soon after Devlin's arrest, prosecutors and investigators from Washington, Franklin, St. Louis and Lincoln counties, along with the FBI, the Highway Patrol, and Kirkwood and St. Charles police, formed a task force to investigate Devlin's possible involvement in other unsolved cases.

At the same news conference where Rupp announced the new charges Tuesday, Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Nothum said the task force has received 200 leads and tips and is still early in its investigation.

"The task force is not even close to being disbanded," Nothum said. He asked anyone from the public to come forward if they have ever lent a vehicle to Devlin.

"We know for a fact that he drove a lot of vehicles that were not his," Nothum said.

Nothum said the task force has eliminated Devlin as a suspect in two cases, but is now looking at a case out of Michigan.

Investigators no longer believe Devlin could have played a role in the abduction of Angie Housman in 1993 and the disappearance of Bianca Piper in 2006. Housman was abducted from near her St. Louis County home; her body was found nine days later by hunters in St. Charles County.

Bianca was last seen walking near her home in the eastern Missouri town of Foley. Nothum said investigators do not believe Devlin preyed on girls.

Now, the task force is looking at the case of Steven Kraft, 12, who disappeared in 2001 near Pentwater, Mich. Nothum said Devlin often vacationed with his family in that area.

The task force is still looking at two other eastern Missouri cases. Charles "Arlin" Henderson, then 11, disappeared in 1991 while riding his bike on a rural road in Moscow Mills in Lincoln County, about an hour's drive from St. Louis.

And Scott Allen Kleeschulte was 9 when he disappeared while riding his bike near his home in St. Charles during a thunderstorm in June 1988.

Nothum said Devlin was known to travel widely in Lincoln and St. Charles counties.

In addition, the task force is looking at the case of Dalton Mesarchik, 7, who was kidnapped in March 2003 from his front lawn in Streator, Ill., and found dead the next day on the banks of the Vermilion River; and Jacob Wetterling, 11, who was abducted by an armed man in St. Joseph, Minn., in October 1989 while riding his bike with several friends.

"We categorically deny any involvement in any other cases," Kielty said. "I'm sure if they had credible evidence, somebody would have leaked it -- they've leaked everything else."