View full sizeDesiree Young, mother of Kyron Horman, walks away from microphones near Kyron's 'Wall of Hope' after giving a news conference on Oct. 1, 2010. After searchers failed to find any sign of her son when they resumed the search Sunday, she said not knowing the boy's fate is "the worst cruel punishment that a woman has to go through." "It's torture," said Desiree Young. "It's the worst cruel punishment that a woman has to go through."
Young knew, however, that the search on Sunday in areas north and west of Portland with specially trained dogs would be difficult.
"The area that they were searching is kind of vast," she said. "I know that we were going into this with the idea that it would be an extremely difficult search."
She said she knew about plans for Sunday's search since a briefing with investigators before Thanksgiving. She said they told her and Kyron's father, Kaine Horman, they had solid new evidence.
She did not say what that was but said the briefing has forced her to confront the worst possibility."That briefing was a turning point," she said. "Now I'm prepared for the answer no matter how it comes out. I just want to know the answer."
The all-day effort focused on several parcels of private property, mostly logging land, along Northwest Skyline Boulevard between Rocky Point Road and Logie Trail Road and around the Dixie Mountain area.
Multnomah County's search-and-rescue unit joined volunteers from six groups, including Search One K9 Detection, North Oregon Regional Search and Rescue, Oregon K9 Search Teams, Mountain Wave Communications, Yamhill County Dog Team and Pacific Crest K9.
Teams with dogs checked seven of 11 designated areas, ranging from three to six acres in size. Ground searchers were only able to cover one of three other areas.
No sign of Kyron turned up.
The boy, who was 7 when he disappeared, hasn't been seen since he was taken to Skyline School by his stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman, the morning of June 4 for a science fair. She told investigators she said goodbye to him as he walked towards his classroom at 8:45 a.m. that morning.
He did not make it to class but was not reported missing until that afternoon when Horman and Kyron's father, Kaine Horman, went to the school bus stop near their home on Northwest Sheltered Nook Road west of Skyline and discovered that the boy was not on the bus.
Although no one's been named a suspect or person of interest, investigators have focused on Terri Horman, who's retained Stephen Houze, a prominent Portland defense attorney. Horman has not commented on the case and is currently living with her parents in Roseburg, in the same home that she grew up in.
"We're not making any comments whatever because it's an ongoing investigation," said Stephen Houze.
Kaine Horman, who was unavailable for comment on the case, is seeking a divorce from Terri Horman.
-- Lynne Terry