Kyron Horman: Missing from a School Science Fair // 632

Summary

Podcast Summary: Going West: True Crime

Episode 632 – Kyron Horman: Missing from a School Science Fair

Release Date: August 7, 2026
Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the haunting disappearance of seven-year-old Kyron Horman from his elementary school in Portland, Oregon, in June 2010. Hosts Daphne and Heath review the detailed timeline, family dynamics, and investigative twists in what has become the largest criminal investigation in Oregon's history. The episode zeroes in on conflicting accounts, suspicion focused on Kyron’s stepmother Terry, and the many lingering questions around the case.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Background and Family Dynamics

• Kyron’s Early Life:

  • Born September 9, 2002, to Desiree and Kane Horman, already separated at his birth. He had an older half-brother, Quinn, and younger stepsiblings through their blended family.
  • Kyron loved reading, Pixar movies, camping, and wanted to be a detective like his stepdad (Tony Young, a police officer).
  • Hosts: “Kyron is described as sweet, sensitive and timid and someone who loved his family above all else.” [08:46]

• Family Structure:

  • Desiree and Kane’s split came after Kane’s affair with Terry, which persists as a key context for suspicions later in the episode.
  • Terry’s background included a history of alcohol misuse and an arrest for DUI with her son James in the car.
  • “She was also charged with child endangerment. I mean, even Kane admitted that he had come home on at least one occasion to find their daughter Kiera…on her own while Terry was drunk or passed out from alcohol.” [06:23]

2. Timeline of Kyron’s Disappearance – June 4, 2010

• Morning Events:

  • Terry drives Kyron (and his 19-month-old sister Kiara) to Skyline Elementary for his science fair project around 8 am in Kane’s Ford F250, not her usual car.
  • Terry is last to reportedly see Kyron at 8:45 am, saying she watched him walk towards his classroom. At 9:00 am, a friend, Tanner, sees Kyron by the south entrance—this is the final sighting. - “At 8:45am, Terry reported last having seen him walking down the hallway toward his blended second and third grade classroom. They waved goodbye…” [09:34]
  • Due to a misunderstanding about a doctor’s appointment, Kyron’s absence isn’t flagged to the family until after school.
  • “The school claimed that Terry had told them that Kyron had a doctor's appointment that day, so they assumed he was missing the rest of the day. But Kyron didn't have a doctor's appointment that day.” [18:45]

• Terry’s Errands and Movements Post Drop-Off:

  • Multiple stops at Fred Meyer stores (documented through receipts), dry cleaner, and Michael’s craft store.
  • Ran into an acquaintance at Beaverton Fred Meyer, showing off a picture of Kyron from that morning.
  • Hosts suggest these may be strategic for establishing alibis.
    • “Are you wanting that receipt? Are you wanting the alibi and the timestamp to prove that at 9:12 am you bought something from a Hillsboro Fred Meyer?” [11:36]
  • Notable unexplained gap when Terry claims she was driving rural roads to soothe Kiara and her phone pings near Sauvie Island—an area difficult to access, rural, and commonly searched after.

• Afternoon Realization:

  • Terry and Kane wait for Kyron at the bus stop at 3:30 pm. When he doesn’t arrive, they learn he was absent all day.
  • Immediate search of the school and nearby area involves local law enforcement and the FBI by late night.

3. Family Dynamics and Early Investigation

• Hosts focus on Terry’s problematic history and relationships, re-emphasizing the severity of issues in the household and custody disputes.
• “It felt like there was a lot of people butting heads with each other.” [32:43]
• The family initially presents a united front in the media, but suspicions internally circulate, especially from Kyron’s birth mother, Desiree.

4. Escalating Suspicion on Terry Horman

• Polygraph Results:

  • All four parental figures were asked to take polygraph tests; Terry failed her tests multiple times and stormed out of at least one.
  • “Everyone in Kyron’s circle passed the examination, except for, of course, one f***ing person. And guess who that person was. Terry Horman.” [25:45]

• Behavior after the Disappearance:

  • Terry posts about non-search related activities on Facebook, which others find suspicious.
  • She maintains that police told her to keep up typical activities; her explanations are seen as unconvincing by Desiree and others.
  • Noteworthy quote from Desiree:
    • “Terry was on a whole other playing field than we were. It was three against one and she was not looking out for Kyron. She was not interested in helping in any way.” [25:45]

• Suspicious Communications:

  • Incriminating emails and sexually explicit messages with Kane’s HS friend Michael Cook surface from the period immediately after Kyron’s disappearance.
  • Desiree claims to have seen emails (“You see her put in writing how she hates Kyron and wishing that he would just die.”) but these have never been made public. [33:58-34:44]

• Changing Stories:

  • Terry reportedly changed her account of the morning and where she saw Kyron last. Desiree accuses her of manipulating her alibi and closely managing her timeline.
  • “She did everything to try and structure that day so that she could do this. She had planned it. She planned it months in advance.” – Desiree [40:45]

5. Alternative Theories and Dead Ends

• Potential Stranger Abduction:

  • The school’s open-door policy during the science fair made it theoretically possible for an outsider to abduct Kyron. However, most evidence and suspicion still focus internally.

• Potential Accomplice – Dee Dee Spicer:

  • Terry’s friend Dee Dee has a matching gap in her timeline on the same day; she is also suspected due to buying a burner phone after the incident and her condo is searched, but no charges are filed.
  • “If they were at least together, which maybe they were, since they have that same pocket of time missing together at the same time, the same period of time the day that Kyron disappears, it's really suspicious.” [50:13]

• Murder-for-Hire Plot:

  • Rudy Sanchez, a landscaper, claims Terry offered him $10,000 to kill Kane; Terry claims he tried to force himself on her and that the accusation was fabricated.
  • “All of these problems that are arising… all come back to one person. They all come back to Terry.” [44:57]

• No Indictments, Cold Case Elements:

  • Grand jury hears the case in 2010, but no indictments; searches continue but no solid evidence is uncovered.
  • Terry moves, repeatedly tries to change her name, but remains under suspicion.

6. Ongoing Theories & Reflection

• Daphne and Heath express skepticism toward alternative theories (random abduction, other family involvement) but acknowledge police can exhibit tunnel vision.
• Notable quote from Heath:
  • “It’s kind of like an Occam’s Razor thing where it’s like the simplest explanation is probably… true. And it feels like everything is pointing towards her [Terry].” [53:06]
• Recent updates include police using AI-based systems to look for new leads, but no resolution is in sight as of the episode’s recording.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Terry’s Polygraph Fails:
  • “Everyone in Kyron’s circle passed the examination, except for, of course, one f***ing person. And guess who that person was. Terry Horman.” (Daphne, 25:45)
• Desiree on Terry’s Attitude:
  • “Terry was on a whole other playing field than we were. It was three against one and she was not looking out for Kyron. She was not interested in helping in any way.” (Desiree per Daphne, 25:45)
• Desiree’s Explicit Claim:
  • “You see her put in writing how she hates Kyron and wishing that he would just die. I don’t even know what to say about it, but who does that?” (Desiree, 33:58)
• On the Timeline and Alibis:
  • “Are you wanting that receipt? Are you wanting the alibi and the timestamp to prove that at 9:12 am you bought something from a Hillsboro Fred Meyer?” (Heath, 11:36)
• On the Difficulty of the Case:
  • “It feels like they’re just not going in any direction and they have no idea what to do next.” (Daphne, 60:58)

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Timestamps for Significant Segments

