becoming concern about the fourth. >> i thought that something must not be right. >> then, a stunning revelation. do you really think she is capable of hurting a child? >> based on what i know now? i think anything is possible. >> tonight, the very latest on the search and the investigat n investigation, "little boy the search and the investigat n investigation, "little boy lost." captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening and welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry. you may have heard about kyron horman, the little boy who disappeared from his school in oregon last month there has been a massive search, an ongoing investigation. his family, which started out united in trying to find him now finds itself torn apart. tonight, new details on why careen's parents, who might have found solace within the family's ranks have instead found cause for suspicion. here's kate snow. >> reporter: kyron horman, the 7-year-old boy whose crooked smile showed the world the tooth fairy had just paid a visit and made parents across the country stop to hug their own kids close. >> everybody's in shock that this could happen in our little school that we all -- everybody knows everybody. >> reporter: that gap-toothed grin of careen now covers billboards, t-shirts, fliers. from the moment he went missing, the boy in the photo brought out hundreds of people combing through the dense forest near his school and home, working around the clock to find the missing second grader alive. >> any small tidbit of information. >> careen! >> he is not there with us, so, it is still pretty empty. >> reporter: tonight, careen's biological parents, kaine and des ray and desiree's husband, tony, speak out, what it's like to lose a precious little boy. >> where did he go? how come no one knows where he is? >> reporter: pain, the guilt. how do they keep their hope? >> it's hard, because he is not here. but it's also comforting to have his stuff around, too. >> reporter: and what happened to make them suspicious of one of their own? >> i don't care if they ask you to take ten polygraphs, you have got to do it. >> reporter: we go inside the family circle in this time of crisis to bring you the latest twist in a surprising, often stunning, story. >> what's going on behind the scenes? what's going on in the horman home? >> reporter: the sheriff's department says it tracked more than 3,000 leads. they say they continue to make significant progress, but as of tonight, kyron horman is still a little boy lost. he is only 7, a bit shy, awkward even, the kind of little guy who is just starting to discover his world. his mother, des ray and his father, kaine, by his side along the way. >> he is the kind of son that every father hopes they are gonna v. >> he likes to get dirty. he is a typical 7-year-old that gets dirty all the time. >> reporter: careen's parents shared their photo album, a treasure trove of memories, hundreds of images from careen's childhood. it is hard to spot a single one where he is not smiling. you trace the seven years of careen's life, all the way back to day one. >> when he was born, he took quite a while. he just didn't want to come out. and when he finally came out, he peed. >> as boys do? >> yes. and the doctor said, okay, well, the plumbing works. you remember that day came? >> yeah and the birthing classes we had gone to the instruct terror had recommended for dads, in order to get closer with your child, they actually encourage to you take your shirt off and hold your baby close so they can get your smell. >> took off your shirt and held him? >> close. and it's really been that close of a bond ever since much. >> reporter: it's a bond that stayed strong through a family shakeup early on. you two separated somewhere around the birth of careen? >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: kaine and desiree both remarried, kaine to terry horman and desiree to tony young. in this new, blended family, careen's two parents became four and he now had two older brothers, desiree and terri's older sons from previous marriages. and then about 20 months ago, kaine and terri had a little girl, kiara. like so many american families, you have the stepmother, stepfather, mom, dad, extended family. how did that all work in raising careen? >> we just made sure that we got along and we sacrificed things that needed to be sacrificed for the good of the kids and just dedicated our emotional energy and not at each other. >> reporter: they got along as best they could. around the age of 2, kyron began living with his father and stepmother full time in portland. friends say terri was an attentive stepmom, active in kyron's school. was she a godmother? >> i wouldn't say she would replace me, obviously, but she definitely gave him what he needed. >> reporter: kyron's mom would visit him often in portland or kyron would make the trip on weekends and who will dies their house, five hours south in medford, oregon. the years flew by and kyron grew up. here he is whistling at a school concert and here, reading a school report on bridge construction. >> reporter: by second grade, he loved math and he loved to tell people what he was learning. >> everybody loved to have him, the happy noises that come from him, the constant questioning