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.

Spicher was identified by law enforcement as a confidante of Terri Horman and, according to her estranged husband and Kyron's father, Kaine Horman, she's not cooperating with investigators.

"She has not only been in close communication with Terri but has been providing Terri with support and advice that is not in the best interests of our son," read the family statement, accompanied by a picture of Spicher. "Additional information provided shows that she is refusing to cooperate with law enforcement, she is also going as far as to suggest to others that may have information regarding Kyron's disappearance, not to cooperate as well."

The Oregonian reported that Spicher, 43, was spotted by a witness leaving her job for about 90 minutes on June 4, the day Kyron disappeared from his elementary school. She was gone, the paper reported, around the same time the boy is believed to have vanished and that a second witness reported not being able to reach Spicher on her cell phone during that time.

"We implore DeDe Spicher to come forward and cooperate with the investigators," the family's statement continued. "If we find out through the investigation that she caused a delay in us finding our son due to her lack of cooperation, we will pursue civil remedies in this matter."

Bruce McCain, a retired captain with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, noted today that the continued updates on the investigation that have been coming from Kyron's parents are unusual for a complicated criminal case such as this.

"There's been absolutely silence from this investigative team. Everything we're learning about this is coming from Kaine and the Youngs," he told "Good Morning America."

It could be an orchestrated move by police to increase pressure on Terri Horman, he speculated, or it could indicate a rift between Kyron's family and investigators.

The family's statement came one day after KATU reported that Terri Horman had told Kyron's teachers and classmates that he would be out of the classroom that Friday at a doctor's appointment, giving the school no reason to expect him back after the science fair that morning where Kyron showed off his project on frogs.

But Terri Horman has been vague with investigators, the affiliate reported, later telling detective she was referring to the next Friday, June 11.

"Clearly even school children were aware that he was going to the doctor that day and they expected him to be at the doctor that day so now after the fact to say, 'I didn't know it was that day, it was another day,' it is weak," former homicide detective C.W. Jensen said.

The school had faced immense scrutiny in the days and weeks after Kryon vanished after Horman told investigators that she last saw Kyron before leaving the fair and only realized he was missing when he didn't get off the bus that afternoon.

"That now gives about a six- to seven-hour window ... in which no one was concerned about his whereabouts," McCain said, calling the move "carefully orchestrated."

Terri Horman has not been charged in Kyron's disappearance or named a person of interest, but investigators have made it clear they believe she knows more about the case than she has let on. Kaine Horman, Young and Young's husband have been more blunt, saying repeatedly they believe Terri Horman was behind it.

Kaine Horman Refuses to Give Up Hope That Son Is Alive

Terri Horman is also being eyed in an alleged murder-for-hire plot in which she allegedly tried to hire a landscaper to kill Kaine Horman. Kaine Horman quickly filed for divorce and fled the family's home with the couple's 20-month-old daughter. He was granted an emergency restratining order keeping Terri Horman away from him and their little girl.

A judge last week evicted Terri Horman from the family's home.

Terri Horman and her attorney have declined to comment on the allegations made by Kyron's parents. Her lawyer, Stephen Houze, said that his client has been receiving death threats and that the media frenzy surrounding the case has morphed into a "witch hunt."

Police said they've received more than 3,000 tips and the district attorney has subpoenaed 200 sets of records.

Kaine Horman continues to maintain his belief that his son is alive, though it's unclear whether that's based on evidence or simply a father's refusal to give up hope.

"If they believe Kyron Horman is alive based up on evidence that they gather then that's really, really good news and it should be shouted from the rooftop," McCain said.

Court documents released earlier this month added to the growing list of odd behavior coming from Terri Horman. Her husband claimed in a filing in which he attempted to have his wife held in contempt for violating the emergency restraining order granted June 28 that she tried to "abduct" her 20-month-old daughter from a gym day care after the emergency restraining order was granted.

And while the rest of the family was consumed by the search for Kyron, Terri Horman was allegedly carrying on an affair with 37-year-old Michael Cook, a former classmate of Kaine Horman's, according to the documents. The affair purportedly began four days after Kaine Horman moved out and investigators, according to the court papers, said they've "obtained hundreds of text messages, as well as several photographs of respondent [Terri] in various stages of undress and graphic sexual activity."

The court documents accused Terri Horman of sharing sensitive information with her new boyfriend about the police investigation into Kyron's disappearance.

The new allegations came hours after Houze sent a letter to the judge stating that she would not contest the restraining order that would keep her away from her daughter, or her husband's request to move out of the family's Portland home.

Cook told a local television station that he was planning to hire an attorney, but while there was "inappropriate communication" with Terri Horman, he never had sex with her.

Kaine Horman, told "Good Morning America" earlier this month that Terri Horman seemed to change after the birth of their 20-month-old daughter, Kiara.

"She went through some post-partum depression after the birth and her emotional state was more erratic," Horman said.

Young said she didn't believe Terri Horman from the beginning when she called to tell her that Kyron went missing from his elementary school.

"There was just certain details that just didn't make any sense that gave me that sick to my stomach feeling," Young said.