Kyron Horman, aged 7, went missing at his school.

Terri Horman 'Sexting' Since Kyron's Disappearance

Monday, July 12, 2010

Angry Mom: I've had about enough of Terri Moulton Horman.

I am one of many who believes she had something to do with her stepson's disappearance.

A mom Facebooking about "hitting the gym" just days after her stepson went missing is just downright suspicious to me.

When it came out that she had allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill her husband, I was even more convinced this woman was up to no good.

Now Kaine Horman has accused Terri of having an affair with one of his childhood friends, Michael Cook. He says Terri has exchanged graphic sexual text messages with Cook since June 30.

Why would you be SEXTING someone when your kid is missing?

Something just doesn't add up here.

TERRI, CONFESS ALREADY!!!!!

http://www.momlogic.com/2010/07/terri_horman_sexting_since_kyron_horman_disappearance.php

Terri Horman tried to abduct own daughter from daycare



ABC News

The Oregon stepmother embroiled in an increasingly nasty battle with her missing stepson's family allegedly attempted to "abduct" her own daughter all while carrying on an affair with her estranged husband's high school classmate, according to new court documents.

Terri Horman could face charges for violating an emergency restraining order that keeps her away from her husband, Kaine Horman, and the couple's 20-month-daughter.

According to court documents filed Monday by Kaine Horman in an attempt to have his wife held in contempt for violating the restraining order, Terri Horman tried to "abduct" her 20-month-old daughter from a gym day care June 28, two days after the emergency restraining order was granted, following a revelation from police that she tried to hire the family's landscaper to kill her husband.

And while the rest of the family was consumed by the desperate search for 7-year-old Kyron Horman, Terri Horman was carrying on an affair with a 37-year-old Michael Cook, a former classmate of Kaine Horman's, according to the documents. The affair purportedly began four days after Kaine Horman moved out and investigators, according to the court papers, said they've "obtained hundreds of text messages, as well as several photographs of respondent [Terri], in various stages of undress and graphic sexual activity."

The court documents accused Terri Horman of sharing sensitive information with her new boyfriend about the police investigation into Kyron's disappearance.

The new allegations came hours after Terri Horman's attorney, Stephen Houze, sent a letter to the judge stating that she would not contest the restraining order that would keep her away from her daughter, or her husband's request to move out of the family's Portland home.

Cook told a local television station that he was planning to hire an attorney, but while there was "inappropriate communication" with Terri Horman, he never had sex with her.

Terri Horman was the last person known to see Kyron before he vanished June 4 from his elementary school science fair. She has not been charged or even named a person of interest in the boy's disappearance or in the alleged murder-for-hire plot against her husband.

Kaine Horman and Kyron's biological mother, Desiree Young, have said they had little doubt that Terri Horman is somehow involved with their son's disappearance. Young has pleaded with Terri Horman to "do the right thing."

Terri Horman and her attorney have declined to comment on the allegations made by Kyron's parents.

Former FBI Special Agent Brad Garrett said investigators' decision to release the damaging court documents was one more sign they were trying to force Terri Horman into cooperating with their efforts to find Kyron.

"What they're trying to do is continue trying to tighten the vice," Garrett said. "When you become more desperate you tend to make more mistakes."

The affair with Cook, Garrett said, has the potential to provide new leads in the boy's disappearance.

"The key, I think, in this case is a new strain of information possibly through Mr. Cook," he said, "or things Mr. Cook could bring into the case."

No wonder she was hanging around the gym

Clerk: Terri Horman tried to 'abduct' daughter from gym

July 13, 2010

The step-mother of missing seven-year-old Kyron Horman talked about 'abducting her daughter from a local health club while her estranged husband was working out, according a gym employee quoted in court papers.

A clerk at a gym frequented by Terri and Kaine Horman told police that Terri came there on or about June 28 and was "looking to 'abduct' her daughter, Kiara from the gym daycare center," according to the court affidavit.

Kaine and the couple's 19-month-old daughter, Kiara, were not at the gym at that time, so Terri asked the clerk to contact her if Kaine arrived there with Kiara in the future, according to the affidavit (http://images.bimedia.net/documents/horman-affair.pdf), while was filed as part of a contempt of court proceeding Monday.

The clerk told the gym manager what happened and the manager then contacted police.

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Clerk-Terri-Horman-tried-to-abduct-daughter-from-gym-98346624.html

http://www.kbnd.com/392459.aspx

Kyron Horman's mother, Desiree Young, says there's no doubt her son's disappearance was planned. She tells NBC’s “Today Show” that there are signs Terri Horman was plotting something. Young was beginning to get suspicious when Kyron sometimes cried when he had to go back to his fathers home and wanted to spend more time with her. Desiree Young's husband, Tony, a police detective, says he believes that Terri Horman is responsible for Kyron’s disappearance.

Kyron Horman has gone from tragic missing-boy case to tabloid sideshow

Friday, July 16, 2010

Six weeks after Kyron Horman disappeared, we still have no clue where the little boy went or whether he's alive.

Certain things have become clear, though. The fact, for example, that there is only one truly innocent victim in this mess.

Two if you count Kyron's baby sister.

This began as a sad, terrifying story about a boy who vanished. It has devolved into a domestic dispute, admittedly one with enough juicy detail to attract People magazine and the major TV networks.

Despite almost a half-million dollars spent on the search by Multnomah County taxpayers, we know only the barest details of Kyron's last morning at home. Despite countless hours of TV time and newsprint pages, we know little about the boy, beyond that he's allergic to bees, has a birthmark on his forehead and loves sushi.

We know plenty, however, about Terri and Kaine Horman's failed marriage, their gym habits, his claims she suffered from severe postpartum depression. We know biological mother Desiree Young says she suspected the worst of her former husband's new wife even before Kyron disappeared.

We've heard there's a landscaper who says Terri asked him to kill Kaine -- yet waited six months to tell police -- and from the high school classmate of Kaine Horman's who showed up to lend support and wound up in what he calls "inappropriate communications" with Horman's wife.

