A judge in Oregon has denied a request from the stepmother of missing Portland boy Kyron Horman to legally change her name. Terri Horman, who had filed a petition in Douglas County on June 30 to change her name to Claire Stella Sullivan, said in court Monday that she has received death threats, faced difficulty finding work and wanted to "start over a new life without the stigma of Horman attached to it," according to NBC affiliate KGW in Portland. But the judge turned down her request, citing the ongoing investigation into Kyron's disappearance.
Terri Horman was the last person known to have seen Kyron, and the boy's biological parents have both said that she knows what happened to their boy — although she has not been charged or arrested, according to The Oregonian newspaper. Kyron had just attended a science fair at Skyline School near Portland when he vanished without a trace on June 4, 2010. He was 7. The little boy's disappearance sparked the largest search operation in Oregon's history.