that a 7-year-old has, the curiosity. >> sense of humor? >> yeah. >> tell jokes a lot? >> yeah. he is funny. he catches things that you don't think he catches. comes out his mouth and look at him and laugh where did you get a? >> reporter: desiree's sister, kelly ramirez, remembers that smile. >> he lost all his teeth so early, he just had all these crazy teeth growing in at the same time and he would just smile at you with that smile and you couldn't help but smile back. >> reporter: kyron loved going to school, especially riding the bus to join the other second graders in ms. porter's class in skyline elementary, a small school nestled in the farm lands and woods, west of downtown portland. in june, kyron's school year was coming to a close. kyron's mom, desiree, says the family was looking forward to big summer vacation plans. >> we had quite a few trips planned. we have a house boat reserved for august and he is going to be home for that. we also have a lot of camping trips planned and he had a trip down the california planned. >> lots of plans? >> yeah. >> and you still have them? >> yeah. >> reporter: but seven weeks ago, those plans were put on hold when kyron horman didn't get off the bus after school, and seemed to vanish without a trace. coming up, kyron isn't on the bus or anywhere else. >> that's went panic started to set in. >> reporter: when "little boy lost" continues. 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>> i did. >> reporter: kaine left for his job as a software engineer at m tell. kaine's wife, terri, took care ton school in the white pickup truck. they won't to school early to tour the fair with other kids before the first bell. erin burnett. >> it is an opportunity to be the parents with their children and going between the classrooms and seeing the different exhibits and taking pride in their child's accomplishments and i think it is a very, very proud morning for kyron. >> reporter: later that day, kyron's stepmom, terri, posted this photo on her facebook account of her beaming stepson next to his completed science project. >> saw him with his stepmom and, you know, looking at his exhi t exhibits and just like the other families who were here. >> reporter: then the morning bell rang. the regular school day was beginning. time for kids to head to their classrooms and for their parents to start to filter out, a routine part of the day that would later become a critical moment for investigators terri horman said 8:45 in the morning, the last time she saw her stepson, keirn, he was walking down this hallway in this school on his way to his second grade classroom t is unclear who if anyone, saw him after that point, or where, but ms. porter started class as usual, reading group, then recess, then lunch. at some point in the day, kyron was marked absent. at 3 p.m., it was time for the school buses to line up, kids tired from a full day filed on board and plopped down in their seats, all but one. do you remember going out with your daughter to meet the bus? >> mm-hmm. i remember that time like it was yesterday when we -- you know, went downstairs and got her and put her shoes on and her and i started walking down the driveway to meet him at the bus. >> and he wasn't there? >> nope. >> did you know something was wrong right then or did you think, well, maybe he is just back at school, expecting me to pick him up? >> that is what i thought originally, you thought it is a mistake, we will go get him and then the bus driver called up to the school to double check, 'cause he wasn't on the bus. so she called the school to see where he was and said he hadn't been at school all day and that's went panic started to set in. >> reporter: kaine says he and his wife, terri, jumped into their consider and raced the few miles to the school. do you remember the words you exchanged? do you remember that moment? >> not really. i don't remember much of the conversation other than just where could he be? what happened today? you dropped him off at school. just kind of walking through her morning, but it was so quick, 'cause we were at the school within about five minutes so there wasn't a lot of dialogue. >> reporter: five hours south in medford, oregon, kyron's biological mother, des ray about was to get looped into the nightmarish reality developing at her son's school. >> i got a phone call from the school and she said this desiree young? i said yes it is. she said you are listed as emergency notification for kyron horman? and i said yeah, he is my son. what could i do? and she said, i have to notify you, he is missing. and for a split second, i thought it was a joke and i said, what? she said, he's missing. i said, i don't understand. how could he be missing? i said, okay, where is terri and kaine? well, terri's here. all right. thank you. and i hung up with her and immediately called terri and i cussed a little bit, said what the hell's going on? and she said that they went to the science fair and everything was fine and she waved good-bye to him and he went into his class, or so she thought. >> reporter: but even if those first hours of crisis, desiree had an unsettling feeling, that maybe she wasn't hearing the full story. >> there was something in my gut that just didn't feel good. >> reporter: coming up, it's not just desiree starting to wonder, as terri keeps talking to investigators, others become suspicious about her story, too. >> there's starting to be some structural problems with what she's saying at that point. