It does not take a great leap of common sense to realize that when a teenaged boy has been abducted and held captive for four years, nothing about that experience could have been anything close to fun.
And to suggest that the victim voluntarily participated in his own detention—a child, under the influence of a predatory adult—is unforgivable.
But in our number three story on the Countdown: refusing to call it that, has put a local chapter of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in an untenable situation.
It has scheduled the man who blamed the abducted Missouri teen Shawn Hornbeck for the nightmare that enveloped his young life to be the keynote speaker at the fundraiser for missing and exploited children, on the 9th of next month.
That speaker, would be Bill O’Reilly.
Michael Devlin—a Missouri pizzeria manager—already charged with abducting Shawn Hornbeck, now charged with 69 additional counts of forcible sodomy.
Shawn Hornbeck was abducted in 2002, at age 11.
Prosecutors say Mr. Devlin raped the boy repeatedly for the first month of his captivity and at least once a month thereafter.
Thirteen-year old Ben Owenby was abducted January 8th of this year, also allegedly sodomized.
Police found both boys at Devlin’s apartment on January 12th.
Mr. O’Reilly made his comments about Shawn Hornbeck, on January 15th:
O’REILLY: The situation here for this kid looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents. He didn't have to go to school. He could run around do what he wanted. GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Some kids like school. O‘REILLY: I don't believe this kid today. I think when it all comes down, what's going to happen is there was an element here that this kid liked about his circumstance.
The invitation by the local chapter of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children came long before those remarks or his comments last night that “we all knew this was coming, it’s terrible to hear it, these poor boys subjected to this monster.”
But the local chapter stands by its decision to have Mr. O’Reilly deliver the keynote address at a March 9th fund-raising gala at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida.
Joining me now, attorney and Court TV anchor, Catherine Crier.
To watch Keith Olbermann’s interview with Crier, or on the video to the right.