WEBVTT 1 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:36.960 Actually has a habit. If she gets in trouble by, 2 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:39.799 someone should make accusations against that person. 3 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:54.240 Organ City sits at the end of the Oregon Trail. 4 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:57.799 We're countless pioneers once gathered to catch their first glimpse 5 00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:01.119 of the promised land. This historic community of around thirty 6 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:04.959 seven thousand is nastled along the banks of the Willamette 7 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:08.560 River just south of Portland. It's always prided itself on 8 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:11.480 being the kind of place where American dreams come true. 9 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.200 Tree lined streets wind through neighborhoods filled with modest ranch 10 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:19.120 homes in well kept split levels. The newll Creek Village 11 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:23.359 Apartment Complex embodies the working class spirit that built Oregon City. 12 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:26.640 The one hundred and twenty five unit apartment complex was 13 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:29.480 built in the late ninety nineties and was designed to 14 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:33.920 provide affordable housing to single mothers, working families, the mentally ill, 15 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:37.879 and people with disabilities. The complex sits along a quiet 16 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:42.040 stretch of road, surrounded by toring Douglas Firs and western 17 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:46.319 red cedars. Here, single mothers work double shifts to provide 18 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:50.079 for their children. Neighbors help neighbors, and kids walk safely 19 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.200 to the nearby bus stop. Each morning without a second thought. 20 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:57.760 Parents know their children's friends, teachers know their students' families, 21 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:02.159 and everybody looks out for everyone else. The apartment complex 22 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:05.560 playground is almost always filled with laughter on weekend afternoons, 23 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:10.439 while the nearby creek provides endless adventure for imaginative young minds. 24 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:13.159 But in the early months of two thousand and two, 25 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:16.879 newl Creek Village would become the epitome of every parent's 26 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:21.120 worst nightmare. The community all came together to search for 27 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:26.960 a missing girl. Two months later, another girl vanished. Somewhere 28 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:45.599 among them lived a predator. Ashley Marie Pond was twelve 29 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:48.879 years old, and she wore sweatshirts to school even when 30 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:51.240 it wasn't cold. It was a habit born from the 31 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:55.039 particular self consciousness that settles over children who've learned too 32 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:59.280 much about the world too soon. Yellow was Ashley's favorite color, 33 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.599 which seemed fitting for a girl her family remembered as 34 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:06.280 happy and bubbly. The apartment at Neil Creek Village was 35 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:09.719 home to Ashley, her mother, Laurie, and two younger siblings, 36 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:14.199 six hul Miranda and eleven year old Brianna. Ashley's story 37 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:17.879 began thirteen years earlier, when her mother, Lorie Davis, was 38 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:23.360 barely sixteen, almost a child herself when Ashley entered the world. 39 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:26.199 For those first precious years, Ashley lived with Laurie and 40 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:30.759 David Pond, her mother's high school sweetheart who eventually became 41 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:35.319 her stepfather. To Ashley, David was simply Dad, the man 42 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:37.400 who gave her his name, and for a while something 43 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:42.080 that resembled stability. But families, just like the apartment buildings 44 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:46.520 they live in, sometimes have foundations that crack under pressure. 45 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:52.039 When Ashley was seven years old, the family fractured, Laurie 46 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.919 and David's marriage dissolved, and suddenly Ashley found herself caught 47 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:59.520 between two worlds. Weekdays were spent with her mother in 48 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:03.680 the apartment complex, and weekend visits with her biological father, 49 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:09.000 Wesley Roger Junior. She was four years old when she 50 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:11.919 met her father for the first time. It was an 51 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.240 arrangement that look normal on paper, the kind of custody 52 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:20.920 schedule that fills family court calendars across America. Nobody suspected 53 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:25.639 that these weekend visits would become something else Entirely. By 54 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:28.720 two thousand and one, Oregon City Police had become uncomfortably 55 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:32.959 familiar with the family's dress. It calls in just one year, 56 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:36.240 a number that speaks to chaos, to a household where 57 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:40.160 things were unraveling faster than they could be mended. In 58 00:04:40.199 --> 00:04:42.680 two of those cases, anonymous callers had asked police to 59 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:46.959 conduct welfare checks on a child that had been locked outside. 