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Midwest Slammed by Deadly Ice Storm; District Attorney asks to be Removed from Duke University Case; Hillary Rodham Clinton Skeptical of Iraqi Government living up to Promises; Two Missing Missouri Boys Rescued and Returned
Aired January 13, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG AKERS, STEPFATHER OF SHAWN HORNBECK: There's always hope. Hope is what gets you through. And sometimes this is what happens when you have that hope. You know, this is just one of those rare, rare things. I mean, you know, to have one missing child found is just extraordinary. To have two found at the same time is just one of those things that I don't even know if you ever even read about things like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Extraordinary, the words of a very happy, very relieved Craig Akers, the stepfather of 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck. The teen disappeared more than four years ago. He was found yesterday in a St. Louis-area apartment along with another missing boy. A suspect is in jail on a kidnapping charge, more on this dramatic story straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
The Midwest is being slammed by a deadly ice storm. Thousands are without power in Oklahoma and parts of Missouri. The "Associated Press" says at least six people have died in traffic accidents on ice- covered roads and adds that Amtrak has cancelled service in Missouri because of debris blocking the tracks.
Another twist in the case against three Duke University lacrosse players -- District Attorney Mike Nifong asks that he be removed from the case. Nifong faces ethics charges that could lead to his disbarment.
Democratic senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is in Iraq, and apparently she doesn't like what she's hearing or seeing. Speaking to ABC News, Clinton says she is skeptical the Iraqi government will live up to its promises to the Bush administration.
Once missing without a trace, now reunited with their families, two Missouri boys, one of whom vanished more than four years ago, both rescued and returned to safety. It's an amazing story unfolding live on CNN. Emotional reaction from the families this hour.
Plus, a deadly winter blast slamming the Midwest, freezing rain and snow, power outages and flights cancelled. This breaking news unfolding live here this Saturday, the 13th day of January. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, you're in the NEWSROOM. Stunned silence and tears of joy -- two Missouri teens feared dead are safe, wrapped in the arms of their family, today. We are unraveling the mystery of their disappearance and learning more about the man charged in their abductions.
Earlier this morning we heard from the families of 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck, who vanished more than four years ago, and Ben Ownsby (sic) who went missing on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAM AKERS, SHAWN HORNBECK'S MOTHER: We've got a lot of catching up to do. He's grown up on me, that's for sure, and I really want to thank everybody, everybody that's helped search for Shawn, everybody that's been out there to help us search for other missing kids, everybody who searched for other missing kids that were not even -- and most likely, I want to give that hope to the family, to the family that their kids can come home -- it may be years later, may be days later, may be weeks later, but they can come home safe and just always keep that faith and hope.
WILLIAM "DON" OWNBY, BEN OWNBY'S FATHER: Our focus is just, now that we got our son back, we're going to think about him.
QUESTION: What are Amanda's thoughts -- the sister?
AMANDA OWNBY, BEN OWNBY'S SISTER: I'm just really glad to have Ben back.
QUESTION: How grateful are you to Mitchell?
DORIS OWNBY, BEN OWNBY'S MOTHER: Oh, man, what a great kid. We haven't had a chance to talk to him or anything yet, so, yes, he's owed a great big hug from all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Forty-one-year-old Michael Devlin is charged with kidnapping. Authorities searched his apartment last night. Less than an hour ago we heard from the Franklin County sheriff and the family of the other missing boy, William "Ben" Ownby who has been missing since Monday.
Our Jonathan Freed is on the phone with us, joining us from Union, Missouri.
And Jonathan, what an incredible unraveling of events, all taking place in an area that seems to have had other missing abduction -- high-profile missing abduction cases just fall into their lap as well.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Frederica, and good afternoon for you. This is deja vu for myself and for my crew. We were down in this very same area back in September of last year, and our viewers will probably remember the case of baby Abby Ochsenbine who was abducted when she was just one week old -- this newborn. Her mother, who was stabbed and her throat was slashed by a stranger, it just gripped this community for several days before the baby was finally handed over. And you have to start asking yourself if this sheriff and this sheriff's department and the law enforcement officials in this area, are they good or are they just lucky? And I think that based on how well I got to know them last fall, it's a healthy measure of good.
Gary Toelke, this sheriff, really made an impression on all of us. We cover a lot of these kinds of stories, and the thing that really struck me was how accessible this man was. The sheriff was available at all hours of the day and night. He was insistent on keeping a flow of information open to the media because he firmly believed, the way many police departments do, that in a case like this, in the early days, getting as much information as possible out there is the key.
