Portland, OR- As many of you have been following since June 2010, there is a new development today in the disappearance of Kyron Horman.
As predicted at BOC, the civil suit brought by Deisree Young, Kyron’s Mother, against Terri Horman, Kyron’s step-mother and the defacto suspect in his disappearance has been granted an abatement.
In a sealed filing, motions by Assistant District Attorney Michael Schrunk and Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton were granted, delaying the suit . The motions included supporting affidavits that continuing the action as already ruled would compromise the investigation.
Terri Horman’s lawyers originally fought vehemently to abate the action, but were unsuccessful. As recently as last week, the Judge in the case ordered medical records to be accessible to both parties to the action.
In Judge Kantnor’s decision to NOT abate the suit at the request of Attorney Peter Bunch for Terri Horman, the Multnomah County Prosecutors Office declared “no position” on the matter after being contacted by the court.
It is not known if that order prompted the request to delay the suit .
Sheriff Stanton, Eldin Rosenthal, Norm Frink and Stephen Houze declined comment at press time.
On Monday, Judge Henry Kantor granted the motions to abate the civil proceeding and ordered the motions and affidavits filed by the district attorney and sheriff sealed.
A hearing had been scheduled for Dec. 14 to hear Young’s attorney argue before the court to compel testimony from DeDe Spicher, an alleged witness in the case. Today’s ruling is likely to render a postponement of that proceeding.
Sheriff Dan Staton, told Oregon Live, it is based on early leads that are now panning out:
“There are a couple of investigative pieces that are going to open up,” Staton told The Oregonian Tuesday. “Our belief is they’re going to open up several investigative doors.”
He said the new “investigative avenues” are based on information collected in the early phase of the investigation that are now yielding some results.
Desiree Young, Kyron’s biological mother and arguably the bravest soul in recent memory as far as the frantic and grieving mom’s of missing children’s set is concerned, believes her youngest son has been kidnapped by Terri Horman.
Or that she arranged for same by some unknown party and is demanding his location or the location of his remains.
Her recent civil suit filed by Eldon Rosenthal makes these direct allegations against the woman that by her own admission, she entrusted with the care of her toddler son in 2003.
Her suit is demanding $10 million dollars with a reservation to amend to include punitive damages later. The complaint is 5 pages long, or apparently $2million a page.
Last month a ruling by Judge Harry Kantor denying an abatement motion will allow the suit to proceed, for now.
The decision was widely seen as a win for Desiree Young in her tenacious quest to seek answers in the disappearance of her son Kyron from The Skyline School on June 4th, 2010. Headlines throughout the region and the evening talking head regulars praised the Judge’s decision for the Mom who has had no previous success in very public campaigns to engage Terri Horman’s cooperation in the investigation.
The legal community however, not so much. The decision to move the case forward relied largely on the fact that although it was patently clear from Ms. Young’s filing and subsequent public commentary by her and counsel Eldon Rosenthal that she alleges Horman has committed criminal acts resulting in the disappearance of Kyron Horman.
Terri Horman has neither been declared a suspect by police nor has she been indicted by a grand jury who continues to meet on the case.
Kaine Horman, Kyron’s father, learned about the suit filed by his former wife by a member of the media seeking comment on his reaction to it. He has not been made a party to the civil action although he was awarded primary physical custody of the couple’s son in March, 2004.
I count myself with the thousands that want this aggrieved Mother and Father to locate their child regardless of the outcome.
That said, it is ridiculous to think a woman whose criminal attorney has advised her not to respond to a twice- renewed restraining order precluding her from seeing her now 3 year old daughter is going to utter a syllable outside of assertion of her 5th amendment rights during any deposition she is compelled to participate in.
On June 4, 2010, Terri Horman, acting alone or in concert with others, intentionally kidnapped Kyron Horman from ; Skyline Elementary School. Kyron has not been seen or heard from by either of his parents since prior to Terri Horman taking Kyron to school that morning.
Did Not Miss The Memo
The Honorable Harry Kantor penned an accompanying order memorandum to his ruling following oral arguments on August 18th, It is worthy of the Honorable Belvin Perry’s stamp of approval- with the exception of course that is does not contain the phrase, “no earthly idea.”
