Harry Oakes' Search For Kyron

Search expert uses dogs to look for missing Oregon boy

June 30, 8:14 PM
Crime Examiner
Cindy Adams

Search expert Harry Oakes, took to the fields on Wednesday with his border collies in tow to search for the missing Oregon boy, Kyron Horman.

Kyron went missing on June 4 after reportedly spending the morning with his stepmother, Terri Horman, at a science fair at this school. Horman told authorities the last time she saw the 7-eyar-old was as he walked toward his second grade classroom at around 8:45 a.m.

Oakes is the head of International K-9 Search and Rescue and initially offered to help law enforcement search for Kyron. Police declined his help, according to KPTV, but he’s looking for the boy on his own.

Sauvie Island was search by investigators in the beginning of Kyron‘s case, thus Oakes combed the area on Wednesday.

“I give absolutely no credibility to search dogs they use,” said Oakes. “Too many times, we’ve gone in after they’ve searched and then found the person in the original search area.”

According to KPTV, one of his collies “honed in on a spot of water and Oakes pulled a sock out. It was the only spot that triggered the dogs.”

Thursday, Oakes plans to bring in a second team of dogs to examine the same areas. If the new set of dogs hones in on the same areas, he said he will contact police.

Oakes told the news outlet he’s not trying to upstage police or get in their way, but rather, trying to help Kyron’s family. “I saw the captain from the sheriff’s office make a promise to bring Kyron home and I’m trying to help him keep that promise,” said Oakes.

In the meantime, Kyron's father, Kaine Horman, has filed for divorce from the boy's stepmother, and also requested a restraining order against her.

To read the divorce filing, click here.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1168-Crime-Examiner~y2010m6d30-Kyron-Horman-latest-news-Search-expert-uses-dogs-to-look-for-missing-Oregon-boy

Oakes seems credible....I hope he can help!

Politics and Egos, the search for Kyron Horman

Friday, June 11, 2010

Sitrep: (That’s military talk for situation report).

Another missing child. What the parents need to know.

The search for KYRON HORMAN.

When I saw the news the other day about a small little innocent 7 yo boy missing from his school, as any parent, grandparent my heart went out to his family and friends.

Then as I watched the sheriff’s office use their local resources

I became concerned. When I expressed my concern to my friends, some including my own family members jumped down my throat for being so critical.

We’ll let me educate everyone about the “facts and nothing but the facts” as an actor called “Detective Joe Friday use to say on the TV Show Dragnet”. Then and only then maybe they will understand why I’m so angry, disappointed, frustrated and upset.

Now for those who became upset at my email, I must ad not a single one of them have been standing by my side over the years when I’ve had to put dead decaying human remains, somebody’s child, in a rubber body bag. All the time fighting back the desire to vomit from the site and stench.

Nor have they had to look into the victims families eyes and tell them their son / daughter / mother / father isn’t coming home anymore. This after the local sheriff’s office used their own RESOURCES and failed to find the victim in the original search area. This after we went in privately and found the victim dead in the ORIGINAL SEARCH AREA.

Now I’m not putting down the resources used by the law enforcement.

What I am saying is,” that if this happens once, shame on the search teams who failed the family and more importantly the victim”.

”If this happens more then once, which it has 9 times in one year alone, then shame on the sheriff’s office for allowing the resources to be out in the field not trained properly. And shame on the sheriff’s office for not allowing private resources in after their initial search teams failed to find anything.

Shame on the public who sees this in the newspaper or on TV for not forcing the state legislatures to pass laws forcing the State Sheriff’s Association to use private resources when all other resources have failed to find the victim.

What does it hurt? The sheriff still gets credit for the recovery of the victim(s).

Gee is it ok for the sheriff to spend close to $750,000.00 dollars in tax payers money to find a missing child? Or would it be better to have the sheriff conduct a 3 day extensive day and night search, then allow a private resource who over the last 25 years has proven themselves over and over again and spend less then a $1000.00 dollars to find out what really happened to the child? (Often I donate my time, own money, and efforts to find missing children).

