D.A. to Seek Indictment in Ore. Girl Case

Aug. 26, 2002 -- 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.

Stepmother Pressed for Search

The grim discoveries came after police were pressured to search Ward's home. Last week, Mary Campobasso, Ashley's stepmother, placed a sign outside Ward's home. It read: "Dig Me Up."

Charles Mathews, the FBI's special agent in charge in Oregon, said no charges had been filed in the case yet.

"Obviously, this is a very sad conclusion to this investigation," Mathews said. "On the other hand, I think the case has been resolved."

No cause of death for either victim has yet been determined, and it is not known when they died.

Campobasso said she had suspicions about Weaver for some time, and even called a police tip line to report him, but nothing had been done.

After Weaver was arrested on the unrelated rape charges, Campobasso heard rumors that Weaver had poured a concrete slab behind his house just days after Miranda had disappeared.

When Campobasso went to see the slab for herself, she had a creepy feeling about the place, she said.

"I felt something there very strong," Campobasso told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "It was overwhelming enough for me to do what I did."

Weaver knew Ashley because she was friends with his daughter. But Campobasso says was disturbed by their relationship. She said Weaver doted on Ashley, favoring her over his own daughter, and even over his own girlfriend.

Weaver Said Police Were Looking at Him

Months ago, Weaver told reporters that he was the FBI's prime suspect because of his own criminal record and because of his father, who is on death row in California on charges that he killed a woman and buried her body in his yard.

Weaver himself has a past conviction for assault with a deadly weapon.

Weaver said his family was being harassed by authorities.

"I have no problem with them looking at me as a suspect," Weaver told Good Morning America in an exclusive interview on July 9. "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 not to let their daughters spend the night, because I'm a prime suspect, and their daughter might be next."

Weaver said Ashley had even lived at his home for five months last year while her own father was in jail.

Weaver said Ashley stayed with him because her mother dumped her on his doorstep, and said, "Here — I don't want her," Weaver said. Ashley's family has dismissed his claims that the girl was kicked out of her own home as a lie.

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.