PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
An attorney for Terri Horman, the stepmother of missing Portland boy Kyron Horman, said he can prove she was not the last person to see Kyron at Skyline School in northwest Portland on the day he disappeared.
The situation was addressed in a Multnomah County courtroom Friday during a divorce hearing for Kaine and Terri Horman. Terri Horman was not there, but her defense team is pushing for visitation rights with her 4-year-old daughter.
The girl has been with Kaine Horman since Kyron's disappearance. Kaine Horman has maintained his wife was involved in Kyron's disappearance, based on information from law enforcement, which is why he doesn't want her to see their daughter.
Kaine Horman was in court Friday and his lawyer said the couple's daughter Kiara doesn't know Terri Horman and would only be traumatized by seeing her.
"We're talking about the introduction of somebody who's the central figure in a criminal investigation into a child's life and there's an incredible risk of emotional damage to this child," said Brett Engel, Kaine Horman's lawyer.
Terri Horman has never been charged in the case. Her lawyers said they want access to that same law enforcement information Kaine Horman and his lawyers are citing.
"When they claim they have factual bases for it, by virtue of communication with law enforcement sources, we are entitled to know what they know," said Stephen Houze, Terri Horman's lawyer.
The district attorney claims doing so would put the criminal case in jeopardy.
Still, Houze wants to go even further. Next week, he wants to depose witnesses from Fred Meyer, Terri Horman's gym and students from Skyline School who he claims will say she was not the last person to see Kyron.
Kyron was 7 years old when he vanished from Skyline School on June 4, 2010. His disappearance prompted the largest search in state history, but he was never found.
"It's not true," Houze said of the claims Terri Horman was the last person to see Kyron that day. "We have witnesses who will say, in fact, they know facts first-hand that demonstrate that is not true."
Kaine Horman said he realizes this situation is bigger than just a divorce proceeding. Still, he believes this effort to see their 4-year-old daughter is coming too late and he said Terri Horman hasn't filed a formal request for visitation.
"I still think we have an obligation into an ongoing investigation to find Kyron and concluding that effort while pursuing what's in my daughter's best interest along that path," Kaine Horman said. "And, at some point, there's going to be closure to both."
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Terri Horman
Kaine Horman
Kyron Horman