• 00:00-02:53 – Ads and show intro (skipped)
• 03:20 – Story overview and Kyron’s background
• 08:46 – Kyron’s personality and final weeks
• 09:34-13:07 – The timeline: Drop-off at school, Terry’s account, last sighting
• 14:44-17:19 – Terry’s errands, alibi discussion, picture of Kyron
• 17:45-20:08 – Discovery of disappearance, timeline confusion
• 20:28-22:12 – Terrain/search complications, science fair’s open security
• 23:34-25:42 – Public suspicion turns to Terry, family/jury reactions
• 25:45-27:41 – Polygraph details and suspicious behavior
• 29:24-33:01 – Marital issues, email revelations, changing narratives
• 34:44-35:37 – Search efforts at Sauvie Island and cell phone pings
• 36:12-37:56 – Dee Dee Spicer’s involvement and burner phone
• 39:39-41:07 – Desiree’s breakdown of morning and accusations of premeditation
• 43:14-46:08 – Murder-for-hire plot, police tactics
• 47:19-50:46 – Terry’s behavior post-disappearance, doubling down on Dee Dee’s oddities
• 53:06-54:52 – Hosts debate Terry’s guilt, Occam’s Razor, possible alternative theories
• 57:01-58:19 – Alternate theory: other family member, but dismissed
• 60:08 – Kyron’s description and the current reward

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Case Status, Updates & Call to Action

• As of recording, Kyron Horman’s whereabouts remain unknown.
• The lead suspect remains Terry Horman, despite circumstantial evidence and public suspicion, but there have been no charges or convictions.
• Law enforcement is using new technology and AI to review case documents.

Kyron was last seen:

• Black CSI T-shirt (green logo), black cargo pants, black/orange Skechers, and glasses.

Tipline:

• If you have any information about the disappearance of Kyron Horman, please call 503-988-056.

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Final Thoughts

The episode paints a picture of a case stymied by contradictory accounts, circumstantial evidence, and emotional family dynamics. The hosts repeatedly circle back to their suspicions about Terry, while acknowledging the possibility of alternate theories and the real pain of the Horman family. The case remains unsolved, and the hosts urge listeners to come forward if they have any information.

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Transcript

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[Heath (Host)]

Foreign.

[Daphne (Host)]

What is going on? True crime fans, I'm your host Heath.

[Heath (Host)]

And I'm your host, Daphne.

[Daphne (Host)]

And you're listening to Going West.

[Heath (Host)]

Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. Today we have a case that might be familiar to some of you, but it's one that deserves to be talked about because we need to help spread the word on this case because it deserves resolution. This is such a mysterious story.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yes, we have a devastating missing persons case for you guys today and a lot of fingers are pointed at one person in particular and I kind of wonder if all you guys are going to agree with our suspicions as well. But we are going to get into that.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah, we have a very detailed timeline today that we're really going to pick apart, which I love when we have a timeline and we really, like, compare things and question certain gaps in time. This one has all of that. So without further ado.

[Daphne (Host)]

All right, guys, this is episode 632 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[Heath (Host)]

In June of 2010, a seven year old boy attended his elementary school science fair in Portland, Oregon, and then seemed to vanish without a trace while walking toward his classroom. What began as a desperate search in the vicinity of the school quickly became the largest criminal investigation in Oregon's history, as detectives uncovered conflicting timelines, disturbing allegations, and countless unanswered questions for a suspicious person in his very own family. This is the disappearance of Kyron Horman. Kyron Horman was born on September 9, 2002 in Portland, Oregon to parents Desiree and Cain. Though by the time he was born, his parents were already separated. Desiree had been married once before, and she had an almost two year old son when she married Cain, which gave Kyron an older half brother named Quinn. But while Desiree was still pregnant with Kyron, she discovered that Cain had been cheating on her, hence why they split up. So just a month before Kyron was due, she moved out of the house that she and Kane bought together, which is so sad. You know, she marries Cain, they're having a kid together, they just bought a house, and then she finds out he's cheating while she's pregnant.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, and this isn't going to be the only time that Kane does something like this.

[Heath (Host)]

Unfortunately not. And this affair is actually super important to this story as a whole. So let me kind of talk, tell you how it began. In June of 2002, just three months before Kyron was born, Kane met a woman named Terry at a restaurant and the two started an affair. This, of course, happened in Oregon, but this wasn't just a fling, because after Desiree and Cain separated, things between Cain and Terry grew a lot more serious and they eventually even got married in December of 2002, just three months after. After Kiren was born, Kane moved Terry into the home. So their relationship was moving really fast. Within six months, they had met and moved in together.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. And I know that this has nothing to do with the story, but have you seen early pictures of Terry like she used to. She used to be like a bodybuilder.

[Heath (Host)]

Oh, yeah, of course. Yes.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. Like competition bodybuilder.

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[Heath (Host)]

We're going to include a lot of photos if you guys are watching on YouTube, you'll see a ton of photos. If not, of course, as always, check out our socials for that bodybuilder.

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Yeah.

[Heath (Host)]

So together, Kane and Terry had Kyron's little sister Kiara. And Terry also actually had a teenage son already. This was from a previous relationship which brought Kyron an older stepbrother named James. So we have James as the oldest, then Desiree's son Quinn, then Kyron, then Kiara. So four kids, but none of them are full siblings. Now. Despite their relationship destroying Kane's marriage with Desiree, things between Kane and Terry really weren't perfect. Now, Terry developed a little bit of a drinking problem, and of course, after they got married, because in 2005, she was arrested for a DUI with her son James in the backseat of the car. So for this, since James was still a teen, she was also charged with child endangerment. I mean, even Kane admitted that he had come home on at least one occasion to find their daughter Kiera on. On her own while Terry was drunk or passed out from alcohol.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, not a good look. And kind of like the beginning of a string of problems that have to do with Terry.

[Heath (Host)]

So true. I think this is also really showing maybe how their relationship is going, because if she's doing these things, we know that there must be issues in the marriage, so much so that Kane is pointing it out and having to come home and find his daughter unattended while Terry is intoxicated. So, like, thinking things very quickly kind of started to become rocky between Terry and Kane. Now, initially, Desiree had custody of young Kyron, and it wasn't until he was about 2 years old that Kane was even allowed to do overnights. But the custody dispute didn't stop there. According to Desiree, she had some reoccurring kidney issues. And while she was on a restorative trip to Vancouver, she landed in the hospital with a nasty kidney infection. And she wound up staying for a few months. But when she returned, saddled with a $30,000 hospital bill, she moved in with her parents in Medford, Oregon, which is like four hours south of Portland. It's more in Southern. Like, central Southern Oregon.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, it's a lot closer to the border of California.

[Heath (Host)]

Exactly. So she was across the state from her son, because during that whole period while she was in the hospital, of course, Kane is watching Kyron. So at that point, Kane decided that he wanted full custody of Kyron. And this began another ongoing dispute that was only further complicated when Desiree met and married a local man named Tony Young, leading her to put down roots all the way down in Medford. So while she's staying with her parents, she meets this man, they get into a relationship, and then she wants to stay in Medford while her son is in Portland.

[Daphne (Host)]

Exactly. And Cain wants to keep custody of Kyron.

[Heath (Host)]

Exactly. Well, eventually Desiree and Cain decided that Desiree would drive up to Portland to retrieve Kyron with for alternating weekends. So they did agree to do somewhat joint custody. But this blended family of four kids and four parents became a very complicated situation that they all really just did their very best to navigate.