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. hi, may i help you? 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and she seemed surprised at that, which i thought was strange. i said, of course i am. i will be there in, you know, four, four and a half hours. >> we are looking for any clues he might have dropped, his hat. >> reporter: as night fell, search continued outside skyline school with flashlights and dog bus something was also brewing inside the horman house, where all four parents were gathered together, kaine and terri, desiree and tony. tony has had a unique perspective from day one. he is not only kyron's stepfather, he is also a police detective back in medford and tonight, he is speaking out for the first time. >> i was watching the investigation right from the start. >> reporter: tony says that first night, because he knows so much about how police operate, he was walking the family through what to expect. >> i explained to each -- each person that now our lives are not private anymore, that the investigators are going to want to know very detailed information about our lives. >> reporter: that's when tony noticed something unsettling. he says terri, kyron's stepmom, seemed to bristle at the idea she would be questioned. she instantly started to express some displeasure at that and not wanting -- feeling like she was persecuted. and i thought that was kind of an unusual reaction that early. >> reporter: but tony says he wanted to keep an open mind and the goal, of course, was finding kyron. the question, did he wander off, get lost or hurt in the rough terrain around the school? >> he is just a very timid, sweet boy. >> reporter: gina zimmermann, a parent from skyline, says the kyron she knows would never just walk out of school, especially on such an important day. >> he did the red-eyed frog. he was very proud of it and wanted to be there. >> he would not have left to go wander around. >> reporter: but what if he didn't leave alone? on that busy morning here at skyline elementary, could someone, a stranger, have slipped kyron out of the building without anyone noticing? it is a small school but there are eight doors in and out, most of them unmonitored. concern and baffled neighbors, friend he is and parents flocked to skyline elementary, wanting to do something, anything, to help find kyron. and on the one-week anniversary of his disappearance, kyron's parents, all four, appeared in public for the first time. >> kyron, we miss you. we love you and we need you home right now. >> please help us bring kyron home. >> reporter: members of the family stood side by side a unified front, but look closely and you can see some interesting body language between kyron's mother, desiree, on the left, in the sweat, and his stepmother, terri. >> she reached -- she put her arm around you at one point? >> mm-hmm. >> and you kind of seemed, maybe to stiffen a little bit. >> um, i don't know. it's a little strange for your ex-husband's new wife to be hugging you and caressing you. it just seemed strange to me. >> reporter: that strange feeling for desiree had been steadily growing into full-blown suspicion. it started when all four family members submitted to lie detector tests. tony tells "dateline" he noticed right away that something wasn't gelling for detectives, because they asked terri horman to submit to a polygraph more than once. >> i thought that something must not be right, something must not be allowing them to check her off their list. >> isn't it possible though that she was just nervous that she didn't pass her lie detector test with flying colors because she was emotional or upset? >> there's more to it than just that. the information that you're giving, does it -- does it hit your ear and sound right? does it make sense? >> she wasn't making sense? >> not from the information i heard from her. >> reporter: a source close to the family says terri complained the polygraph test made her feel like a criminal. investigators, she says, were aggressive and tried to rattle her. tony and desiree say the biggest question marks revolved around terri's whereabouts that morning that kyron went missing. >> she couldn't explain to them for about two hours worth of time where she was or what she was doing. >> reporter: and there was something else that gave desiree and tony a sinking feeling that something wasn't right. they say terri's cell phone records apparently didn't match up with where she said she was on the morning of kyron's disappearance. >> that, to me, is strike two. that's huge. there's starting to be some structural problems with what she's saying at that point. and then it continues to stack up. >> reporter: strike two. and with that, desiree and tony began to put pressure on terri to talk with investigators again, tell them everything she knows. >> i tried to use my mother card, from one mother to another. i tried to get her to understand that if the tables were turned and i was the last person seen with kiara, would she not want me to do everything possible to bring kiara home? and she said, of course. i said, okay then. i've got cooperate with them. and i don't care if they ask you to take ten polygraphs, you've got to do it. it's just the right thing to do, for kyron. >> is that one of the last times you spoke to her? >> yeah. