Investigators ask public if they saw stepmother of missing Oregon boy on day he vanished

Police seek info. on stepmom of missing Oregon boy

PORTLAND, Ore. — Detectives investigating the disappearance of a 7-year-old Oregon boy two weeks ago put out a call Friday for information on the whereabouts that day of his stepmother — the last person to see him alive.

Investigators refuse to say whether they have a suspect. Police passed out fliers Friday in hopes of jogging the memory of anybody who might have information on Kyron Horman’s case, said Capt. Jason Gates of the Multnomah County sheriff’s department.

A questionnaire that accompanies the flier has gone to everybody who was at Skyline School on June 4, he said. The boy was last seen there after a science fair he attended that morning with his stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman.

“Terri is the last known person to have seen Kyron alive before he disappeared,” Gates said.

The stepmother, who has raised Kyron since he was an infant, contacted the school on the afternoon of the disappearance, when the boy didn’t come home on his school bus. Kyron lived with his father and stepmother about 2 miles from the school.

The flier includes two questionnaires — a 10-question form directed at adults and an eight-question survey for children. Both ask if anyone saw Kyron or the stepmother at or near the elementary school, or if they witnessed a pickup matching the description of the family’s white Ford F250 pickup.

The stepmother appeared at a news conference last week with the boy’s father to appeal for help in finding the boy. “We fully support the release of this flier,” said a family statement that Gates read Friday.

Searchers spent 10 days checking the area near the school and the family’s home before the sheriff’s office scaled back the search effort and reclassified the disappearance as a criminal investigation. Gates said he couldn’t eliminate the possibility that Kyron was abducted by a stranger, but “the need for the public to be alarmed is very low.”

Searchers have been combing Sauvie Island, 10 miles northwest of downtown Portland, but police refuse to say why.

The Willamette Week newspaper, citing anonymous police sources, reported that cell phone records show Terri Horman was there June 4.

“I don’t have control over what papers report,” Gates said when asked about the Willamette Week article.

Terri Horman’s Facebook activity has also been deemed suspicious by a bevy of armchair detectives — people leaving comments online — wondering why she was “hitting the gym” a few days after her stepson disappeared or why she failed to quickly change her profile picture from her biological daughter to Kyron.

The pickup was recently towed from the Horman home, but Gates said it was because of a mechanical problem, not the investigation.

Detectives have refused to answer most questions about the specifics of their investigation.

“Our primary goal is to not make any mistakes in this case, to be as perfect as we can be in investigating this case,” Gates said.