[Daphne (Host)]

Well, let's talk a little bit more about Kyron. Kyron is described as sweet, sensitive and timid and someone who loved his family above all else. He loved reading his, he loved Pixar movies and going to the beach. And of course, growing up in Oregon, he was outdoorsy and loved to camp, swim and ride his bike, as you would know. Yeah, so Kyron would sometimes talk about wanting to be a detective when he grew up, like his stepdad Tony, who worked for the financial crimes division of the police department down in Medford. So he was a very excitable and inspired kid. And Desiree loved to travel with him, sharing some amazing memories in Hawaii and at Disney World. Well, in late spring of 2010, seven year old Kyron was eager to wrap up second grade and head into summer, you know, as most kids do, especially

[Heath (Host)]

in Oregon after lots of rain.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, exactly. It's time to go, get out in the sunshine, do some fun stuff. But one of the final checkpoints was to complete his science fair project on Friday, June 4, 2010. His stepmom Terry took him to school that day, which is Skyline elementary in Northwest Portland, so that he could attend the science fair and expo that morning. Kyron was really looking forward to the day because he had to put together a display about red eyed tree frogs, which was his favorite animal. So at 8am, Kyron, along with his 19 month old stepsister Kiara, went with Terry and Kane's white Ford F250 pickup truck instead of the red Mustang that she usually drove. And together they went to Skyline elementary in Portland. Now at 8:45am, Teri reported last having seen him walking down the hallway toward his blended second and third grade classroom. They waved goodbye to each other and she headed for the parking lot as he went into the science fair. Well, Shortly afterward, around 9:00am, a friend of Kyron's named Tanner reportedly saw him at the south entrance of the school. And this would be the last time that anybody reported having seen him. Classes began late that day due to the science fair, of course, so it wasn't until 10am that his teacher, Ms. Porter, took attendance and then noticed that Kyron was absent, meaning that he had vanished within the hour and 15 minutes since he arrived at school. However, a misunderstanding would stop his family from being alerted until hours later.

[Heath (Host)]

Meanwhile, Terry carried on with her day because after leaving Skyline elementary, she stopped at a Fred Meyer grocery store in nearby Hillsborough, Oregon, looking to pick up a particular brand of ear infection medication. Because Kiara was kind of like fussing about an earache. And this had been going on for at least a day because she had been to the pediatrician the day before for this same issue. So we know that the ear infection was a real thing.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, it was definitely a real thing,

[Heath (Host)]

but that Hillsborough branch of Fred Meyer actually didn't have the medication, so she made a purchase there anyway for something else, which I think is kind of interesting to know. I don't know if this is important or not, but she's about to go to a different Fred Meyer and she's buying something here. So my first thought is, are you wanting that receipt? Are you wanting the alibi and the timestamp to prove that at 9:12am you bought something from a Hills Hillsborough Fred Meyer?

[Daphne (Host)]

Exactly. And later on, the only reason why we know that she went there is because she actually did keep that receipt. So keep that in mind.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah. So I think it's just worth noting that she did buy something there, despite the fact that she's about to go to the very same store at a different location. So basically, she and Kiara then drove to a different Fred Meyer location. This one was in Beaverton, Oregon, which is just southwest of Port Portland. This is all in the same general area. That time, between 9:30 and 10:00am she actually ran into an acquaintance from the gym named Andrea Leckie, and they stopped and chatted for a few minutes. But Andrea later remembered this exchange with a little bit of curiosity, saying, quote, the only thing that I think was significant about that time is that she showed me a picture of Kyron next to his project. I think the thing that seems odd about it, perhaps, is that we were just passing each other by, and in a few seconds, with her daughter being sick in her arms, made a point to show me a picture.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. And you can look at this at two different ways. You could look at this as like a proud parent taking a photo of Kyron at his science fair, or you could see this as suspicious in the way that. Why are you showing me this picture? I didn't. I didn't even ask about Kyron. You're just randomly showing me the picture, you know?

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah. See, I was with Kyron this morning, and he was at his science fair, and I took this picture, and I was there, and now I'm not there, and you're seeing me here, right? Yeah. It's like. It's hard not to look at it that way. But, of course, I think it's so natural as well, especially for parents to be like, oh, my God, look at my kid doing this whole thing.

[Daphne (Host)]

It totally is. But given what we're going to talk about and the circumstances, I think that is what makes it feel weird, especially

[Heath (Host)]

because Andrea herself is like, I thought that was kind of weird. So if in the moment, it felt like a strange thing to Andrea, it's probably kind of a strange thing. Well, Terry then stopped briefly at the dry cleaner and at a Michael's craft store. She's running all over the place. After securing the medicine and giving her daughter a dose, she claims she drove around on rural roads in order to calm this earache and kind of lull her daughter to sleep, which I know is. Is also very normal for a lot of parents out there. The car is a great place to put your kid to sleep. So maybe not weird, but as we talk more about this timeline, you guys are going to see, there's this gap in. In her timeline, essentially from just driving around aimlessly. There are spots where she loses cell service. There are spots that she apparently goes to that she says she doesn't go to. There are spots where she's at. And you're like, why are you all the way over there? Yeah.

[Daphne (Host)]

So you're kind of wondering if all of these little spots that she's driving around to are intentional for specific reasons.

[Heath (Host)]

Exactly. Because she wound up near Sauvie island, which is about 20 minutes northwest of downtown Portland. I can't believe we never went there when we lived in Portland.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, we used to live there, and I. I mean, I've heard a lot about it, but we never went.

[Heath (Host)]

It's so cute, because I was looking at it, obviously, during this case, and I. I just kind of want to paint the picture for you guys, because it's a pretty big island. It's very rural. It's not like a. A little island that you might be thinking of that you need to take, like, a little boat tour or something. You just cross a bridge. You could drive right over it. And it's a very Short bridge. It's not like an isolated island at all. It's like right along Portland and it's not really the kind of place that has restaurants or shops. It's more like it has farms, but it's like there's pumpkin patches and berry picking and that kind of thing. So people go there for more of those rural amenities.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, there's also places where you can get in the water and you can see, swim and kayak and things like that, so.

[Heath (Host)]

Well, actually. Exactly. Because it's, it's really popular for kayakers and hikers and there's a lot of wildlife there. So it's a really beautiful spot which we will also post pictures of if you guys aren't watching. But yeah, there's really no reason for her to be on this island because she couldn't have run an errand on it unless she's going to go pick some berries with her daughter, which she's obviously not doing.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, the only explanation is that I was just driving around aimlessly to lull my daughter to sleep and decided to

[Heath (Host)]

go onto this island. But we are going to get more into the Sauvie island stuff here in a bit. But just so you guys know, we know that she was in that area because of her phone pinging. So that's, that's why I'm bringing it up. Well, Terry basically says again, she's just driving around for an hour and a half aimlessly until 11:39am When Terry arrived at a 24 hour fitness back down in Beaverton, leaving Kiara with, with the daycare. So again, she's running all these errands. She goes from Portland down or over to Hillsboro, down to Beaverton, up apparently towards Savi island above Portland and then going back down to Beaverton.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, kind of all over the place.

[Heath (Host)]

Exactly. Then she headed home about an hour later and logged onto Facebook at 1:21pm where she posted the picture that she took of Kyron at the science fair. This is, I would say, the, the most widely used photo of Kyron because it's not only a photo of him the day he went missing, but it is the last photo that was ever taken of him.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, it was literally right before he went missing. So it's very important photo.

