Police are desperately searching for a missing 7 year old Portland, Oregon boy, last seen walking down the hallway at his school…just feet from his second grade classroom. Cops say Kyron Horman’s stepmother last saw him just before 9am after taking him to the school to show his science fair project. A photo taken by the stepmother that morning shows Kyron in front of his project, a diorama on red tree frogs.

After the science fair, the stepmother says she watched Kyron walk towards his classroom, which is reportedly 150 feet away…that was the last time anyone saw Kyron. Police did not become aware of the disappearance until almost 4pm, when Kyron’s stepmother called the school when Kyron did not get off the school bus at about 3:30pm. Kyron’s stepmother called the school, who then contacted authorities. School officials tell us Kyron was marked absent at the start of the school day, but they did not have a system to immediately notify the parents of an absence…a policy that has since been changed.

Initially Kyron Horman’s case was listed as “endangered missing” but is now being called a criminal investigation. Police have not said why the status of the case has changed, and refuse to give a detailed timeline about the day Kyron went missing, citing a pending investigation. Police have reportedly said they believe Kyron’s case is isolated and there is “no reason to believe that kids are in any danger.” Meanwhile, the search effort continues, with divers focusing on an island in the Portland area. Divers have been seen wading in waist-high water on Sauvie Island, while officials on the shore were providing directions to the divers. Since Thursday, searchers have been looking at that island, with men on horseback, on foot, and in helicopters. Police will not say what led them to this island, which is about 6 miles from the school where Kyron was last seen.

Investigators say they plan to interview the students, parents, and staff again as well as do secondary canvassing of the neighborhood and other specific areas. The massive volunteer search effort concluded Sunday, with over 1300 volunteers, 213 detectives, and 42 law enforcement agencies all searching for Kyron. Local law enforcement, search and rescue teams, and the FBI say they will remain on the case. Investigators have asked the public to come forward if they have any photos or videos created June 3 or June 4 of roads around the school. This includes surveillance video from nearby businesses and private homes, which cops hope may give them a lead that could help find this boy.

Authorities have offered a $25,000 reward in this case…if you have any information, please contact the Multnomah County Sheriff’s office at (503) 261-2847


This happened within in miles of my home, and we actually had searchers on our land on Sauvies Island. It is so, so terrible beyond words - please. If you see him, call the tip line. He could be ANY where by now.

Here is a link to more pictures:

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-504083_162-10003676.html

hope they find him

This is horrible. How can someone take a child in the middle of a school? The child had to have known the person to go willingly without causing a scene. Or the person was armed with something & intimidated the boy saying he would hurt him if he screamed or didn't come quietly. I don't know this whole situation is really messed up. Do they don't keep a record of people entering/exiting the school? I think all schools should be mandated to keep the doors locked from anyone coming in/going out without going through the main office & singing in/signing out. This would have prevented the boy from either A) being taken by someone or B) leaving the school unsupervised.

Do they *not* is what I meant to say. I sounded stupid. ;D

Yes, you can lock the front door with an intercom, but there will be many others that are unlocked and must lead to an unlocked route out of the school grounds to adhere with fire safety. I find it odd that they didn't previous contact parents when a student did not turn up for school, this is the first school I have encountered that doesn't phone the parent as soon as registration is over.

In my elementary school, all the doors would open from the inside, but not the outside. (Well, all of my schools for that matter.)
The front/main doors had an intercom, as well as at least one of the side doors.

I know all of the schools I've been to, as soon as you were marked absent, and there hadn't been a call from your parents saying you were going to be out, you got an instant phone call.
Elementary it was an actual person, in Middle and High School it was an automated message.

Which is still better than nothing.

Yeah, all of my schools had only one set of doors that opened from the outside, and those were the doors that went right by the principal/main office so they saw everyone who came in/out. Allllll the other doors opened from the inside only!

I can see how this happened though. It's physically sickening to know that a child was abducted at his SCHOOL, which is supposed to be a safe zone, but I can see it in this case. A science fair probably held a lot of parents/siblings/family members to support the kids, and the teachers probably didn't recognize the one person who didn't sign in as "out of place". It's awful :(.

My high school didn't. Only after a total of maybe 3 days absence did they phone the parents to see why you weren't at school. I agree that all schools should phone them after the first bell & they aren't there. It would prevent things like this going unnoticed for so long, as well as truancy without the parent's knowledge.

Elem. schools do keep track of visitors signing in/out, but during a science fair I am sure there were a lot of people around and they couldn't have known someone that probably did 'sign in' was a a danger. I agree it was likely someone he knew.