60 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:50.759 A child was Ashley. Shortly thereafter, another call came in 61 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.480 to report that Ashley was outside the apartment door crying. 62 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.519 In two other instances, Child Protective Services had requested a 63 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:01.439 police check on the welfare of Ashley her siblings. The 64 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:03.600 records painted a picture of a girl that was caught 65 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:07.519 in his system, that saw the symptoms, but somehow missed 66 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:13.600 the disease. Ashley's biological father, Wesley, had been sexually assaulting 67 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:17.160 her since she was seven years old, turning those court 68 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:21.879 mandated visits into a recurring nightmare. But Ashley was braver 69 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:25.480 than anybody knew. In early two thousand and one, she 70 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:27.959 found the courage to speak up about what her father 71 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.240 had been doing to her. Medical examination noted physical trauma 72 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:35.519 that was consistent with sexual abuse. On the fifth of 73 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:39.240 January two thousand and one, Wesley Rocker Junior was indicted 74 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.959 on forty counts of rape and sexual abuse spanning four years. 75 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:46.839 It should have meant justice. It should have meant that 76 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:52.120 Ashley's courage in coming forward, would finally protect her. Instead, 77 00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:56.560 this system failed her spectacularly. On the sixth of September 78 00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:59.279 two thousand and one, just months after Ashley had summoned 79 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:03.519 the strength to expose her father's crimes, Deputy District Attorney 80 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:08.879 Chris Owen dropped all forty felony counts in exchange for 81 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:12.319 a play of no contest to attempted unlawful sexual penetration. 82 00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:16.319 Lesley received just one hundred and twenty months of probation, 83 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:21.680 no jail time, no prisons entance, just probation for four 84 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:26.680 years of systematically abusing his own daughter. Actually had spoken up, 85 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:29.079 and the man who had stolen her childhood walked free. 86 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:33.160 Yet somehow, Ashley continued to show up to seventh grade 87 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:36.639 at Gardener Middle School. She continued to practice with the 88 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.120 dance team, continued to make plans with friends about becoming 89 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:44.439 veterinarians together. At school, actually found her sanctuary on the 90 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:48.639 dance team. The gymnasium became her second home, filled with 91 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:52.360 the sound of sneakers, squeaking against polished floors and hip 92 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:56.120 hop music her preferred soundtrack. She worked hard on her 93 00:06:56.199 --> 00:07:00.240 routines and made the food of friends. These girls became 94 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:03.240 her chosen family, the ones who knew that Ashley, who 95 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:07.040 laughed and hugged freely, who dreamed of college and careers 96 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:12.040 saving animals. The contradiction that defined Ashley was heartbreakingly simple. 97 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:15.439 She loved to give hugs, but she was very shy 98 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:18.279 with strangers. She was the girl who would wrap her 99 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:21.600 arms around her friends without hesitation, but who might duck 100 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:25.000 her head and mumble when meeting somebody new. It was 101 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:26.959 a twelve year old's way of navigating a world that 102 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:29.759 felt far too big and far too small at the 103 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:33.720 same time, a world where the people who should protect 104 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:38.199 you sometimes don't. The year before Ashley turned twelve had 105 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:42.079 been her most difficult yet. With the trouble at home mounting, 106 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:46.040 Ashley had become more reserved, more quiet. Her skill work 107 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:49.720 started to suffer as her concentration fragmented under the weight 108 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:52.319 of secrets that were too heavy for a child to carry. 109 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.279 The happy, bubbly girl her family remembered seemed to be 110 00:07:56.279 --> 00:08:00.879 retreating somewhere deeper inside herself. But then as two thousand 111 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:03.839 and one turned to two thousand and two, something changed. 112 00:08:04.759 --> 00:08:08.839 Acshally became more talkative, more open. She started getting her 113 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:12.399 homework done on time, making sure that it was completed well. 114 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:17.120 Her teachers noticed the improvement. Her friend saw glimmers of 115 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:21.319 the old Ashley returning. Ashley seemed to be emerging from 116 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:25.720 the shadow that had fallen across her eleventh year, but 117 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:37.159 something even worse was just around the corner. Wednesday, the 118 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:40.080 ninth of January two thousand and two, dawned cold and 119 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:44.200 charp in Oregon City. Ashley woke up, pulled on her 120 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:47.360 jans in a sweatshirt, and prepared for another day of school. 