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Shawn Hornbeck found alive

Back in 2003 I posted about my friend's nephew, Shawn Hornbeck, who had been missing since October 2002. The Elizabeth Smart abduction case had been in the news and it served as a reminder that "missing" was just that, and "missing" could yet turn into "found" and "returned".

After more than four years, CNN is finally reporting that Shawn has been found. Not a lot of details, as this is breaking news as I type this but he's found. He's alive.

I fell out of touch with my friend after Shawn's disappearance. The family focused all their energies into getting the word out about him, conducting searches, and she stopped sending updates as time went on. I'm choked up at this news, excited for them, relieved for them, afraid for them.

Labels: kidnapping, Shawn Hornbeck

By Nikchick
On 1/12/07
At 3:21 PM
Comments :

Missing Children

I don't know a parent who doesn't worry about things beyond their control that could happen to their children. Bullies, diseases, car wrecks, bicycle accidents, drownings. It's always out there, on the fringes of your perceptions, "something" could happen. The fear of losing your child altogether, of having someone abduct them, of being unable to protect them from whatever migh be done to them in your absense, that fear strikes terror into the hearts of even the most steely parents I know. A missing child is a living hell, not to be wished on anyone.

The case of Elizabeth Smart, returned to her family alive after being abducted by a stranger, has reminded me not to give up hope. Long after she'd passed from the public spotlight, and long after many assumed that she was dead or missing forever, all it took was one person to keep her in mind when they saw something strange and she was recovered.

This is significant to me, because I also know a family who is suffering the same pain of not knowing that the Smarts lived with all these months. My friend's nephew has been missing since October 2002, an 11 year old boy who disappeared while riding his bike to a friend's house.

They have not given up, and the Elizabeth Smart case has reminded me not to give up on them. With that in mind, I've come to the diverse and widespread crowd we have here in order to spread the word and to ask you all, just to keep an eye open, keep Shawn Hornbeck in the back of your mind the way concerned citizens did with Elizabeth Smart. Maybe, just maybe, someone will see him and bring him home to his family, too.