This isn’t just a problem in Oregon. It happens all around the world. Why?

Politics and Egos. It happens on all levels, county, city, state, and federal agencies. (Remember Hurricane Katrina). FUBAR.

How many innocent animal and human lives were lost there?

Can’t we learn from our mistakes?

Now make a note. Everything I’ve said is DOCUMENTED and can be produced in the courtroom for examination to prove the honesty of my statements.

Read more: http://kyronhorman.blogspot.com/2010/06/politics-and-egos-search-for-kyron.html

We're starting our search today for Kyron Horman

Monday, June 28, 2010

On 06-28-2010 International K9 Search and Rescue services will be entering the PRIVATE search efforts for Kyron.

No one has hired us. We're just sick and tired of the local teams not getting any results.

Without the family cooperating with us to give us a scent article we have less then 5% chance of success. We'll be using cadaver scent.

We've received over 100 request by email and telephone calls asking us to get involved.

Since the family of Kyron refuses to help us help them, and the sheriff's office refuses to bring in private resources, we're doing this ourselves.

I've made the decision to go search areas that are open access to the public on my own.

The last time I did a search in Mult. Co. for a missing child two deputies from Mult. Co. SO grabbed me by my arms and escorted me in front of the missing child's family OUT of the search area even though PORTLAND POLICE asked me to come in. I was threatened with arrest if I returned.

So I waited until they were done three hours later. They found nothing. I went in in front of the mother and found her daughter dead in less then 30 seconds. In the search area.

She is my witness along with a doctor of vet medicine who witnessed the event and another dog handler. Here’s the case file. 08-10-97 97-1056-133(A). Mult. Co. Lost Child. Jessica Nicole Clark, (Victim). WFJ. age 4. Last seen wearing a yellow one-piece bathing suit with "tweety Bird" in front and "Sylvester the cat" in back. She has dark blonde hair, blue eyes, 3 foot tall, 35 lbs. Missing from Sellwood Riverfront Park on the beach by the dock since approx. 1400Hrs. on 08-10-97. MCSO used the same K9 search dog team as listed above in failing to find the other victims. They went public after they couldn’t find the victim.

We were called in by Portland Police bureau. But MCSO had the case. So we ended up there privately on the mother’s request and located the child’s body in less than 30 seconds with our own 2 dog teams. Both of our search dogs alerted in the water.

Read more: http://kyronhorman.blogspot.com/2010/06/were-starting-our-search-today-for.html

These last two posts are from a blog by Harry Oakes, Search and Rescue Coordinator of International K9 Search and Rescue Services, www.k9sardog.com

Thanks J4A~ Do you know if the family has given this guy/these guys an article of clothing or anything for the dogs to sniff? kh

Unfortunately they haven't kh.

Without the family cooperating with us to give us a scent article we have less then 5% chance of success. We'll be using cadaver scent.

Oh thanks J4A....... I wonder if these guys are legit........ or do they lean more towards the conman/get rich quick schemers (i.e., KidFinders). kh

I think he's legit. It's definitely worth a shot at this point. Harry was mentioned in an article a couple days ago.

http://www.kptv.com/news/24100574/detail.html

Hmmm......... here is the addy for Harry Oakes' blogspace........ thought you might find it interesting. Thoughts anyone? (there are comments there too if you go to the actual link) kh

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendId=127939120

Friday, July 02, 2010
Please be patient regarding our search efforts.
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Blogging
My readers must understand something from this point on.

I am volunteering my time an and services to look fo rKyron.

I'm not getting paid. So what this means is like everyone else, I must work my regular job in K9 SAR to bring in money so that I can on my free time continue to work the Kyron case.

The ONLY reason I got involved in the Kyron case was because I received over 1300 requests for people around the world for me to get involved. And of course my heart goes out to Kyron and his family.

