One year later, Kyron Hormon mystery continues

A year ago today, seven-year-old Kyron Horman disappeared from his elementary school in Portland, Oregon.

Since then, countless people have searched for him, to no avail. But his family continues to hold out hope that he will be found.

According to the Multomah County Sheriff's Office, "To date--through leads, interviews, search reports, search warrants and evidence collection--more than 68 four-inch investigative binders have been compiled. The total number of leads has exceeded 4,500, with over 3,500 interviews having been conducted by investigators. The Sheriff's Office and Task Force investigators have invested over 26,650 hours into the case to date. Additionally, Multnomah County Search and Rescue Coordinators and volunteers have logged 24,638 hours in the effort to find Kyron."

On "The Early Show on Saturday Morning," Kyron's mother, Desiree Young, told co-anchor Rebecca Jarvis what keeps her going is she knows "if I don't do it, nobody's going to. And so I stay focused on making sure that everybody's aware of Kyron, and the case, and keeping his name and face out there. And just keeping the pressure up on Terri (Horman, Kyron's stepmother, since divorced from Kyron's father, and the last person known to have seen the second-grader alive), and just making sure that there's as much coverage on it as possible."

Terri Horman, Young said, hasn't helped investigators. "She still refuses to talk," Young said.

Does Young think Terri Horman knows something?

"Oh, yes. She did something to Kyron that day. She knows exactly what happened that day and what she did to him."

"We look forward," Young said, "to some renewed searching in the hopefully near future, with the weather coming into summer. We should have some nice weather to do some of our searching again. And I think that that's gonna be key in helping us find Kyron."

But Bruce McCain, a former captain with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, told Jarvis it's most likely someone will come upon Kyron's remains.

He added, "We may not see as many public searches as we have before as this investigation gets scaled back, primarily because of the money issue. They just crossed the $2 million mark and the new fiscal year starts, and they' not going to be able to afford to keep going like they have in the past."

McCain observed, "This will more than likely turn into an unsolved case, until Kyron himself is discovered by someone somewhere. ... The sheriff himself has expressed public doubt as to whether Kyron is alive or dead, and as long as that reasonable doubt exists in the sheriff's mind, there simply won't be an arrest or prosecution in this case, because they simply don't know what happened to Kyron.

"This is not an unsolved child homicide. It is a missing child case. And that's all it is at this point. In fact, we don't even know what the crime or crimes are, let alone who did it. So -- an arrest in this case won't end it. That will simply start the prosecution. And we're a long way from that.

"Chances are, these cases will resolve themselves. But more than likely, it's going to be through the help of an unwitting hiker or someplace else that will stumble upon Kyron's remains. I know Desiree probably doesn't want to hear that, but I know she's braced for that and prepared for it. The best news is that he comes home alive, soon, rather than later. But it's gonna take some time."