"I'm a pretty straight shooter," Michael Cook told a TV crew this week. "I didn't have sex with her."

Red-eyed tree frogs have been trumped by randy text messages. This is no longer just sad. Now it's also disgusting.

Those of us in the mass media certainly share the blame for the way this tragedy has morphed into the stuff of made-for-TV-movie tabloid dreams. The push to compete, to report even the most innocuous detail faster than everybody else, can be all-consuming. The search for answers, an explanation for something as fundamentally inexplicable as an endangered child, can lead in unpleasant directions. We lose perspective.

(Things got really meta last week when one Portland TV station grew so desperate to fill airtime that they interviewed author Ann Rule, the 74-year-old queen of true crime books. She compared the attention being paid Kyron's disappearance to the media flurry that surrounded Diane Downs, the Oregon woman who shot three of her children in 1983, killing one, and tried to blame a "shaggy-haired stranger." Well, sure. Rule wrote a book about Downs. Anybody doubt she'll wind up writing a book on this one?)

Then again, sanctimoniousness aside, this is a car wreck of the human condition. Who can resist rubbernecking? Or judging?

There's a reason the national crews are still here, even though investigators keep saying there's no reason for anyone else to worry about their kid: Other people's misery can be fun to watch, and weirdly satisfying. The internal monologue goes something like this: "I may yell at my kid and my house is a mess, but at least I'm not that screwed up. Those people were horrible to begin with, so of course something horrible happened to them."

The problem is that all this talk about who lives where and who took pictures of what distracts from another central fact:

Kyron is still out there. He's at the bottom of a river or screaming for help in a basement or, let's dream a little, eating ice cream, watching SpongeBob and enjoying a respite from the messed-up world we adults made for him.

That boy -- getting him home or getting justice in his name -- is really the only thing that matters. Everything else is white noise, not news.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/anna_griffin/index.ssf/2010/07/kyron_horman_has_gone_from_tra.html

Kyron Horman investigation shifts to Roseburg

July 19, 2010



The spotlight surrounding the Kyron Horman case has shifted to Southern Oregon, according to a reliable source. Terri Horman, step-mother of missing seven-year-old Kyron Horman, moved back to Roseburg over the weekend.

Horman vacated the family's Northwest Portland home Friday night as part of a restraining order filed by Kyron's father, Kaine.

Terri Moulton-Horman's parents are longtime residents in Roseburg. On their front door a sign explains that the family will not be making any statements to the media camped outside.

"It's very strange to have this in our neighborhood and I feel bad for her parents," neighbor, Mary Heath said.

"I think it would be normal to assume that you know, if your daughter is the subject of all this media attention, you'd be stressed a little bit," neighbor Jeff Manely said after speaking with Terri's father.

According to a noted criminal defense lawyer, Terri is not required to tell anyone where she is staying since she's not under arrest or on probation.

"She has agreed to leave the home and has no legal requirement to tell anybody anything," defense lawyer John Henry Hingson III said.

Terri has generally avoided the cameras and declined to comment.

"As a general rule, a lawyer will advise a client under investigation to shut up, keep you head down and don't stand up and say anything," Hingson said.

Terri was the last one to see Kyron Horman inside Skyline School on June 4. The search for Kyron has been ongoing ever since.

During the subsequent investigation, Kaine Horman says police police told him Terri tried to hire a man to kill him. Kaine also said Terri has failed two lie detector tests and has been uncooperative with investigators. In the past week, evidence emerged of a "sexting" relationship between Terri and a high school classmate of Kaine's.

Kaine and Desiree Young have both stated they believe Terri is responsible for Kyron's disappearance.

http://www.kgw.com/home/Terri-Horman-relocates-Oregon-roseburg-kyron-horman-missing-portland-98764869.html

Search for Kyron Horman: Parents Name Friend of Terri Horman as Second Possible Accomplice

July 23, 2010

New Reports Say Terri Horman Told Kryon's Teachers He Had a Doctor's Appointment to Excuse His Absence




Police investigating the disappearance of Oregon second-grader Kyron Hormanwant to talk to a friend of Kyron's stepmother about the case, but she is apparently refusing to cooperate.

A statement released overnight by the little boy's father and biological mother focuses on DeDe Spicher, a close friend of Horman's estranged wife, Terri Horman" target="external">Terri Horman, who is under intense scrutiny by police and the community.

Spicher was identified by law enforcement as a confidante of Terri Horman and, according to her estranged husband and Kyron's father, Kaine Horman, she's not cooperating with investigators.

"She has not only been in close communication with Terri but has been providing Terri with support and advice that is not in the best interests of our son," read the family statement, accompanied by a picture of Spicher. "Additional information provided shows that she is refusing to cooperate with law enforcement, she is also going as far as to suggest to others that may have information regarding Kyron's disappearance, not to cooperate as well."

The Oregonian reported that Spicher, 43, was spotted by a witness leaving her job for about 90 minutes on June 4, the day Kyron disappeared from his elementary school. She was gone, the paper reported, around the same time the boy is believed to have vanished and that a second witness reported not being able to reach Spicher on her cell phone during that time.

"We implore DeDe Spicher to come forward and cooperate with the investigators," the family's statement continued. "If we find out through the investigation that she caused a delay in us finding our son due to her lack of cooperation, we will pursue civil remedies in this matter."

Bruce McCain, a retired captain with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, noted today that the continued updates on the investigation that have been coming from Kyron's parents are unusual for a complicated criminal case such as this.

"There's been absolutely silence from this investigative team. Everything we're learning about this is coming from Kaine and the Youngs," he told "Good Morning America."

It could be an orchestrated move by police to increase pressure on Terri Horman, he speculated, or it could indicate a rift between Kyron's family and investigators.

The family's statement comes one day after ABC's Portland affiliate KATU reported that Terri Horman had told Kyron's teachers and classmates that he would be out of the classroom that Friday at a doctor's appointment, giving the school no reason to expect him back after the science fair that morning where Kyron showed off his project on frogs.