And Frederica, when you talk -- we had a chance to talk to the deputies who work with Gary Toelke, who has been in this department for several decades, and they have nothing but admiration for the man, and I think that that goes to why they work as well as they do because they were telling us that they don't want to let him down, that he has that kind of leadership ability of his people and the department and he knows how to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies.
And his own people just don't want to let him down, and they push and they push and they push, and I think that that has a lot to do with why we have seen two high-profile successes now in just a few short months.
WHITFIELD: And Jonathan, a lot of credit is being given to the community as well because they were astute, someone paid attention, and then someone got law enforcement involved after this latest sighting.
FREED: That's exactly right. We were hearing from Roland Corvington, with the FBI here in St. Louis earlier today, and Robert Parks, who's the Franklin County prosecutor. These are familiar faces to us from having covered that Baby Abby case and all of these people, this chorus of law enforcement and legal expertise, has always put a very strong emphasis on the benefits that will come from getting as much information out there as possible and really leaning on the public and, at times, begging the public to pay attention and to look for anything that might be a lead.
And I remember last fall they had hundreds of phone calls in the course of a couple of days, calls coming in from across the country. Some that might seem frivolous at the time, but you just never know when something is going to lead to a safe return and, you know, four days and one case in this story and four years in another, a family that just refused to give up hope for four years, and here's an example of what can happen when you don't.
WHITFIELD: Jonathan Freed, thanks so much for joining us from Union, Missouri. Well, lots of relief, but still lots of questions. For one, what does a lost boy want now that he's been reunited with family and friends? Video games, apparently new clothes, four wheelers and, what else, McDonald's. We'll revisit the Hornbeck family news conference this hour at 12:30 Eastern to hear more about what they're going through.
Another major story we're following this hour, the nation's mid section is in the deadly grip of a massive ice storm. "Associated Press" is saying that at least six people are dead and passengers are stranded at airports and bus stations in Oklahoma and Missouri. States of emergency are in effect in both states. Freezing rain, sleet and bitterly cold temperatures have combined to knock out power to some 24,000 customers in southwestern and south-central Oklahoma.
In Missouri some 108,000 customers are in the St. Louis area and without power. The worst icing conditions are in central and southern Missouri. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt spoke to CNN a short while ago about the conditions in his state.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GOV MATT BLUNT, MISSOURI: The hardest-hit area appears to be around Springfield, but also St. Louis region has been hit pretty hard, as well. There are approximately 200,000 households and customers that do not have power at this time and we're trying to do everything we can to help the utilities to restore power to those households.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And now joining us with the latest out of Oklahoma City, reporter Reggi Aqui.
And so what's happening there -- Reggi.
REGGI AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Fredricka, it's not really so much what's happening, but what's not, at least right now. Take a look at what you don't see here. You don't see ice on this tree, do you? And that means you also don't see it on the power lines. That is the good news, so far.
Yesterday they were hit with a lot of prescription, but most of that is on the ground and frozen, it's causing for some dangerous roadways, but so far not as many people out of power that you thought might happen.
You mentioned 24,000 people out of power in Oklahoma, today. That number is growing because early this morning when people woke up, it was only 11,000, so we've seen that double as the hours have passed. But right now, Oklahoma is in a bit of a break.
We're sort of in between waves here in this storm and that's how, the meteorologists are telling us, this storm is going to go -- in waves, with long periods of dryness and then a lot of precipitation all at once with freezing rain, sleet and then snow on top of that. We could get hit with the hardest of this storm, actually, late tonight and into Sunday morning. And so, still a lot of the emergency management folks in these states, we're talking Missouri, the upper part of Texas, even going into Illinois, and of course Oklahoma, looking at what's going on the roads and looking to make sure that everybody is still in place because this emergency is definitely not over yet.
Although right now, at least so far, the authorities are thinking they sort of dodged the bullet in the first 24 hours of this storm, Fredricka. We'll see what happens tonight because that could change this whole ballgame as the roads get slicker. Already we're starting to see the airports close again or at least close down the flights that are coming in. That's the same thing that happened yesterday about this same time.
WHITFIELD: All right, Reggi Aqui, thanks so much.
Well, let's check in with Reynolds Wolf in the Severe Weather Center. So, Reynolds, what's the answer? What should folks in Oklahoma and Missouri expect later on?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, exactly what he said, we're going to get a little bit of a break in the action, then we're going to see another installment later on tonight possibly into Sunday and by the time Monday things are going to get better for parts of the planes, but then it's going to move into portions of the Ohio Valley.
Here's the big weather-maker. Now, where you see snow, it's not a huge deal because snow is something that's, for the most part, it can be handled. Also with the heavy rain, that can be a headache too, but it's going to be the ice that's going to be the big issue, knocking down power lines, causing tree damage. That's going to give you a lot of headaches.
