Kyron Horman, Missing Children, And Harassment

This is Kyron Horman's mom, Desiree Young, talking about the day her son disappeared from Skyline Elementary, in Portland Oregon, when he was in second grade. That was five years ago. During that time, she has worked hard to keep her child's case in the news, and to make everyone aware of child safety issues. Unfortunately, she has hecklers, ill wishers, and internet trolls, who do not appear to share her desire for the world to be a safer place for children. This trend, of heckling the parents of missing or murdered children is disturbing; Desiree is not the only parent to notice such individuals. It seems that any time tragedy strikes a family, and crime is suspected as the cause, the game of trolling the family seems irresistible for some. Why is that?

In Kyron Horman's case, IP numbers have been traced back to friends and relatives of Terri Horman, Kyron's sometime step-mother. In a spirit of defensiveness, they spam and comment-bomb anyone who merely shares Kyron's picture and contact information. There is a seventeen year old boy, named Colton Barrera, who disappeared in Kansas, in 2008. His case has hecklers, as well. Those are mostly the parents of young people rumored to have information about him. In an ongoing effort to silence any attempt to solve Colton's case, the parents of the persons of interest harass anyone who wants to know why Colton is missing. Law enforcement in Kansas is more worried about popularity than solving crimes, so Colton's case has not even been investigated. The forty year old missing persons case of Sheila and Katherine Lyon is another case that has attracted harassment from specific sources, directed at anyone who maintains and entertains a hope that the case will be solved. There is also a court date, on June 29, for the wife of a "person of interest". She took the whole thing a step further and actually lied to the grand jury about evidence in the case.

Even in a Kansas case that ended happily, with the missing child found, there was cover-up, in order to protect the criminality of a Frankfort teacher, and to cover the school's lack of protocol when a child disappears. Frankfort Kansas must really dislike No Child Left Behind, because Tom Schroeder left a child behind one day! The child's parents are still getting nasty emails from teachers at Frankfort High School and Tom Schroeder and his stupid frankfurter friends, defending his actions and lying for him. The only reason anyone would do this is, unfortunately, the same as the reason for harassing someone whose child is still missing or has been murdered: the perpetrator, along with any accomplices or enablers, wants to derail any chance of apprehension.