The biological parents of a missing Oregon boy say they believe he is alive and are begging his stepmother to cooperate with investigators.
Kaine Horman and Desiree Young released a statement Thursday and addressed part of it to Terri Moulton Horman. Investigators say she is the last person known to have seen 7-year-old Kyron Horman, who disappeared nearly four weeks ago.
The statement reads: “We implore Terri Horman to fully cooperate with the investigators to bring Kyron home.”
Investigators have not named Terri Horman as a suspect in Kyron’s disappearance.
Kaine Horman moved out of the home he shared with Terri Horman in northwest Portland and filed divorce papers on Monday. The couple were married in April 2007. They have a 19-month-old daughter, and she also has a teenage son from a previous marriage.
In an interview late Wednesday with The Oregonian, lawyer Stephen Houze confirmed he is representing Terri Horman but declined comment on the case.
A judge has barred the stepmother from contact with her children and from access to firearms, further isolating her from the investigation into Kyron Horman's disappearance.
Restraining order
The restraining order was requested under terms of Oregon's Family Abuse Prevention Act. That document remained sealed Tuesday, but such petitions are required to cite instances of abuse, or attempted abuse, "with particularity," including dates, according to a guide compiled for the state's court system.
In granting the restraining order, Judge Keith Meisenheimer said releasing that court document "will not risk compromising the effort to find Kyron Horman and related criminal investigations."
Although she and the boy's father put up a united front for the first three weeks, that has changed. A statement in support of the investigation was released Monday, but it was only signed by Kaine Horman, the boy's mother Desiree Young, and her husband, Tony Young.
Terri Horman was at the countryside home she had shared with Kaine Horman in the northwestern part of the city on Tuesday, but did not respond to reporters assembled outside.
Terri Horman told investigators that she last saw the boy after they attended an early morning science fair at his elementary school in a wooded area of northwest Portland. She said he walked down a hallway toward his second-grade classroom, wearing a "CSI" T-shirt and dark cargo pants.
Deputies have asked the public for information on Terri Horman's whereabouts on June 4. She has reportedly taken two polygraph tests.
During the search for Kyron, police have combed woods and fields near the couple's house and the school, and a large island in the Willamette River. A helicopter and divers helped ground teams in the search.