Kyron Horman -- Missing 6/4/10 #1

Police looking for missing Skyline Elementary student

Story Updated: Jun 4, 2010 at 11:39 PM PDT



PORTLAND, Ore. - Police are looking for a second grader from Skyline Elementary who did not come home from school Friday.

Late Friday night the search for 7-year-old Kyron Horman was upgraded to a major crimes team investigation which brings in the FBI. Officials said the search was upgraded because the FBI has more resources.

Portland Public Schools spokesman Matt Shelby said Horman was at school Friday and Portland Public Schools sent out an automated phone call to all Skyline parents alerting them to the missing boy.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and the Portland Police Bureau have been on the scene searching for the boy since early Friday evening and have been calling the boy’s name in the area of the school.

His stepmother took Horman to a science fair at the school Friday morning. They walked through a number of classrooms and his stepmother left at 8:45.

According to the sheriff’s office, the stepmother saw the boy walking toward his classroom as she left the building but officials with Portland Public Schools said Horman’s teacher never saw him in class which started at 10 a.m. The teacher marked him absent.

When Horman didn’t get off the bus in the afternoon, his parents called police.

Shelby said Horman’s parents weren’t notified when he was marked absent because Skyline doesn’t have an auto-dialer which calls parents to report the student is absent. Shelby said the school doesn’t have such a system because it doesn’t have problems with attendance.

If anyone has any information to the whereabouts of Horman they are urged to call the following phone number: (503) 261-2847.

http://www.katu.com/news/95669809.html

I don't understand! If classes didn't start till 10 am, I suppose the science fair was to last till then? Why did the step-mom leave @ 8:45? Maybe if the little fellow went to the classroom and no one was there, what was he supposed to do?

He may have wandered out of the school, and didn't know where to go? There are a lot of questions??

Help Locate Missing Second Grader in Portland, Oregon

Salem-News.com
Jun-04-2010 20:53

The young boy did not come home from school today.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Multnomah County Sheriff's deputies are looking for a second-grade boy who failed to return home Friday afternoon from Skyline Elementary School, in northwest Portland.

School officials said Kyron Horman was supposed to arrive home at about 3:45 p.m., and the boy's father and stepmom alerted the school when he didn't show up. The last time he was seen was Friday morning about 8:45 when Kyron's stepmom left him at the school after looking at science fair projects.

Now authorities say that Kyron did not attend classes all day, and though he usually rides the bus they were unsure if he rode it on Friday. One thing is for sure, he didn't get off the bus at home, if he somehow got on it.

District officials said they alerted other parents via phone.

Anyone who sees Kyron Horman is asked to contact police dispatch at 503-823-3333.

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june042010/missing_boy.php

There are definitely a lot of questions about this one sitemama. Did anybody inside the school ever see Kyron? Is there confirmation that he was in fact dropped off at the school? Why are they unsure whether he got on the bus? Didn't they question the driver and the other kids on the bus? Logic tells me that if he wasn't in class all day, he didn't get on the bus after school. I hope little Kyron is found soon.

From the time she left & class started, was 1 hour & 15 minutes. Where were all the other kids during this time?

Authorities upgrade search for missing Portland boy to major crimes investigation

By Allan Brettman, The Oregonian
June 05, 2010, 9:37AM

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has updated the ongoing search for 7-year-old Kyron Horman to a Major Crimes Team investigation, employing more than 150 personnel from several law enforcement agencies and a police helicopter in a search area in a rural part of Northwest Portland.

The boy was last seen about 9 a.m. Friday after attending a science fair at Skyline Elementary School, according to Matt Shelby, spokesman for Portland Public Schools.

The second-grade boy was with his stepmother at the fair that morning, but never checked back in with his teacher afterward, Shelby said.

Portland police responded to initial reports of the missing boy, then handed the case to the sheriff's office, which has jurisdiction in unincorporated areas of the county.

The upgraded search includes the Portland Police Bureau and its air unit, the Gresham and Fairview police departments, Oregon State Police and the FBI. Search and Rescue resources also expanded to include SearchOne Canine Inc., Mountain Rescue, Yamhill County Canine, along with additional members of the Multnomah County Search and Rescue team.

