PORTLAND, Ore. - The search for Kyron Horman intensified this weekend.
More than 160 people, ranging from volunteers to searchers from a number of public agencies, combed parts of Sauvie Island Saturday. Sunday, there were fewer searchers - about 120 of them - but that still made this weekend's effort the biggest search since shortly after the seven-year old boy went missing in June.
Since then, Kyron has had a birthday; a Wall of Hope which was first erected at his school was built, grew, and finally moved; Kyron's father filed for divorce from his wife, Terri Moulton Horman; relatives and associates have made accusations and pointed fingers the case gained national attention - but through all of this, the boy remains missing. Despite all the accusations, so far there have been no arrests.
Early evidence moved much of the search effort from the area immediately around Skyline School, where Kyron was last reported seen, to Sauvie Island. Several major search efforts were made there, but if those search efforts yielded serious clues, law officers weren't revealing much about them. Nor were they specific about why this weekend's massive search was launched.
One possibility was related the season. Last June, water levels were high. Many areas of Sauvie Island were muddy, marshy, flooded and inaccessible. The goundwater levels in early October are much lower, allowing fuller access to previously-unsearched sections.
Friday, Kyron's mother, Desiree Young, urged law and volunteer agencies to raise the reward fund, from $50,000 to around $350,000 (
see related story).
Sheriff's officers say they may renew the volunteer search effort next weekend. Also next weekend, there will be a fund raising event for the Kyron Horman Foundation at the
Sleepy Ridge Farm in Mulino, Ore. That weekend-long event will begin at 9 am both Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 9 & 10. Half of the take from sales of plants and trees will go to the foundation to support the effort to find Kyron. It's called "
Trees of Hope for Kyron".
The Kyron Horman Tipline remains open. Anyone with any information about the case is asked to call 503-261-2847.
