Beaufort Missouri is a small Missouri town that is making national news. The story is one heard too often and one we could do with never hearing again. America is missing another precious child. Once more it is believed some sick SOB has taken one of our most priceless and innocent angels.

Thirteen-year-old William “Ben” Ownby has now been missing for more than 24 hours. Yesterday around 3 p.m., Ben stepped off his school bus with a friend and began to walk toward his home. The friend headed toward his car, parked nearby on a hill. No one has been able to find Ben since that time.

Michael Hults, the friend who rode on the school bus with Ben, getting off at the same bus stop began driving home in the direction Ben had begun to walk. That is when he passed by a white Nissan Pickup truck with a camper shell driving at a high rate of speed headed in the opposite direction. At first, this did not strike any concern with Michael until he kept driving and realized he did not see Ben.

When Ben did not arrive home, his family began calling friends, family, neighbors, and the police. Thankfully, Ben’s friend Michael had been with Ben. Hults gave police quite a few details about the white pickup, including that it has no hubcaps and the left rear fender has rust. He had noted the truck swerving at the bottom of a gravel road when he first saw the truck and police verify there were tire marks to corroborate the teens story.

The white Nissan pickup truck with a camper shell last seen going South on Route 50 out of Beaufort Missouri. The white pickup maybe the best lead Franklin County Police and FBI have in Ben’s disappearance now. An amber alert is in effect for William Ownby.

Ben is four feet ten inches tall and weighs around 100 pounds. He was last wearing a red Saint Louis Rams Sweatshirt with a hood, blue jeans and carrying his black backpack. Ben has brown hair, blue eyes and wears glasses. William “Ben” Ownby is thirteen years old and Caucasian. Police ask if anyone finds a black backpack anywhere on the side of the road please call them or the FBI immediately.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI believe Ben is a victim of a kidnapping. An amber alert remains in effect for William “Ben” Ownby currently. Today the FBI joined the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in the search of Ben Ownby the missing and likely abducted thirteen-year-old boy who disappeared while walking after getting off his school bus yesterday around 3:30 p.m. Tomorrow the FBI has two profilers joining the search for the missing teenager.

If you have any information about finding Ben Ownby, please call 911, The Franklin County Sheriffs Office 636-583-2567 or your local FBI office.

You can help the search for Ben Ownby regardless of where you live. Simply go to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Website [NCMEC], print off William “Ben” Ownby’s poster [see link below], and ask local businesses if they would allow you to place a poster in the front window. Hang posters in public rest rooms, on telephone poles, at your work and in library’s. Think of anywhere a poster would be seen by many people everyday.

I am placing Ben’s poster in the side windows of my minivan. He will have a spot there until he comes home. Until he does, I am sending Ben and his family Angels.

Angels above you Ben~
Angels below you Ben~
Angels all around you Ben~
To keep you safe Ben~

Until we meet again I send you angels~

Update: Ben Ownby, and another missing child, Shawn Hornbeck were found alive and returned to their families. Their abductor Michael Devlin has been arrested.