Also involved: Search and Rescue resources from the Washington County and Yamhill County sheriff's offices, Clark County, Wash., Pacific NW Search and Rescue, and a National Guard helicopter.

Members searched throughout the night, covering more than 20 miles of road and two square miles. Authorities set up a perimeter around the school that only searchers were allowed to cross. The school is a brick building in a rural area of farms and upscale homes along Skyline Boulevard.

Kyron is described as 3 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 50 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt with the logo of the “CSI” television show, black cargo pants, white socks and black Sketcher tennis shoes with orange trim. He wears glasses.

Kyron's stepmother contacted the school, at 11536 N.W. Skyline Blvd., about 4 p.m. when he didn't come home on the bus. Because Kyron had not been seen for several hours, Shelby said, school officials were "immediately concerned."

Portland police were notified shortly after that, Shelby said.

An automated phone message was sent to Skyline parents about 5:30 p.m. Friday. Parents of students at other schools in the district also received that message, Shelby said.

Lt. Mary Lindstrand, a sheriff's spokeswoman, said the agency would have searchers out as long as needed.

The boy lives with his father and stepmother. Lindstrand said his mother, who lives out of the area, was on her way here.

The Oregonian/Allan BrettmanLt. Jason Gates, incident commander for the Multnomah County Sheriff's office, outside Skyline Elementary School.Gina Zimmerman, president of the school PTA, dropped by the Skyline search scene Saturday morning with her 8-year-old daughter Madi, who has been a classmate of Kyron for three years.

“He’s not the type of child who would just go out of school and go searching or wandering around,” Zimmerman said. “He’s just a timid, sweet boy.”

Zimmerman said she was in contact with the father, Kaine Korman, and stepmother, Terri Korman, and detectives Friday night. “Everybody’s just worried and in shock that this could happen in our little school where everybody knows everybody.”

She said the K-8 school has about 300 students.

Zimmerman said she arrived at the school around 8:15 a.m. Friday, as most parents and students did, to attend the end-of-year science fair. Terri Korman took a photograph of Kyron in front of his project, Zimmerman said.

Kyron’s project was on the red-eye tree frog, Madi said.

“We always play on the swings together,” she said of her friend. I’m thinking my thoughts for him. I’m very worried.”

Zimmerman said everyone went into their classroom for the science fair and broke into parent-led groups of four or five. She wasn’t sure what group Kyron was in. but she said the last time she saw him was at 8:15, when the groups began going from class to class.

“Then you were supposed to stay with your group. I don’t know what group he was in.”

Zimmerman said the boy has no learning disabilities. “He’s a good kid who follows the rules,” she said.

“We’re really close to the family, “ she added, noting that Kyron has a 16-year-old brother and a younger sister. “We’ve been on the phone with them all night.”

Anyone with information regarding Kyron's whereabouts is asked to call a tip line at 503-261-2847.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/search_for_missing_portland_bo.html

Something is very troubling here. If the children at the Science Fair Exhibits were in groups of 4 or 5, accompanied by a parent - why did nobody notice that Kyron was walking around without an adult after his stepmom left at 8:45am? His picture was taken at 9:00 in front of his exhibit.

I don't get why a 7 yr old was just "left" at the school for more than an hour before he had class. It's really fishy to me. I know that when I drop Tasha (and she's 11) I always stay to make sure she goes inside AND I only allow for a few minutes before what ever it is starts. THAT's only if I don't take her inside myself. I sure hope he's found soon.

More puzzlements:

This is a small school in a rural area...only 300 students.
Why did step-mom leave Kyron alone if all the other kids were in parent-led groups?

There were many parents there that day, but were all parents required to sign in and out at the main office?

Could another adult have walked into the school, and led Kyron out, on some pretext, and into a car?

Stepmom has to be looked at more closely.

Snipped from the above article:

The boy was last seen about 9 a.m. Friday after attending a science fair at Skyline Elementary School, according to Matt Shelby, spokesman for Portland Public Schools.