121 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:52.039 Laurie's boyfriend, James Cayley, had spent the night. He left 122 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:55.600 for her work at around seven fifteen a m. The 123 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.240 two younger girls had already left for school. By the 124 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:02.879 time he left, Ashley was running late. A roundy at 125 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:05.440 a m Ashley said goodbye to her mother and headed 126 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:08.440 out the front door. The walk to the bus stop 127 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:11.600 take less than ten minutes up the hill from Neuill 128 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:15.039 Creek Village. It was a routine that Ashley had taken 129 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:18.600 hundreds of times before. Passed the same apartment buildings in 130 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:23.639 mailboxes and parked cars, But that afternoon, Ashley never returned 131 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:27.679 home from school. When evening came and Ashley still hadn't 132 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:32.759 walked through the door, Laurie called the school. Her heart 133 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:34.720 felt to the pit of her stomach when she learned 134 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:39.519 that Ashley had never arrived at school that morning. She 135 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:43.759 immediately called police. The search for Ashley got under way quickly, 136 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:48.320 and the FBI became involved. They took staymen from Ashley's 137 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:52.200 family and conducted a thorough search of the apartment. One 138 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:54.759 initial theory was that Ashley might have run away from home, 139 00:09:55.639 --> 00:09:58.279 given the police call outs the year before and what 140 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:03.679 happened with her father, an unreasonable assumption. Children flee dysfunction 141 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:06.919 all the time, seeking safety in motion when they can't 142 00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:10.360 find it in stillness. But according to those who knew 143 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:13.679 the family, Ashley and Laurie had worked through their problems. 144 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:18.600 The improvement in Ashley's behavior, her renewed focus on school work, 145 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:22.159 her increasing openness. None of it suggested a girl that 146 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:26.000 was planning to disappear. Neighbor jasyindamac Load had noticed the 147 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:29.480 changes too. She admitted that Ashley had been snotty and 148 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.639 talked back to her mother during the difficult period, but 149 00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:35.519 she didn't believe that Ashley would run away, not now 150 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:38.840 when things seemed to be improving. She said to the media, 151 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:41.879 She'd worked too hard to run away. Her and her 152 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:44.879 mom have been through helen back to work that hard, 153 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:47.840 and to run away makes no sense to me. The 154 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:52.399 evidence supported this assessment. Ashley hadn't taken any clothing with her, 155 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:56.120 she hadn't reached out to any friends. She'd simply vanished 156 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:59.320 without a trace, as if the morning air had swallowed 157 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:04.799 her whole. Detectives began methodically scarring through the neighborhood, walking 158 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:06.840 the same route that Ashley would have taken to reach 159 00:11:06.919 --> 00:11:11.120 the bus stop. They examined every doorway, every alley, every 160 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:14.360 possible place where a struggle might have occurred, where evidence 161 00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:18.080 might have been dropped, but there was nothing. The search 162 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:21.639 party then expanded their radius, focusing on the wooded area 163 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:26.679 that surrounded the apartment complex. They were assisted by explorer scouts, 164 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:30.720 who methodically scanned the foliage, calling out Ashley's name until 165 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:35.039 their voices grew hoarse. Days trickled past, each one carrying 166 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:39.240 less hope than the one before. Detective Gary Harris, who 167 00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:41.720 had seen too many of these cases to maintain illusions 168 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:45.000 about happy endings, summed up their frustration when he said, 169 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:47.919 we were hoping we would come up with more, but 170 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:50.000 we've not actually come up with anything we can use. 171 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:53.840 Thousands of missing powers and flowers were printed and distributed 172 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:58.240 throughout Oregon City and beyond, each one featuring Ashley's skill photo, 173 00:11:59.080 --> 00:12:01.240 the image of a girl who looked younger than her 174 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:07.679 twelve years, with dark hair and eyes. So after I 175 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:10.120 had my baby girl Amber, last year, I noticed that 176 