Right now, we're seeing some scattered showers in Dallas, northward into Oklahoma City. We're starting to see that second installment of that icy weather starting to move along the I-44 as well as the I-35 corridor, back over into Chicago, southward to St. Louis, things are looking good. But here, back towards Kansas City, here comes the ice once again.
And what we can expect for tomorrow is the frontal boundary to pull up stationary. Very little movement associated with it, so we can anticipate that ice has stayed pretty much in the same place, still the snow fall farther to the north.
And if you'll notice, Fred, these temperatures going highs today and tomorrow, they're going to be below freeze in many parts of the planes as well as the Midwest, so whatever ice falls is going to remain in place.
One thing that will work in favor, though, having that ice come installments is that as soon as you have the ice now, hopefully they can treat down the roadways as well as some of the power lines and then when the second blast comes in, they'll at least have a little bit less to work with. So, again, if it's a step-by-step, it comes down they take care of it, hopefully they'll stay ahead of it. Back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right, Reynolds, thanks so much.
WOLF: You bet.
WHITFIELD: Well, in Missouri weather, of course, the top story and then this is another top story coming out of Missouri. It's being called the miracle in Missouri. Two boys missing, now back home with their families. We'll bring you all the developments as soon as they happen.
Also next, we'll talk to the founder of the organization that bears Shawn Hornbeck's name. That was one of the kids abducted. Does this happy ending give hope to others still missing their children? You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
C. AKERS: This is kind of the start of a new chapter, I guess. Shawn's home, but that definitely doesn't mean that the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation's work is done. Hopefully we have another member of the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation now that can help us look for other missing children. That's something that's not going to go away. That's something that we devoted our lives to four years ago, and just because we've recovered our own son doesn't mean that our work is done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The stepfather of Shawn Hornbeck. That young boy disappeared in October of 2002. A foundation was set up to help find him. Now that foundation, as you heard the stepfather say, has a new mission. On the phone with us now, in St. Louis, is Chris Diamond, founder of the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation.
So glad you could be with us Mr. Diamond. Before I ask you about what's next, if you could, do you feel like the finding of this boy gives renewed hope to so many other family members who still had missing children? I guess that kind of underscores never give up hope. Was there ever a time that you all gave up hope?
CHRIS DIAMOND, CO-FOUNDER, SHAWN HORNBECK FND.: Oh, I mean, there's never been a time that the family or friends or the foundation or anybody ever gave up hope on Shawn. You know, we know that, you know, it's always a long shot, but, you know, if there is no hope, you know, what's the point of the search? So, that's why we always got the hope out there and keep hope out there for other missing children all over that, you know, hopefully they can come home the same way Shawn did.
WHITFIELD: Missing over a four-year period and we're learning through details emerging now within the past 24-hours, that Shawn Hornbeck did see the flyers, he did hear about the vigils, the ongoing searches for him. Why do you suppose he was never able to come forward, escape, do something knowing that people were still looking for him?
DIAMOND: Without -- you know, without him actually saying why, you know, right now, you know, we can only guess. It's very common, you know, things like Elizabeth Smart, you know, she had the same thing. She heard the searchers, you know, calling her name but didn't respond. You know, right now, you know, still such a new thing in trying to get him back. Right now we just don't know what his thoughts were, unfortunately.
WHITFIELD: As of last night, you had not spoken with Shawn. Since last night have you had a chance to talk with Shawn or, perhaps, even his parents? If so, what came of your conversations?
DIAMOND: Last night -- I still haven't talked with Shawn directly just because, you know, I still want them to have their family time. They definitely need that. It's been a long time coming. I have spoken with the family this morning, and he's doing great. They're doing family things today, kind of getting him back into, you know, home life again.
WHITFIELD: How do you do that? Because we're talking about four years removed, and it seems like the burning question is, this transition would be very difficult for this child or any to have endured what they did, so how do -- or how does a family go about trying to transition him back to what he used to be accustomed to?
DIAMOND: Well, I mean, it's definitely going to be one step at a time. You know, the things are, you know, right now, hair cut and new clothes. You know, just the little steps, and just, you know, just keeping family around him, you know, bringing some of the memories back and hopefully, you know, having those things will start to let him open up a little bit and, you know, let the healing process begin.
WHITFIELD: And we heard Shawn's stepfather in the press conference say that this gives the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation a renewed mission. Give me an idea where the foundation goes from here.
DIAMOND: Well, I mean, a lot of our, you know, time, you know, was spent looking for Shawn. Of course, you know, that was our main mission. And we've always committed to helping other missing children throughout the Midwest and across the country with our Web site and out other things that we do.
