Thanks for the links. :) Of course there is more to the story. I'm sure the news media will focus on this for some time. My main question was about the neighbor who said he thought the other boy was Hornbeck. I seriously doubt that the police even questioned him about Hornbeck since that was so long ago. So if he thought the boy was Hornbeck, why didn't he report it? It's not like the police would knock on his door and say that they were lookin for Ownby, and oh by the way, have you seen this other boy that went missing 4 years ago. So why didn't the guy report it?

I must admit that I don't know why a boy would stay with someone if they were old enough to know what's going on. But I recall a similar case years ago. (Sorry, I don't have any links) :) But the story was that a boy turned in his kidnapper several years after the fact. Apparently, his kidnapper took him off the street many years before and they lived like father and son for years. The boy was basically treated well, but there was a sexual side to their relationship. The boy turned him in when the man took another boy off the street. (Apparently the other boy was getting too old) When asked why he chose to expose the kidnapper now after so many years, the boy said that he just didn't want to see another boy go thru what he did.

I know this still leaves a lot of questions. Such as, was jealousy any part of his motivation to expose him? And if things were bad enough that he didn't want another to go thru what he did, why didn't he just leave? Maybe a psychologist would have an answer, but I sure don't.

A sad side note to that story was that the boy had serious behaviour problems after being reunited with his family. Even with extensive counseling, he got into a LOT of trouble as he got older. How much of that was because of his ordeal and how much was due to other reasons is anyone's guess.

BTW. The news reports I read did say they took them to the hospital to be checked out before they went home.

Dakota