Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies mobilized on January 8th, once 13-year-old Ben Ownby was reported missing. But it wasn’t just law enforcement going to work. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children became involved, as well. Larry Bonney heads up the Center’s Team Adam Project, which put two of its members on the case – including a former St. Louis police officer. Bonney says his two Team Adam members started working with law enforcement when some of those involved in the search for Ben realized there were parallels to the disappearance of Shawn Hornbeck, who had gone missing more than four years earlier. Bonney says Shawn was from the same general area, he was around the same age and physical appearance when he disappeared, and he vanished in a similar way in that he never came home. Bonney says it was a thrill for all those involved in the Center’s work to reunite not one, but two missing children with their families.

Related web sites:
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children