But now, you know, we get to, you know, focus a lot more of those resources to other children, you know, knowing that there could be, you know, outcomes like this. And hopefully, you know, we can, you know, have a few more for the kids that are still missing out there and, you know, we want to get them reunited with their families.
WHITFIELD: Chris Diamond, co-founder of the Shawn Hornbeck foundation, thanks so much for your time and everyone is happy for you alls' return of your young man.
DIAMOND: Thank you for caring.
WHITFIELD: Well, in about 15 minutes, we'll show you the emotional press conference with Shawn Hornbeck's family reunited with their son after four years.
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, it is an issue they deal with 24 hours a day, every day. We'll take you inside, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Don Ownby: That was 1:30 in the morning. We were ready to go to sleep.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
DORIS OWNBY: Oh yes.
DON OWNBY: We were just so relieved that we could finally relax.
DORIS OWNBY: I just told him when I went to bed, just don't stay up too late.
QUESTION: And what was your first thought when you woke up this morning?
DORIS OWNBY: I went and checked on him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Against all odds, their sons are back in their arms, abducted boys found alive and well. Give hopes to other missing -- or other families of missing children. This amazing story has been unfolding all morning, here on CNN. Two boys, one of them missing more than four years, were found alive in an apartment outside of St. Louis, Missouri.
Their families have been talking today, giving new hope for other families of missing children. Our Gary Nurenberg joins us now from Alexandria, Virginia with Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children -- Gary.
NURENBERG: Frederica, a lot of smiles at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, here today. We're at the national call center for the National Missing Children's hotline. It is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It's 1-800-THE-LOST for anybody who has information about missing children or who wants to report missing children.
They receive 700 calls a day, here. In Shawn's case, one of the missing boys, 319 tips over the last four years. In the other case, the boy was missing for only three days, 20 tips coming into this center. At the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children they say this is a case that gives hope to other parents. This is why Ernie Allen, you referred to, is smiling so heavily today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERNIE ALLEN, NATL. CTR. MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: I think the key message for Missouri is hope. So many people assume that because you don't recover a child in the first hours or days that you're looking for a body, that it's gloom and doom. The reality is children are recoverable. Most of America's missing children come home safely, and we've got to keep hope alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NURENBERG: In addition to calling the 800 number for information about missing children, you can also go to the Web site, which is missingchildren.com for information on children missing around the country. Fredricka, to give you an idea of what a problem it is, nationwide 2,000 kids are reported missing every day.
Obviously, not -- criminal activity is not involved in all of them, but that's gives you a sense of what so many families in this country go through all the time. Gives you a sense of why the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is so busy.
WHITFIELD: And it's a valuable resource, indeed. Gary Nurenberg, thank you so much.
Well, last hour we heard from the Ownby family as they expressed joy over having their son back home. There they are, entering the room at that news conference. And also today we heard from the Hornbeck family, who gave their son -- or rather who got their son back for the first time after four years. We're going to replay all of those comments, next in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Every year the latest gadgets go on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In this week's edition of "Modern Living," CNN's Renay San Miguel gives us a peek inside the future home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We start with the living room, which is the focal point of many homes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. The TV becomes the dashboard for the digital home through products that we make called Lifeware. You can see everything from cameras on the television. I can see things like shades, lights, security systems. And when I navigate with the simple remote control, I can see TV, music, pictures. Everything comes to life on the television.
MIGUEL: This is what powers the kitchen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. It's a touch screen, very easy to use. I can hit -- if I want to touch the kitchen shades, it will close the shades, it will open the shades. Everything can be done simply with my finger here.
I get to control everything that you see in this house. This really becomes the refrigerator where instead of Post-It notes that go up magnetically, things that I touch with the finger can just make my family more organized.
MIGUEL: Making it much more easy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: LG has brought a new line of appliances that are Lifeware connected, so when the washer finishes, it actually sends a message to all the TVs that says it's time to change the wash from the washer to the dryer.
MIGUEL: OK, or telling you to empty the dishwasher because everything is done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, these are all the things that are coming about with Lifeware and all these new connected technologies.
MIGUEL (voice-over): I'm Renay San Miguel, and that's this week's "Modern Living."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Back now to our top story. Their boys are back. Two teenagers found in Missouri, one missing since Monday, the other missing since October of 2002. Their families say the teens are in good health and good spirits after being rescued yesterday from an apartment in suburban St. Louis.
15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck's parents say they hope the recovery of their son after more than four years will give hope to the parents of other missing children.
