And the plot thickens.....I wonder if Step-Monster has life insurance on Kaine and Kyron?

My very first thought when the case broke was that the stepmom was hiding Kyron somewhere, to keep him away from his bio-mom. I thought that maybe stepmom and bio-dad didn't want to share him -- a standard custody dispute deal.

Then I looked at stepmom's Facebook page, where she had 90-some profile pictures, including many dozens of her new baby and about a half-dozen at most of Kyron. I guessed right then that there was not much of a real bond between stepmom and Kyron. And her rushing home to post that science fair photo all of a sudden? It suddenly became hinky to the max.

Then came the bodybuilding photos I dug up. At that point, I knew that things were a lot darker.

So there she is on Sauvie Island. If Kyron's dead inside the truck, where and how did she kill him, without anybody seeing or hearing it?

If I were a cop, I'd think that maybe she handed him off alive to an accomplice. And now we see that someone says she recruited him to murder her husband.

Whom else would she have asked to get involved? And what would they do with a seven-year-old boy? One shudders to think.

Landscaper---plenty of "debris" in their trucks.

They go to "landfills" daily.

If there is an accomplice, they would likely be hunkered down, assuming Kyron is living under their control. His face is more recognizable than Oprah's right now, at least in Oregon.

Anybody still have moral objections to waterboarding? What if Terri said Kyron only had hours left to live? Could we (at least) put the handcuffs on too tight?

I just woke up and I'm having a little trouble keeping our national stories straight. Let's see...
The step-mom wanted to pay the landscaper to whack the husband, right? And Al Gore wanted to pay the masseuse to whack himself off.
I think I got it.

I'm sorry. I know this is serious, but after your emotions get put through the wringer enough, all you can do is laugh.

Happy 4th.

And people say there are no jobs in Portland?

How does anyone supposedly caring for 2 small children, one under 2 years old, have any time to be messing about on Facebook, unless she totally ignoring both the kids?
I have withheld my judgement, but now, I say, "guilty, guilty guilty!"

It's possible that boy went for a boat ride with someone launching off @Sauvie's -- to the hideaway. One can only hope.

Portland = Fargo + organic hempseed muffins + fair-trade coffee + death-by-cop - honest government x vampire developers /foreclosure totals + unemployment rate x % of cloudy days - the common sense constant = "Lost in the Weirdness."

This "bombshell" is based entirely on leaks from unnamed sources. The likeliest sources seem to me to be law enforcement. Perhaps we should all be wondering about the leaks a bit more:

(1)How likely is it that Ms. Horman, who has not been charged with a crime at this time, will be able to receive a fair trial in a local jurisdiction should charges actually be brought against her? Pretty unlikely, I'd suggest. But then I suppose leakers aren't thinking that far ahead. The Multnomah County DA, meanwhile, is probably having conniptions.

(2) The Oregonian story spins the evidence supporting a murder-for-hire plot as being pretty solid. If that is the case, why has an arrest not been made? Perhaps someone knowledgeable about criminal law can comment. What's the timeline for making an arrest in the real world (as opposed to the Law and Order world)?

But let us not deter Mr. Tee from calling for Ms. Horman to be tortured. That would be a terrible infringement on his free-speech rights. While we're at it, I hear that there's been some graffiti action in Mr. Tee's neighborhood lately, and sources tell me the perps are those pesky kids down the block from Mr. Tee. Let's torture them and find out where they're hiding the spray paint.

It's all complicated, I know. That's because our wacky criminal justice system is set up on the idea that justice is not the same as vengeance. I don't get it. We need a few more armed vendettas to keep social order, I say.

So this looks bad for her, right?

By the way, how does one go about selecting a person to ask to commit murder? Doesn't seem like the kind of question you can take back.

Given this new information, I just don't understand why Steve Houze would choose to defend Ms. Horman. I could maybe see Houze defending her after Kyron or his remains have been found, but not before. Houze's involvement will likely delay the day Kyron is found, and the longer he is missing, the greater the chance he'll be harmed. One would hope that Mr. Houze could temper his lust for fame and fat legal fees at least until Kyron's fate is known.

I'm not sure who the bigger sociopathic narcissist is here - Mr. Houze or Ms. Horman.

mister tee, let's not mix oranges with lemons. I have no problem with waterboarding overseas terrorists to foil pending terrorist plots, but in this case if you waterboard her and she gives up the location of the boy, dead or alive, it doesn't matter which, she walks.

Joel, I would suspect if there was overwhelming evidence to arrest her for the alleged murder for hire she would already be in custody. It may be they are planning to have a Grand Jury listen to the evidence first, and let them issue or deny an arrest based on what they find. Besides, a probable cause arrest by the police would likely force everyone into an unwanted frantic tizzy about that issue, taking the focus off finding Kyron.

