My cynicism alarm is ringing

There's something too strange about this case in Missouri where that youngster who was kidnapped four years ago was, thankfully, found alive, along with another boy who had been kidnapped just recently.

There were discovered at the home of the alleged kidnapper, an overweight pizza parlor worker and part-time funeral home employee (and doesn't that whole combination just shout “Welcome to Bush country!”)

The thing is, the kid who had been gone for four years (he's now 15) had apparently been free to ride his bike around the neighborhood, visit friends' houses - he'd even been seen camping in the backyard with the supposed kidnapper, and neighbors just figured it was his son.

I call shenanigans.

And, yes, I've heard the theories that it's some type of Stockholm Syndrome, where the kidnappee begins to identify with the kidnapper. Or else, that the kid was threatened with violence against him or his family if he ran away.

But, I'm sorry – we're talking about someone in his mid teens, not a 4-year-old. You're telling me if you were kidnapped and have access to a bike you're not out of there in an instant?

There's something more here.

Granted, I am the suspicious, cynical type. The most famous example being the case of Elizabeth Smart, the young Utah girl kidnapped and missing for several years, and eventually found alive. Same thing – she had apparently been walking around outside, visiting fast food restaurants, etc., not chained up in a basement somewhere.

When that case broke, I remember turning to a co-worker (it might even have been the infamous “Jan Brady” of this blog fame) and saying: “Jan, get off the phone to Vegas and listen to me. That girl didn't want to be found.”

When I saw the TV footage of her playing that damn harp, she looked miserable. I'm not saying she wanted to be kidnapped, nor this Missouri boy. But I don't know if either were so eager to be found.