[Heath (Host)]

It's such a cute picture too. He's smiling next to his little project. So Kane, just so everybody knows, this is. Kyron's dad was working from home that afternoon. He worked for intel as an engineer and he planned to meet Kyron at the bus stop to hear all about his project and pick him up that afternoon. He was due to get off the school bus at 3:30pm and Kane and Terry were there waiting.

[Daphne (Host)]

But when he didn't get off the school bus that afternoon, Kane and Terry asked the bus driver if he knew where Kyron was. Surprised, the bus driver said that Kyron had never got on the bus that day. So Cain called the school and they were told that he was actually reported absent, unbeknownst to the family, because the school never actually called. So Kane and Terry raced to the school and found that, strangely, his coat and backpack were still in his classroom, where he left them that morning. But he had been absent since that science fair before 10am now, this next bit is very important because the school claimed that Terry had told them that Kyron had a doctor's appointment that day, so they assumed that that was why he was missing the rest of the day. But Kyron didn't have a doctor's appointment that day. So in response, Terry maintained that she had told Kyron's teacher that the doctor's appointment was the following Friday. So a week later, and said that the teacher was misremembering, which is very

[Heath (Host)]

possible that she was misremembering. But I think it's very interesting that the day that Kyron goes missing, the home is not alerted because they thought he had a doctor's appointment and because Terry had just mentioned it.

[Daphne (Host)]

So, yeah, I think that's kind of weird because it's like she's basically saying, no, no, no, that's not what I said. I said that the doctor's appointment was next week. But what if she said it was actually that day and this is her

[Heath (Host)]

excuse because there's no evidence of this conversation.

[Daphne (Host)]

Exactly.

[Heath (Host)]

Very interesting.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, I find it interesting as well. So with that, at 3:46pm A Skyline Elementary School employee called 911, though some sources report that this call was placed placed 10 minutes later at 3.56pm now, the Secretary for the front office also called his mom, Desiree, who raced to Portland to be present for the onset of this investigation. Now, initially, the assumption was that he left on his own accord following the science fair and that he may have been wandering the vicinity of the school. But Skyline elementary is located in a pocket of very lush rolling hills and greenery, which posed a very unique challenge for the combined efforts of, of course, of the sheriff's office as well as the search and rescue team, who searched all afternoon as well as throughout the evening. And then around 9pm, the FBI were notified and became involved in this search.

[Heath (Host)]

By 10:40 that evening, detectives confirmed that a comprehensive search of Skyline elementary had been completed, inclusive of all buildings, classrooms, storage closets, and even crawl spaces. So. So they confirmed very early on that he was not at the school, but he also wasn't anywhere around the school.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, they did their due diligence. I mean, they looked everywhere in that school and outside, and he just wasn't there.

[Heath (Host)]

Well, as detectives spoke with the family at the scene, they mused that perhaps Kyron still had wandered off that morning instead of going to school. But his parents just really couldn't fathom how that would have been possible. Because something that's really important to note in this case is Kyron's eyesight. Now, Kyron's poor, poor eyesight required glasses. And according to his mom, Desiree, he was afraid of getting lost and wandering off on his own, which is so sad. Like, he. He's not the kind of kid who's gonna run away from school at 7 years old.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, that's not Kyron.

[Heath (Host)]

That's not Kyron. Because he's so afraid of not being able to see after losing his glasses if he's by himself. But also, he was so excited for the science fair and he liked school. He was good at school. Even though he was excited for summer, he wasn't just gonna run off into the wilderness around the school by himself. And his parents knew that.

[Daphne (Host)]

And that's obviously just something that's so much more hard to believe, you know what I mean? Like, it's possible that he could have been lured off somewhere because obviously we know that that does happen in certain cases. But I don't even know if that is really the thing either here, because like you said, he was very excited about this science fair.

[Heath (Host)]

Well, I'm actually going to get into that right now because basically the science fair that day, even though this was such an exciting thing for Kyron, is actually what is really making this case so difficult. Because this is posing an even more terrifying possibility. Because the school was open to the public and there were no security checks or sign in sheets, which normally was a requisite due to the amount of people that were filtering in and out. You know, proud parents going to check out their kids project.

[Daphne (Host)]

Of course there was a lot of people there that day.

[Heath (Host)]

But then also you might think, oh, or is there a creep in the neighborhood that found out about the science fair and knows that there's going to be a bunch of kids just kind of wandering around, who knows? Well, there were Believed to have been 400 people there that day, in addition to the typical office staff and students and teachers, Meaning someone may have wandered in and kind of jumped at the opportunity to abduct Kyron. The dense brush and lush vegetation around the school was slowly being searched, but it was very difficult terrain to traverse. That was hard to say terrain to traverse.

[Daphne (Host)]

Say that five times fast, but still

[Heath (Host)]

scent dogs were brought in to track him, and deputies searched on foot and on horseback. Then the following day, dozens of police officers descended upon the school, actually setting up a headquarters at Kyron's last known location and questioning everybody they possibly could who may have seen or heard anything. Detectives pressed the families of Skyline elementary students, imploring them to think about whether they had seen Kyron or Terry or the family's white pickup truck on the morning of Kyron's disappearance. Hundreds of people, including many fellow Skyline parents and kids, of course, were questioned. But unfortunately, none of the tips led to a person of interest or to Kyron.

[Daphne (Host)]

Well, detectives quickly led a press conference to announce that the investigation into Kyron's disappearance had become a criminal investigation. Desiree, Tony, Kane, and Terry remained a united front, making appearances together to beg the public for information. You know, they're. They're doing what they can at this point. But behind the scenes, suspicions were brewing against one of these parents, because two weeks later, on June 18, 2010, the Multnomah county sheriff's office announced that they were seeking more information from anybody who had seen Terry or her truck on the day of Kyron's disappearance. So now eyes are starting to point directly towards Terry. Now, this came as a shock to the community because it seemed to reveal that there may be a public person of interest within Kyron's own family.

[Heath (Host)]

And of course, this is also stirring up, like, a ton of drama because people know Terry. She's a mom at the school. She's been in the community for a while, and she's also, like you're saying, at the forefront you. You know, with all the other parents, and now she's the one being singled out as the potential problem. Like, this is. This is drama.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, a lot of drama. Well, meanwhile, Terry announced on Facebook that she was going to print 1000 missing persons flyers and distribute as many as she could. However, while she seemed outwardly helpful, her behavior was being closely scrutinized and even judged by those in the family as well as in her community. Four days after Kyron's disappearance, Terry posted on Facebook, quote, hitting the gym tomorrow. I didn't get home until 8pm tonight.

[Heath (Host)]

Like, okay, yeah.

[Daphne (Host)]

I mean, weird statement to make.

[Heath (Host)]

Weird thing to post about when you're like, in the throes of looking for your stepson.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. So obviously this looked weird on the outside. But of course, Terry had an explanation for this. She later argued on an appearance of Dr. Phil that this was because the police told her to keep up with their typical family activities and in hopes of garnering information for the investigation. So she's saying that, yeah, police told me to just act normal and go about my regular life.

[Heath (Host)]

So I was posting on Facebook that. About the gym and about not getting home till 8 o'. Clock.

[Daphne (Host)]

Exactly.

[Heath (Host)]

I guess that's true, but it's also just so strange.