Sounds like from the article in the O they attempted to send in the landscaper and UC cop to gather more, but she didn't bite. If this is the case it will make a criminal case much tougher. I have seen posts from as many defenders of Ms Horman as I have from detractors. If there is a trial she should have no problems here with fairness.

Leaks seem inevitable in a case such as this. Good investigative reporters can often find people and damning information as easily as the police. In fact, in high profile cases (reference JonBenet Ramsey) they often have more resources and can work faster than the police.

yes, Gibby and the Ramseys were eventually forund to be innocent of any wrong doing despite all the "evidence" in that case.
Interesting turn of events, none the less.

Hmm, if having young kids and spending time on facebook (or bojack) makes one guilty of murder for hire, then you better call child protective services on me...

I am surprised this news didn't come out sooner.

The police would have been foolish to "leak" this information. This will only deter their investigation further. A more likely story source would be a family member or a close friend. If she indeed asked the landscaper to do this, she was doing him. Look for another lover. Check cell phone records, tower transmitter locales, get her computer hard drive, talk to her ex bf's. Searching the woods is futile.

I think it highly likely that poor child is deceased.

As for step mom, steroids do bad things to the brain and no female bulks up that way naturally.

---Oortlander--

When two people are fighting, look for the third person

I have been kind of hoping that the kid was alive. I no longer think that. Bodies can and do never turn up. Jimmy Hoffa for one. But as most New Yorkers with certain connections to connections know, hiding bodies in concrete used in construction is a good place for permanent disappearance. Given that step mommy baddest tried a landscape contractor for hubby, I'd bet a building contractor might be a logical connection.

As for Mister Tee's ridiculous comment, I can see why he supports cops no matter what. Rule of law is not in his purview. I kind of hope Karmic justice smacks him someday and he has to personally deal with a rogue cop.

It sounds like the only tiny hope for Kyron is that we are looking at a disintegrating marriage scenario where the step-mom fears she'll lose him. She loves him too much to part with him so she hides him somewhere. Please be what happened.

But if this latest story is true, we now know the lengths she'd go to hurt her husband. I mean ending his life is as severe as it gets. IF the story is true, that's the new element revealed today. Then you have to wonder if she'd kill Kyron to hurt her husband. Does the rage against the husband override the love of the kid?

The problem is what else this report from the landscaper reveals - and by the way, my question to the landscaper would be, "If you thought she was serious why didn't you do anything?" I can hear a lawyer saying, "You knew she was joking and that's why you didn't protect yourself and the husband by coming forward, isn't that right, sir?" Can't you imagine that in court?

But what's creeping me out is what else the landscaper plan reveals - IF it's true.

If the step-mom had Kyron's Dad killed that would be devastating for the kid. A crushing blow.
So IF this story is true, it shows her willingness to hurt Kyron badly and that's not a good sign.

Sounds like Maxine Bernstein may be only (old school as I know it) reporter left at the Zero. No wonder the morons in the editors offices bury her stories regularly... not fluffy enough for them... blended family stories are so much sweeter...

The authorities will get nothing from her now that she's all lawyered up. Retaining Houze was preemptive to her expected arrest. It's worked so far. Prayers that he escapes a violent/abusive fate.

Reported by an organization that supports Neil Goldschmidts affair with a juvenile.

It too bad the Oregonian didn't pursue Neil like they are Terri Horman.

What a pity.

The narcissism of this woman reminds me of my ex-wife, the one who disappeared with our four children in a Mormon kidnapping 14 years ago.

The narcissistic personality believes he/she is smarter than everyone else....

The photo of Kyron with the CSI t-shirt, posted on Facebook...smarter than anyone else....

Bill paints a possible scenario where step-mom hides Kyron, because she sees the marriage disintegrating and wants to keep him. That is probably our best hope for him if she does turn out to be involved in his disappearance.

Lending credence to his theory are the police who continue to hint they believe Kyron is still alive. This at least gives him a chance.

Maybe the polygraph test went something like this. Did you kill Kyron? NO! (truthful) Do you know where Kyron is? NO! (deceptive).

The bottom line is that normal people never see it coming. These evil people think out side of the box and they think about it 24/7. The police need to get her in jail with some minor charge and a search warrant. She is lucky she isn't a minority in this city of cop killers.

Multnomah County Sheriff's office has denied being the source of the leak, or rumor, or whatever one wants to call it. So let's move on to something more productive, like denouncing a mother of small kids for having a Facebook account. Indeed, I think there should be people marching in the streets denouncing Facebook and mothers who spend time doing anything else besides cooking, cleaning and changing diapers.

Joel, it's interesting that you feel so strongly about this that you post from your U.S. Interior Department computer. What Interior Department bureau has you working after 5 on Sunday, 4th of July?

You must be one of these people.

