St. Louis ? With Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby safe at home with their families, authorities Sunday turned to their next most pressing task – getting some answers.

Exactly how did the two teens end up in the Kirkwood, Mo., apartment of pizzeria manager Michael J. Devlin?

What were his intentions for them? Did he harm them? And why did Shawn stay with him for more than four years, apparently posing as his son, while his real family pleaded for his return?

Investigators interviewed both boys Saturday, but the public will have to wait for any insight into the ordeals they faced. Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said Sunday that he could not disclose anything that was discussed.

Devlin remained at the Franklin County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail on a charge of kidnapping Ben. Authorities said they expect to set an arraignment Tuesday.

Washington County Sheriff Kevin Schroeder said he expected criminal charges to be filed Wednesday or Thursday in Shawn’s case.

“We’re plotting our course, taking our time, formulating the right questions,” he said.

Making the connection

The national media continued to saturate Devlin’s neighborhood Sunday, as residents reflected on camera about missed clues.

Krista Jones, 25, who lives in an apartment across from Devlin, said he had a reputation for being a “road-rage weirdo” who constantly threatened to call the police on neighbors.

Ben Ownby, left, stands beside his sister Amanda, father William, and mother Doris, right, at a news conference Saturday in Union, Mo. Ben, who vanished from the road near his home a week ago, was found alive Friday about 60 miles away in suburban St. Louis with a 15-year-old boy missing since 2002, authorities said.

Jones said she saw Shawn every day for years but figured, as nearly everyone else did, that he was Devlin’s son. Last week she noticed a new boy briskly leading Shawn and Devlin, walking side by side behind him, into the apartment.

He was skinny, with spiky hair and wire glasses. It was Ben, the missing boy whose face was everywhere people looked last week.

But she didn’t make the connection until Friday, when she saw him coming out of the apartment with a police officer.

Meanwhile, a boy who said he was Shawn’s best friend for the past four years told a local television station that he saw Shawn nearly every day but had no idea his friend had been abducted.

In the interview, Tony Douglas said he went to the movies and the mall with Shawn – even got stopped by police three times for being out late at night. And he said Shawn claimed that Devlin, the man he said was his father, was good to him.

Devlin’s neighborhood was not the only place where Shawn’s face could be found during his missing years. Another was the Web, where Shawn’s picture appeared on at least six social networking sites.

In message boards and blogs, there is much debate about who might have posted the photos – Shawn, Devlin or someone else.

Hometown happiness

In Shawn’s hometown of Richwoods, Mo., on Sunday, there was a change in the air as people rejoiced at the return of one of their own.

Shawn Hornbeck, 15, smiles as his mother Pam Akers speaks during a news conference Saturday in Richwoods, Mo. Shawn, who had been missing since October 2002, was recovered Friday. He had been living in a Kirkwood, Mo., apartment with a 41-year-old man, Michael Devlin, who's now charged with kidnapping.

Shawn’s family asked for one day out of the spotlight. Sunday was their day to spend with their son. Pam and Craig Akers decided they would not talk to any media until after they appear Wednesday on “Oprah.”

So, the townspeople talked about how growing up in these country woods would never be the same.

Danyel O’Neal, 19, said her parents changed after the disappearance. Suddenly, they wouldn’t let her or her younger brothers walk through stores alone.

“They were really strict on me,” she said. Her younger brother, who was one of Shawn’s best friends, asked recently whether Shawn would ever be found.

“Nobody forgot,” she said.