by Brian C. Noell

Created on: March 14, 2007   Last Updated: May 17, 2007

The Death Penalty for Child Molesters? Let's Give it a Try.

It's time for the American people to stop letting child predators roam our streets and prey upon our young.

This recent case in Missouri is just one of what seems to be a never ending number of real life tragedies playing out before us on a daily basis. As you may recall, on January 8, thirteen year-old Ben Ownby was forcibly taken at gunpoint while walking home from his school bus stop in rural Missouri. Fortunately for Ben, a young friend and a passerby were able to provide authorities with a fairly accurate description of the suspect vehicle, and that information eventually led the police in Kirkwood, Missouri to arrest Michael Devlin, 41, a part-time funereal home worker and pizzeria manager.

While at an apartment complex in Kirkwood to serve a warrant for another individual, Officer Gary Wagster and his partner, Officer Chris Nelson noticed a truck in the parking lot that closely resembled the vehicle described as possibly being used in the abduction four days prior. The two officers then questioned neighbors and residents in the apartment complex hoping to gather information as to the owner of the vehicle and their whereabouts. It was during this canvas that they observed Devlin leaving his apartment so they approached him. Devlin was co-operative at first, but in the course of questioning he became defensive and argumentative, raising red flags with the two officers.

Both Wagster and Nelson knew Devlin from the pizzeria he managed, "It was a total 180 degrees", Wagster stated. "We were shocked, he was a very laid-back and quiet individual," the officer said in an interview on CBS's "Early Show".

Officers Wagster and Nelson notified the FBI and the Franklin County, Missouri officials then staked out Devlin's apartment awaiting their arrival. When the FBI arrived, Devlin refused them entrance to his apartment and they waited until Friday morning when Devlin left to go to work to enter the premises. Not only did they discover Ben, they also found fifteen year-old Shawn Hornbeck who had disappeared in October of 2002, while riding his bicycle. As yet no one knows why Shawn stayed as long as he did, having had numerous opportunities to leave, but psychologists believe he was manipulated into believing that further harm would come to him or his family if he did leave.

Authorities are now investigating Devlin in a 1991 disappearance of yet another eleven year-old boy from Lincoln County, Missouri. Charles

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