But Terri Horman has been vague with investigators, the affiliate reported, later telling detective she was referring to the next Friday, June 11.

"Clearly even school children were aware that he was going to the doctor that day and they expected him to be at the doctor that day so now after the fact to say, 'I didn't know it was that day, it was another day' it is weak," former homicide detective C.W. Jensen said.

The school had faced immense scrutiny in the days and weeks after Kryon vanished after Horman told investigators that she last saw Kyron before leaving the fair and only realized he was missing when he didn't get off the bus that afternoon.

"That now gives about a six to seven hour window … in which no one was concerned about his whereabouts," McCain said, calling the move "carefully orchestrated."

Terri Horman has not been charged in Kyron's disappearance or named a person of interest, but investigators have made it clear they believe she knows more about the case than she has let on. Kaine Horman, Young and Young's husband have been more blunt, saying repeatedly they believe Terri Horman was behind it.

Kaine Horman Refuses to Give Up Hope That Son is Alive

Terri Horman is also being eyed in an alleged murder-for-hire plot in which she allegedly tried to hire a landscaper to kill Kaine Horman. Kaine Horman quickly filed for divorce and fled the family's home with the couple's 20-month-old daughter. He was granted an emergency restratining order keeping Terri Horman away from him and their little girl.

A judge last week evicted Terri Horman from the family's home.

Terri Horman and her attorney have declined to comment on the allegations made by Kyron's parents. Her lawyer, Stephen Houze, said that his client has been receiving death threats and that the media frenzy surrounding the case has morphed into a "witch hunt."

Police said they've received more than 3,000 tips and the district attorney has subpoenaed 200 sets of records.

Kaine Horman continues to maintain his belief that his son is alive, though it's unclear whether that's based on evidence or simply a father's refusal to give up hope.

"If they believe Kyron Horman is alive based up on evidence that they gather then that's really, really good news and it should be shouted from the rooftop," McCain said.

Court documents released earlier this month added to the growing list of odd behavior coming from Terri Horman. Her husband claimed in a filing in which he attempted to have his wife held in contempt for violating the emergency restraining order granted June 28 that she tried to "abduct" her 20-month-old daughter from a gym day care after the emergency restraining order was granted.

And while the rest of the family was consumed by the search for Kyron, Terri Horman was allegedly carrying on an affair with 37-year-old Michael Cook, a former classmate of Kaine Horman's, according to the documents. The affair purportedly began four days after Kaine Horman moved out and investigators, according to the court papers, said they've "obtained hundreds of text messages, as well as several photographs of respondent [Terri] in various stages of undress and graphic sexual activity."

The court documents accused Terri Horman of sharing sensitive information with her new boyfriend about the police investigation into Kyron's disappearance.

The new allegations came hours after Houze sent a letter to the judge stating that she would not contest the restraining order that would keep her away from her daughter, or her husband's request to move out of the family's Portland home.

Cook told a local television station that he was planning to hire an attorney, but while there was "inappropriate communication" with Terri Horman, he never had sex with her.

Kaine Horman, told "Good Morning America" earlier this month that Terri Horman seemed to change after the birth of their 20-month-old daughter, Kiara.

"She went through some post-partum depression after the birth and her emotional state was more erratic," Horman said.

Young said she didn't believe Terri Horman from the beginning when she called to tell her that Kyron went missing from his elementary school.

"There was just certain details that just didn't make any sense that gave me that sick to my stomach feeling," Young said.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/kyron-horman-family-names-woman-eyed-boys-disapperance/story?id=11234220&page=1

New developments - Police focusing on Terri-Horman's "circle of friends"

Armchair detectives: True-crime websites are nonstop outlets for facts and opinions on Kyron case

Saturday, July 24, 2010

No sooner did word break Thursday that authorities were putting the squeeze on a close friend of the stepmother last known to have seen missing second-grader Kyron Horman, a parallel investigation kicked into gear far from Tualatin where DeDe Spicher lives.

In real time, members of true crime Internet forums around the country began searching for the woman's footprint in the public domain.

Forget Googling. Online sleuths unearthed Spicher's health and gardening page on blogspot.com (she's a fitness junkie!), then her Twitter account was revealed. Next came a two-year-old photo on Flicker from a fundraising race, and finally, Spicher's post on Terri Horman's Facebook page 36 hours after Kyron was last reported being seen outside his Skyline Elementary classroom: "Thinking of you and Kaine and praying for Kyron's safe return."

By dawn, the vetting was in full swing. Members of ScaredMonkeys.net and Insessiontrials.com crime forums outed Spicher's father as a member of the Klamath County Sheriff's Office, one of scores of agencies that helped search for Kyron. And threads by commenters on other sites were exploring Spicher's tax, real estate and ancient online records.

"The crime blogs are like Monday morning quarterbacking, only it's everyday, all day and all night," said Michael Vallez, a former Florida police officer turned social media strategist who blogs about the intersection of law enforcement and social media.

Click on sites where meet fans of true crime mysteries, online home to lay criminologists, forensic aficionados and opinionated snoops, and the quarterbacking is more aerobic than armchair. Feverish Web site owners and their volunteer acolytes tap in theories, plot time lines, parse media reports, truthsquad comments and study aerial maps, all in an effort to solve what has baffled the pros: What happened to little Kyron? And the hobbyists' work raises a larger question: has it helped or hindered the real police work?

That depends who you ask. And entering the eighth week since Kyron was seen alive, it may not even be a fair question.

Or even the right question

No one inside the inner circle of the local, regional and federal task force searching for the seven-year-old is answering such queries, although the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office says it is received more than 3,300 tips and welcomes insights on its dedicated tipline.

But online, it takes effort to avoid a whisper campaign playing out along the sidelines of the county's official investigation. Prayers for the boy float in an ocean of suspicion and speculation. In the crimeblog universe of truTV's True Crime Library, Websleuths, Blink on Crime and The Hinky Meter, mystery buffs spoke the conventional wisdom first about TH, as commenters have shorthanded Kyron's stepmother's name, long before sheriff's deputies or the family began raising accusatory eyebrows at Terri Horman. On Facebook, a few dozen supporters of the woman Kyron Horman called "Mom," point fingers elsewhere.

