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The case of Kyron Horman, Portland boy who disappeared in 2010

Hopeful of Life

By Misha AlslebenPublished 3 years ago 11 min read
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On June 4, 2010, Kyron Horman was 7 years old. The second-grader arrived early to Portland’s Skyline Elementary School with his stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman, to tour a science fair set for that the afternoon.

She took a picture of Kyron in front of his poster about tree frogs. It was the last known photograph taken of him.

Kyron was last seen in Portland, Oregon on June 4, 2010.

He usually rode the bus to Skyline Elementary School, where he was a second-grader. The school is in the 11500 block of Skyline Boulevard in a rural area in northwest Portland, about two miles from Kyron's home in the 15700 block of Sheltered Nook Road.

His stepmother, Terri Lynn Moulton/Horman, stated she drove him to school because there was a science fair that day and Kyron wanted to set up his exhibit, a display about the Red-Eyed Tree Frog. They arrived shortly after 8:00 a.m. and dropped Kyron's coat and backpack off at his classroom.

A witness saw Terri and Kyron together at 8:15 a.m., in front of Kyron's exhibit. The bell rang at 8:45 a.m. and Terri says she left then. She said Kyron told her he was going to his classroom. He has never been heard from again.

Terri reported Kyron missing at 3:45 p.m., after he failed to arrive home at 3:30 p.m. as scheduled. No one reported having seen Kyron at the school after the 8:45 bell. His teacher marked him absent after classes began at 10:00 a.m.; she thought he was at a doctor's appointment.

Due to so many hours passing since he was last seen, police launched an extensive search immediately. Over the next few day's they interviewed all the students and staff at Skyline Elementary School and searched the school, school grounds as well as the surrounding area. It was one of the largest searches in Oregon history.

Thursday marks 11 years since Kyron disappeared. He would have graduated high school last year in 2020 and possibly of been headed to college this year or maybe taking a gap year checking out tree-frog's. Since he was last seen at Skyline, his family has mourned his loss and continued to search for him.

Holding hope as I do that he out there, somewhere, alive and well just waiting to be reunited with his real family.

Kyron's loved ones described him as timid and stated he would be unlikely to leave the school and go off on his own.

Kyron's parents, Kaine Horman and Desiree Young, have been divorced since 2003. Terri and Kaine married in 2007, but they had been together for several years before that. Terri raised Kyron from infancy, although he did visit with Desiree and his stepfather, Tony Young, every couple of weeks.

Kaine and Terri had a one-year-old daughter, Kiara Ariel Horman, at the time of Kyron's disappearance, and Terri has a teenage son from a previous marriage who was living with her parents in June 2010. Photos of Kaine, Terri and Desiree are posted with the case summary.

Less than two weeks after Kyron's disappearance, police stopped the search and announced they had upgraded his case from a simple missing child to a criminal investigation. At the same time, they stated they didn't think Kyron had been abducted by a stranger. They focused on Terri, stating cellular phone records indicated she wasn't where she said she was on the day of her stepson's disappearance.

Three weeks after Kyron's disappearance, on June 26, Kaine moved out of the family home. That same day, Terri placed two 911 calls from their residence. The first one, at 5:17 p.m., was classified as a "threats" call, and the second, at 11:39 p.m., was classified as a "child custody" call. Kaine wasn't home when either call was placed. During the following days, the police released more information to the public: a landscaper who worked for the Horman family had told investigators that about six or seven months before Kyron disappeared, Terri offered him money to kill her husband. When authorities notified Kaine of this, the news prompted to him to take Kiara and move out. The police attempted a sting, bringing the landscaper to Terri's door to demand money while undercover agents watched from nearby, but Terri called 911 instead to say someone was demanding $10,000 from her.

Kaine filed for divorce and a restraining order from Terri, saying he and the police believed she was responsible for Kyron's disappearance in addition to the attempted murder-for-hire. A judge barred Terri from contacting Kaine, Kyron, Kiara, or her own teenage son.

Kaine sought custody of Kiara and child support from Terri. He accused Terri of attempting to abduct Kiara from her daycare two days after the restraining order was granted, of beginning an affair with another man four days after Kaine moved out, and of sharing sensitive information, including Kaine's new address, with the man. In mid-July, Terri moved to her hometown of Roseburg, Oregon and Kaine and Kiara moved back into their Portland house.

Investigators questioned Terri's friend, DeDe Spicher, about her possible knowledge of Kyron's disappearance. They searched her home and asked the public if they had seen Terri, her white pickup truck or Spicher on June 4 between 9:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Spicher stated knew nothing about Kyron's disappearance and she believed Terri was innocent of any wrongdoing. Kaine stated Terri suffered from postpartum depression after Kiara's birth and her behavior changed. In court documents, he claimed she is an alcoholic, has a personality disorder and is "severely emotionally disturbed."

Kaine stated he believed Kiara was not safe with her mother and may have witnessed whatever happened to Kyron on the day he disappeared. Some of Terri's acquaintances reported that she was angry with Kaine for making her teenage son move out of their home, which he did in February 2010, four months before Kyron's disappearance.

Desiree told reporters that she had attempted to get custody of Kyron prior to his disappearance and that Kyron had told her several times that he wanted to come live with her. In May 2012, Desiree filed a lawsuit against Terri, accusing her of kidnapping Kyron and seeking $10 million in damages. She has asked the court to order Terri to return Kyron, or say where his body is.

A book written in 2020 "Boy Missing" By Rebecca Morris goes much further in-depth about the case and the possibilities or Terri's guilt. Very much worth the read Rebecca Morris ensured to have family cooperation when writing her book and was able to tie together a case that has haunted Oregon residents for years.

