I don't think attorney-client privilege can extend to an attorney being an accessory to an ongoing crime, can it? Wouldn't he have to report it? (And subsequently drop the case?)

I'm hopeful that he's been hired because Kyron IS in fact safe, and that the stepmom's parents want an experienced attorney to negotiate the best possible deal for her.

I really, really hope he's alive.

Me, too. If that kid shows up alive, I'll cry. Hard.

Anybody out there still think Stepmom is innocent?

If anybody thinks that after the divorce/restraining order thing, they're smoking something pretty strong.

Not everybody thinks she's guilty. See, for example, this comment thread.

Hmmmm. Maybe I DO support torture during interrogation after all. I guess it's all contextual.

If that kid shows up alive and well, this will be the best summer in Portland history.

And I'll congratulate those who sensed the kid was still with us and this was a weird custody/attention case.

You know, it really seems like we were all describing different parts of the same elephant. The only thing I want to be right about is that she didn't kill him. Please may that be true. In that case the elephant in the room would be Kyron himself alive.
Not only alive but relatively unharmed compared to my fears with a stranger.

We should have learned from Elizabeth Smart. Never write these kids off.

Please be true.

Any believable theories about how this child could be unharmed, would be welcome comfort to everyone trying to keep the hope.

It would be one of those rare magic moments in life, if he turned up alive and well. We should have a Brazil-style response planned for such glad tidings.... everybody bring confetti up to Angel's rest and toss it over the gorge..or a big parade
down the waterfront.

As for Terri Horman, her position is looking more and more Raskolnikov-esque, as the knot tightens inexorably around her ankles.

Water boarding would work wonders in this case.

No one has ever died from water boarding. But, it does get you talking.

A shoe's got to drop soon on this. I bet Houze negotiates a plea bargain, and Red Squirrel fingers the perp.

Let's have John waterboarded, along with Snards. Surely they can then tell us where the kid is.

How nuts. They just jumped the shark.

BIZARRE, to say the least.

And it gets even stranger... check out KATU's video - the reporter says that the family shared, just today, that Kyron has a faded birthmark on his forehead that gets more noticeable when he's upset or crying. How in the f*ck has that NOT have been reported yet? Wouldn't that be an important identifying feature that they'd want people to know?

I'd happily get waterboarded right next to the step-monster if it would do any good. After all the energy expended searching for naught, she deserves to be tortured if she knew where he was all along.

Jack is spot on: tears of joy and awe will greet Kyron's living return. And I haven't cried since my son was born.

So -- wha??? This is some twisted bizarro Punk'd? Let me off the terror train.

Kicking the two largest newspapers in town off the story...wow that makes lots of sense. She would be hung in Pioneer Square tomorrow at sunrise if it was up to some of you people in here. Thankfully we have a legal system that at least tries to ensure that we convict the truly guilty. Call me a lawyer if you want, but shouldn't we have a little more evidence than "she was the last person to see him" and allegations of cell phone pings on Sauvie Island before we assume someone she's guilty? Oh right, I forgot, the police think she did it so she must be guilty. My bad.

Don't worry, Kevin. Before the citizens of Portland pass judgement, they're going to put her in a tub of water - if she doesn't sink that means she's a witch.

Going back to some of Bill McD's theories, do we know that stepmom HASN'T given up the existence of a lover on Sauvie's Island to the authorities? Isn't it possible that she did tell the authorities that, but they haven't released it publicly? It would make sense that if she told them that and also told hubby, that he would leave and take their kid. Psychologically, there would also be pretty extreme anger from hubby and his family and bio-mom: if you hadn't been off screwing your boyfriend, maybe Kyron wouldn't have disappeared. Even if that's not true, it would be a normal reaction.

I'm also skeptical of "police sources". These are usually the guys who are not directly involved in the investigation but are sharing rumors in the Police locker room. If there was any credible evidence against step-mom, why wouldn't the cops have arrested her or at least declared her a person of interest? They've done that with lots of innocent people in the past.

Maybe she's guilty, but there is lots we don't know -- even after reading the O's ground-breaking [sarcasm!]character profiles of everyone involved.

I've been reluctant to comment on this case becasue, as a dad myself, the thought of what could have happened to Kyron is simply heartbreaking. It's made me keep an even closer eye on my daughter...the thought of having your child snatched from a safe place is get-wrenching.