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: despite desiree and tony's suspicions in private in public, the four parents stood together again two days after their first disappearance and listened to the sheriff announce a key shift in the case, the major search effort, the largest in state history, would be scaled back. and something else. >> we are going to continue this investigation on a criminal level. >> reporter: it was now a criminal matter for police and it appeared that one of the people at the front and center of their investigation was one of the family members standing right behind them. coming up, the investigation takes a shocking turn. >> this was really the first time that investigators said we're looking at this woman. we want more information about her. >> reporter: when "little boy lost" continues. got our families togetheri at olive garden the other night. c'mon pass a breadstick to your favorite uncle. ohhhh!!! ohhhh!!! we had a ball. announcer: try olive garden's two new parmesan polenta crusted dishes. sautéed chicken breasts topped with a golden parmesan crust. or try our tender steak medallions. both with mezzaluna ravioli filled with four italian cheeses in our creamy alfredo. plus unlimited salad and breadsticks. you know, these kids are growing up a lot like we did... yeah, around family. announcer: olive garden. when you're here, you're family. the victims mother as she describes what she heard on the phone when the crime took place. and b-g-e crews continue to make progress as they try to get the lights back on to thousands of customers. next on 11 news.. i think everything tastes better in the summer. my grandparents, they had a huge garden, with tomatoes and cucumbers and green beans. nothing beats the taste of fruits and vegetables in the summer. they're juicier. more colorful. they're perfect. that's why at giant, you'll find farm-stand quality fruits and vegetables, at prices you'll love. this week, enjoy summer berries, 2 for $4, and sweet white corn, 8 for $1.88. my grandfather would be very proud, and that works for me. celebrate summer, every time you shop with your giant card. >> how long have you been in this house? >> five years. going on five years. >> reporter: for desiree young, kyron horman's mother, happy memories and hope are what have kept her going during these endless, dark dives waiting for her little boy to come home. when was that taken? >> that was at the beginning of the school year. >> reporter: desiree gave "dateline" a tour of the home in southern oregon that she and her husband, tony, have made for her two boys, her old other son, and kyron, who visited on weekend and holidays while living full time in portland with his father, kaine, and stepmother, terri. did he lose his front tooth? >> uh-huh. yeah. >> did the tooth fairy come? >> of course. of course. he loves the tooth fairy. >> reporter: and she showed us the bedroom, bunk beds for the two boys, kyron's batman pillow case on the lower bunk. she has left bed unmade, the way kyron left it the last time he was here. >> his bed, i still can't bring myself to make it. it's the same as it was when he last slept in it and i can't put away his laundry. his cars are still out. he was playing with his little car wash the last time he was here. >> reporter: desiree is living with the agony of not knowing where her little boy is, a pain that grew more acute when, in the second week of the hunt for her son, authorities started calling whatever had happened to him a crime. >> it's a natural progression to move the overall focus to a criminal case. >> reporter: as part of the investigation's new focus, law enforcement distributed a flier, asking people if they had seen kyron the day he went missing, but the flier caught people's attention for another reason. it featured a picture of kyron's stepmother, terri horman and the white pickup she had driven kyron to school in that day. it even included the question, did you see terri horman at or near the school? >> the release of this flier was really the first time that investigators pointed the finger at terri horman and said we are looking at this woman. we want more information about her. >> reporter: authorities insisted the flier was only meant to jog memories about the day the little boy went missing and said terri was not a person of interest or a suspect in kyron's disappearance. but now many were wondering just who is terri horman? >> everything that we have heard from her friends suggests that terri horman loefrd stepson, kyron she cared for him. she attended school investments and was there to support him. we have also heard that she spent a lot of time caring for her 19-month-old daughter, kiara and kiara was the apple of her eye, according to friends. >> reporter: terri was a one-time teacher now actively involved in her children's education, a fitness buff who won fourth place in a body building competition in 2005, but scratch the surface and a more complicated portrait of terri horman emerges. five years ago, she was convicted