Within the pages of this well-written story about Kyron and his family, Morris included and claims Kyron's regular bus driver, along with a classmate and two of the classmate's family members witnessed Kyron walk through the school parking lot with Terri Horman and her infant daughter on June 4, 2010. The second-grader was never seen again.

The book describes how Terri Horman washed Kyron's jacket and backpack the day he disappeared.

Additionally, Morris explained detectives outfitted Kaine Horman, Kyron's father with a wire to record conversations inside the family home, where relatives, including Terri Horman, had gathered. Morris also said police placed a tracking device on the family's truck. Kaine Horman was not involved in the book.

"Boy Missing: The Search for Kyron Horman" details the alleged circumstantial evidence surrounding Terri Horman, including claims she had emailed a friend the day before Kyron disappeared, saying she planned to leave Kaine and her marriage the next day and take her infant daughter with her.

The book recounted the stepmother's movements on June 4, 2010, including buying cold medicine and other grocery items at Fred Meyer stores. The author claimed items purchased that day, including a bottle of Motrin, were never found.

Terri Horman struggled to explain her whereabouts during a portion of the day on June 4, 2010, according to the author.

The book also raised questions about an unexplained injury on Terri Horman's leg, a good-sized gash below the knee. Horman said she dropped a weight on her leg at the gym. Terri Horman declined to speak with Morris for the book and was not available for comment.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office would not confirm the information released in the book. Investigators have described the case as an active, ongoing investigation. Public interest in Kyron’s disappearance has waxed and waned over the years. No one has been charged or even named as a suspect in his case, though his stepmother has been a frequent target of speculation.

Authorities have yet to name a suspect in Kyron's disappearance, in spite of their focus on his stepmother. Kaine speculated Terri caused the child's disappearance in an effort to hurt him, and suggested she may have had help from other individuals. Both of Kyron's parents continue to hope that he is alive. His case remains unsolved.

Like Kyron's Mother, I hope that Terri sometime soon will come forth with her actual where abouts the day Kyron missing. Desiree Young spoke to Fox 12 news in 2014 stating her goal is to bring Kyron home and keep the pressure on Terri to be truthful. She shared how they all took polygraphs In the days following the 2010 disappearance of the 7-year-old boy after a school science fair. Young said her polygraph session started with these four questions:

  • Do you know where Kyron Horman is?
  • Were you with Kyron after 8:45 in the morning?
  • Do you have direct involvement or any indirect knowledge of Kyron's kidnapping?
  • And again, do you know where Kyron Horman is?

Young said Terri Horman "failed a lot of questions that they asked her," and that she failed three polygraph tests, each nearly 10 hours long.

"She was saying what her response was and trying to justify what her timeline was and trying to justify why she failed that question," Young said. "That is a glaring example of someone who's guilty."

Young mentioned in the interview that four years without answers and without her son have been a nightmare, and she refuses to be in this same position in another four years. Unfortnatly she finds herself in that position more than ten years later.

"They're not going to prosecute Terri until they find Kyron. And that's why it's my mission. I am going to find answers. I am going to find Kyron if I have to do it myself,"

Terri Horman has never been charged in the case or even called an official suspect.

Multnomah County officials said Kyron Horman's case is still active and they cannot comment on it.

I as a mom myself, I follow my intuition and gut instincts a lot. I am also, hopeful that he is alive and out there somewhere as well and hope he gets to come home soon. I like Desiree Young hope that soon some answers are given to this family because they all deserve some peace and to be together again. It is in my belief especially with her lack of sadness throughout the searches and during Kyrons case. That despite her efforts to paint herself as innocent that , Terri Horman knows more than she has or will let on. It's time that she is pressed for further information from both the public and authorities. If she loves him as she so claimed in her appearance on Dr.Phil in 2016 she should have no issue revealing her actual whereabouts the day Kyron disappeared. During her appearance on Dr.Phil her past emails displaying hate toward Kyron, blaming marriage issues on Kyron and her sloppy dismissal of their existence make this feeling even more valid. However confusing that it wasn't enough for police to press further. Though not used often enough in criminal cases I do believe that it would help to have a deception expert review interview footage and body language of Terri Hormon. Deception experts use micro-expressions to determine honesty and other emotions. Microexpressions express the seven universal emotions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, contempt, and surprise. Nevertheless, in the 1990s, Paul Ekman expanded his list of emotions, including a range of positive and negative emotions not all of which are encoded in facial muscles.

Desiree Young At A Press Conference Raising Awareness and Keeping Her Promise

The search for Kyron, which spanned over ten days, was the largest in Oregon history, and included over 1,300 searchers from Oregon, Washington, and California. A reward posted for information leading to the discovery of Kyron, which was initially $25,000, expanded to $50,000 in late-July 2010.

Photo Taken the Day Kyron Disappeared

Age Progression Photo Provided On FBI website.

The Promise

The Promise

We are not going to give up.

Not Going to fade away

We'll keep you in our thoughts

And in the prayers we say

And for you on this wall

We'll let our hope abound

and not forget it's you whos lost and must be found!

Kyrons Hope Spot / Memorial

Sources :

https://youtu.be/Org6mKoJdQQ

Boy Missing - Rebecca Morris

Dr.Phil Episode

FBI website

https://katu.com/news/local/11-years-since-kyron-horman-disappeared-mom-says-shell-never-stop-fighting-for-son

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2015/05/kyron_horman_timeline_of_event.html

investigation
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About the Creator

Misha Alsleben

Wife & Mom Fueled by ;

Caffeine & Gratitude, when I’m not writing you’ll find me raising awareness about our planet’s needs , in the kitchen ,outside with the family, taking photos or in a bookstore.

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