Maura has made a couple of lengthy comments here in which she goes over the rumors of Terri Horman’s cell phone pinging on Sauvie Island. While these rumors remain unconfirmed at this time, I believe it is worth looking at Maura’s work and incorporating a potential eye witness account that places Terri in the same area on Hwy 30 just to the west of Sauvie Island. First Maura’s statements:
Weeks ago, James Pitkin of the Willamette Week reported that his sources (five LEOs who were not directly involved in the case but who had obviously picked up rumors) told him that Terri’s cell phone pings indicated she MAY have been on Sauvie Island and that there were discrepancies in the account she had given of her activities on June 4. There are no cell towers on Sauvie Island, so if LE had reason to believe she may have been on the island per a cell ping, then she must have pinged a tower within range of some part of the island.
So I am guessing Terri was very vague about those errands she said she ran after leaving the school on June 4. Since LE has asked two specific local grocery stores for video footage, she must have said she went to a grocery store on June 4 but had no receipt. Maybe she was unable to identify the store she went to or maybe she gave the name of a specific store but video for June 4 showed she had not been to that store, so LE is checking other grocery stores in the area.
I wrote a comment a while ago about the cell towers in the area, and as I said, the Horman house and Skyline Elementary School are both located in a heavily wooded/forested area, and Terri would have driven south to one of the developed communities such as Oak Hills, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Hillsdale, or North Plains to run errands or buy groceries. Oregon Highway 26 runs through those communities, and there are a number of cell towers along Highway 26.
In fact, one of the two grocery stores mentioned in the article is directly on Highway 26 and the other is about 1/2 mile off Highway 26, so if she said she had driven south to buy groceries after leaving the school and if she had used her cell phone during that time, she would have pinged one of the cell towers along Highway 26.
The cell towers along Highway 26 are all located to the south of the Horman residence (southwest, south, and southeast of the house). There are no cell towers within range of the Horman residence directly to the east or west of the house. To the north, there is one cell tower at Scappoose High School, which is about 6-to-7 miles north of the Horman residence and about 8-9 miles north of the school. The Scappoose High School cell tower is located on Highway 30 near the northwest section of Sauvie Island.
Sauvie Island is about 15 miles long and 4 miles wide and is ringed by three waterways. The Multnomah Channel runs along the long western shore of the island. Immediately to the west of the Multnomah Channel is Oregon Highway 30. Immediately to the west of Oregon Highway 30 is a large forested area within which are the Horman residence and Kyron’s school. The Horman residence is only about three miles from the southwest section of the island, and the only access point onto the island for land vehicles is the Sauvie Island Bridge, which is only a four-mile drive from the Horman residence.
We all know LE has not been forthcoming with details, but connecting the dots of what has been reported (even if not confirmed) indicates that Terri probably claimed she drove south after leaving the school and ran errands (but can’t be specific about where she went and can’t provide receipts for any purchases she made). The fact that LE is requesting video from two grocery stores in the communities south of the residence supports the theory that she claimed to have driven south of the school to run errands on June 4.
However, ‘unnamed sources’ claim Terri’s cell phone pings contradict her account of what she did that day. Given the locations of FCC-approved cell towers in the area, it is likely she used her phone on June 4 after leaving the school but did not ping one of the towers south of the residence/school in the vicinity of those grocery stores but rather pinged the tower at Scappoose High School, indicating she had driven north after leaving the school rather than south.
If she had driven south to go grocery shopping, she could not have pinged the Scappoose High School tower because that tower would have been 10-15 miles away from the grocery stores in those communities and there are several cell towers along Highway 26 close to those grocery stores that she would have pinged.
If she did ping the Scappoose High School tower, it would mean she either drove north on Oregon Highway 30 toward Scappoose (the forest is to the left of the highway and the Multnomah Channel is to the right of the highway) OR it would mean she took the Sauvie Island Bridge to get onto the island itself and then drove north toward the Scappoose cell tower via an island road running along the western shore.