Here's their news conference from this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
C. AKERS: Welcome, everyone. Thank you for coming. I know we couldn't keep you away if we had to.
Obviously, this is probably the best day of our lives. It's hard to even come up with words that can express the feeling that we've been going through since 4:00 yesterday afternoon when we received the phone call.
We were on our way home from work yesterday, driving home in miserable rain and nasty stuff, when we got the call that they believed that Shawn had been found and that he was OK. I think it's probably the phone call that I'll remember most for the rest of my life.
It was -- since then, it's been like a dream. We're afraid that any moment we're going to wake up and it's all going to have been a dream. I think this is kind of reinforcing the fact that it's not a dream, that this is reality. We're so, so fortunate. And this once again is a prime example of why over the last four years I've told everyone in this situation not to give up hope. There's always hope. Hope is what gets you through. And sometimes this is what happens when you have that hope.
You know, this is just one of those rare, rare things. I mean, you know, to have one missing child found is just extraordinary. To have two found at the same time is just one of those things that I don't even know if you ever even read about things like that.
We're so thankful to everyone that was -- that's been here for us for the last four years. The media has done such a wonderful job of keeping Shawn's story in the public eye. Everyone that has helped us over the last four years, there's been thousands and thousands of people that have helped us in one way or another. It's hard to even come up with words to tell you how much this has meant to us.
One of the primary reasons we're here today and doing this today is for those other parents out there that do have missing children. I remember when I got a phone call when Elizabeth Smart was found.
I was actually in the back of an RV going down the highway on my way to Canada to do some training with one of our canines when I received the call that she had been found, and naturally did a bunch of interviews on the cell phone. And I remember how much that raised our hopes, how much fuel that gave us to keep going.
And that's one of the primary reasons that we wanted to do this today, to give some of that fuel to some of the other parents that are in this situation, to let them know that miracles do happen, good things can happen. They don't always end bad. And to just express how much that we appreciate everything that everyone has done for us.
This is kind of the start of a new chapter, I guess. Shawn's home, but that definitely doesn't mean that the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation's work is done. Hopefully, we have another member of the Shawn Hornbeck foundation now that can help us look for other missing children.
That's something that's not going to go away. That's something that we devoted our lives to four years ago. And just because we've recovered our own son doesn't mean that our work is done. And I don't think that work will ever be done.
But once again, just -- we're just so thankful for everyone, for everything that's been done.
We debated whether or not to bring Shawn here today. And it was pretty much left up to him. We brought him here.
He's not quite ready to speak with the media yet. You know, that's going to be something that's going to come over time. And when that time is right, we'll let you all know, and we'll be able to do this again. And you'll be able to talk to the boy that's been on the forefront of everyone's mind for so long -- Pam. I didn't leave anything for you to say. P. AKERS: I also too just want to thank everybody for everything that you have done. I do want to give the other family members out there hope that their child can come home also.
Shawn is a miracle here. We're glad to have him home. I still feel like I'm in a dream, only this time it's a good dream. It's not my nightmare that I've lived for four-and-a-half years. We've got a lot of catching up to do. He's grown up on me. That's for sure.
And I just really want to thank everybody, everybody that's been out there to help search for Shawn, everybody that's been out there to help us search for other missing kids, everybody that has searched for other missing kids that were not even involved in, and most likely, I want to give that hope to the families, to the family that their kids can come home. It may be years later, may be days later, may be weeks later, but they can come home safe and just always keep that faith and hope.
Thank you.
C. AKERS: I guess now it's time for my usual message that I give to all parents about child safety. It seems like when things like this happen, when Ben disappeared, that these kind of situations come to the forefront of all parents' minds again.
And once again, they watch out where their children are going and make sure that their children aren't alone. But I've watched it happen so many times, seems like just weeks later that everyone falls back into the old routine, that urgency goes away. You fall back into the same patterns that you had before, and I'm here to try to get you to not do that.
It's not the same world that I grew up in. It's not the same world that a lot of us grew up in. The days of sending your child out the door in the morning to go play and not seeing them again until that evening unfortunately are gone. It's very unfortunate that our kids can't be kids the way that we were kids anymore. It's a different society. It's a changed world. Unfortunately, not for the better.
I just want to try to stress the importance to all parents out there or prospective parents, future parents, as we all know, our children are our most precious commodity. They're our future. They're our future leaders.
We have to do everything in our power. It's our responsibility to do everything in our power to keep our children safe. And that can be very simple things, know where your child is. Don't let your child go places alone. If they can even stay in pairs to where, you know, your child is always with a buddy, that in itself will go a long way towards preventing the kinds of things like this happening.
And I know that a few weeks from now that will all be in the back of everyone's mind and they're going to forget. I've watched it happen too many times over the last four years. And everyone will fall back into those old patterns. I just want to urge you to not fall back into those patterns, to try to keep this at the forefront of your mind and do everything in your power to keep your children safe.
