Missouri Man Pleads Guilty in Kidnap Case
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
UNION, Mo. — A former pizza parlor manager was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for kidnapping one of two boys authorities said he held captive and sexually abused in his apartment.
Michael Devlin, 41, pleaded guilty to one charge of child kidnapping and one charge of armed criminal action in the January abduction of 13-year-old William “Ben” Ownby as the boy walked home alone from his school bus stop. “We’ve been waiting for this moment,” Ben’s mother, Doris Ownby, told reporters after the sentencing hearing. “Now that it’s here, it’s such a relief.”
