Missouri Boys Found; Missouri Kidnap Mystery
S. O'BRIEN: New insight into the kidnapped life of Shawn Hornbeck. Plus, now that he's home, the challenges that lie ahead for him from the courtroom to the classroom.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Developing news about Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Reports his health is taking a turn for the worse. But are they true?</s>S. O'BRIEN: Frozen zone. Dozens dead, half a million people without power. And now millions of dollars at stake out from a chilling ice storm.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Golden Globe goes to "Babel."</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Dreamgirls."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Martin Scorsese.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Big night in Hollywood. The Golden Globe Awards leaving intriguing clues about the Oscar race on this AMERICAN MORNING. Good morning to you, Tuesday, January 16th. I'm Miles O'Brien.</s>S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. We're coming to you live this morning from Kirkwood, Missouri, which, of course, is the ground zero of this remarkable kidnapping story. I want to show you, Miles, some of the pictures. This is Michael Devlin's -- I'm going to step out of the light a little bit -- Michael Devlin's apartment down there, apartment number D, in a relatively small complex, if we can get a shot of that down there of two floors. He's on the bottom floor. And then if you look straight back, you can see the parking lot behind the building where that white van is. It's a spot that was contested. Michael Devlin liked that spot and some neighbors reported arguments with him about that spot. Now, one of the thing that's emerging today in this picture of the man who is now a suspect, who's now charged with one count of kidnapping, is this: Some people said he was a great guy, a reliable worker, trusted him with his money at his job. Others say he was mean, he was -- his temper would fluctuate. The neighbors didn't particularly like him. Also, family members, many brothers and sisters, and yet apparently none had been here to his home. We're going to be exploring those contradictions of this suspect a little bit later this morning -- Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Soledad. Back with you very shortly. Happening this morning elsewhere, Cuban leader Fidel Castro said to be in serious condition. A Spanish newspaper is reporting Castro has undergone three failed operations on his intestines, suffering from an infection. However, a Spanish doctor who examined Castro last month is disputing the report. He says Castro is recovering and doing well. Illinois senator Barack Obama reportedly taking the first steps toward running for president. A source close to the senator says he is preparing to file papers to form an exploratory committee. A Chicago TV station says Obama may make a campaign visit to Iowa this weekend. Utility workers in Oklahoma and Missouri still trying to get power back to almost 500,000 custers. Trees and branches heavy with ice knocking down some power lines. Some have been in the dark since Friday when the storm hit. More than 40 deaths blamed on the storm, many from accidents on icy roads -- Soledad.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Miles, thanks. We're in Kirkwood, Missouri, which, of course, is the location of the suspect. This is where he lived. Not far from here is Union, Missouri, and that is where the Franklin County Courthouse is. Chris Lawrence is reporting from there for us this morning. Good morning to you, Chris.</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. You know, here in Union, the arraignment for Michael Devlin may still be up to a day away. But in an exclusive interview with CNN's Larry King, Devlin's defense attorneys are already raising concerns about getting a fair trial in this part of Missouri.</s>LAWRENCE (voice over): Michael Devlin's attorneys are worried that people in Missouri have already made up their minds about Devlin before he's even been charged.</s>MICHAEL KIELTY, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL DEVLIN: He's scared. But we are anticipating a long legal battle to protect his rights and preserve the integrity of the system.</s>LAWRENCE: Local prosecutors will have to prove how Devlin could do what he's been accused of, kidnapping Ben Ownby and holding Shawn Hornbeck for four years, an hour's drive from his family.</s>KIELTY: The U.S. attorney could get jurisdiction either under a federal kidnapping charge, or possibly a child pornography charge, if they do, in fact, have that evidence.</s>LAWRENCE: Investigators searched Devlin's apartment and took his computer but won't say specifically what they found. During the years Shawn Hornbeck allegedly lived with Devlin there was a Yahoo! profile for a teenager boy named Shawn from Kirkwood, Missouri, but the e-mail address read mdevlin. And about a year ago, when Shawn was still missing, someone calling himself "Shawn Devlin" posted messages on the family's Web site. The first asked Shawn's family, "How long do you plan to look for your son?" The second offered to write a poem in his honor. Who wrote these? Shawn Hornbeck? Michael Devlin? Neither? Investigators can figure out which screen name signed on and use other clues to piece it together.</s>DET. KEN NIX, COMPUTER CRIME ENFORCEMENT: We try and give a good indication by the time, the timestamps that are on it, who was in the house at the time, the type of verbiage that's used. You know, is it a kid using it or is it an adult using it? And, you know, we kind of cue our investigations around that.</s>LAWRENCE: Yes, police are continuing their investigation, but Devlin's attorneys say they have not yet received the evidence. They say once they do, they can begin to formulate some sort of defense strategy -- Soledad.</s>S. O'BRIEN: All right. Chris Lawrence for us this morning in Union, Missouri. Thank you, Chris. Outside of the legal avenues, something else that they're working on here is how to reintegrate Shawn back into the community. How do you get someone who was kidnapped as a fifth grader brought up to speed with all of his classmates who are now in the ninth grade? We're going to talk about that and much more straight ahead from Kirkwood, Missouri, as we continue our live reporting -- Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: All right, Soledad. Thanks very much. Winter storm warnings are still in effect for some parts of the country this morning. Chad Myers with your forecast coming up. Plus, Senator John McCain taking some not-so-friendly fire from the far right. How it might affect his White House hopes ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning right here.