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:12.840 my hair was shatting like mad. Every time I'd wash 177 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:14.759 my hair or rub my hands through it, there were 178 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:18.360 just handfuls coming out. It was honestly unsettling. I knew 179 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.320 that postpartum shatting was a thing, but actually experiencing it 180 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.879 was a different story. I started taking Nutrifall's postpartum formula, 181 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:28.120 and I've genuinely loved it. I've seen less shatting, and 182 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.039 my hair just feels healthier. It's been a confidence boost 183 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.120 during a time when I was already dealing with so 184 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:36.240 much change. Here's the thing, holidays can get busy and 185 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:39.799 overwhelming quickly, and thoughtful gifts that encourage self care, always 186 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:42.919 stand out. 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Right now, Neutrofoil is 197 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:18.279 offering my listeners ten dollars off your first month subscription 198 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.200 plus free shipping when you go to nutrifoil dot com 199 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.720 and use the promo code Morbidrology ten. That's neutrofoil dot 200 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.720 com promo code more Biology ten for ten dollars off. 201 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.759 Massive signs with Ashley's face were posted along Beaver Creek Road, 202 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:40.559 turning her disappearance into a public play for information. The 203 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:44.320 days transformed into weeks and detectives were no closer to 204 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:48.440 finding Ashley than they had been on day one. The trail, 205 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:52.320 if there ever had been one, had gone cold. Then, 206 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:55.879 on the twenty fifth of January, sixteen days after Ashley vanished, 207 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:59.799 investigators enlisted the help of the cadaver dog named Klaus. 208 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.639 The German shepherd methodically sniffed along the doors of the 209 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:07.159 apartments in the complex where Ashley had lived, his handler 210 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:09.480 watching for any sign that the dog had detected the 211 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:12.879 scent of death. Claus then worked the perimeter of the 212 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:17.360 wooded area that surrounded the apartment complex, his nose trained 213 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:20.639 on secrets the ground might be hiding, But the dog 214 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:25.000 found nothing, no hit, no indication that Ashley was anywhere 215 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.000 in the vicinity of her last known location. It was 216 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:31.360 as if she had simply ceased to exist the moment 217 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:35.600 she stepped out of her mother's apartment. Ashley's friends at 218 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:40.519 Gardener Middle School were devastated by her disappearance. The dance 219 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:44.919 team that a Binner second family now felt incomplete. Among 220 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:48.519 those friends, none was more affected than thirteen year old 221 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:53.080 Miranda Goddis. Miranda lived in the same apartment complex as Ashley, 222 00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:56.120 just close enough that their mothers often ran into each 223 00:14:56.120 --> 00:15:00.440 other by the mailboxes. She immediately joined the search efforts 224 00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:04.120 for her missing friend, her face becoming a familiar presence 225 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:09.200 among the volunteers combing the woods and distributing flyers round 226 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:10.519 to even smoke with the media. 227 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:13.440 We were close, like off and on, but not all 228 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:13.799 the time. 229 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:17.080 Did she ever talk about comings? 230 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:20.519 Yeah, I'm known her for like since like third or 231 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:26.399 second game, and there's yeah, definitely, I want to talk about. 232 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:29.559 What do you think happened that morning or what actually 233 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:34.080 happened that morning Wednesday? Yeah, that one morning, whish basically 234 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:36.840 I will know what happened. 235 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:37.600 I don't know. 236 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:42.279 I don't know what happened. Let's know that she disappeared 237 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.240 right away. I got kidnapped or something. 238 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:46.720 Did you talk about running away from you said. 239 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.200 That she might have. Yeah, she told her, my little 240 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:49.960 sister that she though we before to do that. She 241 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:53.200 told her that she was going to run away. So, 242 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:56.200 but she's been gone for so long while because it 243 00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:57.879 seems like she got kim off or something. 244 00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:01.240 We others might have gone to lose hope. As the 245 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:05.360 day stretched into wakes, Miranda refused to give up on Ashley. 