Shawn Hornbeck reportedly met with police 10 months after disappearance

ST. LOUIS -- Ten months after Shawn Hornbeck disappeared from his home in Washington County, he spoke with Kirkwood police to report his bike being stolen, apparently the first of two encounters Hornbeck had with police after his 2002 disappearance.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Saturday that on Aug. 15, 2003, when Shawn was 12 and his disappearance was still very much in the public eye, Shawn introduced himself to police as Shawn Devlin and gave no clue that he was a missing child being held captive.

It was not Shawn's last encounter with police. As previously reported by the Post-Dispatch, on Sept. 29, Shawn was riding a bike late at night in Glendale, a St. Louis suburb, when an officer stopped him because he was wearing dark clothes and didn't have reflectors on his bike.

Shawn was missing more than four years before he was discovered on Jan. 12 with Ben Ownby, 13, who was reported missing five days earlier. Michael Devlin, 41, has been charged with kidnapping both boys.

In the August 2003 encounter with police, Shawn reported that his BMX bike had been stolen from outside the apartment he shared with Devlin, according to the Kirkwood police report.

The officer who spoke to Shawn then, Christopher Moss, was summoned to the neighborhood for a stolen-bike complaint. Moss was getting ready to leave when he was told of another stolen bike, according to Moss' report, obtained by the Post-Dispatch through a public-records request.

"I spoke with Shawn Devlin and his father Michael Devlin," Moss wrote. "Shawn said his bicycle had been left outside on the porch area around 10 p.m. on August 14, 2003, and was missing when he went outside on August 15, 2003, around 8:30 a.m."

"The Devlins had no suspect information," Moss added.

Moss noted that the bike had been purchased a month earlier for $160. That would have been around the time of Shawn's birthday, the first since his abduction on Oct. 6, 2002.

There was no immediate response to calls seeking comment Saturday from Moss, now an officer in nearby Overland. But James Herron, chief of police in Overland, said Saturday that policy prevents him and his officers from commenting on ongoing investigations. Kirkwood police also did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Kim Evans, a friend of Shawn's family who has been speaking on their behalf, said she was "speechless" that Shawn was seen by police 10 months after his kidnapping.

"You would think someone would have recognized him," she said. "But it's hard to say."

In the 2006 encounter, the Glendale officer, parked near a house that had collapsed, was keeping people away from the rubble when he spotted Shawn about 11:20 p.m.

According to the police report, Shawn told the officer his name was Shawn Devlin and gave him the birthdate July 7, 1991, 10 days off his true date of birth. Shawn told the officer he was riding his bike to his apartment in Kirkwood after visiting a friend's home.

Glendale police have said the officer had no reason to suspect Shawn Devlin was someone else.

Meanwhile, Shawn has been receiving donations from around the country, and the media spotlight has been "overwhelming" for Shawn, Evans told the Post-Dispatch.

"He thought he was just coming home. He never imagined this was what it was going to be like." She said the sight of cameras is starting to almost scare him.

Shawn received a four-wheel ATV Friday from a donor who did not want to be identified. He and his family have also received several cards from the public, Evans said.

Christian Audigier, designer of Ed Hardy Vintage Tattoo Wear of Los Angeles, flew his assistant to Missouri with $3,000 to $4,000 in free clothing for Shawn.

Caleb Westbay, vice president for Ed Hardy, said local law enforcement helped the fashion house meet with the family.