Channel Serf

By TheOne

January 17, 2007 1:42 PM | Link to this

GO Oprah!!

By Aliya

January 17, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this

You can believe that Oprah will handle it with grace and style.

By James

January 17, 2007 2:40 PM | Link to this

The question that pops into my head is how is what happened to those boys the business of anyone other than their families and the law enforcement people involved? I find people’s ghoulish interest in the details to be disgusting in the extreme. It may be that there are “a lot of tough questions” that need to be asked but I fail to see, Jill, how the answers are any of your business or any of mine.

By red

January 17, 2007 2:41 PM | Link to this

dont normally watch Oprah, but this I may need to watch with my kids… maybe we can all learn something that may keep us safer.

By FyreStarrter™

January 17, 2007 2:50 PM | Link to this

My main question for them would be when did it become ok for Shawn to begin trusting his captor? When did he feel like what this man had done to him was just a part of his everyday life? Did he ever think he would see his family again? I need to understand HOW he managed to survive SO long in that environment? And lastly was he taken or did he runaway as many have speculated. All different sides of the same question. And James I don’t think anyone wants to hear the gruesome details or has any ghoulish interests but there ARE some questions that we TRULY need answers to & the sooner the better. We will see.

By JM

January 17, 2007 3:24 PM | Link to this

I would love to see this…being that it reminds me of “I know my first name is Steven”…

By rwh

January 17, 2007 3:54 PM | Link to this

It would not be easy to asked that the boys not be publicly interviewed by anyone until the authorities can put both of these two boy’s kidnapper behinds bars. This action now is not suitable for anyone of them at this time and I think all of those who are not directly involved with these cases should remain silent until all of the facts are known and the entire matter is officially taken care of. Both boys are not yet back to themselves…its been a long 4 years for one; and days for the other one. Can we give them this time to reunite and settle down some?

By Sarah

January 17, 2007 4:00 PM | Link to this

So Oprah got The Big Interview, what a surprise. Her money and her ego are both monolithic in size,there is no telling the ‘perks’ the family of the older boy will receive from Miss O. I saw the family of the older boy on televison being interviewed, there is something strange about that klan, very strange indeed. I don’t think this family is going to be very happy when their family laundry is aired out in public in this ratings race.

By Reality Check

January 17, 2007 4:02 PM | Link to this

This is a human interest story, James, that has been on the minds of the citizenry at-large. Fortunately, for the parents, the children are back home. So many parents will never see their children again. It is a story of hope and new beginnings.

Our society needs to reflect and review on how these types of things happen so that parents can better equip their children, and so that law enforcement/neighbors/witnesses, can better learn how to spot child predators. New frontiers aren’t often reached without reviewing the past.

But, yes, anything intrusive is actually between the children and a therapist.

By Toy

January 17, 2007 4:31 PM | Link to this

I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for Shawn’s parent’s. I mean they searched for four years and then to find out that your child wasn’t that far from home, and had a cell phone, and was seen daily with the kidnapper. It all just seems strange to me, I don’t think that Shawn was kidnapped, I think that he must have ran away from home or something. I just don’t understand why he never tried to contact his parents, or go back home when the man left him home everyday to go to work. It’s really none of anyones business but the police and his family, but something just doesn’t sit right, and if they want Oprah to air there dirty and twisted(in my opinion)laundry then I’ll watch.

By Edith

January 17, 2007 4:39 PM | Link to this

I agree with you James. Notice how people call this a “human interest story” instead of just coming out and saying they are just plain nosy. I have never understood why people seem to think they have the right to know everything about things that do not concern them. They watch these stories 24/7 on TV much like they do the war in Iraq. To most of them, this is nothing more than a piece of entertainment for their amusement and for lack of anything else to discuss around the dinner table. It is pathetic. Remember the obsession with the Laci Petersen story or the Natalee Holloway case? Both drew these same nosy, gossipy people with nothing better to do than to obsess over things that are about people they do not know. One poster is dying to know whether the older boy was kidnapped or whether he ran away. What difference can it possibly make to anyone except the people directly involved? Why is she so interested to know that? Pure salacious nosiness.

By Christy

January 17, 2007 5:01 PM | Link to this

I would guess that life at home wasnt that great or Shawn would have “PHONED HOME”. We never know what other families are like, what causes an 11 year old to run away, if that is indeed what happened. It had to be more than not getting his way. Oprah, will ask appropriate questions, I would imagen the answers wont come free….I will watch.

By Munda

January 17, 2007 5:18 PM | Link to this

Regardless of what is said. Shawn is only 15 years old and therefore still a child. In additon, everyone saw he did not go to school, and and child protective services could have been involved. Also neighbors did say they heard loud and violent screaming from the apartments.. Also he was 11 years old he was in 5th grade. The man who had him as an aldult had the responsiblity to turn him in. He used this child for his sick purposes. Regardless at 11, 15, he was stil a child.

By free

January 17, 2007 5:20 PM | Link to this

Oprah is the truth and she will get the truth out of those boys.

By Jerry

January 17, 2007 5:26 PM | Link to this

The kid wasn’t kidnapped in my opinion. He might have been at first coerced to leave but it seems more like he chose to leave. Did you see pictures of the kid? He had piercings… He seemed to be enjoying life without parents…

By caroline

January 17, 2007 6:20 PM | Link to this

jerry, you comments are absurd and revolting.. i hope you will think about the repercussions of postings of that nature. i will be praying for the boys and their families.