[Daphne (Host)]

It's weird. Thus, she kept posting on Facebook. But Desiree admitted that she was suspicious of Terry from the onset of the investigation. This is Kyron's biological mother here saying, quote, terry was on a whole other playing field than we were. It was three against one and she was not looking out for Kyron. She was not interested in helping in any way. Well, to cover all of their bases, detectives asked that all four of Chiron's parental figures undergo polygraph examinations. And of course, a little disclaimer here. Polygraph examinations are not foolproof and they're not admissible in court for a reason, of course. But we do want to include this bit because in this case, everyone in Kyron's circle passed the examination, except for, of course, one fucking person. And guess who that person was. Terry Horman. Terry claims that she was stunned and waved off her failure as not having been able to hear the questions that the investigators were asking her. She's like, I couldn't hear what they were saying. But this began sowing deep suspicion between Desiree Kane and Tony. If you're a fan of home cooked meals without the hassle, then you need to check out Home Chef.

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[Heath (Host)]

not only was she the last one in the family to see Kyron, not only did she fail the polygraph, but when the devices of the parents were searched, detectives uncovered incriminating emails between Terry and a friend. By Desiree's estimation, Terry likely discovered that Kane was cheating on her, which Terry later admitted in an interview was true, just as he had done to Desiree. She went as far as to admit that she and Kane were having problems in their marriage and that neither of them were were particularly happy at the time. But she also maintained that they weren't yet discussing divorce. So they were having problems, but they weren't necessarily on the verge of divorce. So she says.

[Daphne (Host)]

Right.

[Heath (Host)]

However, according to Terry in an email to a friend, she and Kane had allegedly been in a fight about their marriage until around 3am on the morning of Kyron's disappearance. And at one point during the fight, Terry apparently told Kane that she was, quote, done with it all. Now, Kane was actually baffled to hear this, claiming that the night before and the morning of Kyron's disappearance were pretty routine and that there had not been any disagreement between him and his wife.

[Daphne (Host)]

So he's so why is she saying that then?

[Heath (Host)]

You know, I know it's really strange. So either he's lying or she's lying. Maybe she's looking for sympathy or she's trying. I don't know. It's really bizarre.

[Daphne (Host)]

It is bizarre.

[Heath (Host)]

Well, another piece of forensic evidence came along in the form of Terry's correspondence with a friend of Kane's from high school. This was a guy named Michael Cook, with whom she was exchanging explicitly sexual texts just 26 days after Kyron's disappearance.

[Daphne (Host)]

So not only is Terry just going about her life as she claims the police told her to, but now she's like, you know, talking to some other guy. It doesn't seem like she's very focused at all on finding Chiron. And this is only, again, like you said, 26 days later.

[Heath (Host)]

And also this is her stepson, but she also partially raised Kyron. Yeah, she has known Kyron since he was born because she was having an affair with Kyron's dad, her now husband, Kane, since before Kyron was born. So it's just really strange, this behavior, you know, when you're really looking at it from that, it's not like, oh, she's been his stepmom for a year, she barely knows him. This is kind of her kid too.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. So you would imagine that she would be out there doing everything in her power to help find Kyron.

[Heath (Host)]

Well, so that's also what's really interesting about these text messages with Michael Cook, because, by the way, we don't know what they said, the police have not released this. You know, this is still an ongoing investigation. But just the fact that we're kind of getting this other peek into what Terry is really doing behind the scenes, that she's going about her normal life, she's engaging in an affair with one of Kane's old high school buddies. Like, she's just. Her movements are pretty strange. Well, I will say, though, Desiree later mused in an interview quote, she was blaming a lot of her marital problems on Kyron. According to Desiree, Terri voiced her resentment for her stepson. However, because the content of all these emails that we're talking about have never been released. And of course the text messages too. It's essentially Desiree's word against Terry. But I don't know, I find this so strange that she's apparently resentment of this little seven year old boy who's doing nothing wrong. But there was a lot going on under this roof because I want to tell you guys too. James, who, remember, is Terry's teenage son, he was about 16 when all this was happening. Him and Kane had a big issue as well. So before Kyron's disappearance, James had been living at the house with Kyron and Kiara and Kane and Terry. And apparently he was getting really bad grades. He was constantly butting heads with Cain and So he moved in with a different family member and apparently his grades went from, like D's to A's.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah.

[Heath (Host)]

And so there was a lot of issues with Cain and the kids as well. It felt like there was. There was a lot of people butting heads with each other.

[Daphne (Host)]

But Kane actually kind of like shot back at this and said that it actually wasn't him, that he was, you know, that James was having a disagreement with. It was his mother, Terry.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah, he said that Terry was kind of the aggressor of a lot of things and that she was hot headed. So again, lots of he said, she said between Kane and Terry specifically.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. And the fact that Desiree is the one that's coming forward and saying, you know, that Terry had resentment towards Kyron, you know, that's, that's Kyron's mother, like real mother. So she's, you know, she just wants to find her son. I don't know why she would have any reason to lie about that.

[Heath (Host)]

And she's also reburied. She doesn't want to be with Kane. It's not like she has reason to dislike Terry at first. They're all trying to make this work.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. And you can see in one of the photos, there's actually an early photo from the investigation where the four of them are together on stage and they're wearing T shirts for Kyron. And it seems like everything is cordial and it's, it's, you know, it's totally fine.

[Heath (Host)]

But then suddenly everybody has all these reasons to look at Terry sideways and they're doing so.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, like Desiree said, it was three against one.

[Heath (Host)]

Well, in the court of public opinion as well, it seemed plausible that if Terry was unhappy in her marriage and wanted to get back at Kane for being unfaithful, taking away his son again, who she resented for no reason at all because he's a sweet little boy. Allegedly resented might be one way to achieve this. Desiree concluded, quote, you see her put in writing how she hates Kyron and wishing that he would just die. I don't even know what to say about it, but who does that? So this is Desiree saying, I've seen a lot of these emails and she is writing that she hates Kyron and wishing that he would die. But we don't have these emails because they have not been released to the public. So, of course believe this. We have to believe what Desiree is saying.

[Daphne (Host)]

Sure. You know, and, and I totally get that because it still is ongoing investigation. It, you know, it has not Been closed. So I can understand why they're trying to protect some of these emails and stuff like that. But.

[Heath (Host)]

But that's some information.

[Daphne (Host)]

That is some really heavy info. Well, shortly after Kyron disappeared, a large scale search was mounted on Savi island, where Terry's phone pinged during her hour and a half long drive to soothe Kiara's earache. But Terry maintained that she was never even on Savi island that day. The surveillance camera footage on the bridge that provided access to the island actually backed up her claim and never captured her truck entering or exiting. So obviously that's very strange and weird.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah, because then maybe she wasn't on Sauvie island and was only near it, which we are going to talk about later.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yep. But to cover all their bases, investigators did launch searches there anyway because, you know, this would be a good place to hide a body due to how rural it is. Divers searched the waters, helicopters combed the land and from overhead, and authorities mounted horses and walked the trails and roads. But in the end, there was no sign of Kyron, which doesn't mean that

[Heath (Host)]

he wouldn't be there. We were just talking about, in the Kenya Monje episode that we covered that, you know, police can search a particular area that they think a body might be.

[Daphne (Host)]

Sure, you can totally miss things easily.

[Heath (Host)]

Easily.

