PORTLAND — Attorneys for the father of missing Oregon boy Kyron Horman have asked a judge to delay his divorce from the child’s stepmother, Terri Moulton Horman.
Kaine Horman filed for divorce in June 2010, less than a month after his 7-year-old son vanished from a Portland school. No arrests have been made in Kyron’s disappearance, but Kaine Horman and the boy’s biological mother believe Terri Horman knows what happened.
Kaine Horman said after Monday’s hearing that he wants the delay to allow the criminal investigation to proceed without interference, and to protect his 4-year-old daughter.
“We’re doing the absolute best we can,” Kaine Horman told The Oregonian. “She puts a smile on our face every day.”
One of his attorneys, Brett Engel, questioned how the court could decide whether it’s in the best interest of the couple’s daughter to have contact with her mother, without knowing if Terri Horman was responsible for Kyron’s disappearance.
“If (Kaine) believes this woman is responsible for Kyron’s disappearance, do you think he’ll feel good about providing spousal support?” Engel asked in court.
Terri Horman’s divorce attorney, Peter Bunch, argued against any postponement. He suggested the divorce proceedings go forward, with limitations placed on what questions can be asked of his client.
“Two years, seven months — that’s how long it’s been,” Bunch said. “That’s a long time.”
Judge Henry Kantor said he would rule in about two weeks.
Terri Horman, who lives 175 miles south of Portland in Roseburg, did not attend the hearing.
Kyron Horman was last seen at Skyline School on June 4, 2010. His stepmother had driven him there for a science fair.
Kaine Horman filed for divorce 24 days later, shortly after investigators told him that six months earlier he had been the target of a murder-for-hire plot discussed by Terri Horman and a landscaper. He has had sole custody of their daughter since then.