But denizens of the crime sites have their opinions -- and they're doing the virtual legwork to try to prove they're right. Meet "Kimster," a 51-year-old Eugene-area emptynester with a penchant for Ann Rule's psychological true-crime thrillers. Or "ValHall," a 46-year-old aerospace engineer and grandmother from Oklahoma who got snared by the criminal justice bug during the O.J. Simpson trial. Or Tricia Griffith, a 51-year-old former rock radio DJ-turned unsolved mystery message board owner, eking out a living for herself, her 13-year-old son and a menagerie of birds and dogs in Utah.

Griffith is a hobbyist whose Websleuths site has logged over 5 million posts since she bought it in 2004. Her crimeblog doesn't tolerate blatant namecalling and nitpicking and her critics complain that rulebreakers are often banned. But if you have a theory of who did what to whom in the Kyron Horman case, your chatter is welcome, she said. For her part, Griffith is unabashedly suspicious of Terri Horman.

"The stepmother knows more and her whole story doesn't make sense," Griffith said.

What the public is thinking

Trying to make sense of the morass is nothing new for veterans of unresolved mysteries. Look to the head-scratching surrounding the 1997 murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in Colorado, or the 2008 disappearance and murder of little Caylee Marie Anthony or the 2009 disappearance of 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings, both in Florida.

The brigade of crimebloggers who continue to mine the public record in those cases shifted their energies to Skyline, just north of Portland within hours of Kyron's June 4 disappearance.

"We act as a giant spitballing session," Griffith said. "Then what we can do is write what you, the journalist, are thinking but can't write, and what the members of the public are thinking."

Sometimes the unorthodox sleuthing yields results. Last year, Abraham Shakespeare, a homeless man whose incredible $31 million lotto win in 2006 turned his life upside down, vanished along with a chunk of his lump-sum $17 million payout. When police named Shakespeare's friend Dorice Donegan Moore as the last person to have seen him, Websleuths members began to slog through public bankruptcy records and monitor online scanners. Others posted photographs of the properties on threads where property records were mulled. Volunteer sleuths determined that Moore had purchased two houses, side-by-side, placing the home that turned out to be the crime scene in her boyfriend's name.

Moore reportedly logged onto the Websleuths forum to mouth off anonymously. Griffith checked the IP address against an email Moore had sent and confirmed that it was the prime suspect. "We were talking about her. And she came on to defend herself," she said.

Her protests didn't help. In January, detectives found Shakespeare's body buried at the boyfriend's house, five feet below a concrete slab, and charged Moore with capital murder.

An investigator called to thank Griffith, Websleuths' owner, for saving him the work of having to get a subpoena to determine who really owned the house.

"Law enforcement can get anything they want with a subpoena. But we just dig and search, dig and search and our members culled the information from public files," said Griffith.

More good than harm?

Veterans of high-profile manhunts disagree whether extra eyes do more good than harm.

On the thumbs-up side is former Green River Serial Killer Task Force supervisor Frank Adamson.

Adamson spent 31-years working for the King County Sheriff's Office, the last six overseeing the task force as the department's chief of detectives. Since retiring in 1998, he has volunteered with S.T.A.L.K. Inc., an online team of ex- investigators, profilers and medical professionals that works to help police solve murder cases.

Attention -- online or not -- keeps a marathon case alive with fresh energy and interest, he said. "So from my perspective, I don't think these groups are bad," Adamson said. "I don't think it hurts to have people out there thinking about the case, calling in and sharing their tips."

Here in Oregon, the county sheriff's office responded to emailed questions on Friday, saying "the media attention has helped to keep Kyron in the public’s eyes and minds." But investigators have guarded all but a few case details.

Shy behind a pair of narrow wire-rimmed glasses, Kyron wasn't known as the kind of kid who would wander off in the damp woods outside his school.

It took a week for the missing child case to become a criminal investigation and a few more weeks for the boy's blended family to fall apart. His father, Kaine Horman, has sued for divorce from Terri, accusing her of plotting to have him killed. Kyron's mother, Desiree Young, has accused Terri of failing a pair of polygraph tests and stubbornly refusing to cooperate with authorities. First Michael Cook, a high school classmate of Kaine Horman's, and now Spicher, a close friend of Terri's, stand implicated by association.

Enter Kyron Horman's name in a search engine and nearly 10 million hits come back in seconds.

Michael Vallez, the street cop turned mobile media guru, points out that Facebook this week surpassed 500 million members worldwide, 150 million in the United States.

Watering hole for the mob

Meanwhile, the discussion is brisk at The Hinky Meter, a crime forum run by an aerospace engineer who exchanges emails with Kaine Horman when she needs extra details for her blog posts.

The moderator known as ValHall types out long lists of confirmed facts, debunked rumors and unanswered questions. She is a stickler for walking the fine line between rank speculation and reasonable certainty.

And while she doesn't mention him by name, a specter hangs over her carefully modulated discussion board -- and it isn't Kyron's.

ValHall keeps in mind the late Richard Jewell, the security guard at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics whose journey from hero to bombing suspect and back began when he was named in an Atlanta Journal article as the focus of police attention.

The Justice Department formally cleared Jewell of involvement in the bombing, and another man, Eric R. Rudolph, was eventually convicted of the explosion that killed one and injured 111 others. But Jewell went down as the man wronged by hasty judgement.

And the blogosphere is nothing if not a watering hole for hasty judges.

"I'm not out to solve a crime, I'm out to discuss it. I hate false rumors," ValHall said in a phone interview. "I'm gonna be careful about what I say, because I don't know."

For what it's worth, she says she, too, is skeptical of Terri Horman.

Then she offers a quote she can't identify: "Fear the man who claims to know the truth, follow the man who seeks it."