[Daphne (Host)]

Well, Terry's friends and fellow Skyline parents were shocked by the suspicion against her, describing her as a devoted mom and stepmom. And many people maintained that they were sure that she had nothing to do with the disappearance of her stepson. And I think this is kind of interesting because there's a lot of people that support Terry and think that she's completely innocent, but there are people on the other side that just truly believe that Terry had something to do with Kyron's disappearance.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah, with everything else that we're gonna get into today, I can't wait to see what you guys think.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. Apparently, you know, according to these. These parents or friends of Terry's, she loved nurturing children so much that she pursued her degree in education in order to be a schoolteacher and had left her career to focus on raising James, Kyron, and Kiara. But the suspicion against her ran very deep. Terry attempted to take a second polygraph test in hopes of proving her innocence, but she actually wound up storming out of the room before any questions were even administered.

[Heath (Host)]

Suspect not a good look.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, which doesn't look good at all. Well, she tried yet again. Her next attempt was similarly unsuccessful because she failed the polygraph yet again. However, she told Dr. Phil. That she was being set up to fail. When she was asked if Kyron was in her car that day, she believed that the officer meant after leaving school. But the discrepancy was that he was in her car on the way to school, of course, that day. So she answered in the affirmative and was found to be deceptive.

[Heath (Host)]

And that may very well be true. And I think that's what's so tough about polygraph tests, is they can be very tricky. And it has happened in history many times where an innocent person takes a polygraph and they fail. And sometimes it has to do with your emotions surrounding the story.

[Daphne (Host)]

Totally. Yeah.

[Heath (Host)]

Or maybe her anxiety around people thinking she's guilty and she's like, I can't fail even though I didn't do this. Like.

[Daphne (Host)]

But I think the fact that she had taken three separate ones at three different times, obviously people are going to kind of be suspicious of her because of that. You know what I mean?

[Heath (Host)]

Well, and again, like, you're saying she's the one telling Dr. Phil, well, this is what they asked me, and this is what I thought they meant, and that's why I failed. And maybe it's not. Maybe there are more incriminating questions that were asked, and she's not talking about those. So, yeah, I don't know. It's. Everything is coming from her mouth. Desiree's mouth, Cane's mouth.

[Daphne (Host)]

It's.

[Heath (Host)]

It's a very complicated tale. Well, despite Terry thinking that the investigation had tunnel vision specifically against her, which, to be fair, they were very much spearheading her, Desiree argued that Terry changed her timeline and story about Chiron's final moments multiple times, which never looks good. Now, Desiree says that Terry arrived at School between 8:10 and 8:15am as we mentioned, which was before many other students or parents had arrived and before his teacher, Ms. Porter, was inside her classroom. In fact, her classroom was still locked at that time. Desiree believed that Terry was verifying security measures and cameras at the school, which is why she arrived there before many other parents and students or staff. And she also alleged that Terry lied about having seen Kyron waving outside his classroom as she had exited from the east exit of the school. And she. Desiree is saying that she would not. It would not have been possible for her to see Kyron from where she claimed she was standing.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, from where she claimed she was leaving the building. Like, it just wouldn't have been able to happen that way.

[Heath (Host)]

Desiree explained, quote, the reality is that Terry walked around with Kyron to These other classrooms. She went to three classrooms. She walked up the gym, stairs, stairs, walked halfway down the hallway with Kyron to Ms. Porter's classroom, which was the last stop. She took the photo of Kyron in front of his diorama and to Kyron's friends, and she walked out of the school with Kyron at that very moment. It is witnessed by people who are outside the school who know Kyron, his friends, their parents, their grandparents and siblings. So we know that Terry walked out the school with Kyron and walk toward the truck. That is where he disappears. It's that simple. It's not complicated. Kyron was with one person that day, and one person was in charge of him. And that's the reality of what happened that day. She did everything to try and structure that day so that she could do this. She had planned it. She planned it months in advance. We know that she was out driving the roads, scoping sites. We know this because her car was very memorable eyewitness accounts for her all over the roads of northwest Portland. And I believe that she was testing her cell phone signal as well to see where she would drop off of cell coverage.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. And kind of looking at this, you know, I kind of want to talk about this for a second, because if this was her plan all along, going to the school early and quote, unquote, dropping Kyron off at school would be a very good alibi for her. Hey, I dropped him off. We waved goodbye. Look, I took a picture of him before I left. But it's possible that she went to the school early. She did what she did, you know, she took the picture, she kind of, like, scoped the school, and then, of course, Kyron did leave with her. That's. That's very much a possibility here. So, yeah, it makes sense that this would be how she was going to structure her alibi in the end, which

[Heath (Host)]

is why I brought up her buying something from the Hillsborough Fred Meyer, despite the fact that she was about to go to the Beaverton Fred Meyer, where she could have just done one shopping trip. Why get in line at the store to buy something when you can buy that exact item from the next store that you're going to, that's going to have it, along with the ear medication that you're trying to get. So that's why it's kind of feels like. And then showing the picture to Andrea, it feels like she was trying to establish multiple alibis to explain where she was. It doesn't answer how she would have killed Kyron. It doesn't answer where she would have put him, and it doesn't really even answer why, but it is really hard not to look at this suspiciously.

[Daphne (Host)]

Absolutely.

[Heath (Host)]

Well, still, Terry has staunchly denied that she walked to the car with Kyron after leaving school that morning. An eyewitness also claimed to have seen her, though, and another person inside the truck, but they couldn't be sure that that person was Kyron or anybody else. Obviously, we know Kyron's little sister was in the car. It could have been her, but she was very young at the time. So we don't know where this person saw, if the person was sitting in the front seat, if it looked like a little girl or a little boy, or if it. They just saw the outline of a figure. Like the. We don't have this information, but of course, as well, because there's no surveillance footage, this crucial final sighting has, again, like everything else, become a matter of he said, she said.

[Daphne (Host)]

Well, another bombshell development came when a man accused Terry of attempting to hire him as a hitman for Kane Horman. Rodolfo, or Rudy Sanchez claimed to be an occasional landscaper for the Hormans, though Cain claimed that he had no idea that Rudy or anybody else had been doing work around the house for them. Rudy reported to police that he was approached by Terry back in January of 2010 to kill her husband and that she offered him $10,000 for the hit. Well, Rudy claimed that Terry said that she was in an abusive relationship and used that as justification for the murder. So, armed with this information, authorities zeroed in on Terry as a potential person of interest and became hell bent on extracting information about at least one of the two crimes that she was now being accused of. Alongside Rudy Sanchez, an undercover police officer approached Terry and tried to goad the information out of her, extorting her for money to give up her murder for hire plot. But she quickly shut that conversation down, becoming instantly suspicious and calling the police. So Terry actually purports to be the victim in this scenario, saying that back on Mother's Day, Rudy had stopped by the house and forced a kiss on her and that she felt threatened and uncomfortable. But she declined to report this because she claimed that she didn't want Kane to find out that she had hired a landscaper. This just sounds. This whole thing sounds so made up.

[Heath (Host)]

Also, we know that Kane often worked from home, wouldn't he? Like, the guy was home a lot. It's not like he works long hours at a hospital and you could hide a landscaper. Why? Why would you try to hide that anyway. It's a landscaper is, like, good for the home.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah. And you know what? You know, it's the one thing here is that all of these problems that are arising in this family all come back to one person. They all come back to Terry. She's causing all these problems.

[Heath (Host)]

I don't know why Rudy would lie about this as well, unless he was, like, felt rejected by her. If that kiss thing is true and he wanted to get back at her, but at that point, or possibly he

[Daphne (Host)]

wanted some sort of, like, you know, recognition or fame.

[Heath (Host)]

Right. But then you would imagine he might have come up with something that didn't directly involve him in the crime as well. Even though it's not like he's saying, I tried to kill Kane and I failed, or I did kill Kane or I completed a hit on Kyron or anything like that. Right.

