NY Post says reporter properly ID'd herself to Mo. suspect

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The New York Post said its correspondent properly identified herself as an employee of the newspaper before doing jailhouse interviews with the man accused of kidnapping two Missouri boys.

Lawyers for Michael Devlin, 41, say the reporter misled him, identifying herself as reporter with a university newspaper instead of a stringer for a major publication.

"Susannah Cahalan was working as a freelancer for the New York Post and she identified herself as such to the prisoner Michael Devlin," the Post said Jan. 23 in an e-mailed statement. "It was made clear to the prisoner that the story resulting from his interview would be published in the New York Post. We stand by Susannah and the story."

Devlin was interviewed Jan. 19-20 by Cahalan in the Franklin County jail, where he is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Devlin is accused in two counties of kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. The boys were found in Devlin's suburban St. Louis apartment on Jan. 12, four days after Ben went missing and more than four years after Shawn disappeared.

Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said Cahalan signed in as a friend of Devlin's.

A spokeswoman for the Post, Suzi Halpin, said the newspaper had no comment about how Cahalan identified herself to jail officials.

Cahalan attends Washington University in St. Louis and formerly worked for the school paper. A university spokesman said she is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences from Summit, N.J. She has not responded to attempts to reach her by phone or e-mail.

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