I hope this little boy is found safe.

[unsinkable]

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/details_emerge_about_the_day_k.html

 

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/police_looking_for_missing_por.html

 

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office is leading the search for a missing second-grade boy last seen at his Portland school at midmorning Friday.

 

Seven-year-old Kyron Horman was attending a science fair at Skyline Elementary School in northwest Portland, according to Matt Shelby, spokesman for Portland Public Schools. He was last seen about 9 a.m.

 

Kyron, who was with his stepmother at the fair that morning, never checked back in with his teacher afterward, Shelby said.

 

The stepmother notified Skyline about 4 p.m. when he didn't come home from school on the bus. Because Kyron had not been seen for several hours, Shelby said, school officials were "immediately concerned."

 

Portland police were notified shortly after that, Shelby said.

[angela in ohio]

I wonder about security at the school? They are remodeling schools here to make visitors go through the office before they can get into the school. All other doors are kept locked. It is a frightening reality that in most schools, you could wander throughout without anyone noticing. An adult in a school will unfortunately be seen as an authority figure to a child even if they don't belong there.

 

I hope he is found safe!

[Nicole M]

This is odd. In our city, when a young child is marked absent for the day, the front office hounds the parents with phone calls to find out where the child is. When my son was in elementary school, he was incorrectly marked absent a couple times, and it caused me quite a panic when I got the calls.

 

So sad. I feel for those parents.

[6packofun]

That's so scary! Was the boy in school all day and vanished after the school day or vanished before school even officially started?? That's terrifying that this can happen. :(

[Nicole M]

I can only imagine that his teacher though the had gone home with his mom, but that still seems strange. Portland is a big district but I know they have rules in place for these kinds of things. I know people who work for that system and it seems to me that something went wrong with procedures.

 

That's probably why we are not getting any more details about what happened. It says he attended with his mom but then she left and obviously assumed he was at school that day. I always do a hand-off kind of thing in that situation and make sure I connect with the adult who will now be in charge of my kid but I can see things getting confused at a big event.

 

It's just so sad. I hope he is found safe.

 

Yes, I think you're right that something went wrong here. I don't remember science fairs when my son was in school, but Field Day was always a big mess, so I can see how normal procedures might not have been followed as closely. Heartbreaking.

[unsinkable]

He's still missing.

[nmoira]

 

That's so scary! Was the boy in school all day and vanished after the school day or vanished before school even officially started?? That's terrifying that this can happen. :(

His stepmom left him near his classroom at 8:45am. According to an update I read last night on our local paper's website, a witness places him in the school at 9am. He was marked absent from class. There was an initial report that his backpack was found in his classroom, but I don't know if that was confirmed.

[justlittleoldme]

I pray they find him soon. How scary!

[RamonaQ]

My heart aches. Praying.

[lulubelle]

I think it's very strange and I can't help think twice about the step-mothers story.

[angela in ohio]

I think it's very strange and I can't help think twice about the step-mothers story.

 

I keep thinking, "Please, please, please don't let it be the step-mom."

[angela in ohio]

Why? Because she is his step-mother? She left him near his classroom about 8:45. A witness saw him at 9 am.

 

Many of us "step-mothers" just go by "mom", especially when we are custodial parents. I'm just sayin'. I know that at this point everyone is a suspect but I am pretty sure there was another witness who saw him after she left.

 

Not because it's a step-mom (from the reports so far, she really is his mom in the way that matters most,) but because we've heard too many stories where a mom is crying saying a child went missing, only to discover that she did it.

[dslittle]

Hasn't the step-mom raised this little boy since a baby? I don't know about this story except what I was told from my friends last night but I was under the impression that she is his MOM and definitely left him at the school, thinking that he was under school supervision (proof is that she had a picture of him at the school grounds at 8:45AM because she snapped a picture by his school science project) - my impression was that she did the "normal" thing and left him at school thinking he would be ok. Since I'm not familiar at all with school procedures, I'm not sure what else she could have done - I'm so ignorant that I had to be told by my friends that schools have a policy of calling the house if the student is absent from school and a parent has not called in (the blessed ignorance of homeschooling :001_smile:).

 

Anyway, my heart aches for the family!

[Pretty in Pink]

I'll be following this thread for updates.

 

The thought also crossed my mind for a moment that I really hoped the mother was not involved somehow, not because she is a step-parent but because relatives are often involved in the disappearance of children (though it doesn't appear to be the case here).

 

I can't imagine what it's like to have a missing child.

[fhjmom]

This story has really touched me. It is so scary to think that a child can go missing from inside their elementary school with so many people around.

