Man pleads not guilty to charges of kidnapping

A man pleaded not guilty today to charges of kidnapping a 13-year-old boy who was found four days later in the man’s apartment with another boy who had been missing for more than four years.

Michael Devlin, 41, is charged with abducting Ben Ownby after the boy stepped off a school bus in Missouri earlier this month.

The 41-year-old pizzeria worker was arrested last week after police searched his two-bedroom apartment and found Ownby, who disappeared on January 8.

Shawn Hornbeck, 15, who vanished more than four years ago while riding a bike near his home, was also found in the apartment.

Devlin has also been charged with Hornbeck’s kidnapping.

Devlin, also a part-time funeral home employee, remained in the Franklin County Jail during the arraignment, appearing through a video hookup. He is jailed on £500,000 (€780,000) bond.

Both boys have been asked by investigators not to discuss details of their captivity.

Devlin is also under investigation in the 1991 disappearance of another Missouri boy who still has not been found.

He is the “most viable lead” in the case of Charles Arlin Henderson, who was 11 when he disappeared in 1991 and has never been found, Lincoln County sheriff’s deputies said.