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/07/armchair_detectives_true-crime.html

Grand Jury convenes and subpoenas Terri Horman's friend


ABC News

A grand jury has convened in the case of missing Oregon second-grader Kyron Horman and a close friend of the boy's stepmother has been subpoenaed to testify.

DeDe Spicher had no comment outside the courthouse yesterday. She has not been charged with a crime, but Kyron's biological parents, Kaine Horman and Desiree Young, have said publicly that they believe she aided Kaine Horman's estranged wife Terri Horman in the disappearance of 7-year-old Kyron.

Legal experts say a grand jury gives prosecutors sweeping powers that investigators do not have. And in a case with seemingly more questions than answers, testimony could lead to information that will bring authorities closer to finding Kyron.

"A grand jury can be empanelled to further and enhance an investigation that has been stalled," attorney John Henry Hingson said. "Grand jurors can issue subpoenas and have documents produced to have people come forward and testify under oath."

Spicher's attorney, Chad Stavely, told ABC's Portland affiliate KATU that Spicher was asked no questions but told to return, possibly within a few weeks.

In another courtroom, Kaine Horman has filed paperwork to find the source of his wife's hefty payments to her criminal defense attorney and lay claim to a portion of her money.

According to KATU, Terri Horman allegedly had help from a third party to pay $350,000 for representation. An attorney for Kaine Horman, who reportedly is having trouble finding the money to pay for his own legal needs and support himself and the couple's 20-month-old daughter.

The search for Kyron is nearing its second month. He disappeared June 4 from his Portland elementary schoolafter an early morning science fair.

In a report issued to the media Friday, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office seemed to have little information about the boy's whereabouts, nearly two months after he vanished from the elementary school after an early morning science fair.

"We are continuing to hope Kyron is alive and will proceed under that premise," the Sheriff's Office report read, in response to e-mailed media questions.

Terri Horman has not been charged in the boy's disappearance, but has been pummeled with intense scrutiny, most of it coming from her own family. Her estranged husband Kaine Horman, Kyron's father, has publicly pinned his son's disappearance on her more than once.

DeDe Spicher was identified by law enforcement as a confidante of Terri Horman and, according to Kaine Horman's statement last week, she's not cooperating with investigators.

"She has not only been in close communication with Terri but has been providing Terri with support and advice that is not in the best interests of our son," read the family statement, accompanied by a picture of Spicher. "Additional information provided shows that she is refusing to cooperate with law enforcement, she is also going as far as to suggest to others that may have information regarding Kyron's disappearance, not to cooperate as well."

The Oregonian reported that Spicher, 43, was spotted by a witness leaving her job for about 90 minutes on June 4, the day Kyron disappeared from his elementary school. She was gone, the paper reported, around the same time the boy is believed to have vanished and that a second witness reported not being able to reach Spicher on her cell phone during that time.

"We implore DeDe Spicher to come forward and cooperate with the investigators," the family's statement continued. "If we find out through the investigation that she caused a delay in us finding our son due to her lack of cooperation, we will pursue civil remedies in this matter."

McCain, noted Friday that the continued updates on the investigation that have been coming from Kyron's parents are unusual for a complicated criminal case such as this.

"There's been absolutely silence from this investigative team. Everything we're learning about this is coming from Kaine and the Youngs," he told "Good Morning America."

Renewed massive search based on tips



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/09/earlyshow/main6756217.shtml?tag=pop

(CBS) Investigators were expected to continue their suddenly resumed-search Monday for Oregon seven-year-old Kyron Horman.

He vanished June 4 after attending a science fair at Skyline Elementary School, in the Portland area. It led to what was called at the time the biggest search in state history.

Over the weekend, reports correspondent Priya David Clemens, dozens of probers from several agencies scoured an area two miles from the school, in a massive ground search.

They were expected to return Monday.

Included in the search: property where Dede Spicher was working June 4. She is a close friend of Terri Horman, Kyron's stepmother, who's thought to be the last person to have seen him alive.

According to reports, it was a tip from Spicher that may have sparked this latest search, which follows Spicher's grand jury testimony, as well as that of other close friends of Terri Horman's. Kyron's parents and grade school principal also appeared in court last week. The grand jury is expected to hear from more witnesses this week.

Spicher is said to have helped Terri Horman buy an untraceable cell phone, and moved in with her for weeks.

"They're both presumed innocent," points out CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom . "Nevertheless, they both engaged in suspicious behavior that's making police look very closely at the both of them."

"It looks like Dede's opening up," attorney Bruce McCain, a former captain of the Multnomah County, Oregon Sheriff's Dept., told "Early Show" co-anchor Monday. " ... This is not a search-and-rescue. This is a forensic search for criminal evidence, more than likely, something very specific that Dede told them about. It could even very well be one of these untraceable cell phones."

Terri Horman hasn't been named a suspect in the case, but Kyron's parents believe she is involved in their son's disappearance.

Kyron's father, Kaine Horman, says he's living with the burden of guilt over having brought Terri into Kyron's life, saying, "It's my job to protect him ... and someone ... got him on my watch."

Saturday, hundreds of people gathered at Kyron's school, releasing balloons with messages of hope that the lost boy might soon be found.

Step-mother and friend unaccounted for during the same time period


http://www.nwcn.com/news/oregon/DeDe-Terri-unaccounted-for-at-same-time-on-day-Kyron-vanished-100597624.html



PORTLAND, Ore. -- DeDe Spicher and Terri Moulton-Horman were both unaccounted for during the same period of time the day Kyron Horman disappeared, based on information revealed by investigators and on information from KGW sources.

Sources tell KGW that DeDe Spicher, a close friend of Terri's, was doing gardening work not far from the Horman family home on the day Kyron disappeared, but was unaccounted for during a three-hour period from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. She could not be reached by cell phone during this time either, according to sources.

Sources also tell KGW that, during the period of time DeDe was unaccounted for, her car remained at the property where she had been gardening. According to sources, that detail is significant because, if DeDe left the property as investigators believe, she would have had to leave in another vehicle.

