D.A. to Seek Indictment in Ore. Girl Case
Aug. 27, 2002 -- A day after prosecutors announced they would seek a grand jury indictment against Ward Weaver, the neighbor suspected in the deaths of two Oregon girls, the man's son said today he was sure of his father's guilt and would testify against him in court.
Asked whether he believed his father had killed Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, who both lived in an Oregon City apartment complex near Weaver's home, Francis Weaver told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America: "I'm certain, yes."
"The whole thing just disgusts me. I hate to even think that I was brought to this world from a man like that," Weaver said in an exclusive interview.
The younger Weaver has told authorities that his father confessed to killing his two neighbors. "He needs to be brought to justice for what he's done," Francis said.
On Monday, medical examiners confirmed that a second body found on Ward Weaver's property was that of Ashley Pond, who was 12 when she disappeared.
A day earlier, medical examiners identified a body found in a shed behind Weaver's home as that of Ashley's friend, 13-year-old Miranda Gaddis. Miranda and Ashley disappeared within two months of each other — Ashley in January and Miranda in March.
Indictment Sought, Links to Other Cases Investigated
Pond's remains were found Sunday in a barrel beneath a cement slab Weaver poured at his home after the girls disappeared. No cause of death for either victim has yet been determined, and it is not known when they died.
Today, FBI agents said they do not believe there are any more bodies buried on Weaver's property, and they did not know about any connection between Weaver and other unresolved slayings. However, Beth Anne Steele, spokeswoman for the FBI, said profilers would look at Weaver's case and compare it to other similar disappearances around the country.
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 Monday. "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 Francis' 19-year-old girlfriend. His distraught son told emergency dispatchers that his father had killed Ashley and Miranda.
Now, Francis says his father probably knew his son would call 911 and in some way wanted to be caught.
"My father probably knew that, that I was to come forward and he just did [the alleged rape] as like a grand finale to his sick scheme," Francis Weaver said.
Bodies Recently Placed?
Amid some criticism that the Weaver property should have been searched earlier in the missing persons' investigation, Charles Mathews, the FBI's special agent in charge in Oregon, defended the pace of the probe.
"We proceeded as quickly as the task force possibly could, collecting the probable cause necessary to support a search warrant for the property," Mathews told Good Morning America.
Months ago, Weaver told reporters that he was the FBI's prime suspect because of his own criminal record and because his father is on death row in California for killing a woman and burying her body in his yard.
Weaver himself has a past conviction for assault with a deadly weapon.
In an exclusive interview on July 9, Weaver told Good Morning America that his family was being harassed by authorities.
"I have no problem with them looking at me as a suspect," Weaver said. "The problems are coming with what they're doing as far as questions that are being asked of my family. They're telling parents of my daughter's friends not to let their daughters spend the night, because I'm a prime suspect, and their daughter might be next."
During that interview, Weaver said authorities were welcome to search his property at any time.
Today, Mathews said search dogs were employed on Weaver's property at that time, but there is evidence that the remains found in the shed this week were not there when the dogs searched.
"In fact, those remains were probably recently placed in the shed, and of course, the remainsdiscovered under the concrete slab were in a steel drum and also further contained," Mathews said. "So, it would be very difficult for even well-trained dogs to alert to that possibility."
‘It Makes Me Sick’
Kristi Sloan, Weaver's ex-wife, accused him in 1995 — before they were married — of hitting her over the head with a cast-iron skillet as she slept. The assault charge was dismissed and the couple married in 1996, but were divorced four years later. Sloan says she's disappointed about the length of time it took for police to locate the bodies in this case.
"It makes me sick. They were told five months ago, something should have been done then. It shouldn't have taken five months for these girls just to be found," Sloan said.
Miranda's mother, Michelle Duffey, said through her lawyer that she didn't share other people's frustration with the pace of the investigation.
Duffey's attorney, Linda Beloof, said the girl's mother was devastated when she heard the tragic news that her daughter's body had been identified.
"As you know, she has never given up hope that her daughter would come home safely," Beloof said on Good Morning America.