Oregon Public Broadcasting

Beth Hyams: Today a Multnomah County judge released the petition that Kaine Horman filled out to get a restraining order against his wife, Terri Horman.  She’s the stepmother of missing 2nd grader, Kyron Horman.  Kristian Foden-Vencil has looked through the document and joined me in the studio, welcome.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

Terri Horman

Kristian Foden-Vencil: Thank you.

Beth: First, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Keith Meisenheimer originally sealed these documents. Why did he decide to release them?

Kristian: Well, there are several reasons.

First, the 'Multnomah County Major Crime Team' -- which is investigating this case -- told him it would no-longer undermine their work.

The county's deputy DA cited the media coverage over the long weekend -- meaning basically, the cat is already out of the bag on some of the details, so keeping it secret doesn't help anymore.

The second reason is that news organizations, including OPB, petitioned for the court to release the restraining order.  And the issue has gone as high as the state supreme court.

So all of those probably played a part.

I should also say that there's nothing in the documents to say that the subject of the order, that is  the stepmother Terri Horman, fought the release.

My calls to her Thursday haven't been returned, so I don't know for sure.

Beth: Do the documents show anything new?

Kristian: Well, a lot of the most incendiary material already leaked out last weekend. Essentially, Kaine  Horman blames Terri Horman for Kyron's disappearance.

He writes, "I believe (the) respondent is involved in the disappearance of my son."He then says: "I also recently learned that (the) respondent attempted to hire someone to murder me. The police have provided me with probable cause to believe the above two statements."

It's grim reading, but has been reported before.

According to media reports, police tried to conduct a sting on Terri Horman. A landscaper she allegedly had asked to kill her husband, knocked on her door asking for hush money. He was wearing a wire, and an undercover cop was with him.

She called 911.

A couple of other points of interest in the restraining order are that Terri Horman is banned from possessing a fire arm or any ammunition. The order also stops her from having any contact with her 19 month-old daughter, Kiara. 

Beth: Well, what has been the response to the release of the documents?

Kristian: Well, I've called Terri Horman, the sheriff's office, and Kaine Horman's lawyer, all with no luck. But Kyron's Dad, his mother, and his step father have scheduled a press conference for 5 o'clock today. So we might find out more then.

But they've also set out a couple of interesting ground rules. They say their main focus is keeping Kyron in the news, not their domestic relationships. So they've warned members of the media to quote: 'play nice' or they'll be asked to leave.

Beth:  Still, with the release of this document today, they’re bound to be bombarded with questions.

Kristian: I'm sure they're going to be asked about Kaine Horman’s belief that Terri Horman was involved in Kyron's disappearance. And about claims that she tried to hire a contract killer. Whether they'll answer those questions remains to be seen.

But in the past, they have talked about family -- especially when they asked Terri Horman to cooperate with the police investigation.

Again, I want to make it clear that while there's a lot of discussion about what Terri Horman knows, the police say they have neither a suspect in the case, nor a person of interest.

Beth: Thank you.

Krisitan: My pleasure.

Beth: That’s OPB’s Kristian Foden-Vencil. Kyron Horman’s mother, father and stepfather are meeting reporters at 5:00 pm in Beaverton.