It did however; contain the first ever direct statement that Terri Horman is a suspect in the investigation, a PRIME suspect, no less. In pertinent part:
“..The focus of the defendant’s motion is to stop the prosecution of this civil case while an ongoing active criminal investigation into both young Kyron Horman’s disappearance in 2010 and a murder-for-hire plot against Kyron’s father, Kaine Horman, is pending, so that the defendant (Terri Horman, Kyron’s step-mother and Kaine’s wife) is not required to decide whether to exercise her constitutional rights against self-incrimination under the United States and Oregon Constitutions before it is necessary to do so in any criminal prosecution which may follow the investigation. The plaintiff is Kyron ‘smother. The defendant is a prime suspect in the investigation …” (emphasis added by me)
Interestingly, Judge Kantor takes it upon himself to declare Terri Horman a prime suspect in BOTH the ongoing criminal investigations of a murder for hire plot and Kyron’s disappearance.
While it is a fair statement to say that both sides agree that Terri Horman is the subject or focus via “laser pointer” of the investigation into Kyron’s disappearance and her attorneys used that point to support abatement. At no time and in no document or filing has either side said Terri Horman was a prime suspect of anything? Where does Judge Kantor come by such information?
For his Honor to state his concern over tainting a jury pool, and then to allege, or divulge, as it were, that Terri Horman is a prime suspect in a murder for hire plot in an ongoing criminal investigation- is he privy to such information from some alternative source that is not contained on the record?
A request for any exparte information should be forthcoming. Where is the conversation with District Attorney Rod Underhill or his office read into the record? It has not been.
Lea Conner, Washington Family Attorney and BOC legal analyst sees Judge Kantor’s take differently:
“…The judge is not referring exclusively to the Desiree Young lawsuit.
Kaine Horman claimed in his TRO petition that law enforcement provided him with probable cause to believe that Terri Horman had attempted to hire someone to kill him.
He again made the same claim in papers filed after the TRO petition (specifically alleging that Terri was sexting the landscaper who she wanted to murder him, then allegedly sexted Michael Cook).
Kaine reiterated his allegations a third time in papers he filed last fall in response to Terri Horman’s motion for parenting time.
Kaine once again claimed Terri Horman tried to hire a hit man when he sought to renew the restraining order in 2011. There was an additional line added to the renewal, and though it sounded like something new, it was just Kaine reiterating the same allegations.
The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment applies to criminal matters, and it does not allow prior testimonial statements of witnesses to be admitted where the witness has since become unavailable. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004).
Here, we are talking about a civil matter. The Confrontation Clause and the holding of Crawford do not apply to civil matters or other non-criminal proceedings…”
In Oregon, a special appearance is used by a party who wishes to vacate an unauthorized proceeding without consenting to jurisdiction of the court:
A “special appearance” is made by a party when he or his attorney seeks to obtain from the court an order vacating some proceeding which, it is insisted, has been undertaken by the adverse party in an unauthorized manner; such an appearance being thus limited to prevent conferring jurisdiction of the person. Again, Ms. Conner’s thoughts:
…” The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the judge’s point was the last couple of pages that says Terri Horman’s lawyers cannot make any motion without appearing. This is to say that a special appearance allows a challenge as to the validity of a specific action, but it does not otherwise allow an attorney (nor a party) to file other types of motions or to seek other relief, as was done here.
The abatement that the attorneys sought would act as a protective order. Abatement is not a challenge to the propriety nor validity of the underlying action. As such, Terri Horman’s lawyers needed to appear before filing a motion as to the issue of abatement. ..”
Judge Kantor chose the teamwork approach in an adversarial proceeding, and instructed Terri Horman’s counsel they will need to file an appearance. He attempts to present the case’s challenges to both sides and seeks input as to how best to protect the rights of the defendant, in pertinent part:
The court does not have any particular length of time for this delay in mind at this juncture. lnstead, the court would like the parties and their lawyers to consult and confer about the following and then report back:
1. Should the court require the defendant to file an answer to the complaint which admits or denies the plaintiffs allegations or simply allow the defendant to litigate as if she denied those allegations? If so, by when and for how long?
2. Should the plaintiff be required to establish “reasonable suspicion” or “probable cause” (as defined in criminal cases) that the defendant has done what is alleged through other evidence before the defendant is required to answer oral or written deposition questions under oath?
3. Should the plaintiff be required to serve written deposition questions, which would be subject to court review upon proper motion, and review the answers before taking the defendant’s oral deposition?
Once the court has the parties’ answers to these questions, I will meet with the lawyers to form a schedule and plan for this case. Further briefing and hearings may be required as well.
Defacto Suspect Is Defacto Parent?