 

There was an incident at a high school where I used to teach, but it happened several years before I taught there. A girl from another visiting team disappeared during a volleyball tournament. They found her inside the school and it was not the outcome everyone had hoped for. She had been raped and murdered. :( I can't help but think of that case and I pray that is not the outcome here.

[nmoira]

 

I had to be told by my friends that schools have a policy of calling the house if the student is absent from school and a parent has not called in (the blessed ignorance of homeschooling :001_smile:).

Skyline is a small school and an automated system for notifying parents was not yet installed. Now it and the other PPS schools without such systems are having staff call parents in cases of absence.

[TravelingChris]

ALthough all schools I have ever been in have signs saying all visitor must report to the office, in none of the schools have I ever been questioned about what I was doing there. This includes schools in CA, NM, FL and VA. This wasn't on any special day either that I would go there. Mostly it had to do with things like registering for the PSAT or AP but it didn't make a difference if it was an elementary school or not, no one ever questioned me. Now I know that I don't fit the profile of a typical child abductor, especially in the earlier years when I would be bringing one or more of my kids with me on my run, but this is just an example of how easy it is to go into a school. We had an unfortunate incident in FL where a construction worker from a nearby project went into the high school nearby and hid out in the girls' bathroom and raped one.

[swimmermom3]

We had two officers show up at our house on Sunday in regards to the case. Our property backs up to a green belt where someone reported seeing tire tracks. Fortunately, the tracks had been there a week. The officers said that they had received over 2,000 tips. The effort to sift through those tips is staggering.

 

I have conflicting feelings regarding school security. On the one hand, I never want to see this happen to another family. I grew up in the area and my sister attended the school; the whole thing is just heart-breaking. The schools will have to ramp up their security and for most, this will mean diverting significant resources from education to safety in these difficult financial times. So be it if we don't lose another child. On the other hand, when I picture the same security measures that our local high school has brought into the elementary and middle schools, it's not so much reassuring as it is depressing. The security guards at the high school represent to me all the things that could go wrong and the thought of them in the elementary schools is disheartening. I don't know if I am expressing this well and it probably sounds silly.

 

There will finger-pointing in this case for sure. The schools here do a good basic job of providing security. However, as a long-time volunteer, I know all too well how easy it is to slip in and out at the schools. Also, effectively monitoring science fair attendees is a challenging task. I don't know. Our thoughts and hopes are with the family and the school administration and students.

[Cindyz]

I think all entrances and exits in all schools should be equipped with a surveillance camera at the very least. It blows my mind that they aren't. It's really not THAT expensive to set up a system like this. Although usually the govt overpays to have things like this done.

 

From her facebook page, you can see that the step mom was playing a game at 8:01 although she reports being at the school at 8am so I found that a little odd although it was probably just an estimated time that she arrived at his school. She then posted photos in the afternoon of him at the science fair from that morning so she has a little bit of an online trail of her actions.

 

What time does school start? He was seen inside the school at 9am, why wasn't he in his classroom at that time?

[nmoira]

From her facebook page, you can see that the step mom was playing a game at 8:01 although she reports being at the school at 8am so I found that a little odd

iPhone? :)

 

What time does school start? He was seen inside the school at 9am, why wasn't he in his classroom at that time?

There was more than just a science fair going on.

 

This article might answer some of your logistical questions.

 

Excerpts:

Although the school usually opens at 8:35 a.m. and the final bell rings 10 minutes later, the school opened as early as 8 Friday for the science fair, said Matt Shelby, spokesman for Portland Public Schools.

Terri [his stepmother] often volunteers at the school, working closely with Kyron's teacher, Kristina Porter. Shelby said that Porter saw Kyron in her classroom with his stepmom before 8:45 a.m. and another instructor reported seeing him in another classroom at some point.

 

Carol Moulton said the kids were supposed to report to their classes and be divided into small groups of a few students each. Each group was supposed to tour the science fair with a chaperone. Afterward, when they returned to their classes for roll call, Kyron wasn't there, she said.

[Cindyz]

I suppose she could have been playing from her iphone. I no longer play facebook games but all the games I liked couldn't be played on my iphone, but no idea about Family Fued. I was guessing it was more likely she was playing right before she jumped up to go up to the school. I guess I also found it interesting that she has her facebook page so open for all to see. Everybody I know has their pages set for friends only. I wonder if it was opened after everything happened so that she could keep in contact with the volunteers, etc.

 

It makes sense that on a day when the routine was thrown off that someone could go missing.

[Pamela H in Texas]

ALthough all schools I have ever been in have signs saying all visitor must report to the office, in none of the schools have I ever been questioned about what I was doing there.

 

My kids and I, yesterday, walked into the local high school which had a similar sign. I told the lady in the front office what I wanted. She sent me down the hall. They didn't have my name or my children's names. They didn't watch to see if I went where she told me. And then when we got to our destination, it was a full 5+ minutes before we were helped.