I'm doing this search for Kyron. Not for TV Coverage, I've not once contacted any of the media regarding our search except to return their calls to me.

A search costs money. It's time away from paid search calls, fuel, meals,
equipment needed etc.

I appreciate the two donations we've received to the Kyron Horman search committee. Every little bit helps pay the expenses.

That being said, this is still the Mult. Co. Sheriff's investigation and I will NOT hinder or impede their investigation for any reason.

The Human remains scent our search dogs are alerting on leads me to believe because of the location and other information that has come forward that there is less then a .01% chance this is Kyron.

It doesn't fit the search profile or other information that has come to light in our search.

It is a very dangerous area for divers to dive in. Cables, ropes, moving logs, etc. I'm going to bring in an underwater camera system some time next week.

We don't want anyone to get injured or killed trying to recover a body anywhere. It's not worth it. So to all those who are screaming they want the body recovered right now, I'm saying we don't know whose body this is the dogs are alerting on.

It could be a suicide, an elderly person or something completely different.

It could be as small as body part like a finger or ear that while decomposing in the water may have broken off from it's source and worked its way through the currents down to where the dogs are alerting yesterday and the day before. Yes the search dogs noses are that sensitive. And as mirky as this water is a diver could swim right over or under it and not see it.

We are still working on the case as best we can without a scent article.

I said from the start that without a scent article I have less then a 3% chance of success at bringing closusure to this case.

There's 5000 acres of land, water, rivers, marsh, ponds, wilderness and fields yet to be searched. We need helicopter support and other resources; but just not yet in our efforts.

I'm not going to bring in thousands of people to trample all over any possible clues, evidence that may or may not be out there.

Anyone can go out and walk where ever and look themselves.

I welcome them doing so. But I’m not going to be in charge of any kind of massive search like that as it’s too much liabilty.

If you do go out around sauvie island this weekend I ask that you look around the shoreline carefully as the water level has dropped 5 feet from the time Kyron disappeared and his remains or evidence could be entangled in the brush, sticks, logs, etc. If you find the clothing that the sheriff's office has posted in their posters, please call the sheriff's office to come inspect it. Don't touch it.
Let them decide if it's what they are looking for or not.
Have a safe fourth of July and know we're doing the best we can.
Thanks
Harry and search dogs Willow, Tyler, and Elly.

So please be patient. On top of this, I'm averaging 200 emails a day to try to respond to regarding this search. This takes time and energy.
THank you
Mr. Oakes
SAR Coordinator.

I think he's just trying to help. He seems more desperate for a scent article from Kyron's family to help in the search than he does for money.

He does appear to feel passionately that he could make a difference in this case, and he seems frustrated and agitated that he can't get a scent article. If it was me, I think I'd give him a shot. What's the harm? But it's not me, and I don't know why the family won't do it.
kh

khintx wrote:He does appear to feel passionately that he could make a difference in this case, and he seems frustrated and agitated that he can't get a scent article. If it was me, I think I'd give him a shot. What's the harm? But it's not me, and I don't know why the family won't do it.
kh

Maybe it's because he's looking for a dead body and the family still feels he's alive. The family should hope that's he's alive, but should be open to all possible outcomes.

Justice4all wrote:

khintx wrote:He does appear to feel passionately that he could make a difference in this case, and he seems frustrated and agitated that he can't get a scent article. If it was me, I think I'd give him a shot. What's the harm? But it's not me, and I don't know why the family won't do it.
kh

Maybe it's because he's looking for a dead body and the family still feels he's alive. The family should hope that's he's alive, but should be open to all possible outcomes.

Sounding a bit like the A's here, don't you think?

Hopefully they aren't anything like the A's, but it seems weird that they are banning certain media outlets from press conferences. They need to keep Kyron's name and picture out there any way they can.

I think when he asked for some article of Kyron's for a scent search, he would have been looking for a live boy.