They can't leave doors locked from the inside due to fire safety, it would not be feasible for everyone to get out quickly though a main office during school hours. If it was someone he knew and trusted, it must not have looked suspicious for him to leave calmly with them amongst many parents looking at their child's science projects. :(

What about an automatic unlock? During an emergency someone could pull a main switch to automatically unlock all the doors for kids to come out. I'm sure it can be done if it hasn't already.

That would not be allowed here, what if someone isn't able to access the area where the main switch is located, what if it fails and does not unlock the doors? Here at least, all fire doors must be able to be individually opened without a key whether they are locked on the outside or not, normally they have a bar you push or a small knob you turn, all users must be able to open the door, not one select user.

Teachers have to use side doors daily, not just for drills. You have to go out side doors for recess, PE, the bus line, the car line, etc.

When teachers go out doors like that, the doors lock behind them-I've seen teachers at older schools who just have to prop the door open or get a teacher to let them back in, or some have a card reader system to unlock it from the outside.

But anyway, I just don't think it makes sense to lock everyone indoors during a school day. You never know when they may need to get out quickly, and it shouldn't be up to some system or person up front to pull a switch to make sure literally hundreds of people can physically escape the building within seconds. What if a system like that malfunctioned? You would have everyone trapped.

I understand the good intentions behind the idea, but it seems to me it's more common sense to simply have the avaliability of a close by way out of the building for every classroom, which means having multiple side exits. The fact of the matter is, a fire or other building related emergency is far more likely than a kidnapper walking the halls.

And in this case, it was not really the school's safety rules that allowed for the child to be adducted. Yes, they should have notified the parent about the absence earlier, but that would not have prevented this at all, it's a separate issue.

The article makes it sound like they could have told the stepmom he was gone, but that doesn't seem likely. If the teacher knew he was there, but did not return, that would have immediately caused the school to try to find him. It seems most likely to me that the teacher probably marked him absent at 8 AM ish in the morning, not after the school fair (no one takes attendance that late, unless school began that late in the first place, but it doesn't sound like that was the case.) Then the stepmother brought him to the science fair at 9-he was not with his class at this time, and if it was a large event, his teacher may have never seen him or know he had been checked in to school that morning. In that case, the stepmom thinks all is well when he heads to his classroom afterward, but his teacher doesn't think anything is wrong when he never made it to her class, because she thought he was absent in the first place. In that case, it makes total sense that no one knew he was missing until after school. It's horrible and sad, but it doesn't sound to me like the school could not have prevented it.

I just reread the article and it says he was marked absent "at the start of the school day"-which was almost certainly close to 8 AM. In which case, notifying her wouldn't have done anything, because she was bringing him late for the science fair an hour later.

@Makayla

the schools in my hometown do that but at the elementary schools, the office is far from the front door. it's posted that you have to go sign in, but unless they put someone by the door at all times, they have no way to enforce it.

How terrible and scary for all involved. The amount of time between when he was last seen, and it was reported! Gosh, it was HOURS, he could be anywhere. Glad they changed their notification policy. Our attendance system calls parents as soon as a child is marked absent in the beginning of the day, and again at 10am if they still haven't come in. As a teacher, this is such a SCARY thing to have happen at school, as a MOM, it makes me terrified!

my middle school and elmentary school when i went wasnt as strict about keeping track of who comes in and out. but in high school there was an administrator sitting at the gate. she checked passes for kids being sent home or released early. or she had a list of ppl who had appts on campus as visitors and if you didnt have an appt she would call the front desk and tell the receptionist "so and so" is coming. then once you get to the office u had to sign in and get a visitor name tag.

I never tried in elementary, but I could walk off campus in middle and high school and used to do it all the time. I used to walk on campus with my friend to pick up her younger siblings in elementary school all the time and nobody ever questioned us. The school systems really need to do something to prevent things like this its sad.

Eh, I wish we could edit posts-I should correct myself. IF notifying the mother would have led to the teacher being told he would be there after the fair ended, that may have allowed them to search for him sooner-but given it was likely someone he knew, they may have left with him pretty quickly, without being noticed. Who knows. There are a lot of what if factors. :(

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/21/missing-boy-stepmom-terri_n_619494.html

apparently the step-mom is under suspicion.

without a doubt in my mind i thought the step-mom had something to do with this, even from the very beginning and if she didn't actually DO it, she was very much a part of his disappearance.

that poor little boy. it makes me so sad :(.

i should also say that her cell phone usage wasn't lined up with where she said she was. duh. if she does get caught i hope she fries.