the buzz log
Two Missing Kids, Home at Last
On Friday, St. Louis police found two missing boys in the apartment of a 41-year-old local named Michael Devlin. One of the kids, Ben Ownby, 13, disappeared earlier this month. The other, a 15-year-old named Shawn Hornbeck, had been lost for more than four years.
Within days, searches on the dual capture and discovery surged across the Web, pushing the alleged kidnapper into our top movers for the week and hoisting buzz on both boys. But it was Shawn in particular who seized the country's attention.
People from across the U.S. turned to Search for more on the teen's disappearance, the foundation his parents set up to find him, the news that he was found, and the website and blog devoted to his story. His lengthy captivity sparked searches for "stockholm syndrome" and roused queries for "elizabeth smart."
From there, searchers turned to the plight of lost kids everywhere. Buzz on "missing children" rose nearly 6,000% over the past seven days, while "missing persons resources" and "pictures of missing children" shot off the chart.
Now, investigators say Michael Devlin may be connected to the 1991 kidnapping of a young boy named Charles Arlin Henderson. As more comes to light, we're sure to see greater search spikes. In the meantime: Welcome back, Ben and Shawn.
Filed under: Crime, Missing Persons
the buzz log
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what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
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comments
Posted by marybonib | Fri, January 19, 2007, 11:21 am PST
Oprah missed the mark on her show yesterday. She should have made it a celebration and used the positive outcome of the kidnapping to encourage neighborhood participation and public awareness of the dangers of ordinary, everday looking people living right in the midst of everyone's sight. She instead went for the ratings sensationalism of the details of what happened to the two boys. It is no ones business and only an idiot would not know why they were taken. Focus on the positive and leave the sordid details to the police and prosecutors to deal with..
Posted by kc_hewitt82 | Fri, January 19, 2007, 5:38 pm PST
Thank God these kids are finally home!!! Everyone needs to get involved and help find missing kids. Poor Shawn could have been home years ago. It's such a shame that someone can abduct a child for over four years without suspicion. People need to let Shawn and Ben recover now. They've been through enough already and they need everyone's support.
Posted by nursiepoo@sbcglobal.net | Fri, January 19, 2007, 7:29 pm PST
AS A PARENT OF 3 CHILDREN, YOU NEVER STOP WORRYING ABOUT THEM WHEN THEY GO OFF TO COLLEGE OR WALK OUT THE DOOR TO GO TO SCHOOL. AND SIGH DEEPLY WHEN YOU HEAR THEIR VOICES. I AM THANKFUL THAT THERE ARE INDIVIDUALS OUT THERE THAT "CARE" ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS. I MET SHAWN'S FATHER AT A LOCAL SUMMER PICNIC WHERE THEY TAKING PICTURES FOR ID PURPOSES FOR CHILDREN. I COMMEND HIS FAMILY FOR THEIR STRENGTH AND PERSERVENCE. LIKE HE SAID ON THE NEWS THE OTHER EVENING "HOPE IS WHAT GETS YOU THROUGH THE DAY. WITHOUT HOPE YOU HAVE NOTHING." IT SHOULD BE A REMINDER TO ALL OF US THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE UP, BE STRONG AND BELIEVE.
MANY HUGS TO THE FAMILIES. IF YOU WERE MY CHILDREN I WOULD SQUEEZE YOU AND NEVER LET GO, AND KEEP TELLING YOU EVERY DAY HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU AND HOW MUCH YOU MEAN TO ME. THANK GOD YOU ARE HOME AND SAFE. TIME WILL HEAL ALL WOUNDS.
Posted by acosawa | Fri, January 19, 2007, 11:38 pm PST
I am wondering about Devlin's family.
Did they not ever visit him at his apartment? What about his neighbors
one of whom once asked Shawn; "Are you the boy who has been missing from his family?" Are folks so one dimensional that when he awswered in the negative they couldn't have surmised that he was intimiated or scared?
Call the police when you suspect something people.
Call the police!!!!
As far as those of you who are criticizing Oprah, don't try and make Oprah a scapegoat for your anger and dismay.
Posted by capacine | Sat, January 20, 2007, 12:06 am PST
I think that it is terrible what has happened to these children, and they are children even though one is 15.
I think that the skum bag should get the same as what he has done to these kids and worse. I hope there are some nice fellow in prison who will have a little chat with him if you get my drift.
I do not think that these are the only one that he has taken!!! Thing is where are they did he kill them, was he getting ready to kill Shawn. He has a new younger one to play with.
I just don't think that there is more to his story than what is visible now.
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