Posted on 08/24/2002 11:13:10 AM PDT by DCBryan1
FBI with search dogs on the farm property of man arrested looking for missing teens from Oregon
FBI suspect Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis , two missing 13 year old girls bodies may be found on the property.
FBI and Police are about to investigate a newly poured concrete slab for the bodies.
Associated Press
OREGON CITY, Ore. -
The FBI announced Friday night they will search the Oregon City home of self-described suspect Ward Weaver on Saturday in their hunt for clues to the disappearances of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis.
FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said authorities obtained a search warrant to examine his home and 1/4 acre yard on Beavercreek Road in Oregon City.
"Late tonight, the FBI and the Oregon City Police achieved legal authority to search" the house, she told reporters during a hastily called news conference near Weaver's property.
With Friday night's search announcement, the FBI signaled that Weaver is indeed a suspect in the case.
Steele said the search of the home of Weaver, a 39-year-old single father who knew both the missing girls, was "directly related to the Miranda Gaddis and Ashley Pond kidnapping."
The girls vanished within two months of each other this past winter.
Weaver, currently jailed in Clackamas County on an unrelated rape charge, has maintained he is the top-suspect in the disappearances of the two 13-year olds who lived in an apartment complex near his home.
Weaver is being evicted from the single-story house following accusations that he raped his son's 19-year-old girlfriend.
FBI special agent-in-charge Charles Mathews, along with other agents and police, worked late Friday night to install a chain-link fence around Weaver's property to secure it until Saturday's search takes place.
Steele did not specify whether authorities would excavate a concrete slab Weaver poured in his back yard soon after the girls disappeared. Weaver said he poured the concrete as a base for a hot tub. Family and friends of the girls had asked the police to dig it up.
Weaver told reporters a few weeks ago that FBI agents told him he was the prime suspect in the case after he failed a lie-detector test.
Weaver has denied any involvement in the disappearances of the girls. The FBI has said it believes both of the teens were abducted, likely by the same individual.
Don Martin, Ashley's grandfather, said Friday night his family was shocked by the announcement of the search.
"We're a little upset. We're nervous wrecks now," he said.
"I'm kind of shocked. I guess I figured it would happen sooner or later. I know there's been a lot of pressure on the FBI by the public. Hopefully the waiting will be over pretty quick. At least now, we will know one way or another," he said.
Ashley disappeared Jan. 9. She was last seen eating breakfast with her younger sister and was to walk about eight minutes to a bus stop near Weaver's home. Michelle Duffey, Miranda's mother, last saw her daughter in a bathrobe eating breakfast on March 8.
I disagree with your thoughts of this being a media circus.
I think the media has done a great service keeping these stories at the fore- front. The TV and newspaper accounts may help save some little girl's life.
Maybe because off the news accounts, the parents may pay more attention to their childern.
SO I do hope they keep up the reports.
The rocks mentioned that they would like to chat with you. They need someone that is on their intellectual level. If you have some time when you are not drooling on your shirt they would like to get together with you and talk about things that rocks and people that think like rocks usually talk about.
Stay Safe !
He kept to himself, mostly.
He seemed to like children.
(steely)
Obviously you don't watch televison or listen to the radio.
The news was saturated with this story for several days after the second abduction. If statistically children abducted by strangers are dead within 48 hours of their abduction then the news did their part in trying to save the latest victim.
And, just like you said, these were single Moms raising the girls in very poor circumstances, hence, the interest in finding the girls waned early on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.