Kyron Horman

Case background and investigation

On the morning of June 4, 2010, seven-year-old Kyron Richard Horman attended a science fair at Skyline Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, where he presented a project about red-eyed tree frogs. His stepmother, Terri Horman, told investigators she dropped him off and last saw him around 8:45 a.m. walking toward his classroom. Kyron never arrived at class, but his absence went unnoticed for hours. It was not until he failed to step off the school bus that afternoon that his family and school realized he was missing, and Terri Horman reported him missing to authorities. Kyron has never been found.

The disappearance triggered what the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office has described as the largest single search effort in Oregon history. Local, county, state, and federal agencies, including the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, joined the search, which combed the wooded, rural terrain around the hilltop school. By late 2010, officials reported the investigation had generated thousands of tips and cost well over a million dollars. Despite the scale of the effort, no trace of Kyron and no clear evidence of what happened to him has been publicly confirmed.

Investigative attention came to focus publicly on Terri Horman, with authorities and later a judge citing what they characterized as inconsistencies in her account. In June 2010, Kyron's father, Kaine Horman, filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order after investigators relayed an allegation that Terri had earlier sought to hire a landscaper to kill him, an allegation for which she was never charged. It is essential to note that Terri Horman has never been charged with any crime in connection with Kyron's disappearance, has consistently denied any involvement, and has publicly maintained that Kyron was taken by an unknown person. No court has found her responsible.

In June 2012, Kyron's biological mother, Desiree Young, filed a $10 million civil suit against Terri Horman, alleging that she was involved in the boy's disappearance and seeking to compel information about his whereabouts. Young voluntarily dropped that civil suit in 2013, saying she did not want it to interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation. The civil action never resulted in any legal finding of liability against Terri Horman.

More than a decade and a half later, the case remains open and unsolved. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office continues to list Kyron Horman among its open, unsolved cases, with a $50,000 reward offered for information that resolves the case. In recent years, investigators say they have digitized thousands of pages of case files and are applying new technology in hopes of generating fresh leads. As of 2026, Kyron's whereabouts remain unknown and no one has been charged.