of drunk driving and pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment because her older son was in the car with her at the time. and kyron's mother, desiree, has provided more details there have been reports in the portland press that desiree and terri were old friends but desiree insists that couldn't be further from the truth. she says she only learned of terri in 2002, when desiree, while eight months pregnant with kyron, says she found out that kaine had started a relationship with terri. >> unfortunately, kaine was not faithful to me and met another woman. >> that was terri? >> mm-hmm. >> so all of a sudden, you know that there is another would. you are eight months pregnant? >> yeah. >> must have been a low point in your life? >> yeah. it was pretty hard to handle. i cried solid for two months and didn't leave the bedroom because i didn't understand why she somehow equated to something that was better than me and my son. >> reporter: kaine, however, insists that he and desiree had broken up before he started seeing terri, agreeing to live separate lives under the same roof, just until their baby came along. in any event, kaine and desiree eventually divorced. at first, desiree moved into a new place near kaine's home in portland. little kyron lived with her for the first two years of his life, but desiree was sick with severe kidney problems. >> i had gotten to the point where i was in the hospital usually three or four times throughout the year. >> your kidneys were failing? >> yeah. i was so sick that i was passing out at times. >> reporter: desiree says she wasn't to canada for treatment and gave kaine temporary custody of kyron, but when she got back, still recovering and drowning in medical bills, they decide together that kyron would be best off staying with his dad. she admits that despite the anguish terri had cause herd in the past, she now thought kaine and terri could give care an good life. >> i didn't see anything that i was unhappy with. i didn't think that my child was unhappy. >> reporter: but in hindsight, she regret the decision. >> i have to say honestly, i have regret it had fted it for long time. i yo sleep because of it. >> reporter: by the third week into the investigation of kyron's disappearance, desiree's guilt was morph nothing fear and dread, while her suspicions about terri horman were rising each day. local press was now reporting that terri horman was asked to take a second polygraph test. instead of talking about kyron, the public's focus was shifting to terri. >> the fact that she has had two polygraph test and although she is not considered a suspect. >> reporter: on the "today" show on friday, june 25th, desiree held her tongue and kaine defended his wife. >> she, like the rest of us, is extremely committed to finding kyron and she is working extremely hard with investigators, as are the rest are of us, to help bring him home. >> reporter: but by that weekend a bombshell landed in kaine's lap, turning his world upside down and causing him to fear for his daughter's safety. according to kaine, police informed him of something that prompted him to flee his home with his young daughter, kiara. the next day, a saturday, more turmoil at the house. 911 calls from the home. by monday, it was clear a catastrophic rift now divided kyron's family. terri was served with divorce papers and a restraining order was obtained against her by her own husband. and did it have anything to do with kyron's disappearance? coming up, for the first time, kaine opens up about a bombshell revelation from police about terri. you have been informed she was trying to hire someone to murder you? when "dateline" continues. frankly, the idea of owning a minivan used to make me cry myself to sleep at night. but i gotta say my sienna is great. it's super stylish. oh, and the available dual-view entertainment center? awesome. hold on. i just finished episode 8. oh, boy, if i wasn't married. 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[ sponge ] so it's not a chore. avo: new revlon growluscious mascara. helps lashes grow stronger. with a unique formula that complements your lashes' natural growth cycle. 96% saw instantly longer lashes. jessica: this is the start of something big. avo: new revlon growluscious mascara. it was late june and a flurry of 911 calls, divorce papers and a restraining order begs the question, something big had just gone down in the home of kyron's father, kaine, and stepmother, terri. but what? then, on july 4th, fireworks of more than one kind lit up portland. >> a bombshell of an accusation in the kyron horman investigation. >> reporter: kaine says police informed him of a harrowing discovery. about six months before kyron went missing, kaine's wife, terri, had allegedly tried hire a landscaper to kill him. kaine opened up to "dateline" about the allegation. you have been informed that she was trying to hire someone to murder you? >> mm-hmm. i didn't believe it at first. it was something that i couldn't even wrap my head around at the time. >> there had been no indication in your marriage that things were that bad or that she was upset with you? >> no. no. >> reporter: kaine has said there were more ups and downs in his marriage to terri after the birth of their daughter, 20 