 

My point being that we could have wandered, hidden, attacked, whatever and no one would have known who we were. In addition, that was WITH us stopping by the office first. The office was off to the side with only the door being windowed. No one would have stopped us had we just kept going from the front door!

 

It is NOT that way where I subbed. Though you COULD (not midday, but at some parts of the day) get in without going to the office, SOMEONE would have stopped you if you didn't have on SOME kind of badge or the sticker from the office. I was really taken aback by how laid back this high school was.

Edited June 8, 2010 by 2J5M9K

[talexand]

My husband works with this poor boy's dad. My kids go to school part time at a similar rural school but on the other side of town. Our school is really relaxed, everyone knows everyone. We are supposed to check in but its not enforced. Strange faces stick out. But they were having a science fair that morning and the public was invited so there must have been a lot of faces that weren't the usual parent volunteers and such. Some kids must have been in class and some were with their parents at the science fair so tracking was poor too until the science fair was over and he was marked absent. The teacher just figured that he had left with the stepmom. They are not talking about the details, apparently so they don't taint the memories of those who might still give tips.

 

I can't shake the image of this boy standing in front of his science project which was obviously done with a lot of care and help from family. It could be my son standing there. Its just such a mystery. Search teams have been searching far and wide but I really doubt that he wandered off. Hopefully they have leads they just aren't talking about.

[tricia]

This is just totally weird. How does something like this even happen? A child vanishing like that.

[Cindyz]

My husband's theory is that it may have been an older child who lured him away. Maybe he was being bullied and with the lax supervision going on this day an older child may have had the opportunity to do something sinister. The reports keep saying that he was a very timid child...the type that is often bullied.

[m0mmaBuck]

What do we know about the mom (not the stepmom--the biological mom)? The only reference I see in one of the articles is that he's "close" to her, though she lives 200+ miles away.

 

I had wondered the same.

[angela in ohio]

What do we know about the mom (not the stepmom--the biological mom)? The only reference I see in one of the articles is that he's "close" to her, though she lives 200+ miles away.

 

The article I read said that the bio mom came as soon as she heard. I'm sure they're checking out where she was at the time he disappeared.

[Tree House Academy]

This is just heartbreaking. Have they checked the school over very closely? What if the child is in a locker or a closet and just trapped or locked in? :(

[i.love.lucy]

Still nothing this morning. It breaks my heart.:(

[unsinkable]

According tot he news tonight they have combed the school and every near-by property multiple times. Professional searchers are going through every bit of people's homes and barns and woods and everything. Some homeowners talked about walking their property 4 and 5 times, checking under boat covers and porches and attics.

 

How does a kid just disappear out of a building like that and so fast?

 

I still remember 2 little boys who hid in the trunk of a car parked on the family's property. They found them a few days later. and if they had looked with in a short time of when they had noticed them missing, they might have lived.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

This is horrible. I hope they discover what happened very soon. It makes me sick to think how easily he vanished with no one noticing. Prayers for Kyron and his family.

[MariannNOVA]

I still remember 2 little boys who hid in the trunk of a car parked on the family's property. They found them a few days later. and if they had looked with in a short time of when they had noticed them missing, they might have lived.

 

I remember that too. One of the dads found them. So horrible.

 

 

I remember that as well.......so sad. Prayers for Kyron to be found safe and to be found soon.

[6packofun]

Awful. I'd be looking at school employees first...someone he might recognize and feel comfortable leaving with. Oh, I'm praying for that sweet kid!

[dansamy]

Awful. I'd be looking at school employees first...someone he might recognize and feel comfortable leaving with. Oh, I'm praying for that sweet kid!

 

:iagree:

[Karenciavo]

I remember that too. One of the dads found them. So horrible.

 

Yes, that was in my neck of the woods. It was 3 boys. The families sued the city of Camden because the police did not check the car, it was a broken down car in the yard of one of the families, and were awarded 2.25 million ($750,000 each) back in April.

[Cindyz]

I also thought that it may be an employee such as a janitor or something. The reason I thought that is because it would be very brazen for someone who knew nothing about the school to go inside and abduct a child. How do they know there are no cameras, etc? Someone who worked there would know that there were no cameras or if there were, where they are placed.

 

THIS article scares me to death. I'm doubting that it's related, but who knows. I believe this kidnapping attempt happened just yesterday.

 

http://www.katu.com/news/local/95973029.html#idc-container

[H0MEFree]

Kyron was "taken" on Friday.

His stepmother says she dropped him off at school and watched him walk 150 feet toward the school.

