PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Investigators in Oregon say the latest search for 8-year-old Kyron Horman, missing for nearly eight months, failed to turn up new clues.

About 50 searchers and more than a half-dozen cadaver-detecting dogs looked for the boy in rugged terrain Sunday about 22 miles from the school where his stepmother said she left him, The (Portland) Oregonian reported.


Terri Moulton Horman said she dropped the boy off at Skyline School about 8:45 a.m. on June 4.

She and the boy's father, Kaine, are involved in a contentious divorce and while much of the investigation has focused on her and some of her friends, she has not been officially named as a suspect, the report said.

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People familiar with the case said the stepmother displayed hatred for the boy, The Oregonian said.

The search has already cost about $1.4 million.

Sunday's search area focused on several parcels of private property west of Portland that investigators were unable to examine earlier because of weather conditions.

Officials wouldn't say why they wanted to search the area but did say the site wasn't chosen randomly.

"None of the searching we do is random," said Multnomah County Sheriff's Deputy Eric Gustafson, coordinator of the search. "We don't throw darts at a board and say 'Let's search here.' We don't say 'We haven't searched in a while, let's go search.'"

Marty Neiman, who founded the Tualatin-based non-profit organization Search One K9 Detection, has been involved in 30 searches for the boy.

"Part of me doesn't want to find him," Neiman said. "I'd rather find him in Ohio playing basketball. But each time, you just give it your best shot and wait until they call you again."