months ago. still, kaine says he never saw something like this coming. >> nothing so far one way or the other that would have even naught on my radar screen as something to worry about. >> reporter: it was a above vital moment for kaine, the moment he stopped trusting his own wife, the woman who had been helping raise his children. authorities still investigating the alleged murder-for-hire attempt but if the allegation against terri is true, many think it speaks volume about the mission to find kyron. do you think she is capable of hurting a child? >> if you asked me before this situation, my answer's no, based on what i know now. i don't know. i think anything is possible based on the way things have gone the past few weeks. >> do you fear for your safety now, kaine, for your daughter? >> i fear for my daughter. >> reporter: while kaine doesn't say why terri or anyone else might want to harm him or kyron, the shocking allegation that his wife had tried to have him killed caused a dramatic shift in his thinking. reeling from the news, he now believes terri is somehow involved in kyron's disappearance. do you think that terri has more information than she's told investigators so far? >> yes. >> about where kyron is? >> yes. >> and so your message to her now is what, kaine? >> fully cooperate with law enforcement. tell the truth. >> reporter: desiree and tony also say the alleged murder-for-hire plot was a turning point for them, the point when they went from being suspicious to being convinced. >> when i heard that, that made the decision in my mind. at the fork in the road, we knew which road to go down. >> reporter: it was enough for desiree to finally say in public what she had been thinking in private for weeks. >> we implore terri horman to fully cooperate with the investigators to bring kyron home. >> reporter: now desiree wonders not only where her son is but also what she could have done to spare him this nightmare. the thought gnaws at her, she wasn't there when kyron needed her most. what keeps you up at night? >> to know that i was four and a half hours away when he needed me to protect him. that's what i feel guilty for. the fact that i had to work that day instead of going to the science fair like i wanted to. that i feel guilty for, too. >> reporter: looking back, she blames herself for missing signs, says she had a mother's hunch that something wasn't right for kyron in the months before he disappeared. >> he wanted to come and live with us. he expressed it on several occasions. and just several times, he would just break down and just sob because he wanted to stay. >> reporter: kaine, kyron's father, says he didn't see a change in kyron, but desiree wonders if she should have acted on her gut feeling, because she and tony now believe not only that terri was involved in kyron's disappearance, but that it had been in the works for a while. >> i absolutely believe that terri horman is responsible for kyron's disappearance. >> and i do, too. >> with help? did someone help her? >> we don't have any evidence that indicates that, but we personally think that's the case. >> do you think terri horman planned to do something? >> something with kyron? >> kyron? >> oh, yeah, without a doubt. >> reporter: again, terri horman has not been charged with any crime, hasn't even been named a person of interest by investigators, though she has hired a heavy hitter defense attorney, stephen houze. terri, herself, has been staying out of sight and silent bunch that hasn't stopped a seemingly endless flow of personal details about her life. while the world has been out looking for kyron, allegedly, his stepmother has been busy with other things. >> dozens of e-mails, including graphic photographs of sexual activity. >> reporter: coming up, troubling allegations of an affair and growing concerns. could another child be in danger? you think she came here with the intention of finding her daughter and taking her? when "little boy lost" continues. moments ago, we gave this group of people the stylish new orbit packs. 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[ laughs ] shut the front door! more dirty mouths cleaned up with orbit. now, in stylish new packs. as in strawberries, ] new blackberries,oothies from mccafé are real fruit, blueberries, and bananas, which makes them really delicious. ♪ that's what we're made of. ♪ and the cast has been gathered. when the lighting is perfect and the lead hits his mark. when the curtain rises and the spotlight is yours. having a strong signal at your back is like having invisible power everywhere. because in that moment, you're not there to take up space. you're there to fill the room. rule the air. verizon. >> reporter: kyron's father had moved out of the home he shared with kyron's wife and stepmother, terri horman, stating in documents that he believed she had something to do with kyron's disappearance. where once there was four parents standing together, now it was three against one. the 7-year-old was still missing, but with each passing day, the drama swirling around the little boy's family almost obscured that grim fact. how are you doing right now? in the weeks since kyron disappeared, terri may have stay aid way from the cameras but according to court documents she certainly wasn't idle. just