You always seem to know more than everyone else. You'd be a really good poster on OregonLive or the Tribune. See you over there.

Mojo,

Do please consider opening a "lost in the land of weirdness" blog for us. Instead of posting anything coherent in a conventional sense, you could just let roll on the stream-of-consciousness stuff and punctuate your live mind-streaming with polite solicitations for commentary from your readership. That way you could lose all the grammar/copy-editing/prose-pruning tediousness and just resort to MEANING.

A new art form, born right here in the city of roses.

Here might be an exemplar of the LITLOW blog

gargantuan pit/endless machinations plus spewing oil on red squirrels and a child who reminds us of Harry Potter...gone:

history swells/pride wells/tears prickle/ firecrack pops/ hollow, hollow..

the greatest generation/ben franklin...minus stagnation plus anger, and a lurking hope springing eternal patriotism with common denominator somehow..forward..

I'm going tango dancing. Happy 4th.

RT Howard: ...Neil Goldschmidts affair with a juvenile

I though we had been over this one several times on this blog.

Even though that's what the Oregonian called it, when the victim is 14 years old, it's called "rape".

And she is not under arrest for the murder for hire because.............?

Ray -

He said, she said...

No corroboration.

Yet...

She apparently sniffed out the attempt to get a uc officer into the scheme when she was re contacted by the landscaper guy a couple weeks ago, so no taped self incriminating statement.

"I'm not sure who the bigger sociopathic narcissist is here - Mr. Houze or Ms. Horman."

What makes you assume that Houze knows anything about the potential whereabouts of little Kyron? Houze is operating from the perspective that his client is innocent. He's being paid to be an advocate, and the rules of professional ethics require him to defend his client vigorously within the bounds of the law. If step mom did it, I highly doubt that step monster has told Houze everything, and he would be absolutely worthless as a criminal defense attorney if he insisted that she tell him everything. His job is to argue from the facts that are admitted into a court of law under the rules of evidence.

As for the landscaper, I think it's somewhat odd that he waited until all this blew up to come forward. This woman was plotting to kill another human being, and he just sat on the information? It does raise at least some degree of concern about his credibility. Think about the fact that if he had gone to the cops with the murder for hire information several months ago? Even if there wasn't enough to convict her of murder for hire at least Kaine would have been tipped off and gotten himself and Kyron away from step monster.

I'm also wondering if the landscaper would be allowed to testify about the murder for hire plot in Kyron's murder trial. It certainly seems relevant to step monster's state of mind as well as a her propensity to commit violence against her immediate family. It's probative value may be outweighed by it prejudicial impact, however. In other words a judge might find that a jury would convict her of killing Kyron based on her unsuccessful plot to kill Kaine. If they put her in prison for life, I hope that they dig up something better than this in terms of evidence.

This whole thing is just getting weirder by the minute. Assuming that the landscaper is telling the truth, I'm pretty much convinced that step monster is involved in Kyron's disappearance, but I'm not confident that they have enough proof to convict her of murder at this point.

I'm pretty much convinced that step monster is involved in Kyron's disappearance, but I'm not confident that they have enough proof to convict her of murder at this point

There is, of course, the not entirely trivial inconvenience of there being no dead body to point to. Corpus delicti and all.

"There is, of course, the not entirely trivial inconvenience of there being no dead body to point to. Corpus delicti and all."

Ummm yeah...I'm assuming they won't try to convict her of murder until they can conclusively prove that he is deceased. There aren't too many DA's out there who are ballsy enough to try to pull that one off. It's been 30 day plus since he's come up missing, and if they find a body at this point it's hard to say how much, if any, forensic stuff will point to any specific individual. Clearly, pretty much any of her trace DNA discovered on his clothing etc. can be explained away by their close familial association. If she did it, the whole CSI t-shirt thing is way beyond creepy.

The other fact that bothers me on this one is that, if she did it, and she brought him to school that morning with some sort of master scheme to blame an unknown rogue pedophile, it was a really bad plan because there were tons of people around who would have potentially seen her leaving with him that morning after the science fair. But then again, she may have solicited a random landscaper guy to off her husband, so she's not such a smart cookie after all. Assuming she's guilty, this whole house of cards she's built will hopefully implode soon. If there's an accomplice of some sort, it's just a matter of time.

It seems that no matter how you slice this one, we are dealing with one or more truly sick and twisted individual(s). If Kyron has been murdered, I hope they go for the ultimate punishment.

The day Kyron went missing: was it the day the garbage/recycle bins are collected? Mixing landscapers/murder with a steroid fiend puts unwanted items to the curb. Remember, this is the state of Downs.

Poor baby Kyron is so dead. The step-mother found someone to do the deed. I think the police are spending their time checking all associates of this woman to find the person to whom she handed him over. It is sad to see all the people in this country who value human life not at all. What the heck is going on?