St. Louis ? The man accused of kidnapping two Missouri boys and keeping one of them for more than four years escaped suspicion right up until the very end – largely because he had no criminal record.

In fact, Michael Devlin apparently had so little fear of being caught that he used to joke around with police at the pizza parlor where he worked, and even phoned officers when he had a dispute with a neighbor over a parking space, authorities say.

“As Claude Rains said (in ‘Casablanca’), you ’round up the usual suspects’ and more often than not, you’re right,” said Charles Bahn, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “In this case, he wasn’t on the record as a usual suspect. Police did the best they could but didn’t have a lead.”

Devlin, 41, was arrested last week after police searching for a 13-year-old boy kidnapped on Jan. 8 went to Devlin’s apartment in suburban Kirkwood. Police found not only the 13-year-old, but, to their utter surprise, 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck, who vanished 4 1/2 years ago.

That Devlin escaped the scrutiny of friends, family and co-workers for so long has baffled many members of the community and led investigators to ponder whether they did enough – or relied too heavily on mistaken assumptions – in looking for Shawn.

Tom Ballman, a Kirkwood police officer and department spokesman who frequented the pizza shop, said he and others have been groping for signs they may have missed.

Ben Ownby, left, joins his father, William Ownby, in the living room of their home in Beaufort, Mo. Ben, 13, was reunited with his parents last week after being kidnapped Jan. 8. The suspect in the case, Michael Devlin, faces a kidnapping charge.

“Every single one of us is saying, ‘What could we have done differently?”‘ Ballman said. “How could we have gotten Shawn home earlier?”

Authorities also had contact with Shawn over the years; they simply failed to connect him with the boy whose face had been plastered on posters and milk cartons across town.

Shawn’s friend Tony Douglas said that on three occasions, police stopped the two for being out beyond curfew. Officers gave the boys a ride home, unaware of Shawn’s real identity, Tony said.

Shawn has not spoken publicly. Ben talked briefly with The Associated Press on Tuesday. But like Shawn, he was asked by investigators and his parents to avoid discussing details of his captivity.

He said it was great to be back with family: “It feels like I’m getting bruises from too many hugs.”