I've also tried to reserve judgement of Terri Horman, mostly for reasons articulated by Bill McD and Miles...

The only thing that troubles me about Terri Horman, really, is the hiring of Stephen Houze. Why? If I had lost a child or step-child my heart would be so broken I couldn't eat...even if I had been screwing someone on Sauvie Island and my marriage would suffer for having this truth revealed...honestly, I'd be in front of the cameras pleading for a safe return, cooperating with police, and I'd be up front with my spouse. The hiring of a criminal defense attorney, and a Dream Team one at that...just doesn't sit well with me at all.

Can Bill and/or Miles comment on that, because I'd like their perspectives...as their voices of reason seem pretty sound to me.

"The only thing that troubles me about Terri Horman, really, is the hiring of Stephen Houze. Why?"

-When you see your mug shot on Nancy Grace every night, you might want to hire a lawyer...

-When your husband moves out of the house and gets a restraining order that prohibits you from seeing your own infant child, you might want to hire a lawyer...

-When people start posting irrelevant 5 year old photos of you competing in a body building competition in an attempt to insinuate that you are a narcissistic freak who abducted your own step-child, you might want to hire a lawyer....

-When you have taken a polygraph test and been questioned for hours by the police, and they want you to come back for yet another polygraph, etc., you might want to hire a lawyer.

Why Steve Houze? Are you kidding me? Because he's the best in town. When people are trying to put you in prison for your entire life, or perhaps even end your life by executing you, it's something that you would take pretty seriously, even if innocent, and hiring the best is an act of self preservation. When the angry mob is gathering outside your door with torches you don't go out on the porch and start trying to calm them down with tearful speeches...it doesn't work...

Here's some twisted speculation.. what if Dad did it and is attempting to frame his wife? The 911 call and restraining order and divorce lawyer certainly put all the bad attention on her and give him a huge out... just sayin'. And while I suspect it is a family member this could end up like the Ramsey case where the guilty family member (and according to someone I knew in the forensic community at the time, most of that community thought either mommy did it or she was covering for the son) got off Scott free.

I actually agree with PD that the hiring of Houze bothers me. The only way it makes sense is this: Step-mom comes clean in first few days about why she was on Sauvie's Island (affair, drug habit, nude sunbathing, whatever). Police, however, continue to interrogate and clearly are skeptical. Take one polygraph. Take another. Police are still skeptical. Husband and family distance themselves. You KNOW you didn't do it, but realize to your horror that you're the only one. After four weeks, you're coming to grips with the fact that Kyron isn't coming home, and you start thinking about self-preservation. You hire a lawyer.

Look, if I were forced to put money on this, I would put it on the step-mom being guilty. But unlike most people, who I think want step-mom to be guilty because it makes them feel safer about their own kids, I desperately DON'T want her to be guilty, because the thought that someone could raise a child from infancy, be the primary caregiver, and then murder that child, is beyond my comprehension.

I am not surprised that Terri Horman has a lawyer now. I am surprised that it's the highest priced defense lawyer in town, and that it took her so long to hire him.

Ms. Horman's cat-and-mouse games with the media, her obsession with the internet, her lack of cooperation with the police, and her conduct since Kyron's disappearance all signal serious personal problems. They all make her look capable of irrational thought and action.

The Staton interview displays the substantiated facts that are available to the public about the child's disappearance. There are none. It's possible we don't even know what we don't know.

PD,
I hear you about the lack of a public plea. That is suspicious. I'm sure the authorities wanted her to make one so they could get a read on her. Remember Susan Smith?

Of course, if she was avoiding that because she knew how that could go, why take a lie detector test? Perhaps she walked into that not having any clue about the pings. Her response to this has been a mixture. From Day One she could have said, "I have a firm rule not to talk with the police about anything ever until I've talked to a lawyer. Nothing I can say can help you so don't waste time on me."
Something like that.

As far as the lover on Sauvie Island, etc..I wouldn't call what I wrote "theories" as much as possibilities that cloud the issue.
There were comments on the sites that seemed to say the pings were from Sauvie Island so that automatically means she killed the boy and went there to bury him.
I think that's quite a leap. A DA would never ask a jury to make that leap.
I'm still wondering about the pings. How reliable is that in hilly country? Cell phone technology hasn't wowed me with reliability yet.
I can't draw a conclusion based on the pings from Sauvie Island. They're a clue but they're not proof she killed Kyron and went there to bury him.