Accused Kidnapper Reportedly Ashamed

Jan. 21, 2007 — -- The 41-year-old man accused of detaining two missing Missouri boys describes an increasingly lonely and isolated existence in a jailhouse interview with The New York Post.

Michael Devlin is accused in the disappearances of Shawn Hornbeck in 2002 and Ben Ownby this month.

He refused to discuss details about the criminal case against him, but was reportedly ashamed and unable to work up the courage to call his family.

"I don't know how I'm going to explain myself to my parents," he reportedly told the Post.

In jail, Devlin is cut off from the rest of the population -- bored and confined to a small cell, according to the report.

But he's also isolated emotionally and said he isn't interested in romantic relationships.

"I feel nothing," he reportedly said. "I hide the way I feel."

His real passion is a role-playing computer game, "Final Fantasy 11," the Post reported. At home, he used the game to communicate with people all over the world.

He reportedly shared an interest in gaming with both of his alleged victims, Hornbeck and Ownby.

With Onwby and Hornbeck now home, authorities are taking a fresh look at other missing children cases, long since cold.

"I don't believe an individual wakes up and becomes a child abductor," Washington County Sheriff Kevin Schroeder said earlier this week.