Meanwhile, at a Wednesday press conference, investigators focused on the movements of the Horman family pickup truck on the day Kyron disappeared. Investigators specifically asked for any witnesses who might have seen the pickup in that same area of Skyline between 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. Sources tell KGW that investigators identified that as the time between when Terri left a Beaverton Fred Meyer and her next known stop, at her personal gym.

These timelines leave a one-hour, fifteen-minute block of time in the middle of the day Kyron disappeared where the whereabouts of both Terri and DeDe was still under investigation. At Wednesday's press conference, deputies focused in on specific roads in the Skyline area where the family's white truck may have been during that window of time.

According to a former police detective, that's a significant investigative detail.

"I think you take map and you say 'how long would it take if you had an hour and a half to go here?' said C.W. Jensen, a former Portland Police homicide detective. "If you had an hour and a half how long would it take to go here, here, here? And you know, ultimately--how far could you go in an hour and a half in this time frame? And what they're telling us is she was here..she was here...we know she was here...and they're asking us now...could you help us out."

Home where Spicher gardened searched

Investigators spent Sunday searching the home where Spicher gardened the morning of June 4.

The person who owns the house where Spicher gardened, who is cooperating with investigators, told investigators she called Spicher on her cell phone but she didn't answer, the source told KGW. A person who was working with Spicher, who is also cooperating with investigators, told them of trying to unsuccessfully find Spicher. Both people have told investigators they have no idea where Spicher was during that period of time.

Sources tell KGW that police have also searched Spicher's home.

Spicher has known Terri and Kaine for about seven years."

Ken Rymal holds a candle in each hand at a candlelight vigil held at Skyline School in honor of Kyron Horman. Horman, 7-years-old, has been missing since June 4th. Arkasha Stevenson/The Oregonian

Kaine Horman waits on a playground slide outside Skyline School for the candlelight vigil for his missing son, Kyron Horman, to begin. The 7-year-old boy went missing from the school on June 4th. Arkasha Stevenson/The Oregonian

Published: Friday, July 09, 2010, 11:21 PM Updated: Friday, July 16, 2010, 10:39 AM
Michael Russell, The Oregonian By Michael Russell, The Oregonian

Parents Kaine Horman and Desiree Young were among more than 200 people who attended a vigil Friday night for missing 7-year-old Kyron Horman.

The event was held under a brilliant pink and blue sunset at Skyline School, the last place Kyron was seen by his stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman, June 4.

Participants listened to a prayer and songs, lit candles and wrote notes on the Wall of Hope for Kyron Horman -- a balloon-covered chain link fence turned memorial.

Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton was also present. He comforted Kaine Horman with a hug as he left the school.

Published: Saturday, July 10, 2010, 10:00 AM Updated: Saturday, July 10, 2010, 2:42 PM
Peter Bhatia, The Oregonian By Peter Bhatia, The Oregonian

bhatia.JPGPeter Bhatia
The Editor's Column: It was an interesting way to start the week. On Monday, a four-minute voice mail arrived from someone critical of our story last Sunday that broke the news about Terri Moulton Horman's purported attempt to hire a landscaper to kill her husband. The caller was upset that the story didn't include named sources for the landscaper's allegations.

In principle, I agree with the caller, although it won't take four minutes to explain. The use of anonymous sources should be severely restricted, and The Oregonian rarely uses them. As is the case with the vast majority of newspapers not in Washington, D.C., keeping sources on the record is the way we typically do our work. Readers are entitled to know where information is coming from, and transparency is a key element of good journalism. But sometimes the public interest and benefit tips the balance to using such sources. Sometimes it is the only way to get a story of significant interest. The report last Sunday was one of those cases.

The story about the story starts with a great reporter, Maxine Bernstein -- everyone here calls her Max. She knows everyone and everything about law enforcement in Portland. She heard about the plot to kill Kaine Horman and that it was part of documents a court had sealed (the details of which were released Thursday -- affirming her story). She found the landscaper, and she confirmed independently what she had initially heard. All the conversations were required to be off the record, and she, quite understandably, told the landscaper she would not use his name. Reporters guard their sources zealously, and rightly so. In fact, many states (including Oregon) have shield laws protecting a reporter's right to keep sources confidential. The ability to hear candidly from insiders who have reasons to protect their identities can be an important tool in serious newsgathering. Otherwise, there would just be a stream of "no comments."

By the time Max started writing last Friday night, there was no doubt for any of us involved (her editor, the paper's managing editors and myself) that she had the story, she had it right, she had it verified by more than one source and that it needed to be published. People -- like the caller -- can disagree. The caller's points were really twofold -- the report was "tabloid-y," not befitting a serious newspaper, and it unfairly tainted Terri Horman. There's no doubt that all of us following the case of Kyron Horman's disappearance are craving more information. A month after the fact, it remains very much on our minds. The sudden departure of Kaine Horman and the couple's child from their home, plus the granting of a restraining order, raised many questions. Max answered those questions authoritatively and accurately. Max tried to get a response from Terri Horman's lawyer, but multiple attempts failed. Another reporter knocked on the door of the family home seeking a response from Terri the night of July 3 but was told no one could speak to her. In the end, the actions of law enforcement, the courts, the landscaper and the Horman family speak for themselves. Once Max had the story nailed down, our job was to tell it.

The Oregonian was spearheading a media coalition trying via legal means to get the sealed information released. Our partners included The Associated Press, OPB, KATU, KGW, KPTV and KOIN, and KXL radio. With all respect to law enforcement's need to conduct an investigation, such a sealing is extremely uncommon. Our paper often spends the money to go to court to get documents and information released that are in the public's interest. The group in this case asked the state Supreme Court to overturn the local judge, but Max's reporting ultimately made further legal action unnecessary.

