The Mystery Surrounding the Disappearance of Kyron Horman

On June 4th, 2010, 7-year-old Kyron Horman disappeared from his elementary school in Portland, Oregon, after participating in a science fair.

The last person who saw him was his stepmother, Terri Horman, who claims she watched him walk to his classroom before she left the school.

When Kyron didn’t come home from school, an investigation was launched immediately, but despite extensive searches and media attention, his disappearance has remained a mystery.

Kyron’s Disappearance

The last time anyone saw 7-year-old Kyron Horman was at the Skyline Elementary School science fair, where he proudly presented his red-eyed tree frog project.

His stepmother, Terri Horman, took him to school that morning, and she snapped a picture of him wearing his “CSI” t-shirt as he proudly showed off his science project at the school’s science fair.

Terri left shortly after the fair and later said she had last seen Kyron as he walked toward his class at around 8:45 am.

Later that day, at 3:30 pm, Kyron’s father, Kaine Horman, and his stepmom, Terri, went to pick Kyron up from the bus stop.

The bus driver informed them that Kyron had not boarded the bus at school.

After speaking with the bus driver, he told them to contact the school.

They called the school and 911, then drove to the school, only to find out that he had not made it to his first class and had been absent from school all day.

Kyron’s teacher had been told that Kyron had a doctor’s appointment that day, so she didn’t think anything of it.

It was later confirmed that Terri had scheduled Kryon for a doctor’s appointment, but it was for the following Friday.

It was then that the school secretary called 911 to report Kyron was missing.

The Search for 7-Year-Old Kyron Horman

The sheriff’s department arrived at the school at about 4:00 pm and began an intensive search of the school and its surrounding area at about 4:30 pm.

The Multnomah County Sheriff also notified the FBI that evening.

The search began in the thick woods, grassy fields, and hills next to the school, which were difficult to navigate.

At about 5:30 pm, a text message was sent to the parents of children who were students in the Portland School District stating, “Kyron Hormon did not arrive at home today,” and asking anyone who had information about Kyron’s whereabouts to contact the police.

The initial search continued into the early hours of Saturday morning, with officers scouring the school and the immediate area around it, but no sign of Kyron could be found.

At about 5:00 am, investigators from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office continued the search with tracking dogs, expanding to a 2-mile radius around the school, including nearby parks and homes.

They also started conducting interviews with close friends of Kyron and his family.

FBI Interviews

On June 10th, the FBI interviewed hundreds of students from Kyron’s school and their parents.

As the days passed, volunteers joined the search efforts, combing nearby fields and wooded areas.

The search continued for ten days, with more than 1,300 searchers, including trained searchers, law enforcement, and volunteers, looking for Kyron, making it the largest search in Oregon’s history.

On June 13th, the search was officially ended.

It was a week after Kyron’s disappearance, on June 11, 2010, that his family held a news conference asking their neighbors and members of the community to help bring Kyron home.

On June 14th, after the search ended, the investigation for Kyron changed from a missing persons case to a criminal investigation.

Even with a $25,000 reward being offered for information leading to Kyron’s location, there were no new leads in the case.

However, the investigators believed that someone knew more about Kyron’s disappearance than they were saying, and that person was Kyron’s stepmother, Terri Horman.

Family Questioned

Kyron’s family members were questioned at length about their whereabouts on the day of Kyron’s disappearance and were given polygraph tests.

Terri Horman failed her first polygraph test, and during the second one, she got upset and left.

Kyron’s mother, Desiree Young, and stepfather, Troy Young, who lived several hours from Portland, came as soon as they heard that Kyron was missing.

They both passed their polygraph test, as did Kyron’s father, Kaine Horman.

Desiree, Troy, and Kaine all had alibis for the day of Kyron’s disappearance.

Holes in Terri’s Story

However, Terri Horman told police that after leaving the school, she had run several errands around town and needed to pick up a prescription at Fred Meyer for her 18-month-old daughter Kiara, who had an ear infection.

She also said she went to dry cleaners and a craft store.

There was video footage to confirm her being in these locations, but for 90 minutes after that, she said she took Kiara for a drive on the rural roads around Portland to ease her earache pain.

After those 90 minutes, she went to a 24-hour fitness center and worked out for about an hour before driving home.

After she got home, she uploaded pictures of Kyron at the science fair to Facebook.

It was about this time that Kyron’s father, Kaine, returned home from work.

After Kaine got home, Terri, Kaine, and Kiara met Kyron’s school bus.

The time in Terri’s story when she said she was driving around with Kiara also happens to be when Kyron disappeared.

This raised suspicion among the investigators because they couldn’t verify her story.

The Landscaper Went to the Police

On June 26th, a landscaper that Terri had previously hired to work on their yard went to the police, claiming that Terri had approached him in 2010 and said she would pay him to murder her husband, Kaine.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office told Kaine about the landscaper’s story and set up an undercover sting with the landscaper and an undercover officer to try to get Terri to talk, but she didn’t cooperate.

Terri denied the claims and wasn’t charged.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office did not share many details of the investigation with the public.

After Kaine was told about the landscaper’s story, he took his daughter and left Terri, filed for a divorce, and got a restraining order against Terri for Kiara and himself.

Terri hired a well-known, high-powered criminal defense lawyer even though she had no charges against her.

Kyron’s Mom Filed a Lawsuit

In June 2012, Desiree Young, Kyron’s mother, filed a civil suit against Terri, saying that Terri was responsible for Kyron’s disappearance.

The following year, in July, Desiree dropped the lawsuit because she didn’t want to interfere with the investigation.

But What Happened to Kyron

Kyron Horman’s disappearance is a haunting and heartbreaking case that has left many unanswered questions.

Where was Terri Horman for those unaccounted for 90 minutes?

Why did the sheriff’s office focus its investigation on Terri?

And why didn’t they share the details of the case?

Could Kyron have been taken by someone at the school’s science fair?

There were hundreds of people around. These are just some of the questions that continue to linger in the minds of those following this case.

Despite all the speculation and theories, there is still no concrete evidence or answers regarding what truly happened to Kyron Horman.

The investigation is ongoing, and his family continues to search for him and hold onto hope that he will one day be found.