History is rife with hellacious stories of parents killing their own children, their own families, and ones parent status should not be considered a reason to exclude anyone. In fact, as we all know, it is 90% more likely that Kyron disappeared due to the actions of a parent or family member and all law enforcement investigators begin a parallel investigation of all with access or motive, from the start.
A hypotenuse only exists within a right triangle. This case is anything but.
Horman, through her attorneys has already certified she will protect her right not to incriminate herself and considering one of the remedies Ms. Young is seeking is that she does just that- who chaired the risk vs. reward strategy meeting in this case in its current form?
In Horman’s favor, Oregon law is one of few in the country that specifies that a jury cannot take the fact that she pleads the fifth and ostensibly cannot or is very limited in her ability to defend her case into its deliberation considerations.
Has Desiree Young been appropriately prepared for the litany of possibilities that might arise out of this filing?
Like, say, a counter suit or an effective defense resulting in a dismissal with prejudice? An award for Horman’s attorney fees ?
For the record, for those of you cringing while reading that remark, I cringed at writing it. (more…)
Kyron Horman would be 10 years old this Sunday. Maybe he will be. According to his Father Intel engineer Kaine Horman, his only son is alive and well at an unknown location “secreted” away by an unknown person with an unknown connection to his estranged wife Terri Horman.
Kyron Horman’s biological Mother, Desiree Young, or Momma as he called her, believes Kyron is either alive or deceased- both locations known to Terri Horman and possibly others.
Reader interest in what I have affectionately dubbed our “red eyed tree frog dude” has produced well over 20,000 comments on this site alone.
In our upcoming report series, Blink On Crime, in conjunction with contributing BOC legal analyst Washington Attorney Lea Conner intends to review both current information in detail as well as exclusive new information developed by Editor In Chief and Chief criminal analyst, S. Christina Stoy.
Part I: Desiree Young V Terri Horman Case : The Little Engine That Could, Or Could Not?
Part II: Sovereignty Is A Myth: Revelations About The Morning Kyron Disappeared
Part III: The Big Muscle Theory- Does It Have Weight?
Sauvie Island, Oregon-There are unconfirmed reports that a teenage boy fishing off of Sauvie Island located a human skull, and potentially other human body parts.
Update 1: As referenced on KOIN, a teenage fisherman believes he snagged a scalp with human hair attached, which he originally thought was horse hair. Columbia County detectives cordoned off the scene last evening and MCSO dive teams entered the water but found nothing. The possible “hair” was sent for testing.
Multnomah County Sheriff Office will not comment on the find, or confirm whether their office has facilitated the removal of same, or forwarded any items to the medical examiner for testing.
Following the disappearance of Kyron Horman, Sauvie Island has been the subject of repeated searchers for the missing Skyline second grader with no results.
It is also the former home of a man considered to be Federal fugitive following a confrontation with a Lincoln City officer with nearly fatal results. Officer Steven Dodds was able to return to duty after extensive rehabilitation.
Durham was a Sauvie Island resident for over 6 years and a volunteer fire fighter until he was removed from duty 6 months prior to the shooting.
David Durham’s dog was recovered injured following what appeared to be an accident in the suspects vehicle and is being cared for by a friend of the family. Mr. Durham has not been seen since his vehicle was recovered in the bay town of Waldport, Oregon.
Please check back to www.blinkoncrime.com for updates to this breaking story.
It is not coming out in the”wash” for Isabel. There are suspects. She continues to be missing and presumed abducted.
Jerry Sandusky: “Touched” His Victims, Judged By His Peers. The Sandusky Trial Begins
9 Non-sequestered jurors chosen and judge decides victims must be named.
Natalee Holloway and Peruvian Convicted Murderer Joran van der Sloot’s Not So Excellent Adventure To The US For Extortion: Is it Justice Disguised or Justice REFINED?
While the thought of Joran passing through customs via US Marshalls on US soil skeeves me out, Is it the home away from prison that Joran wishes to tell the truth for?? Natalee deserves justice.
Kyron Horman Missing For 2 Years Yields Civil Suit: Parents Divided SO Who IS United??
Kyron’s mother files a civil suit against defacto suspect and step mom, Terri Horman.
www.blinkoncrime will continue to be moderated while blink is on location.
Don’t miss Editor In Chief Blink, www.blinkoncrime.com discussing 2011′s most sensational and haunting true crime cases with national radio Host Dana Pretzer TONIGHT at 9PM EST. (Podcast below)
Special Guest, RED, featured political columnist and owner of www.scaredmonkeys.com at 9:50 PM.