One more thought about Max. She did something out of character last week, stepping into the spotlight and agreeing to some national TV interviews, a reflection that Kyron is still on the nation's mind, not just ours locally. Her brothers back East were particularly excited that she was on "Larry King Live" on CNN Wednesday. Max is the kind of reporter who is content to break story after story and let her journalism do the talking. Reporters who can dig, dig and dig some more and with the kind of expertise Max brings are what make newspaper journalism special. She is relentless, she is thorough and she is fair. All of us at the paper are really fortunate to call her a colleague. As readers, I hope you appreciate having her as your eyes and ears.

It is frustrating for us to hear our original work, such as Max's story, repeated on TV and radio as if it were that station's original reporting. Unfortunately, it happens every day. To be fair, numerous stations, websites and other media outlets did the right thing and attributed the exclusive story to The Oregonian. This was the right thing to do if for no other reason that our story relied on anonymous sources that could not be independently confirmed. But it was also the right thing to do in terms of giving credit where credit is due. We understand that who did what story when is of little consequence to readers or viewers; you just want the news. Our practice (and we're not perfect, either) is if we can't report independently what someone else has reported, we will attribute it. To be clear, that means reporting independently -- not just calling up a source and asking if the story was correct. There is a difference, one that the best -- like Max Bernstein -- understand well.

-- Peter Bhatia is editor of The Oregonian.

Published: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 8:33 AM Updated: Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 5:33 PM
Allan Brettman, The Oregonian By Allan Brettman, The Oregonian
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Here's an interesting development in the search for young Kyron Horman: A Charleston, W. Virginia television station reported on Saturday that the FBI issued an alert to be on the look out for the boy.

If true, this would be the first public indication that the FBI is looking for Kyron, alive, in the United States. Also, if true, it would help explain why Kyron's parents have repeatedly and publicly urged stepmother Terri Moulton Horman to fully cooperate with authorities.

An excerpt from TV station WOWK story:

Police in the Charleston area were told to keep an eye out for a missing boy from out of state Saturday night.

According to Metro 911 dispatchers, they received a call from the FBI asking them to put out a “be on the lookout message” for a boy, who may possibly be Kyron Horman.

Dispatchers put out a radio message telling officers to keep a lookout for a 94 silver Ford van with no windows.

The van and boy were allegedly spotted at Advance Auto Parts on Charleston's west side sometime Saturday night.

The van was later found by the Charleston Police Department, and according to them, it did not appear to be Kyron Horman.

-- Allan Brettman

Published: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 6:05 PM Updated: Friday, July 16, 2010, 10:32 AM
Allan Brettman, The Oregonian By Allan Brettman, The Oregonian


An FBI spokeswoman this morning played down the significance of Charleston, W. Va., authorities checking out a tip that Kyron Horman was seen in the area.

As it turns out, Charleston police stopped a 1994 silver Ford van with no windows. A boy in the van was not Kyron, according to a story posted Saturday evening by WOWK in Charleston.

According to the television news report, the FBI had earlier notified the area's emergency 911 dispatchers to issue an alert that law enforcement officers should be on the lookout for the boy.

Nothing unusual here, said Beth Anne Steele, an FBI spokeswoman in Portland.

"We know of the alleged sighting," Steele said. "We of course check out all alleged sightings."

Steele said she did not know of any other sightings in the Horman case since he was reported missing June 4 after not returning home on a school bus from Skyline School in Northwest Portand.

The sighting in Charleston, that turned out not to be Kyron, "is very typical of a missing child case that attracts national attention," Steele said.

Phone and email messages to the Charleston, W. Va., and Kanawha County (W. Va.) Sheriff's Office, were not returned this morning.

Kyron Horman went missing Friday, June 4.

This is a timeline of events. The Oregonian's reporters and editors will adjust this account over time to add and adjust information.

Searchers have declined to provide some details of the investigation, including when school officials marked Kyron Horman absent on June 4. Here's a basic look at what happened on the day the second-grader disappeared from Skyline School and the following days:

2010

Friday, June 4

8 a.m. Skyline Elementary, 11536 N.W. Skyline Blvd., opens early so students and parents can tour the science fair. A billboard outside reads: "June 4, I.B. Inquiry Expo, 8-10, Talent show, 1-2:45." Kyron was to take part in both the expo/science fair and the talent show.

Terri Moulton Horman arrives shortly afterward with her stepson, Kyron.

8:15 a.m. Gina Zimmerman, president of the school PTA, arrives and sees Kyron with his stepmother in front of his exhibit.

8:45 a.m. Terri Horman leaves after watching Kyron walk toward his classroom after touring the science fair.

9 a.m. Kyron is reportedly seen by a student near the south entrance of the school, according to Sheriff Dan Staton, who says that was the last time the boy was seen. Multnomah County authorities later backtrack on that statement.

10 a.m. Classes begin.

At some point, Kyron's homeroom teacher, Kristina Porter, reports him absent.

Kyron3.jpgA photo posted on his stepmother's Facebook page shows Kyron Horman in front of his science fair project, wearing the "CSI" T-shirt he was last seen in.
1:21 p.m. Terri Horman posts photos of Kyron at the science fair on her Facebook page.

3:30 p.m. Terri Horman goes to meet the school bus and discovers that Kyron has been absent all day. (Kaine Horman went with her to meet the bus, a fact that emerges during a television interview on June 25.)

3:46 p.m. Skyline School secretary Susan Hall places a call to 9-1-1 about Kyron being missing.

4:33 p.m. Officers from the Portland Police Bureau and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office arrive simultaneously at Skyline School and the Horman home.

5:30 p.m. Rapid broadcast message from Portland Public Schools goes out to alert families of a missing student. The message: "Kyron Horman did not arrive at home today." It was broadcast to the phones of parents across the school district.

7 p.m. Multnomah County sheriff's Detective Sergeant Lee Gosson alerts Sgt. Travis Gullberg, the county's on-call coordinator for search-and-rescue efforts, of the need to begin a formal missing persons search for Kyron.

Between 7 and 7:15 p.m. The Multnomah County Public Information Officer begins to return pages from members of the media and arranges to meet them at the school.