Zimmerman said she arrived at the school around 8:15 a.m. Friday, as most parents and students did, to attend the end-of-year science fair. Terri Korman took a photograph of Kyron in front of his project, Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said everyone went into their classroom for the science fair and broke into parent-led groups of four or five. She wasn’t sure what group Kyron was in. but she said the last time she saw him was at 8:15, when the groups began going from class to class.

I didn't interpret "parent-led" to mean that every child had a parent with them and that Kyron would be the only child without an adult. I interpreted it to mean that each group of 4-5 children was led by a parent... maybe more than one, but not necessarily each child's parent....

I also didn't read that his step-mother took his picture at 9:00.... I understood that she took his picture in front of his exhibit, but possibly left about 8:45 a.m. This particular-referenced article actually doesn't mention the time the step-mother left. Kyron was then last seen at 9:00 a.m. (likely by someone other than his step-mother).

Hopefully, this little boy will be found safe and sound. I, as a parent, would be scared out of my wits for my child.

JMO

It looks like you might be right Snaz. One of the earlier articles said classes started at 10 am, so who was in charge of watching Kyron and the rest of the kids between the time the science fair ended and the time classes began? The parent leader of his group or somebody else at the school? Someone really dropped the ball on this one and I hope it didn't cost Kyron his life.

Details emerge about the day Kyron Horman turned up missing

By Lynne Terry, The Oregonian
June 05, 2010, 11:21PM



Friday began as a special day for 7-year-old Kyron Horman. His school in Northwest Portland was having a science fair and he was keen to show off his project to his stepmother.

So, instead of taking the bus near his home off Cornelius Pass Road as usual, he hopped into the car with his stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman, who drove him to Skyline Elementary School.

They arrived sometime after the school opened about 8 a.m., went to his classroom, dropped off his coat and backpack and he showed his stepmother his exhibit, "The Red-Eyed Tree Frog."

Horman, who has raised Kyron since he was an infant, snapped a picture of him standing in front of it that she later posted on her Facebook page. It shows a bespectacled and beaming short-haired boy wearing a blue "CSI" T-shirt in front of an exhibit with photos of bug-eyed frogs, an anatomical drawing of the creature and other artwork.

"He was so excited about his science project," said Carol Moulton, Horman's mother and Kyron's grandmother. "They had worked on it together. He was anxious to take it to school and show it off."

After that, the two looked at other projects set up on desks in classrooms. There are about 300 students at Skyline Elementary, and all of them were invited to contribute to the fair.

Although the school usually opens at 8:35 a.m. and the final bell rings 10 minutes later, the school opened as early as 8 Friday for the science fair, said Matt Shelby, spokesman for Portland Public Schools.

Other students and parents showed up early as well to check out the fair, and Terri and Kyron saw people they knew while looking at the exhibits, Carol Moulton said.

Terri often volunteers at the school, working closely with Kyron's teacher, Kristina Porter. Shelby said that Porter saw Kyron in her classroom with his stepmom before 8:45 a.m. and another instructor reported seeing him in another classroom at some point.

At 8:45 a.m. when the bell rang, Terri walked her stepson down the hall close to his class.

"He told her, 'I'm going back to the classroom, Mom,' and she waves to him and left," Carol Moulton said. "She thought he was safely at school just like he is everyday."

What happened to the boy who went missing is unclear.

Carol Moulton said the kids were supposed to report to their classes and be divided into small groups of a few students each. Each group was supposed to tour the science fair with a chaperone. Afterward, when they returned to their classes for roll call, Kyron wasn't there, she said.

After leaving the school, Terri went about her day, running errands and taking care of household chores. She is a former elementary school teacher and has worked as a substitute teacher at various schools, but Moulton said that in recent years she has mainly been a stay-at-home mom.

Kyron's father, Kaine Horman, works at Intel's main administrative facility in Oregon, the Jones Farm campus in Hillsboro, the company said.

Kyron's biological mother, Desiree Horman, and his father were officially divorced in February 2003, according to Washington County Circuit Court records.