January- David Anthony Durham shoots police officer after playing hookie from work in anticipation for an arrest, his house is located in the grid search for missing 7 year old Kyron Horman. **Unsolved, **Unrecovered
February- “Onda” Chris George- featured in a cold case investigative report in November 2010, Chris was recovered on February 21, 2011 . **Unresolved Possible Homicide
April 1 2011- Successful prosecution and life sentence of James Hattaway. No April Fools joke. Hattaway, a suspect in the disappearances of Onda Chris George, and Tracy Ocasio, was convicted of attempted murder of Rachael Clark .
The alarming violent abduction of 20 year old student Holly Bobo. Miss Bobo has not been located and their have been no updates by the TBI in her case for several months. No named person of interest in the case. **Unsolved, **Unrecovered
May- Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is executed upon refusal to surrender by US Navy Seals.
May/July- The trial of Casey Anthony resulting in her acquittal in all changes except 4 counts of lying to police. Ms. Anthony has been renamed the C-word by www.blinkoncrime.com and recently released her first video diary as a blonde with a really bad cut.
June- Disappearance of Jacque Waller, wife of former cop and general con man Clay Waller. Jacque has not been recovered, but Clay is in prison on unrelated charges currently and the couple’s children are in the custody of Jacque’s family. According to Clay’s dad , he has already confessed to her murder.
June -Successful prosecution resulting in a life sentence for the murder of Christine Sheddy, a 5 part cold case series developed in 2010 and featured on BOC for the purposes of progressing her case. Justen Hadel, one of the primary suspects in the case ending up confessing, and our information was correct that Christine was murdered on the Byrd road property. I spent a day on in 105 degree weather followed by a mini-hurricane on this hell-hole property I will never forget. I continue to seek justice in the hope a prosecution will follow for Clarence Jackson and Tia.
July/August 2011- Celina Cass missing, and recovery of her remains. While it is presumed a homicide, her cause of death has not been determined or released. Wendell Noyes, her stepfather is the only non-official person of interest. Celina’s mother left him while he underwent psychiatric care upon the news of Celina’s recovery. It is my solid opinion that Wendell is involved in Celina’s death and disposal of her remains in a water treatment (). There have been no arrests or indictments in this case to date.
August 19, 2011. West Memphis Three- Two days after I wrote a series about the murders of 3 8 year old boys in June of 1993 by 3 teenage boys known as the West Memphis Three, all three plead guilty to an alford plea after the state agreed to a deal proffered by the defense team, funded by the Hollywood elite. So far, Reese Witherspoon has been cast as Pam Hobbs, mother of Stevie Branch. In November, the parents wrote a letter to the Chair of the AMPAS documentary committee asking that they not con sider the HBO commissioned Paradise Lost 3, Purgatory for an award. We featured the entire letter as a front page on the site, in support.
September 2011- The Susan Powell case- The roller coaster of we found remains, wait, not remains, but former remains in burned wood chips. The subsequent arrest of Susan’s freak in law
October 2011- The disappearance of Karen Swift, mother of four. Karen was located on December (), and has yet to have her autopsy completed or her remains released. Sheriff Box of the Dyer County Sheriffs Office has not named a suspect, but it is widely known that the primary person of interest is David Swift, Karen’s recently estranged husband.
Missing 10 month old Lisa Irwin- No new anything in this case, since Joe Tacopina of Joran VanDerSloot fame took the case to represent the parents. A lead developed from Deb Bradley’s phone produced a juggalo chic whose phone was called in what is believed to be in the middle of the alleged crime, and did ping close to the Irwin residence. Megan Wright’s former boyfriend known as Jersey was subsequently arrested for tampering with a vehicle. She claims not to know anything in the case and that her phone was used by several members of a household she was since asked to leave.
Amanda Knox Acquittal- what many did not know about the prosecutor will change most of your opinions in this case. Blink dubs Giuliano Mignini “The Mike Nifong” of Perusia.
Over 40 counts of child sexual abuse are filed in an indictment against former PSU offensive coordinator and Second Mile founder Jerry Sandusky. Tim Curley and Gary Schwartz are indicted and held for trial for perjury in their grand jury testimony. Mike McQueary stands firm in his testimony during the preliminary hearing. Blink uncovers a possible insurance scandal paying the legal bills.
