Radio Show Awards Missing Boys' Hero $1,000 Award Live on Air

Friends of Mitchell Hults express little surprise at the uncanny ability he had to describe the Nissan truck that was used as the getaway vehicle in the abduction of Ben Ownby last week. Mitchell is known amongst is friends for being obsessed with pickup trucks, and he talks about them all the time. His obsession led to a description of the pickup truck used in the abduction including the rust marks, dents, Missouri plates, camper shell, and "Nissan" lettering on the back, that it became an integral part in helping the Missouri police locate the truck; its owner, Michael J. Devlin, Ben Ownby's alleged abductor; Ben Ownby himself; and another young boy who had been abducted more than four years earlier, Shawn Hornbeck.

His obsession has made him a hero. In addition to receiving a grateful call from the Governor of Missouri and a surprise assembly at his school during which Union Mayor Glenn Van Leer presented him with a plaque, Mitchell was given a heroes welcome on the M.J. Morning Show (www.mjmorningshow.com), a radio show which runs daily in Tampa, FL, St. Louis, MO, and several other cities across the country. In a phone call interview with Mitchell, M.J. Kelly, host of the show, announced Monday that he was planning to reward Mitchell's heroism with $1,000. M.J. turned that promise into a reality on Wednesday morning when all of the members of M.J.'s crew from his affiliate radio station in St. Louis showed up at Mitchell's home to present him with the money and give him a hero's ride to school in the station's Hummer.

"Tell them to show you the money!" quipped M.J. over the air waves Wednesday morning in his lighthearted manner apropos of a story with such a happy ending. On a more serious note, M.J. expressed his gratitude by reiterating what many have said over the past few days, that if not for Mitchell Hults' descriptions of the getaway truck, Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck might never have been found.

Mitchell's reward is well-deserved. Ben Ownby and his family are grateful for the role that Mitchell played in his recovery. Approximately 58,000 children fall prey to of non-family abductions each year, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Although most of those children are returned safely, around 100 cases, which share similarities with the Ownby and Hornbeck cases, do not have such happy endings. Only about half of those cases result in the safe recovery of the children.