By Sandra

January 17, 2007 6:25 PM | Link to this

PLEASE, Oprah, don’t do anything that will jeopardize the court case against this man in the future. Our media tend to think that the ‘public’s need to know’ outweighs almost anything else. Well, none of us needs to know as much as we need to get that man convicted if he is guilty. Having a nationally televised interview of one of the victims potentially harms the jury selection at the outset.

By shari

January 17, 2007 6:38 PM | Link to this

WHY is Oprah interviewing these boys now?..”We” the public can wait…The law can’t and noone, not even Oprah should jeopardize this case…Let the boys be with there families and be interviewed by the police…

By Jesse's Girl

January 17, 2007 7:30 PM | Link to this

I find it quite distasteful that this family would allow Oprah access to their sons. I think we can all surmise what happened to this older boy while in captivity. I think we can also agree on what he was likely told to insure his cooporation and silence. These types of predators are notorious for their manipulations in regards to their victim’s family. There is no telling what line he was fed to keep him agreeable….I have killed your family, they no longer want you, they gave you to me, I will harm them….the list is endless. Their families should protect them from all of this. I am sure they have been promised certain things. While we cannot know for sure what made these families decide this was a good idea….one thing is certain. They are getting something from it. Down the line, after some time has passed…I can see an interview happening. But not now. Oprah is doing what she is designed to do…this is her job. But these parents should be very ashamed for allowing such unadulterated access to their personal tragedies.

By Darlene

January 17, 2007 7:54 PM | Link to this

I do feel sorry for Shawn’s parents, but a kid of 11 is not stupid and definitely 4 years later he should have had enough sense to do something. He should have known how to use a phone, or stop someone on the street and give them his name, or sent out an SOS on the internet that he apparently had access to. Sounds more like this kid did not want to be found. I know people will say he was brained washed and so on, but it would be better if they stayed off TV until the police have a better grip on this situation.

By John

January 17, 2007 9:16 PM | Link to this

Amazing how quickly people sell their stories. Mom and Stepdad cleaned up nice for the show too. I’m sure Harpo paid for that too. As far as the piercings go, Shawn had a pierced ear before he was taken. The pierced lip was new. And I’m with the crowd that thinks the home life wasn’t so good as the reason for not calling or contacting. He had way too many oppurtunities. Only other guess is that this guy was able to convince Shawn that he was his “real Dad”, because Shawn’s dad died when he was really young.

By fk

January 17, 2007 10:59 PM | Link to this

It seems that quite a few bloggers are jumping to conclusions as well as pre-judging in regards to what is going to be revealed on Oprah’s show. Oprah herself is an abuse survivor. She will not jeopardize the boys’ futures. It is my hope that we can all learn something from this so that someone else’s child may avoid such an experience. It is not uncommon for a person to become sympathetic of their captors.

By Judy

January 18, 2007 11:27 AM | Link to this

I am praying for these families who had there sons taken and was fortunate enough to bring them home. It is miraculous they were able to bring their boys home alive to begin with in the world we live in today. Families in the past have not been so fortunate. I am praying for the many other families that had a child taken that they have no idea where there child is. My belief is the media plays a HUGE role in providing the information to the public so that we can become more aware hopefully, smarter about the approach people use to take children. No one on this earth can say or predict how a 11 year old should respond to a complete stranger once alone with the person. There is a big difference in a grown person forcing another grown person to do something against there will verses a grown person forcing a child to do something. THE difference is a child does not have the same rational as an adult!

By Brenda

January 18, 2007 7:49 PM | Link to this

He was ELEVEN people!! After what must have been a horrific ordeal, this poor boy had the courage to survive. I hope that people don’t push to know any of the details.. I think it’s pretty clear what happened to this poor child. To think that he should have or COULD have escaped… well, that’s just naive. Obviously he was scared for his life and the lives of anyone he cared for.. so what if he had a cell phone, I’m sure the abuse he had gone through was enough to make him believe whatever his kidnapper told him… HE WAS ELEVEN!!

And as for that Devlin monster.. death is too good for him.. I wish him more pain and suffering than any human can take.. and even then… its not enough.

By marcia

January 18, 2007 8:09 PM | Link to this

I agree with Shari. The public’s interest in this story should not outweigh the boys’ need for privacy.

I am disappointed — although not surprised — that Oprah went after the story. $$$$$$$, right?

By KS

January 19, 2007 11:36 AM | Link to this

Shame on the ones blaming a kid for this, not the adult. First of all, you say he “is not stupid”. Well, not saying he is stupid, but he did seem lower intellect in what I saw on the news, when he spoke. Perhaps he wasn’t an average 11 year old. Even if he was, that’s pretty young to be snatched away from your family and threatened, etc. At any rate, I wasn’t there and neither were you, so who are you to judge.

We ALL need to leave them alone and get on with our own boring lives (which they must be since we are pouring so much energy into arguing about this!) :)

By Jessica

January 19, 2007 11:37 AM | Link to this

I find it sad that so many people are jumping to conclusions on this and blaming his PARENTS! How do you all know he had a bad home life? I’m sick of hearing that! Devlin is charged with kidnapping shawn with a deadly weapon, I do not think he just ran away with this guy. As for Shawn having a piercing what does that have to do with anything? I know many smart, brilliant people with piercings, it does not mean he was loving life with out parents! I myself was sexually abused almost on a daily basis by my step father while my mom was at work! MY MOM WAS LIVING WITH ME AND I HAD NO COURAGE TO RUN OR TELL HER! I was threatened by him with my mom and my little sisters life, my mother NEVER had a clue, this happened for almost 5 years then my sister walked in one day when she wasn’t supposed to be home, then told my mom when he was at work, I denied EVERYTHING, but my mom saw right through it. Please don’t act like you know what he should have or could have done unless you have been through it!