On October 6, 2002 parents Pam and Craig Akers endured every parent’s worse nightmare. Their 11-year-old son went missing.
Shawn Hornbeck had been riding his bike to his friend’s house in Missouri and took the same route he always did, but never made it to his destination.
His parents spent every day and every resource they had trying to find him, exhausting every possibility and investing every spare penny they had into search efforts, but four years went by and still no sign of their beloved son Shawn.
But after another local boy raised alarm bells when a witness spotted him in the back of a truck crying, police made an unbelievable discovery.
It was January 8, 2007, when police were alerted to a mysterious truck which was spotted speeding away from a bus stop with a boy in the back crying. The witness recognized the boy as his neighbor: 13-year-old Ben Ownby.
Thankfully the neighbor was able to describe the truck well enough so police could trace its owner. When officers caught up with the man Michael J Devlin he appeared nervous and told them he had to get back to his godson.
Police then arrived at Devlin’s apartment in St Louis, Missouri; they were looking for Ben but they made another chilling discovery.
There in the apartment was not only Ben but another boy who told police he was Shawn Hornbeck, last seen riding his bike in 2002, when he was 11.
In the video below, Shawn Hornbeck sits down with his family for his very first interview since his rescue and his parents speak about the moment they first saw their son after being apart for four and a half years.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5u0xG1m8ZY” /]
What an amazing story; we can only imagine what that young boy went through during that time. But thankfully he had the strong love of his parents and his faith to keep him going and we hope he is living the life he deserves right now.
Please share this miracle story with your friends and family.