[Daphne (Host)]

He's just saying that Terry asked him.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah, but I guess in my mind, I would think he would have instead said, I overheard her and. Or maybe I overheard her on the phone talking to somebody about what she did to Kyron. You know, I'm saying, like, putting it only on her. Why would he involve himself? So, yeah, I don't know. Maybe. Maybe he would. Maybe it's a lie. But that is very interesting, because if it is true that she killed Kyron and she did it to get back at Kane, maybe she would have wanted to kill Kane first and then decided that that wasn't going to work well enough.

[Daphne (Host)]

I mean, maybe she just has a grudge because of Cain, you know, cheating on her, and this is. This is her revenge. So whether this was, you know, a setup by somebody who believed Terry had killed Kyron and was trying to frame her or this plot was actually true is still unknown, as all of these claims remain unsubstantiated.

[Heath (Host)]

Well, I will say the damage, it seems, was already done. On June 26, this is weeks after Kyron vanished, 2911 calls came from the Horman home, the first of which was classified as a threat, and the second of which cited a custody issue. So after this, Kane and Kiara left the home to stay in a hotel, and Kane filed for a restraining order

[Daphne (Host)]

against Terry, which, again, doesn't look good.

[Heath (Host)]

You know, like you said, everything is coming from Terry. So we know that if Kane is able to leave with Kiara, the issue was probably Terry, and that's why the threat and the customer. The issue came about, and every issue

[Daphne (Host)]

comes back to Terry. That's what I'm saying. It's like everything, it's, it's, she's causing all the problems here.

[Heath (Host)]

So of course after this, then Kane is recognizing this too. And that's when he started divorce proceedings. According to Desiree, that is when she became certain that Terry was responsible. At the same time, Terry stopped speaking with investigators and Kyron's entire family and retained the services of defense attorney Stephen House, paying him a $350,000 retainer, which Kane couldn't imagine how she would have secured with Kane out of the home. Terry, this is a big part we're going to get into. I was hinting at this earlier a little bit. Terry moved a friend of hers from the gym named Dee Dee Spicer into her home to help around the house and offset the isolation that she was feeling. So of course, because this happened in the weeks after Kyron vanished, Dee has also been dragged under the microscope of suspicion. She was questioned as well and maintained that she had no knowledge of Kyron's disappearance at all, that she was merely trying to be present for her friend during a difficult time. But when she was questioned about her movements on the day Kyron vanished, speculation really began to swirl that she may have been an accomplice to Terry, as she and Terry had the same period of time unaccounted for.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, I mean, that's pretty crazy.

[Heath (Host)]

Dee Dee, who was working as a gardener at the time, was on a sprawling piece of property in northwest Portland with some co workers just planting that day. But when one of her co workers called for lunch, Dede was nowhere to be found and she also wouldn't pick up her phone, though her car had been left behind. This coincided with the timing that Terry was driving the back roads with no cell service.

[Daphne (Host)]

So kind of interesting. It's like it's lunchtime on this big property. Dee Dee's car is still there, but Dee Dee is gone. And this is the same time that Terry is out driving around aimlessly. So is it possible that Terry picked Dee Dee up that day originally, before

[Heath (Host)]

learning that she didn't have her car with her and that she left her car behind? I wondered, wait, did they kind of do a trade off where Terry gave her Chiron and she got rid of Kyron's body? But of course, if she didn't have her car, I still wonder if police, like how much police have tracked her car's movements for that period of time and if they were even able to do it weeks later because that would have been a good way for, you know, the suspicion to not fall so much on Terry, if there was no scent of decomposition in her car or you know what I'm saying, Like, yeah, to have her car. We know her car was not seen going actually onto Sauvie island that day. So originally I'm like, oh, well, was Dee's car. But during that period of time at

[Daphne (Host)]

least, I think all of these together, maybe. I think all of these things are happening a little too far after the fact. You know what I mean?

[Heath (Host)]

Like, we're uncovering it a little too late.

[Daphne (Host)]

A little too late, yeah.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah. But if they were at least together, which maybe they were, since they have that same pocket of time missing together at the same time, the same period

[Daphne (Host)]

of time the day that Kyron disappears, it's really suspicious.

[Heath (Host)]

But Dee maintained that she was preparing for an event at the property that weekend and that she had not left during her weekday, saying that she was just on another part of the property where nobody was around. Well, get this. In the aftermath of Kyron's disappearance, she also inexplicably purchased a burner phone.

[Daphne (Host)]

Dede did, which, again, suspicious. Why do you need a burner phone?

[Heath (Host)]

Well, she claimed that she bought the burner phone in order to maintain her privacy because she assumed that she was being monitored and listened to as a close friend of Terry's.

[Daphne (Host)]

If you didn't do anything wrong, then why the would that matter?

[Heath (Host)]

It doesn't. That's why this can't be true, in my opinion.

[Daphne (Host)]

I know. So then again, why'd you need the burner phone?

[Heath (Host)]

It's like. Well, I. Well, because Terry was being looked at and I thought that I would keep her stuff secret by my location not being able to be traced. It doesn't make any sense. I'm like, trying to make it up on the spot, and I can't.

[Daphne (Host)]

It just feels like such bullshit.

[Heath (Host)]

It really does. In late July of 2010, Dede's condo was searched. But what, if anything, was found, has not been released.

[Daphne (Host)]

Well, In August of 2010, a grand jury gathered to hear details about the case, but no indictments were returned against Dee Dee, Terry, or anybody else because there just wasn't enough evidence here. School was back in session for the fall semester of 2010 without Kyron in his third grade classroom. And although search efforts continue to this day, there has been no forward movement in finding Kyron. On June 1, 2012, Desiree filed a civil lawsuit against Terry, alleging that she was responsible for Kyron's disappearance. But the charges were eventually dropped due to the lack of evidence. Terry, who started going by her maiden name, Terry Moulton, moved back in with her family in Roseburg, Oregon, after this whole ordeal and has maintained her innocence. She attempted to change her name to Claire Stella Sullivan. Weird. But a judge denied her request, citing the ongoing criminal investigation against her. And to this day, Kane maintains full custody of their teenage daughter. Now, as you guys can imagine, the most popular theory remains that Terry had something to do with Kyron's disappearance. But despite how it sounds that the evidence is largely stacked against her, there is a strong online presence who believe that Terry is innocent and is just another victim of this smear campaign, when the efforts should have been focused more on finding Kyron. Which I just got to say, my personal opinion, I'm very, very suspicious of Terry.

[Heath (Host)]

It's kind of like an Occam's Razor thing where it's like the simplest explanation is probably the one that's true.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah.

[Heath (Host)]

And it feels like everything is pointing towards her. But we also know that police and investigators sometimes can get tunnel vision and they focus on one person, and we're like, no, you know, broaden the search. Maybe it's somebody else. Maybe you're missing something.

[Daphne (Host)]

Sure, it does happen. But I think just given what we know about Terry, the fact that, you know, there's this allegation that she hired. Was trying to hire a hitman, where you're going to talk about the fact that she was arrested a few times after this whole ordeal, like we said

[Heath (Host)]

with the science fair, it is very possible that somebody covertly convinced. You know, something my mom always said when I was growing up, like, when I was a kid, she always said, if somebody comes to you, like an adult comes up to you and tells you that I'm hurt and you need to go with them to get to me, don't do it. Like, that was the example she always used. And so I think, as you're a kid, if you don't know, to kind of look out for those type of ruses, it's very possible that Kyron was told by somebody to come with them and to trust them because I'm going to take you to your family, etc. And that they were able to covertly sneak Kyron off the property after seeing him in the science fair and somebody completely different is involved and there would be no way to track that because there's no witnesses saying that that happened. But because weirdly, even though there was a bunch of people around that morning, we really don't have many eyewitness accounts of this happening. Anyway, I think it's happening.