When I first heard the story the other day (we live in Oregon too) I was trying to figure out how this could have happened. It is more likely that the stepmom never watched that boy walk that far, there are lines of cars all waiting to drop their kids off.

Then I also was thinking, if she held the line that long someone would have noticed and made mention of it in all the interviews.

It is more likely that she is lying. (I hope not.)

[Cindyz]

It's my understanding that she was inside the school with him looking at his and other science fair projects. She took a photo of him inside the school that morning standing in front of his project. When she left him, he was inside the school so it wouldn't hold up the traffic of other parents.

[nmoira]

Kyron was "taken" on Friday.

His stepmother says she dropped him off at school and watched him walk 150 feet toward the school.

This is not correct. She was in the school with him, looking at science fair projects. She took a picture of him in front of his own display. They parted ways down the hall from his classroom at 8:45. A witness has placed him in the school at 9am.

 

It is more likely that she is lying.

I have read nothing which might suggest anything of the sort.

[H0MEFree]

If they have new info now, that is GOOD.

 

Here is the article stating she watched him walk 150ft:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Media/kyron-horman-school-crisis-mode-search-continues/story?id=10847733

[nmoira]

If they have new info now, that is GOOD.

 

Here is the article stating she watched him walk 150ft:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Media/kyron-horman-school-crisis-mode-search-continues/story?id=10847733

Yes, she left him 150 feet from his classroom, not the school.

Oregonlive has much more extensive coverage if you're interested.

[angela in ohio]

If they have new info now, that is GOOD.

 

Here is the article stating she watched him walk 150ft:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Media/kyron-horman-school-crisis-mode-search-continues/story?id=10847733

 

He was last seen by his step-mother walking toward his classroom, 150 feet away. He never made it.

 

The article linked by the OP a few days ago has more info, too, about the progression of events that morning.

[krisperry]

Kyron was "taken" on Friday.

His stepmother says she dropped him off at school and watched him walk 150 feet toward the school.

When I first heard the story the other day (we live in Oregon too) I was trying to figure out how this could have happened. It is more likely that the stepmom never watched that boy walk that far, there are lines of cars all waiting to drop their kids off.

Then I also was thinking, if she held the line that long someone would have noticed and made mention of it in all the interviews.

It is more likely that she is lying. (I hope not.)

 

I thought the same thing. I hope this is not the case as well.

[H0MEFree]

Yes, she left him 150 feet from his classroom, not the school.

Oregonlive has much more extensive coverage if you're interested.

 

Thanks!

[Mynyel]

I don't know the rules of Amber Alerts but why haven't they issued one I wonder? I thought Amber alerts were for missing kids? If he was "taken" then I would assume a Amber Alert would/should be issued? What leads them to believe he is still in the area? If he was taken would that not mean that he is somewhere other than the local area? It seems odd...

[unsinkable]

I don't know the rules of Amber Alerts but why haven't they issued one I wonder? I thought Amber alerts were for missing kids? If he was "taken" then I would assume a Amber Alert would/should be issued? What leads them to believe he is still in the area? If he was taken would that not mean that he is somewhere other than the local area? It seems odd...

 

I thought Amber alerts were automobile related...like looking for an abducted child who is known to be in a car.

 

I am pretty sure Koran is classified as "missing, endangered" not abducted.

 

Our west coast girls might know better.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't know the rules of Amber Alerts but why haven't they issued one I wonder? I thought Amber alerts were for missing kids? If he was "taken" then I would assume a Amber Alert would/should be issued? What leads them to believe he is still in the area? If he was taken would that not mean that he is somewhere other than the local area? It seems odd...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMBER_Alert

 

One of the rules is that they have to have a descriptive information on the abductor or the car.

[nmoira]

I don't know the rules of Amber Alerts but why haven't they issued one I wonder? I thought Amber alerts were for missing kids? If he was "taken" then I would assume a Amber Alert would/should be issued? What leads them to believe he is still in the area? If he was taken would that not mean that he is somewhere other than the local area? It seems odd...

 

Excerpt from from this page. [Gates is Capt. Jason Gates from the Multnomah County Sheriff's office.]

 

About Amber Alerts

: Gates said authorities didn't have enough information to issue an "Amber Alert," which is designed to help locate an abducted child as quickly as possible. According to the U.S. Justice Department website about Amber Alerts, authorities should confirm an abduction has taken place and need detailed information such as a suspect, a suspect vehicle and license plate.

 

[Mynyel]

Bah...semantics....I would think there would be something they could issue even if not called an amber alert. I mean really...mayhap no one saw him taken but jeez the kid has been missing days now...That's just me though....

[Jean in Newcastle]

But they are getting the word out. That's why we can discuss it even though many of you do not live close to where he went missing.