I'll answer some questions. And we'll just kind of go from there. Anyone have any questions?
QUESTION: Craig, tell us yesterday how did you both find out?
C. AKERS: We were in our car driving home from work. It was a little after 4:00, I believe. We received a call from the John Roots (ph), the Washington County prosecuting attorney. He asked where we were. I said, well, we're in the car. We're driving home. And he asked us to pull over.
And, you know, right then, your heart goes jumping through your chest, and so, you know, it took a minute to find a suitable place to pull over. And then the next words were "We think we found Shawn. We're 95 percent sure that we found Shawn and that he's alive." And those were the sweetest words I ever heard in my life. We spent the next couple minutes crying and just trying to -- not to get too awfully excited.
We wanted so desperately to be there with them. We were asked to go to the Franklin County Sheriff's Department to meet with them, make sure it was Shawn. I think that's the longest drive I've ever had to do. The rain and sleet and people driving 10 miles an hour and, you know, it was definitely a long ride, but worth every second.
QUESTION: Can you tell us about that first moment you laid eyes on Shawn after all these years?
C. AKERS: You know, there really weren't any words at that point. It was just -- there's a split second of shock, you know. The last time we saw him, he was yea tall and 11 years old. It kind of throws you for just a second. But then, you know, once I saw the face, it's like, oh, my god, that's my son. And it was just a big group hug, kisses. We told him we loved him and that he's home now.
And that was pretty much where we were for about the first five minutes. There really weren't too many words spoken other than a lot of I love yous, hugs, kisses, and we're so glad that you're home and him expressing how glad that he was to finally be home.
QUESTION: How was the first night home?
C. AKERS: I'm not sure we've had a first night at home yet.
P. AKERS: Still one day.
C. AKERS: Yes, we didn't get home until -- I believe it was almost 1:30 this morning.
SHAWN HORNBECK, REUNITED WITH FAMILY: It was 2:30.
C. AKERS: 2:30, 1:30, I don't know, sometime early this morning. There was a large number of family members waiting for us at home when we got there. You know, so there goes another couple of hours. Really, we really haven't had any time to absorb all this, you know.
We've been constantly surrounded by family. Shawn got a little nap this morning, not much. I got a little nap. Pam got a little nap. And we're really afraid to go to sleep. You know, you're afraid you're going to wake up and this was all just a dream. Thank god I woke up and it's not a dream and here we are.
QUESTION: Craig, you were told me earlier that, you know, talking with his sister, it's almost like they haven't missed a beat.
C. AKERS: Yes, it was so weird to just sit there and listen to him talking and reminiscing, you know. Say, hey, do you remember this? Do you remember when we did this? Remember when we did that? Is it was just...
P. AKERS: Just to hear that.
C. AKERS: Yes, just to hear that.
P. AKERS: Just to hear that our girls and Shawn could sit and talk again, and to say, do you remember this? Just that alone. Like Craig said, him and I were in the other room. The kids thought we didn't hear things. We heard. We listened to everything. And just every time I heard Shawn say, yes, I remember, it was just like another miracle. I'm so thankful that he does remember his family.
QUESTION: Has Shawn been able to tell you what he's been through?
C. AKERS: We haven't even gotten to that point yet. Like I said, we really haven't had any time alone. That will come in its due time. And when Shawn's ready to discuss that, we'll discuss it. If he -- you know, if he doesn't want to discuss it, we won't. So, you know, we really probably don't know a whole lot more than you do at this point.
As a matter of fact, yesterday afternoon, I know that you knew more than we did. We were getting phone calls on the way to the sheriff's department telling us that he had been found and he was alive and OK. And so there are a lot of times where I felt that you guys had the scoop, that you knew more than I did. I was going to come and ask you questions.
QUESTION: Craig, he looks wonderful. How is he doing?
C. AKERS: I think excellent. My first clue was on the way home last night, his first request was to stop at McDonald's to get something to eat. So that's a really good clue right there that -- that things are slowly getting back to where they need to go. He's in good health. He's in good spirits, obviously glad to be home.
There's really, at this point, not anything that we need to be concerned about other than giving everyone time to let everything take its course and let all this sink in. And, you know, we'll just take it one minute at a time. You know, it used to be one day at a time. Right now it's one minute at a time. I don't know from one minute to the next what we're doing.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
C. AKERS: Oh, no, you can't lose hope. You know, there's been many times where we investigated leads that took us down a road that we didn't want to go, but that's a road that we had to go down just because you have to find out. That doesn't mean that we lost hope. I've been asked a lot of times, what do you think happened?
