Michael John Devlin[3] (born November 19, 1965)[4] is an American criminal convicted of kidnapping and child sexual abuse of two young boys, Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby.

He was a resident of Kirkwood, Missouri, who worked as a manager for Imo's Pizza and as a part-time funeral home worker at Bopp Chapel.

At the time of his discovery, law enforcement officials found another missing boy, Shawn Hornbeck.

The two boys were discovered after police noticed Devlin's white pickup truck, which matched the description of a vehicle in the vicinity of the 2007 abduction, in the parking lot of his apartment complex.

He was separated from his family for a total of four years, three months and six days, during which time the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation and Search and Rescue Team were established.

Soon after Devlin's arrest, prosecutors and investigators from Washington, Franklin, St. Louis and Lincoln counties, along with the FBI, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and Kirkwood and St. Charles police, formed a task force to investigate Devlin's possible involvement in other unsolved cases.

[14] On February 6, a motion by Devlin's attorneys, Ethan Corlija and Michael Kielty, for a gag order against the New York Post and reporter Susannah Cahalan was denied in Franklin County Court.

[17] On April 16, Washington County prosecutor John Rupp filed additional charges against Devlin, accusing him of attempted murder, kidnapping, armed criminal action, three counts of forcible sodomy and one count of attempted forcible sodomy.

[22] Devlin was transferred to the Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri, to begin serving the first of his life sentences on January 30, 2008.

[23] On April 9, 2011, during breakfast at the dining hall of Crossroads Correctional Center, Devlin was stabbed several times with two "ice picks" by another inmate in protective custody, Troy L. Fenton, who was also serving a life sentence.

He was cited for having a 15-inch sharpened steel rod, complete with a plastic handle, hidden under his pillow in his cell.