D.A. to Seek Indictment in Ore. Girl Case
Aug. 26 -- Prosecutors announced today they would seek a grand jury indictment against the neighbor suspected in the disappearance of two Oregon girls.
Medical examiners confirmed tonight that a second set of remains found at the man's home belonged to Ashley Pond.
On Sunday, medical examiners identified a body found in a shed behind Ward Weaver's home as that of Ashley's friend, Miranda Gaddis, 13. Miranda and Ashley both lived in an Oregon City apartment complex not far from Weaver's home and disappeared within two months of each other — Ashley in January and Miranda in March. Ashley was 12 when she disappeared.
Miranda's body was found in a shed behind Ward Weaver's home on Saturday, and authorities announced they had identified the remains the following day. The second set of remains also were found Sunday in a barrel beneath a cement slab Weaver poured at his home after the girls disappeared.
Clackamas County District Attorney Greg Horner announced that his office would seek a grand jury indictment against Weaver.
"We'll present evidence regarding the death of Miranda and a yet to be identified set of human remains to a grand jury in the near future," Horner said earlier today. "We are not going to say or do anything that might jeopardize our ability to successfully prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law."
Weaver has been jailed since Aug. 13 on charges that he raped his son's 19-year-old girlfriend. His distraught son told emergency dispatchers that his father had killed Ashley and Miranda.
FBI investigators today also returned to Weaver's home with high-tech equipment, a backhoe, shovels and pickaxes to search for any evidence that might be hidden in the earth. Investigators brought a sensitive ground-piercing radar device to search for more buried evidence.
"If they come along an anomaly in the geology, they'll use the backhoe to dig up that area so that we can do it as efficiently as possible," FBI spokeswoman Steele said.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live