Word: devlin
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...their son Shawn never attempted to contact them or to escape during the more than four years he lived with the man police say abducted him in 2002. But they said comments by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly that the boy may have enjoyed living with Michael Devlin more than his family had infuriated the couple...
...Shawn hasn't told them yet what happened with Devlin to leave him so scared, but both said they suspect he may have been abused, a gut feeling they first shared in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired yesterday. But Craig Akers said yesterday his suspicion was not based on anything Shawn has said or done since he has been back home. "There was nothing to make me think that other than statistics," he told TIME. "Since Shawn disappeared, we have been helping out other families with missing kids. We've been involved in more than 40 missing persons...
...also said that the mere fact that Shawn stayed away so long, despite apparent freedom to use the phone and ride his bike, was proof to him that something "awful" had happened to him during those years. In addition, both parents said yesterday that they fear the reason Devlin may have taken Ownby was because he may have had an unhealthy obsession with younger boys. "That is what keeps crossing my mind," Craig Akers said. "We're just grateful that they found them so soon after Ben got there...
...beyond the little boy whose picture was broadcast relentlessly during the early months of his disappearance. But while he has grown up, he hasn't kept up with other kids his age - at least not academically, given that he did not attend school of any type while living with Devlin. Fixing that, his mother said, will be one of the family's first priorities as their life slowly returns to normal. "Shawn really wants to go back to school, but before we can get him back in school he has to be evaluated. So that is going...
...meantime, both parents said they expect a bumpy transition as Shawn gets used to living in a home with rules and boundaries he may never have faced while living with Devlin. "He's tested the boundaries, pushed a little here and there," said Craig Akers. "But that's okay. Since he has been back, he and a girl he knew very well before he was taken have struck up a casual relationship. We've had to have a talk with him, and tell him that she can't come over to the house unless someone else is there with them...