Kyron Horman Murder-for-Hire Plot Twist?

The case of a missing Oregon boy gets even more complex, with a reported murder-for-hire plot apparently thickening.

Kyron Horman, 7, has been missing since June 4. His stepmother, Terri Horman -- the last person known to have seen Kyron alive -- is now in the spotlight as investigators probe the alleged plot.

Last week, Kyron's father, Kaine, filed divorce papers and got a restraining order against Terri after authorities shared a report with him that Terri allegedly approached a landscaper seven months ago, offering him money to murder Kaine.

The Oregon paper is now reporting investigators deemed that report so credible that they sent the landscaper back to Terri Horman wearing a wire and with an undercover officer. On a recording of their meeting, the landscaper asks for $10,000, threatening to go to police if he doesn't get it. Terri Horman shut the landscaper down quickly, but "Early Show" co-anchor Erica Hill pointed out the fact that police sent him back to talk about the plot at all is, in fact, a significant development in this case.

Break Near in Kyron Horman Case?
Kyron Horman's Stepmom in Murder-for-Hire Plot?
Cops: We Think Kyron's Alive
Kyron Horman's Mom to Stepmom: Come Clean
Kyron Horman's Stepmom Hires Top Lawyer
Missing Oregon Boy's Father Files for Divorce
Investigators Focus on Kyron Horman's Stepmom
Kyron Horman's Case Now Considered Criminal

Currently, Terri Horman isn't a formal suspect in this case.

CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reported on "The Early Show" Wednesday the month-long search for Kyron in Portland, Ore., has weighed heavily on his family and has torn it apart.

On Tuesday, Kyron's biological mother, Desiree Young, again made emotional pleas for Terri Horman to come forward to help the criminal investigation.

Young implored, "Please cooperate with investigators and the attorneys to help bring Kyron home."

Terri claims that, the day Kyron went missing, she dropped him off at Skyline Elementary, and snapped a photo of him during a morning science fair.

But according to school officials, Kyron never made it to his first class, and when he didn't step off his school bus later that day, a 911 call launched the largest search in state history.

Kyron's family is now clearly looking to Terri for some answers.

Desiree Young said in her televised plea for assistance, "Terri, you need to do what is right."

Criminal profiler Casey Jordan said on "The Early Show" Wednesday the alleged murder-for-hire plot has "completely changed the flavor of things" in the case.

She explained, "Frankly, I believe Desiree has believed all along that Terri knows a lot more than she is saying but, probably under police advice, they've been strategizing the old adage, 'Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.' They haven't wanted to alienate Terri. They have been hoping she will cooperate. Well, now that they have the murder-for-hire plot and she's lawyered up ... it's going to be even more difficult for them to get more information from her about missing Kyron."

That alleged plot, Jordan said, is "huge."

"It raises the most obvious question -- is that related to the missing 7-year-old? If she was plotting to get rid of her husband, how does that fit with the child going missing? Perhaps there was a plot to get rid of them both at once or make it look like the husband ran off with the child. But the problem is, now that they have the evidence with a wire that she really did try to hire this landscaper, it makes it even more difficult to get to the root of the problem of 'Where is Kyron?" '

Hill asked Jordan about why Kyron's parents and stepparents waited so long to speak out to the press.

Jordan said, "I think it was a strategy that may have backfired. It's always a gamble. Presenting that united front with the four parents there -- all strategy."

She continued, "I think Desiree has been full of rage against Terri. Since the beginning, she's been (an informal) suspect -- everybody knows that. Now that they have some evidence, it really is going to wind down. Now she has no interest it talking at all."

Jordan said they need to find Kyron, whether he is dead or alive.

"That will give you evidence because he'll either have a story or you'll have forensic evidence," she said. "But really what I think they're hoping and why they get Desiree to go out and do emotional pleas, she's not talking to Kyron, she's talking to Terri. A confession would be the fastest way to get to the root of the truth."

Hill pointed out Desiree Young and Terri Horman have a history.

She said, "They were very good friends. Terri helped take care of Kyron when Desiree had medical procedures in Canada, when he was a very little boy."

So does that change things because they were such good friends and helped raise Kyron?

"I think the sense of betrayal on behalf of the biological mother Desiree is very complex," Jordan replied. "I think she did hold out hope until the eleventh hour that Terri was not involved. But I think in her heart, thing weren't fitting into place. None of her story has worked out. It has to be dim. A, she's missing her child, B, she has to face the fact that former best friend may be responsible for her son's demise."