And you know, I've always said, you know, I don't really have an opinion as to what happened. I know what the predominant stories are. I know what I've heard over and over and over. And, you know, 99 percent of those were very unpleasant stories, and it's hard not to give up hope when you just hear this over and over and over.
But hope's the only thing that you have. Hope keeps you going. Hope keeps you alive. Hope gets you up in the morning. You know, I've always thought that once you lose hope, it's over. You're done. And I promised not to lose hope, not to stop looking, and I've said all along, we will not stop until we find Shawn. Well, by god, here we are.
QUESTION: What has the community meant to you during the four years?
C. AKERS: This community, the whole St. Louis area, the whole Midwest, the whole country has been so supportive. This community in particular has been so supportive of us and all the things that we've done. There's a lot of things that we just absolutely couldn't have done without all of your help.
During our initial search for Shawn in the first few months, between October and, I believe it was, the middle of January, we had over 1,600 different people from this community and surrounding communities that came out and signed up and volunteered to help us search -- 1,600 different people came out and helped us. That's something that not a lot of people can say.
Without the community, this would have been a far harder thing to deal with. You know, naturally, if you don't have a good support behind you, everything is a lot more difficult. We're very fortunate to have had some of the best support anyone could ask for.
We're just so thankful for everything that everyone has done. And you can see here today that -- you know, that it did pay off. You weren't walking around in the woods for nothing. You weren't spending all your days looking for nothing. It paid off. We're here. And it can happen again.
QUESTION: Did Shawn get a chance at all yesterday to talk to Ben.
C. AKERS: No, he really didn't. They were pretty much separated from the time that they got to the sheriff's department. So, no, they really didn't have a chance to talk.
Pam did talk with Ben's parents a little bit last night. I think you probably talked to them more than anybody did. You know, so we were able to make contact there and let them know how thankful we are that this turned out this way.
But, you know, they haven't had a chance to sit down and talk. Maybe at some point that will come. Maybe it won't. I don't know. It's one of those things that we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
QUESTION: When you heard that Ben had disappeared, was there a little type of flashback?
C. AKERS: Any time it's a situation like that the circumstances are very similar. In this case, in Ben's case, we were very fortunate that someone was paying attention and saw something. In Shawn's case, we didn't have that.
I imagine it was the same type of situation, but, you know, no one saw anything happen. In Ben's case, we were very, very fortunate that someone was paying attention, and we had one little lead to follow up on. And that was the white truck. Without that, this -- we might not be here today.
So, you know, once again, it goes to show that what you think is important and not important may not necessarily be what is or isn't important. If you see something suspicious like that, it's your obligation to tell someone about it. It might not mean anything to you, but in the bigger picture, it could mean a lot to someone else.
So, you know, it's another one of those situations where in today's society, no one wants to get involved. No one wants to stick their nose in anybody else's business. They just put on blinders and go forward and, oh, I don't want to get involved. That's none of my business. Well, if everybody felt that way, we wouldn't be here today.
So, you know, you have to -- when you see something that's out of the ordinary, you have to do something about it. You know, it's a pretty simple message. It kind of seems like something really basic and simple, but any more in today's society, we don't see it happen a lot. And we're so thankful that it did.
QUESTION: What do you think that little boy (INAUDIBLE) he was there in the man's apartment complex?
C. AKERS: We really hadn't heard a whole lot about that. As a matter of fact, we haven't heard a whole lot of details about anything. You know, it comes back to you guys know more than we do about the whole case.
P. AKERS: That is two people that I would like definitely to be able to talk to and to see.
C. AKERS: And, obviously, there are two guys that I want to meet. They're both Kirkwood Police Department officers, and one way or another, we are going to meet those two gentlemen and give them a big hug and let them know how much we appreciate them paying attention and doing the job that they're out there to do.
In my opinion, had it not been for the efforts of those two officers, we probably wouldn't be standing here right now. Now, my hat is off to those guys. They did a hell of a job. I'm so thankful, and one way or another, we're going to find those guys, and they're going to get a big hug whether they want it or not.
QUESTION: Any special plans for the weekend? Any special requests or anything?
C. AKERS: We haven't planned anything yet. There have been some requests. He wants to go ride four wheelers, and he wants to play video games. You know, I'm sure he's got plans in his head. But, you know, we really haven't thought past the moment.
We're still trying to make sure we're not asleep and going to wake up. No, we really don't have any plans as of yet other than to go shopping and buy some clothes. His old stuff doesn't fit him, obviously.
However, they were still in his dresser at the house. You can open up the dresser drawer, and there's his clothes just the way he left them four years ago. I guess we're going to have to get rid of those and buy some new ones. So that's probably all that I know of that we have planned is doing a little bit of clothes shopping.
