There were two significant developments on Sunday in the case of the missing boy Kyron Horman in Portland, Oregon. The massive search was scaled back and the case was declared to be a criminal investigation.
Previously, the case was classified as a “missing endangered child.” The reasons for the status change were not divulged. I do remember, however, that the FBI was called in very early on (June 4th) by Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton.
Naturally, hundreds of students, parents and school staff were interviewed by detectives in an effort to fill in the timeline of events for Friday, June 4th. More particularly, attempts are being made to isolate exactly when and where Kyron disappeared. Naturally also, the police are being tight-lipped in regard to what they have learned from these interviews.
I haven’t heard it mentioned that classmates saw Kyron enter the homeroom class and take his designated seat. For some reason, this is the point where Multnomah County Sheriff’s office doesn’t want the public to be in the know. I did watch Dan Staton’s June 6th news conference, however. Apparently a student did spot Kyron after 9:00 AM. Let’s see, it’s termed as the “late-morning hours?”
For me, this is a clue that the authorities were able to fill in the timeline of what happened to Kyron, or at least piece together random events, that appeared to be insignificant at the time. After he vanished, these trivialities took on new life, and could be redefined as pertinent.
I’m of the opinion that this entire situation is contained within the walls of Skyline Elementary. That is, Kyron never left the school house at all (on his own volition), until something else transpired. What may have transpired can not be cast in such a positive light.
One thing I find hard to understand, is that students and teachers must have seen him in the early morning at the science fair. Therefore, why didn’t they notice that he was gone later on in the early afternoon? After all, the community has been characterized as tight-knit? The teachers must have counted him absent, but they didn’t seem to have gotten very alarmed or bent out of shape, say around the times of 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM or 1:00 PM?
It wasn’t until after the school day ended that school officials realized there was a problem. I believe it was the stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman, who alerted the school when Kyron wasn’t on his usual bus. This was at 3:30 PM and then after she told them he was gone, the school secretary, Susan Hall, called 9-1-1.
A former FBI profiler, Clint Van Zandt, said: “Whatever happened to this little boy, by the time authorities really geared up, they were 12 hours behind the power curve.”
A line I read in an ABC News story struck me as revealing as to the course this investigation will take. Gina Zimmerman, the president of the school PTA, said: “Everybody’s just worried and in shock that this could happen in our little school where everybody knows everybody.” Or Gina, do we really know each other? I believe that the key lies right there in the school, no outsider ever came in, and Kyron never wandered off.
