Kyron Horman Still Missing as School Resumes

(CBS)  As students return to class in Portland, Ore., there's a sense of loss at one school, where Kyron Horman remains missing, as the 7 year old has been all summer.

TV cameras have been a near-constant presence at Kyron's elementary school since he disappeared more than three months ago, on June 4.

"Everybody's touched by this case; everybody wants to find Kyron," says his mother, Desiree Young.

And, reports CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker, on this first day of class, newly-installed, state-of-the-art security cameras will be keeping constant watch, to try to ensure other students' safety.

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Kyron would be starting third grade Tuesday.

He was last seen at a school science fair. The last known image of him was taken by the last known person to see him before he went missing, his stepmother, Terri Horman.

Police have refused to call her a suspect or even a person of interest but, observes Whitaker, she's become a lightning rod for scorn, especially from Kyron's biological parents, Young and Kaine Horman.

"She needs to just come clean and do the right thing," Young has said.

But, Whitaker points out, even if Terri Horman admitted guilt, prosecutors might still have trouble making their case.

"I don't know that even a confession itself would be enough," notes former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson. "You have a lot of circumstantial evidence, but we don't have the key evidence. We don't have the boy."

Kaine Horman says he is hopeful his son will return to school with the other kids. He's already signed him up to play soccer, and, he says, "School supplies are in a new backpack waiting for him when he comes home."

Thursday will mark Kyron's eighth birthday.

[aaronslaworegon]

My baby girl was just a week past her 8th birthday when she disappeared. I never saw another school picture of her or of her brothers and sister ever again. Her name was Alexis Cruz, but we always called her Allie.

That was nearly 15 years ago, and the last holiday I would ever celebrate.

I tell people that birthdays and other special days are just like any other day for families with a missing child, only more so. Only much more so.

It is not just the calendar day that matters to the parent of an abducted child. There's all the time that leads up to it, and then all of the time that comes after, all of that empty time. Thoughts and feelings about your missing child's birthday have a way of staying with you for most of the year.

I suffer episodes of depression whenever one of my abducted children's birthdays comes around, all four of them, but also when the seasons change, because that marks another season gone by without my children.

The beginning of the school year is always hard, and so is the end. So are the winter and spring breaks, and all of the events that normal families participate in, and the next thing you know, a year has gone by, then another, and then another.

It is good that so many people have come to care about Kyron Horman. He is a very special child, one of the very few Oregon abducted children who has drawn the continuing interest of the media, law enforcement and the general public.

In most cases, interest is so fleeting that most people won't even remember that your child is missing.

It makes me cringe whenever anyone wishes me a happy birthday. If they really understood, they would know that only the recovery of your child could make such a thing possible.

I think that the best thing about this day for Kyron's family would be to know that they are not alone, that they and Kyron are in the hearts of thousands of people across the country, but I would never use the word "happy" in connection with any day that was not the day that Kyron is returned to his home.

[pondering3]

Happy Birthday to you on Thursday, Kyron. Our prayers will be with you, little man.

[GetAGrip007]

There has been so muchy rumor and innuendo in this case I don't know what to believe. The only FACT is that Kyron is missing.

[thejoker12]

It doesn't seem healthy for Kaine to have registered Kyron in school and sign him up for soccer. Maybe he knows something we don't. It sounds like the press is still trying to convict Terry by repeating the garbage Kyrons biological parents put out. McCaine said the arrest of Terry was emminate two months ago. He was wrong.