[Daphne (Host)]

I think it's just tough because I don't find Terry's, her attitude in the aftermath of Kyron's disappearance to be like kosher. I think the things that she was doing were really weird. That doesn't mean that she's a murderer, but it does raise some eyebrows.

[Heath (Host)]

So I'm just playing devil's advocate, but I completely agree with you. I, I think it's a very devastating situation if she is involved because this is somebody that Kyron trusted. This is somebody he knew his whole life. And the fact that she may have resented him, may have wanted him dead.

[Daphne (Host)]

Well, it didn't seem like she did very much, you know, after his disappearance to help find him.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah, exactly. So I think it's very hard not to look at her suspiciously because she did some incredibly strange things.

[Daphne (Host)]

But also, I can see from your end what you're talking about as this like, random abduction. I mean, we just covered a case about a little girl who, you know, went to go catch some fireflies on the top of, of a little hill during a baseball game and within that little 10 minute period of time, she was abducted. So it can happen that fast?

[Heath (Host)]

It can. But in this, in that case, there was no strange parental element.

[Daphne (Host)]

So true.

[Heath (Host)]

So it's like we're not making this shit up. It's like she, all of this stuff really happened with her strange movements and her buying something from the first Fred Meyer and the second Fred Meyer and the Andrea thing and lying about the area that she was in and changing her story and trying to change her

[Daphne (Host)]

name and the Dee stuff and having an affair and a possible hitman.

[Fulfill Protein Bars Advertiser]

So.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah, exactly. There's, there's too many things in here to not think that she is being suspicious and that she might be hiding something. Well, many feel that the timeline and public nature of her exit from the school would have made it impossible to, to harm or incapacitate Kyron. But frustration remains with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office accusing them of getting tunnel vision on Terry when there were other theories that they could have investigated. Well, there's another thing that I do want to mention, and it's that according to Desiree, Kyron had expressed fear and discomfort when he had to leave her and Tony's house to go back to his dad's. So actually Terry, upon hearing this, muse that maybe somebody that was close to him, not her, maybe another family member or family friend or like, trusted adult, had sexually assaulted him and that there may be ongoing abuse and that maybe somebody else close to him did this.

[Daphne (Host)]

I mean, that's kind of like an accusation that comes out of really thin air.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah, well, there was one example, but it's, it's not relevant. I'll say it anyway, in case anybody knows this detail and would wonder why we didn't bring it up. Kane's youngest brother actually allegedly sexually. Well, I won't say allegedly because he was charged for it. He sexually abused a 14 year old child in the family and went to prison for it for only six months. This happened like a year and a half before Chiron went missing, but it

[Daphne (Host)]

was determined that he was actually in Seattle. So he had an ironclad alibi.

[Heath (Host)]

Exactly. So it wasn't him. So she's kind of like, well, maybe there was somebody else in the family who did this, but it's like somebody else in the family who showed up to the signs fair and pulled him from school on. Maybe you have all this weird shit

[Daphne (Host)]

going on or maybe the calls coming

[Heath (Host)]

from inside the house.

[Daphne (Host)]

Kyron is afraid to be around Terry

[Heath (Host)]

because as we know, according to Kane, Terry was kind of a tyrant of the home. And this is a big reason potentially why her son James left the house as well.

[Daphne (Host)]

I mean, literally to the point where Cain had to leave with Kiara and go to a hotel and get a restraining order against Terry's, so.

[Heath (Host)]

And was able to get custody.

[Daphne (Host)]

I don't think it's, I don't think it's that hard to believe that maybe Kyron, you know, didn't like being around Terry.

[Heath (Host)]

Yeah. In an interview in 2025, Kane said, quote, I do feel that she's involved Terry in some way, shape or form. I was there for all the failed polygraphs. Statistically there's something off about that. Just in general, the lack of cooperation, the lack of coming forward, the lack of ever clearing the investigation. Again, my opinion, there's some level of involvement there. So I kind of wonder a little bit more about Kane's position. I mean, we know that he was working from home. There is no proof that he left the house at all and helped Terry or did this on his own and went to the school while Terry was running all these errands and picked his son up. So it's kind of difficult there too because there's no evidence to prove that Kane was involved. But I don't know, maybe this is like my Thriller brain coming through on top of the true crime brain is like, maybe it's the person that's pointing the finger, not saying that it's Kane of Course, but we don't have any evidence revolving around Kane's potential involvement. I just want to say that for anybody else who might be thinking that. But interestingly, things have continued to pop up with Terry because in 2015, her roommate reported that she stole a gun from him, though she was eventually found not guilty of this charge. In 2016, she was arrested for driving a vehicle that her boyfriend later reported as stolen, though she claims this was a misunderstanding and that her name was actually on the title. So the charges were later dropped. She now lives in California and has stopped speaking with the press, diverting all correspondence to. To her lawyer. She remarried in March of 2018 in Las Vegas and now goes by Terry Vasquez. Woman with a thousand names.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, changing her name constantly.

[Heath (Host)]

A reward of up to $50,000 is being offered for information relating to Kyron's disappearance. Kyron has blue eyes and blonde hair. He was last seen wearing a black T shirt with the logo for the TV show CSI in green, along with a green handprint graphic. And then he was wearing black cargo pants, white socks, and black Skecher sneakers with orange trim. He also wore rectangular metal framed glasses. If you have any information about the disappearance of Kyron Horman, please call 503-988-056. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. I mean, what a devastating story. The fact that this little boy is. Is still missing to this day. It feels like they're just not going in any direction and they have no idea what to do next.

[Heath (Host)]

It's so tough because I feel like we have a lot of suspicious movements. But, yeah, we don't have any clarity. We don't have his body. We don't have blood. We don't have any evidence of a crime scene. And that makes this incredibly difficult. But I think there is clearly so much suspicion on Terry, and I just hope for the rest of the family that they can get some form of closure at some point, because what happened that morning.

[Daphne (Host)]

Yeah, and I did. I did read today that the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office actually took thousands and thousands of pages of evidence and documents and they plugged it into a computer system, like a software system that will hopefully help kind of connect dots in the case. So they're trying to use kind of like more of like an AI approach to kind of like, tether certain information together. So hopefully. I mean, that's basically the latest information that we have on this case.

[Heath (Host)]

So this is making me think of Heath. And I just finished this show last night. I will find you. It's on Netflix. It's so good. There's so many different elements, but, like, I don't know that that show was so good and it's just making me think of that and just this web of, like, everybody in the family being questioned. And like, this is truly such a perplexing story and it's so devastating when you look at this picture of Kyron and all the pictures of him, really, but especially the one at the science fair with his CSI T shirt and absolutely, absolutely adorable. And he was so excited for summer and this was like the last thing he had to do and somebody took everything away from him and I just want to know who did it. So please follow us on socials if you want to see photos. If you're not watching us over on YouTube, we're on Instagram, @goingwest podcast, we're on Facebook, and we're also on TikTok.

[Daphne (Host)]

All right, guys, so with that for

[Heath (Host)]

everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger.

[Daphne (Host)]

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