Going on cadaver search, he is looking for a body.

I don't think dad and bio-mom refused a scent article because they were afraid he was looking for a body and they felt Kyron was still alive. That is just the opposite of what he was wanting to do.

Sitemama - I agree w/ you - I think if this man had Kyron's clothing or some other kind of scent article for his search dogs, he would be tracking a live person, but as it stands w/ them not wanting to work w/ him, he's left forced to search only for cadaver scent...

Right Tish, that's why I couldn't understand why they, nor LE would give a scent article. Maybe they already know something that they are keeping close to the vest.

I wonder if LE and Desiree are so adamant that Kyron is alive only because there is no evidence to prove otherwise... it's like they are assuming he's alive because they haven't found a body. I DO hope that he is, please don't get me wrong - I hope beyond hope that he has been spared, but realistically, we see very few cases where the captor has been kept alive - and even fewer where the victim is a boy and kept alive, but still I can think of Shaun Hornbeck (?) and have hope that Kyron may indeed still be alive. I guess I don't understand why the family only wants to work w/ LE - and not any private help, because I think for me - at this point - I would be hiring a private detective or a reputable search team to aid in finding my son. I think it's apparent to everyone that LE has hit a brick wall - I have to think that they have, or they would be moving in on someone - and they are, to an extent - they have honed in on Terri and yet refuse to name her either a POI or issue an arrest or even at the very least a search warrant... while they may keep things tight to their vest, I still they they have NO IDEA where Kyron is or who took him at this point...

I agree Tish. I think LE has hit a brick wall. I guess some people are against private searchers because they are afraid they might mess up evidence, or think you are saying LE searchers are incompetent if you bring in private searchers. I say bring them in before this turns into another cold case where years go by without any answers.

sitemama wrote:I think when he asked for some article of Kyron's for a scent search, he would have been looking for a live boy.

Going on cadaver search, he is looking for a body.

I don't think dad and bio-mom refused a scent article because they were afraid he was looking for a body and they felt Kyron was still alive. That is just the opposite of what he was wanting to do.

You might be right mama, but from the wording in a couple of Harry's posts, it seems like he was saying that a scent article would give him a better chance of finding Kyron's remains. I could be wrong though.

Snipped from: http://kyronhorman.blogspot.com/2010/07/search-for-kyron-horman-07-01-2010.html

We did the Kyron Horman search by boat today around Sauvie Island.

All three search dogs alerted on a DEAD HUMAN Scent in the water at the marina.

In NO WAY am I saying this is Kyron.

Since the family refuses to give us Kyron's scent article, all we can do is use psuedo scent which smells to the dog of decomposition.

Remember search dogs don’t know how to lie. And; we had two witnesses to our searches today.

This is a dead Human but it could be a suicide, accidental drowning, homicide, or someone's rotting body other then who we're looking for.

If I had Kyron's scent our search dogs are trained to discriminate and ignore all other scents. Then I would be able to say either yes this is him or NOPE it's not him.

Snipped from: http://kyronhorman.blogspot.com/2010/06/search-for-kyron-06-30-2010.html

Today I took SAR Dogs Willow and Tyler to the boat houses (homes) on the South West side of Sauvie Island and performed a cadaver search. Since the Horman family refuses to cooperate with us and give us a scent article belonging to Kyron, the only type of search I can do is an area by area check using cadaver scent.

The problem with this type of search is that the search dogs will hit (Alert) on any human scent coming from the water. Anything from a sock, shoe or other piece of clothing discarded in the water to actual human remains.

If we had Kyron's scent article then they (the search dogs) would only alert on HIS Scent and no one elses.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Kyron Horman search.
Category: Blogging
We need a diving instructor who wants to donate his / her time to search one location.
Anyone willing to help please email me at searchdog@iinet.com

thanks
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=127939120&blogId=537634030


Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=127939120&blogId=537634030#ixzz0vKtgOGV5