Carol Moulton said that Kaine, 36, and Terri, 40, have been together for seven or eight years and that they have been married for four or five years. The couple have an 18-month-old girl.

"Terri has raised Kyron," her mother said. "She's been with him since he was an infant. She's as much of a mom as the mom is because the parents had separated about the time that Kyron was born."

She said he visits his biological mother in Medford every couple of weeks and that Desiree, 38, came to Portland as soon as she heard about his disappearance.

Kyron was supposed to take the bus home Friday, so Terri went to the bus stop at 3:30 p.m. to pick him up.

But the bus driver told her he wasn't there.

Panicked, she ran home and called the school to discover that he had been marked absent for the day.

She called 9-1-1, setting off a search that's drawn in a swarm of officers and several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.

Officers, working with sniffer dogs, have combed the hilly, wooded area around Skyline Elementary.

Moulton doubts Kyron wandered off on his own. It's just not in his character, she said.

"He's a little bit dreamy. He's a sweet kid. He gets distracted. He's your typical second-grader," she said.

But he's no Huckleberry Finn.

"He's not real adventurous," she said. "He's a little timid. But if a friend wanted to go outside and look at something, he would follow the friend. He has a friend who he regularly gets in trouble with in the classroom because he talks too much."

Moulton said Kyron will not even venture far from his home in a wooded area.

"He won't get out of sight of the house," she said. "He's pretty insecure about that. So I can't see him wandering off."

His disappearance is devastating for the close-knit family, which plays board games together, goes bowling and enjoys visits to the Oregon Zoo. A few years ago, the family took a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Terri also has a 16-year-old son from a former marriage who has lived with her mom and dad for the past few months in Roseburg. The teen's father also lives in the area and the two are on a Boy Scout camping trip this weekend.

It will be difficult to give him the news, Moulton said.

"It's a total mystery," she said. "He just vanished. I just can't believe it."

Staff writer Stephen Beaven of The Oregonian contributed to this report.

-- Lynne Terry

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/details_emerge_about_the_day_k.html

I don't get the feeling the stepmother has anything at all to do with Kyron's disappearance. It sounds to me like she loves him and has done a good job being there for him in the absence of his biological mother...from the time he was an infant.

I could be wrong, but it doesn't appear to me like she did anything out of the ordinary that day at school; anything that most mothers wouldn't do - at least, not from what information we have received so far.

Obviously, I don't know who took young Kyron, but I think the guilty person will turn out to be someone else.... not the stepmom.

JMO

How sad for this family. It makes me sick at heart to see the smiling photo of the little boy so proud of his project, and then to hear something went wrong for him afterwards. I wonder if they have thoroughly searched the inside of the school. Maybe a janitor or other worker at the school did something to the boy and hid him inside the building somewhere.

I don't think the stepmom had anything to do with it either. It could have been a worker, another parent, or somebody who wasn't even supposed to be in the school. I take it that the school doesn't have any surveillance cameras that caught anything since I haven't seen anything about surveillance in all the articles I read.

Has anyone learned anything more about the bio mom? It seems that she had visitation every couple of weeks. The step-mother seemed to be more involved in the boys life. I wonder if there were any conflicts or moves made by the bio mom to get more visitation or anything like that...?

In this case, I don't think it is any family members. I think it could have been someone who was visiting for the science fair, or some worker at the school.

This school doesn't seem to have security like our schools do. I'm sure they don't have cameras ourside or inside the school. I have to go to the office and get photographed every time I go to pick up one of the twins. There are also cameras outside the school, and inside all the hallways.

So far there hasnt been anything to imply that a family member is involved..

I suspect LE has checked with any video surveillance that wud have picked up the mom as she ran the errands she advised about, about dropping him off...

I suspect there was a perp hiding in the school, (bathroom?..that happened close by to me a few years back.. thankfully the perp let the child go after, and he walked away...never to be found..YET)..our schools have all changed with surveillance, and locked, supervised entrances that are time restricted..) or it was a perp posing as a visitor at the science fair...

Hopefully he is still alive ....God Bless him and his family!