FBI Says Missing Girls Were Abducted
March 13 -- The FBI is now treating the disappearances of two Oregon City, Ore., girls as kidnappings as they hunt for solid evidence on the whereabouts of the pair — friends who lived in the same apartment complex and disappeared two months apart.
Ashley Pond, 12, vanished from her apartment complex on January 9. Her close friend, Miranda Gaddis, 13, went missing from the same complex last Friday.
An FBI agent said Tuesday that the cases were no longer being investigated as missing persons cases, but there were no suspects.
"We're looking at this as an abduction," FBI special agent in charge Charles Mathews said.
The FBI has begun bringing in experts from Washington, D.C., to help provide a profile of who might have been involved in their disappearances.
Investigators are also seeking tips from people who might be able to identify anyone who has demonstrated unusual behavior since the girls' disappearence, such as exhibiting extraordinary interest in these cases, making dramatic changes to their appearance, or abruptly leaving the area.
"Someone who has an inordinate interest in the case and media attention around the case … someone who has a number of unexplained absences from work … activities particularly around dates of disappearances, someone who has changed their behavior," FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said.
Investigators have already questioned dozens of registered Oregon sex offenders. They've also conducted hundreds of interviews with family and friends of the two girls.
Still, they have no suspects, authorities say, which is why investigators are asking the public for help with the case.
"If you believe they are related, it makes it less likely that an individual related to one of the victims is responsible for both … what we may actually be dealing with is a stranger abduction," Mathews said.
Volunteers and investigators spent the weekend scouring the surrounding area for Miranda. Some 60 FBI agents and support staff were involved in the operation, along with about one-third of the Oregon City police department.
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