Search for Kyron Horman: Cops Reportedly Pressuring Terri Horman's Friends

July 24, 2010 — -- There was "criminal behavior" involved in the disappearance of Oregon second-grader Kyron Horman, police said, and investigators are reportedly putting pressure on friends of Terri Horman, the missing boy's stepmother.

At least two women told ABC News Portland, Ore., affiliate KATU-TV that police have questioned them.

One woman said police questioned her for hours and gave her a polygraph test, which she told KATU she passed. She said police came to her house with a search warrant, as well.

She also told KATU the investigators who questioned her said they had probable cause to arrest Terri Horman both in her stepson's disappearance last month and in an alleged murder-for-hire plot against her husband, Kaine Horman.

Both the women KATU spoke with said they are trying to distance themselves from Terri Horman because they do not want to be dragged into the case.

The two women spoke after Kaine Horman and his ex-wife Desiree Young, Kyron's biological mother, released a statement charging that another of Terri Horman's friends, DeDe Spicher, was not cooperating with police.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office has not commented on the family's claims, but said in an e-mail exchange with reporters Friday night that they still hold out hope that Kyron is alive.

"Criminal behavior has occurred and we will continue to investigate toward a resolution," the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff's office, which has not named any suspect or person of interest in the case, did little to dispell the cloud of suspicion around Terri Horman that has been increased by the family's repeated claims that she has not cooperated with investigators.

"During this investigation Terri Horman has been cooperative and there have been other times she has not," the sheriff's office said. "We cannot speak to specifics regarding this issue.

Spicher was the focus of a statement released Thursday night by Kyron's father and biological mother.