Between 7 and 7:45 p.m. Sheriff Dan Staton personally calls the FBI to alert them to the disappearance.

8:09 p.m. The first search teams arrive at Skyline School.

8:15 p.m. Lt. Mary Lindstrand, the PIO, arrives at the school, meets with those present, and then begins e-mailing a photo of Kyron to local television stations and The Oregonian.

8:25 p.m. The search-and-rescue coordinator, Deputy Mark Herron, arrives.

9:48 p.m. Mountain Wave, an emergency communications and search and rescue group based in Gresham arrives on the scene.

10:40 p.m. Officers at Skyline Elementary report that they have completed a search of Skyline School, including all crawl spaces, storage areas, classrooms and outbuildings. They have also searched the Horman house.

10:44 p.m. A caller to 9-1-1 wants to make sure officers have checked the train tunnel in the area near the school. She says "sometimes kids play in there, wants to make sure someone has checked that."

Saturday, June 5

3:23 a.m. Last transmission of the night about Kyron recorded on 9-1-1 run sheet.

5 a.m. Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue, another search group, is called by the sheriff's office and joins the search soon after. When they arrive on site, there are already about 60 to 70 people involved in the search.

9:08 a.m. The Associated Press receives its first official notification that Kyron Hormon is missing, via an e-mail with the subject line: SHERIFF'S OFFICE CONTINUES SEARCH FOR 7 YEAR OLD KYRON HORMAN

Helpfindmychild.net, a UK-based missing child site creates a page for Kyron.

A tip line is created: 503-261-2847.

Noon: During a news conference, a sheriff's spokesman says the search for Kyron is still a missing-person case and not a criminal investigation.

The Portland Public Schools district uses its rapid broadcast system to alert staff and parents of Skyline School students that were at the school Friday to come to the K-8 on Sunday for debriefings by police and federal agents. The oldest students are advised to arrive at 10 a.m.; kindergartners and first-graders are to arrive with parents later in the day.

4 and 8 p.m.: Authorities hold two news conferences and announce that the FBI and the National Guard have joined the effort. Search-and-rescue crews complete an "immediate grid search" around the school.

10:23 p.m. Facebook page created for supporters of Kyron and his family.

Sunday, June 6

8.58 a.m. Terri Moulton Horman posts on Facebook to say she has ordered missing-person fliers: "I ordered 1000 fliers, they will be coming to our house. I will let people know when they are here and we can go from there. Thank you everyone."

The FBI announces that they have brought in a Quantico, Va.-based profiler to create a profile of the boy.

9:48 a.m. The first of 300 students and their parents return to Skyline School to be interviewed by detectives. Fifty detectives are on-hand for interviews that continue until 4 p.m.

12:10 p.m. Relatives begin distributing missing person fliers with a photo of Kyron and this description: 3-feet, 8-inches tall, 50 pounds, blue eyes, brown hair. Last seen wearing black cargo pants, white socks and worn black Skechers tennis shoes with orange trim.

1:29 p.m. Neighbors stop by Brooks Hill Historic church, across the street from the school, to mull over the investigation. "This kind of thing is unheard of," says Jim Kelley, 50.

http://video-embed.oregonlive.com/services/player/bcpid649768122001?bctid=648593214001

3:30 p.m. Carole Smith, superintendent of Portland Public Schools, appears at a news conference and outlines a series of immediate steps the district is taking to address security concerns in the wake of the second-grader's disappearance.

9 p.m. The Multnomah County sheriff escalates Kyron's disappearance to a missing endangered child case, but does not call it a kidnapping.

Monday, June 7

Early a.m. Eighteen certified search-and-rescue volunteers resume sweeping the area near the school as deputies canvass the neighborhood, handing out fliers and jotting down license plate numbers of passing vehicles along Northwest Skyline Boulevard.

8:30 a.m. The school district staffs a counseling hot line at 503-916-3931 to answer questions or offer help districtwide.

8:45 a.m. Classes resume at Skyline School. Counselors are on hand.

Evening: Kelly Ramirez, the sister of Kyron's birth mother, Desiree Young, issues a statement thanking the community on behalf of the family for their concern and support.

Tuesday, June 8

Early a.m. Search and rescue crews resume looking, checking locations identified by phone tips and investigative leads.

Noon: Authorities offer briefing. They do not accept questions.

9:25 p.m. A Facebook support group for Kyron, Missing Kyron Horman, announces the creation of a reward fund.

"We are now working on a Paypal acct which will directly take your donations to the "Kyron Horman Fund" at Chase Bank. It will take Paypal a day or so to verify the acct and become active. If you prefer to wait until that time we will then place a donation button on the main homepage we have provided. We will keep you informed as to when that will be. It is our hope that this reward fund will prompt someone with the information police need to return Kyron home. I am sure the outpouring of well wishes, prayers and love sent by all of you is helping Kyron's family through this very difficult time."

Wednesday, June 9

Early a.m. Search and rescue crews resume looking.

Morning Terri Moulton Horman makes her Facebook wall private.

11 a.m. FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele says the Hormon family "is not speaking to the media because they do not believe it's in the best interest of finding Kyron."
http://video-embed.oregonlive.com/services/player/bcpid649768122001?bctid=648596559001


Noon At a news briefing, Multnomah County sheriff's Capt. Mike Shults reads a statement from Kyron Horman's immediate family: "Kyron's family would like to thank people for support and interest in finding their son. The outpouring of support and continued effort strengthens their hope. We need for folks to continue to assist us in our goal. Please search your properties -- cars, out buildings, sheds, etc. Also check with neighbors and friends who may be on vacation or may need in assistance in searching. There are a lot of resources here to help you search, so please don't stop. It is obviously a difficult time and they want to speak to the public so you can hear it from Kyron's family as they come together to share their message. Their objective is to keep the focus on Kyron and not about anything else."


http://video-embed.oregonlive.com/services/player/bcpid649768122001?bctid=648596560001
9:45 p.m. Portland Mountain Rescue receives a call from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office to join the search.