a few days after kaine moved out with his daughter, kiara, terri went to this gym where kaine is a member. the owner told "dateline" about her visit. >> terri was inquiring if kaine was here working out and then she asked if her daughter was here in our kids' club and the comment she made, well if she had been here, i would have taken her. >> you think she came here to the club with the intention of finding her daughter, kiara and taking her? >> that is certainly what it looked like. >> reporter: the gym owner says he was so alarmed, he called police, but even if terri was really just a distraught mother pining for the daughter she had been separated from, talk of taking a child mystified kyron's mother, desiree. hearing that, what do you think? >> she has got some guts. i will give her that. now is not a good time to be doing stuff like that but i guess i don't expect anything less. >> reporter: and then, a revelation about what terri horman has allegedly been up to since kyron went missing that truly tipped this story into the realm of the bizarre. it involves this man, michael cook. >> terri lived right up the street from me. >> reporter: cook is an old high school friend of kaine's. they recently reconnected. in the first days of the hunt for kyron, cook jen joined the search. >> of course, we have all seen these. >> reporter: and seemed to go out of his way to defend terri when suspicions about her first eye merged. >> i would hope that if people had energy, they would put it toward helping to find this missing boy, as opposed to investing and speculating about whether the family did or didn't having? to do with this. >> reporter: but now, court documents filed by kaine's attorney allege that michael cook got involved in more ways than one. nbc affiliate kgw's kylie boshe. >> michael cook was having an affair with terry horman three weeks after kyron disappeared. >> reporter: the court papers alleged that terri and michael cook exchanged sexually explicit text messages. he admitted he sexed with terri but denied having sex with her. and the real issue for many has become if those allegations are true, what was terri horman thinking? when you heard these new court documents and they say she developed this relationship with this man that they were sexing, texting each other, you roll your eyes? >> yeah, i'm sorry. i guess to say it tactfully it goes to someone's character if you're doing something like that. i mean, it's disgusting. >> reporter: now to the latest legal fallout you can receipt straining order against terri gives kaine temporary custody of their daughter, kiara. terri is not allowed to see her daughter. the court also ordered terri to move out of the family home. kaine has moved back n. >> not there with us, so it is still pretty empty. >> reporter: if this continuing scuffle in the family court looks like a side show to some, others see it as a calculated tactic drummed up, in part, by law enforcement. isolate terri horman and maybe she will talk. >> slowly applying the pressure throughout this entire investigation, alienating her from her friends and family. terri horman is here, by herself. the rest of the family is over here. they want terri horman to feel alone and potentially be cooperative in some way. >> reporter: and just days ago, authorities appeared to be zeroing in on terri horman's shrinking inner circle. police reportedly executed search warrants on the homes of some of terri's friends. kyron's family released a statement saying police told them that one of the friends, dede spicher, had been in close communication with terri and providing terri with support and advice not in kyron's best interest. spicher's lawyer says he doesn't know what they are talking about and she had nothing to do with kyron's disappearance are. do. >> you know anything about careen? >> reporter: just today, spicher was seen emerging from a courthouse where her attorney said she had been called before a grand jury. >> my understand is just to solicit information. >> reporter: spicher has not commented publicly and police have not labeled her or anyone else a person of interest or a suspect in the case. in family court recently, terri horman's attorney, stephen houze, called the speculation surrounding terri a witch hunt and said she has received threats. "dateline" asked terri and her attorney for an interview. mr. houze said in a letter to "dateline," it would be a violation of clear ethical standards for him to respond. he wrote, "there are matters currently pending before an oregon court concerning ms. horman. no party or attorney may make public comment intended to influence the outcome of a matter pending before a court." and kaine horman is for now done talking about his soon-to-be ex-wife. >> i'm here for kyron today. i don't really want to talk about terri. >> reporter: he and the rest of the family want the public to remember there is still a little boy missing, messages of hope still trickling in. this one from a child that says, "dear kyron, i hope your parents find you soon." >> he is still out there he is still out there we just need to find him [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, latebreaking. >> good evening. our big story tonight, two our big story tonight, two people are behind bars,