QUESTION: Any idea whether Shawn had a sense during his absence about the visuals, the age progressed photographs, the anniversary?
C. AKERS: We have talked just a little bit about that, and there have been some instances where he has been aware of the efforts going on to find him. He did mention that he saw one of the benches that we put out in some of the area grocery stores. And about the only comment that I've heard so far was that the first age progressed photo was an insult.
We agree. That was one of the ones that we didn't like either, so we reached a consensus that that first one just really wasn't any good. Once again, we really haven't had any time at all to sit down and just talk, you know. It's still just a whirlwind, as you can imagine. That will come when it comes.
QUESTION: You know of anything that Shawn was doing related to school?
C. AKERS: No. Shawn has not been to school while he's been gone.
QUESTION: Would you ever guess that Shawn had been hidden in plain sight?
C. AKERS: No. Actually, it's just mind boggling that it was that easy to hide someone in plain sight. By this time, if you don't know Shawn and looked at him now, you might not know that it was him. Sheriff Toelke in Franklin County made the comment that if he had just run into him on the street, he would have never known that it was him. And that's probably the case for most people.
You know, we believe, if we would have run into him on the street, that would have been a different story. But, yes, it's just hard to believe that somebody can be that brazen and -- I mean, it just boggles my mind that someone thinks that they can get away with it.
And obviously they do. I mean, this has been going on for four years, and he's been right here under our nose the whole time. I just don't understand how that can happen. Obviously, it does.
It goes back to everybody minding their own business and not wanting to get involved, not paying attention, and putting their blinders on and worrying about themselves and themselves only. We've lost a lot of our sense of community. We've lost a lot of our neighbor helping neighbor, and it's a shame.
QUESTION: Do you know if Shawn was in that same area the entire time, or have there been other areas?
C. AKERS: As far as I know, that's -- we really don't know for sure. I mean, we haven't had a lot of time to talk about it. As far as I know, he's been in the same area.
P. AKERS: Yes, he has been in the same area.
C. AKERS: You all right?
QUESTION: I know you don't want us to question -- does he want to say anything, make a statement and ask him anything? Does he want to talk to us?
C. AKERS: No. We'd rather not at this time. That will come.
P. AKERS: It will come.
C. AKERS: I promise you that will come. And when he's ready, we will have the opportunity to do that in his good time. When he's ready, he'll let us know, and we'll let you know. It's a lot for him to take in too.
Any more questions?
QUESTION: Mr. Akers, we have a lot more questions, but you probably want to be with your family.
C. AKERS: And we really, really appreciate that. That's why yesterday we decided that probably our smartest move was to do this here this morning, get everybody together in one place.
You know, we've been totally overwhelmed with calls from all across the country, from every news media in the country, as well as, you know, just people, well-wishers, people that we've run across. And we are going to ask that, after this press conference, if you would please give us some time to sit down and get back together and let Shawn absorb all this, let us absorb all this.
And like I said, as soon as Shawn is ready, we'll give you guys a call, and we'll be more than happy to sit down and do this again. And when Shawn's ready, you know, he'll be able to talk to you and tell us what he wants to tell you. But if you would just please give us a little bit of time to get to that place, we would definitely appreciate it.
You know, we need some time to be together as a family and to deal with all of this.
QUESTION: Craig, can I ask you a yes or no?
A lot of people here are wondering, did Shawn post things on Web sites?
C. AKERS: We don't know. I know what you're referring to. It was brought to my attention just a couple -- an hour or so ago. And we don't know the origin of those posts yet. It is something that we'll be discussing and looking into.
P. AKERS: Yes. At this point, we haven't asked Shawn that yet.
Like we said, we've just been trying to take him all in, not ask any questions. All the answers will come later. Right now we're just trying to absorb that he's home.
QUESTION: Will you be giving updates on his progress on the -- through the foundation?
C. AKERS: Yes. The Web site, as soon as I can get to it, we'll be updating the Web site. And updated information will be put on the Web site as it becomes available. And I really don't see any reason why any of those Web sites will go away any time soon.
Last night we were trying to get someone in to make some changes and updates on the Web site, but there was so much traffic to the server that we couldn't even get logged on to the server to make any changes. So it's still the same way that it was. Hopefully sometime today we'll get in there and make some updates and let everyone else know what we know.
QUESTION: Congratulations.
C. AKERS: Thank you so much.
Any more? Great.
Once again, thank you. I -- you know, thank you doesn't seem to do it. It's just a couple of words, but thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: An elated family over the safe return of 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck, one of two missing boys found alive.
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