ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Shawn Hornbeck from Richwoods, Mo., knows better than most what exactly the women in Cleveland endured.
Shawn was kidnapped and abused. He was missing for more than four years before he was reunited with his family.
“My emotions and the thoughts that I had was obviously joy. It’s showing that there is still miracle and hope out there and people just don’t need to give up because there’s always hope. You can’t go through life without it,” explained the 21-year-old Hornbeck as he reacted to the rescue of the three women in Cleveland.
The women were found after spending nearly a decade in captivity.
Hornbeck knows the hell that the women went through. He was kidnapped by Michael Devlin back in October 2002 when he was just 11 years old and wasn’t found until January 2007.
That’s when police discovered Hornbeck and another Devlin kidnap victim, Ben Ownby, inside Devlin’s Kirkwood apartment.
Hornbeck talked with us about how he survived.
“I knew my family was out there and they would never give up. And I’m sure these girls felt the same way. I mean you just have to hold on to your life because if you don’t, you’re just going to be lost within yourself and you can’t have that,” said Hornbeck.
Hornbeck says miracles like what happened in Cleveland make him reflect on his own happy ending, “When I hear about people coming home I instantly think about when I came home and seeing my parents for the first time because you will never feel another moment like that and I’m sure the girls felt the same thing I did when they were reunited with their family.”
READ MORE FROM FOX2NOW.com about the advice Hornbeck has for the three women as they try to lead their lives.