FBI Says Missing Girls Were Abducted

March 13, 2002 -- 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.

"Almost every FBI agent in this area who's available is here," Steele said. "They're all busy, and they're all interviewing people."

The manager of the apartment complex, the Newell Creek Village Apartments, has also offered a $5,000 reward for any information that leads to either of the girls being found.

Dance Team Companions Vanished on Way to School

Each girl was last seen by her mother as she got ready to go to Gardiner Middle School, where they are also on the same dance team.

"I have no idea what could have happened to the girls. I just pray they're safe, and I want them home," Ashley's mother, Lori Pond, told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America on Monday.

Miranda's mother, Michelle Duffey, told Good Morning America the girls are not runaways.

"Miranda wouldn't have run away and there is no trace of anything. They left their makeup home, didn't take any extra clothes. They didn't take anything. They have no signs of wanting to run away," she said.

Kara Pullen, an eighth-grader and a dance team member, said on Tuesday that Miranda had been looking forward to the team's dance competition Saturday — the day after she disappeared.

The now-missing Miranda had also appeared on television to appeal for help finding Ashley after she vanished in January.

Duffey described Miranda as outgoing and talkative, with a pierced tongue and pierced belly button. Pond said her daughter Ashley was very impressionable and loving.

Other Oregon City Parents Scared

The disappearances have left residents of the apartment complex scared about their children's safety, said Miranda's aunt, Terry Duffey.

"I know that a lot of people moved out [of] the apartments last weekend. I know four for sure," Duffey told GMA today.

Parent Larry Felgar said he was fearful for his own kids.

"I'm totally shocked. Well, now I'm worried about my kids going to school."

Oregon City schools officials said they were setting up support services to help worried parents and students.

ABCNEWS' Neal Karlinsky and ABC affiliate KATU contributed to this report.