If you read the early reports of the searches, you’ll see that the search teams were asked to search both sides of Highway 30. Helicopters were seen flying low on multiple passes over the Multnomah Channel. Detectives made a door-to-door search of the residences on the island. Dive teams were sent into the Multnomah Channel. Helicopters made multiple passes over the island, and many ground teams (foot, K9, and horse-mounted) were sent to search Sauvie Island.
It’s my guess (and I want to be clear that this is conjecture based on unconfirmed information), LE knows Terri Horman drove north on the morning or early afternoon of June 4 because she pinged the Scappoose High School cell tower, but Terri claimed she had not driven north of the house on June 4 but instead had driven south to the school for the Science Fair and then driven even farther south to run errands (without being able to provide details or receipts) before returning home.
In a new KOIN Local 6 article a man wishing to go only by “Chas” told reporters he had called the tipline twice with a possible sighting of Terri Horman on Hwy 30 on June 4th. He is concerned about whether his tips have been properly followed up on. Let’s look at his account now:
Chas said he saw Terri Horman the day Kyron mysteriously vanished.
“I was on my way to work, driving down Highway 30,” said “Chas.”
It was Friday, June 4th, sometime between 9:15 and 9:45 in the morning. “Chas” was heading south on Highway 30, on his way to work when a white truck pulled out onto the road.
“It came out of one of these side streets, I am not exactly positive which one, but I am pretty much sure that it was north of Logie Trail road.”
Logie Trail Road is right across from Sauvie Island. One of the areas investigators have searched several times.
“I recognize that truck because I have a friend that has a similar truck and I thought it was him.”
But when “Chas” pulled up next to this truck, he saw that it wasn’t his friend, it was a red-haired woman, he didn’t recognize.
He later realized that “red-haired” woman was Terri Horman.“I didn’t really think anything of it, obviously at that time there was no reason to.”
“Chas” said he’s been following Kyron’s disappearance since day 1, and when police released the flier asking the public to come forward with any information if they had seen Terri Horman or the white truck the day Kyron disappeared. That’s when “Chas” remembered back to June 4th and called the tip line.
“The next day, I called again, and gave a little bit more detailed information because in the back of my mind I was thinking maybe I didn’t give enough information.”
Approximately 3 miles south (less by the way the crow flies) is a side road onto Hwy 30 which is a junction between NW Old St. Helens Hwy, Rocky Point Rd and Hwy 30.
This is a side entrance onto Hwy 30 north of NW Logie Trail Rd just as Chas believes he remembers. It also appears to be within the range of Scappoose High School cell tower. In addition, Rocky Point Road is the upper bound of the routes for which MCSO requested surveillance video in the early days of the investigation. Rocky Point Road is a “straight shot” (of course nothing is straight in those mountains) up NW Skyline Drive from the elementary school. NW Skyline Drive also represents the western boundary of the upper portion of the routes for which MCSO requested surveillance video.
- Northwest Cornelius Pass Road
- Northwest Germantown Road
- Northwest Logie Trail Road
- Northwest Rocky Point Road
- Northwest Skyline Road
- Northwest 185th Avenue
- Northwest West Union Road
- Northwest Springville Road
- Bethany Boulevard
- Northwest Springville Road
- Northwest Newberry Road
- Northwest McNamee Road
- Highway 30 from Northwest Rock Point to Germantown Road
- Northwest Kaiser Road
- Northwest Thompson Road
- Northwest Laidlaw Road
Could this person’s sighting of Terri Horman on the morning of June 4th in combination with the alleged cell phone pings from Sauvie Island assist in focusing in on exactly where Terri went that morning after leaving the elementary school?
Valhall.
Related posts:
- Kyron Horman case: Analyzing Terri’s story of June 4th
- Kyron Horman case: Initial timeline for June 4th
- Kyron Horman case: Searches continue
- Kyron Horman case: Terri Horman reported to have solicited murder-for-hire
- Kyron Horman case: Terri neglected the Kyron factor
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