@DMansMom,
Where do I start?
First, I'm here in Portland, Oregon, so local to this. My wife and I have two sons and two daughters. My boys are 6 and 9 so this hits home for us, even moreso since it is in our area.
Second, while my current field is digital marketing / internet marketing, I am prior service Army and have law enforcement experience.
That said, I cannot speak for anyone but myself when you ask why there has not been more community outcry. There are so many things that just make no sense about this case, I don't know where to start. So many unanswered questions.
I've not personally gotten involved with blaming the school staff because my gut tells me that there's no way a stranger abduction could happen as it's been described. We teach our kids from early on that if a stranger grabs you, to yell "This is not my Dad!" or "This is Not my Mom!".
While I don't personally have children at Skyline, I can tell you that there are enough adults around that had Kyron known something was wrong or yelled, we wouldn't be talking about this now.
That leads me to believe that either this is a non-stranger abduction (he knew the person - family or friend of family); or that he never made it to school that morning and the SM is fabricating this to cover something up.
Neither of the above scenarios lead me to be any more cautious or concerned with my kids than my wife and I have been all along. We've always taken common sense security precautions with them, regardless of this case.
Neither of the above scenarios lead me to want to shake the tree and blame the Skyline school or the school district. So, while I cannot speak for others here in Portland, I can tell you that as a parent of four children and a prior LE, I'm not outraged at the way this is being handled. Why?
Because it's blatantly obvious that LE is looking heavily at the SM but they just don't have a body (God forbid) yet or enough proof. And yes, while they are in evidence gathering mode, it is frustrating for average folks because the only thing you and I see is what the media publishes. Trust me. The SM is likely under surveilance. They still have many detectives working the case. But IMHO all signs point to this being a non-stranger abduction that may or may not have taken place on school grounds.
Questions I have had that remain unanswered:
The white Ford F250 looked late model in the photo. If it was NOT towed for evidence processing and if it WAS towed at the request of family to be fixed, is it back in operation yet? Has anyone verified that it went to a repair place?
Why are we just now seeing home videos of Kyron and additional photos being released by the family 3 weeks later?
What were the results of the two polygraphs that SM took?
Why did SM not call 911 herself that day? I can tell you that if my kid did not get off the bus, my first call would be to the school, but that once I heard that he had been marked absent that day, I would PERSONALLY call 911 to get information out. I would NOT rely on a school secretary to do this for me. I see no evidence that SM ever called 911 herself about this case and that SMELLS, bigtime.
This story has gotten national attention and continues to; but it's obvious that LE are focusing the investigation here in Portland. My guess is that they are doing that for a reason. It's NOT that they don't know what they are doing. Hell they are working with Federal, State and Local officers and detectives on this. One thing they don't have is a lack of talent and resources on it.
When I saw that LE was putting out a flyer with photos of the SM and her truck and asking people to fill out a questionnaire, I immediately saw that as LE putting pressure on the SM to see how she would react to it. Would she flee? How would she behave or react? "If" her phone conversations are being monitored, what would she say? I would be HIGHLY surprised if she were not under 24 hour surveillance by LE.
Too many questions unanswered. What was she doing over on Sauvie Island that day? Or did someone borrow her cell phone? Who knows?
There are too many people here in Portland who are watching this for it to go "cold". We're not making a huge stink about it because for all purposes we (I) believe that it is a family member abduction or that he never was at school that morning.
So no, we are not blaming the school. Although I agree 110% that all schools should have digital surveillance in place, even with good systems there is not 100% coverage. There's digital surveillance in the public school that our kids attend here and we STILL use common sense, walking them from the car to the classroom etc. There IS an automated phone system in our public school that calls us within an hour if our kid is absent. That's been in place for several years so I was really surprised to see it not at Skyline.
Skyline is in a fairly rural area. It's by no means desolate or isolated, but my point is simply that it's not urban. It's not downtown Portland. If there appeared to be a reason to be screaming at the school district, trust me, people would. All I can think is that many folks feel like I do that - look, we're already protecting our own children and this is not a stranger abduction from a public school during school hours.
One positive outcome from this locally is that it has increased awareness, which is great. I hope we have an outcome soon. I really do. But like other LE folks who are looking at this, the cards are not in our favor. Almost a 12 hour window before he gets reported missing? That's horrible in a missing kid case.
