It was the second Friday of January a year ago when assistant metro editor Pat Gauen ambled into the afternoon news meeting with a story that momentarily silenced the assembled group: Kidnapped Ben Ownby had been found. And so, we thought, had Shawn Hornbeck, the boy who had gone missing more than four years earlier.

Minutes later, that news was confirmed and we were up with a story. Minutes after that, you all started to react to the story with amazement, thanksgiving and questions — oh, the questions! — in a Talk of the Day topic.

That was Jan. 12, 2007….

UPDATE: Devlin has pleaded guilty in Franklin County.

It appears that the case against Michael Devlin, connected to the kidnapping of Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby, is about to end.

Michael Devlin is scheduled to “dispose” of all his state and federal child sex and kidnapping charges, St. Louis County prosecutors said today.

Devlin will appear in court in Franklin County Monday “for disposition of his case,” then go to Washington County Tuesday, St. Louis County Wednesday and on to federal court, prosecutors said in a press release issued this afternoon.

What’s your reaction to the news?

The New York Post newspaper on Sunday published a jail-house interview with Michael J. Devlin, the man accused of abducting two area boys. A story in today’s paper tells how a correspondent living in St. Louis and attending Washington University bluffed her way into the Franklin County jail in order to talk to Devlin for the New York newspaper.

In today’s story, we learn that New York Post correspondent Susannah Cahalan went to the Franklin County jail on Friday and Saturday, visiting Devlin by signing in using her name and giving a New Jersey phone number. She listed her relationship…

Michael J. Devlin, who’s being held in the Franklin County jail for the alleged kidnapping of 13-year-old William “Ben” Ownby, plead “Not Guilty” at his arraignment on Thursday morning.

Franklin County prosecutor Robert Parks said he would take the case to a grand jury next month, negating the need for a preliminary hearing.

Devlin also faces charges in neighboring Washington County for the 2002 kidnapping of Shawn Hornbeck, and St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCullough is looking into possible charges in his county. Both boys were recovered last Friday inside Devlin’s apartment in Kirkwood.

After Thursday’s short court session, Devlin’s…