Kyron Horman's Parents Plead With Step Mom to Cooperate With Police

PORTLAND, Ore. July 1, 2010 — -- The parents of missing 7-year-old Kyron Horman pleaded today with the boy's step-mother to cooperate with police and to help "bring Kyron home."

The emotional news conference was the latest indication that stepmother Terri Horman is under increasing scrutiny by those investigating Kyron's disappearance nearly a month ago.

Kyron's mother Desire Young made the appeal to Terri Horman along with her ex-husband and Kyron's father Kaine Horman. Kaine Harmon served Terri Horman with divorce papers this past weekend and has obtained a restraining order against her.

"We implore Terri Horman to fully cooperate with investigators to bring Kyron home," Young told reporters.

Terri Horman has remained out of sight since Kyron vanished June 4 and has maintained her silence in the face of the growing focus by investigators and the media. She instead has hired prominent Portland criminal defense lawyer Stephen Houze and was seen in his company as she returned home Wednesday night.

Young and Kaine Horman were intent, however, on keeping the public interested in the search for their boy.

"We lean on each other. We use Kyron as our strength. We pray each day for resolution and for Kyron," Young said."Not knowing where he is is the most difficult."

Kaine Horman said, "We miss his toothless smile... that every day happy noise in the house when he's playing."

His mother added, "I want everyone in world to know who Kyron is and what he looks like."

"We are optimistic that Kyron will be found... All of us feel fully confident in investigation," she said.

Police have not named Horman or anyone else as a suspect or person of interest in the case.

Terri Horman Takes On Her Detractors

Houze has not made any comments yet on his new client's behalf, but Horman herself apparently has lashed back at the suspicion, reportedly leaving comments on the Web site of ABC's Portland affiliate, KATU.

The station says it has verified that it was Horman posting under usernames to agree with supporters and argue with detractors. Horman was the last person to see Kyron alive.

"Wow. Unless you know all the details, the stress, the worry, the pain, you have nothing to speak of," she reportedly wrote on June 10 in response to a story on KATU. "You are merely making assumptions -- you have no facts, details or knowledge to present so please refrain from your accusations."

But a string of events in the month since Kyron vanished have focused attention on Terri Horman, both in the media and among law enforcement.

ABC News has learned that not one, but two 911 calls were placed from the home of Terri Horman and her husband, Kaine Horman, last Saturday, the day Kaine Horman left the family's home with the couple's 18-month-old daughter.

The first call was made Saturday evening and lasted 13 minutes, the caller reporting threats of some kind. The second came in just after 11:30 p.m. and was written up only as a "child custody call."

Two days later, Kaine Horman filed for divorce and was granted an emergency restraining order keeping his wife from him, their daughter and her older children.

The exact reason for the first call has not been released, and police said the call is now part of their case into Kyron's disappearance.

A records search of Terri Horman under her current, maiden and previous married names turned up a DUI conviction in 2005 in which she pleaded guilty not only to driving under the influence, but also to "reckless endangerment of another."

Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings told ABCNews.com that the endangerment charge stemmed from the fact that her son, who was 11 at the time, was in the vehicle when she was stopped.

A spokeswoman for the court in Marion County, Ore., said Horman was sentenced to 12 months probation, a 90-day suspension of her driver's license and she had to attend alcohol counseling programs and attend a victim impact statement.

In addition, she wracked up nine traffic infractions, including several for speeding and one for driving with an expired license, between 1988 and 2004.

Mounting Suspicion, Few Answers in Kryon's Disappearance

The divorce papers cite "irreconcilable differences."

But to file the type of emergency restraining order that he did, Kaine Horman would have had to made the case that his wife posed an immediate threat to him or their 18-month old daughter, according to Garrett.

The restraining order prohibits Terri Horman from having contact with her other children, an older son and the toddler daughter. Kaine Horman is asking Oregon courts for sole custody of the little girl.

The order also prohibits Terri Horman from possessing any guns, according to The Associated Press.

The restraining order has been sealed by a judge who said he was concerned that releasing the entire document could jeopardize the investigation into the disappearance of Kyron.

Under Oregon law, the type of emergency restraining order granted to Kaine Horman would require some specific example of why there was an immediate threat of danger, former FBI special agent Brad Garrett told "Good Morning America."

"There's something under the surface here that we don't know about," Garrett said. "There's got to be some pattern of abuse here. It's not something that all of a sudden happened and he decided to go to court."

Terri Horman, who has raised Kyron since infancy, has said virtually nothing in public about the June 4 disapperance of the little boy, appearing twice in solidarity with her husband and Kyron's mother and stepfather.

Terri Horman's name, however, was not on in a statement issued Monday night by Kyron's mother, father and stepfather.

"We have been fully briefed by law enforcement on the ongoing criminal investigation," the statement read, adding that the family was "in complete support of that investigation."

Desperate Search for Bespectacled Boy

Kyron disappeared from his elementary school after an early-morning science fair, where he was photographed smiling near his presentation on frogs.

Terri Horman told police that after touring the fair with Kyron, she last saw him walking down the hallway to his classroom. He never made it. Garrett noted that whoever took Horman likely planned the abduction as such decisions are rarely made spur of the moment.

Garrett questions whether police actions, including a reported six-hour interview with Terri Horman and the search of her home and car, and those of her husband could be part of a larger plan to get her to open up about the day Kyron vanished.

"It's almost like a psychological noose that they're pulling around," he said. "If we push her a little bit further, maybe she'll tell the truth."

A website devoted to the search for Kyron posted a message today that the site would be taken down at the end of the week, and that no more bracelets or buttons would be distributed unless through Kaine Horman.

The whole chain of explosive events, Garrett said, is unusual when there was no previous indication, at least publicly, that anything was amiss in the Horman family.

"It's very hard because with no history of any issues in this family and then Kyron disappears," he said.

Kaine and Terri Horman married in 2007. Their blended family included Kyron and Terri's older son and the couple's daughter.

Her husband's decision to file for divorce Monday comes on the heels of an interview Terri Horman's father gave to People magazine, in which he was quoted saying there's a "50-50" chance his daughter would be arrested.

He now says his statements were twisted around and is staying with his daughter to support her.