246 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:09.600 There was something both heartbreaking and admirable about watching a 247 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:13.039 thirteen year old girl stand in front of cameras begging 248 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:16.320 for somebody to come forward. She spoke with a kind 249 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:19.000 of desperate hope that only comes from somebody who truly 250 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:22.399 believes that the person they love might still come home. 251 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.679 The dance team organized a fundraiser to help with the 252 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.720 search efforts, and it was scheduled for the twenty third 253 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:32.120 of March two thousand and two. It was meant to 254 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:35.360 raise money for a reward fund, a concrete way to 255 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:39.759 channel their grief and helplessness into action. Miranda was supposed 256 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:43.039 to perform as part of the fundraiser, another chance to 257 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:47.480 honor her missing friend and maybe somehow bring her home, 258 00:16:48.679 --> 00:17:02.200 but Miranda would never make it to that fundraiser. Miranda 259 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.640 Diane Garis was thirteen years old at five foot four. 260 00:17:05.720 --> 00:17:08.519 She was tall for her age, with dyed blonde hair 261 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.799 that caught the light and brown eyes. Her friends all 262 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:15.880 described her as outgoing, funny, and very loving. Like Ashley, 263 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.240 Miranda lived at Neil Creek Village with her mother, Michelle Duffy, 264 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.880 her older sister, Marissa, and younger siblings. Michelle and Miranda's 265 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:28.359 father were divorced, and Michelle worked as an office manager 266 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:32.279 for an engineering firm. Miranda's father, Jason, on the other hand, 267 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:35.839 had been convicted in nineteen ninety five of sexually assaulting 268 00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:39.680 two girls. When police came to arrest him, he grabbed 269 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:44.200 Miranda and used her as a hostage. Michelle described Miranda 270 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:47.559 as a real happy kid. She loves dancing and bouncing 271 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:51.440 around and always smiling. She would dance to anything from 272 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:55.359 Janet Jackson the Pink. Miranda had dreams to one day 273 00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:59.440 become a model. She also had a rebellious streak with 274 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:01.799 a pierced to belly button and tongue. At just thirteen 275 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:05.359 years old, she looked much older than her age, something 276 00:18:05.400 --> 00:18:09.319 her mother worried about when it came to boys. She recollected, 277 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:12.960 she looked eighteen or nineteen. At the town Center, I 278 00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:17.799 tell guys she's thirteen. Miranda and Ashley had been friends 279 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:21.240 for a few years. They lived in the same apartment complex, 280 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:24.640 rode the same boss, and danced together. Miranda was the 281 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:27.359 more aging one, the girl who cracked up her dance 282 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:31.200 class with goofy moves. Ashley was the one who preferred 283 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:34.079 to be in the background. Both girls carried secrets that 284 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:37.640 were too heavy for children to bear. They'd both endured 285 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:42.079 sexual abuse as young children. In nineteen ninety nine, Miranda's 286 00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:46.039 mother's ex boyfriend, Brett mcgannay, was indicted on seven counts 287 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:49.960 of sexual abuse involving Miranda. He later played a guilty 288 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.519 to a single count of first degree sexual abuse and 289 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:55.519 was sentenced to seventy five months in prison. The state 290 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:58.799 removed Miranda and her sisters from her mother's care, and 291 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:01.799 they lived with foster parents for around eighteen months before 292 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:05.000 they were allowed to return home. The two girls had 293 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:07.839 a shared trauma that perhaps drew them even closer together, 294 00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:13.480 but friendship at thirteen can be complicated, especially when tragedy strikes. 295 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:18.759 As the weeks passed after Ashley disappeared, Miranda found herself 296 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:23.319 caught in a storm of conflicting emotions. She'd been upset 297 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:27.279 about the attention that focused on Ashley. She even thought 298 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:30.920 at one point that Ashley had just run away. Her 299 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:34.440 mother recollected she thought she ran away and didn't want 300 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:37.319 to come back. It wasn't that she didn't want her 301 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:40.200 friend found. It was that she'd felt forgotten. In the 302 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:44.640 wake of Ashley's disappearance, the frustration built inside her until 303 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:47.799 one day she told her mother Michelle, I'm going to 304 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:50.720 go get kidnapped. It was the kind of thing that 305 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:53.960 thirteen year olds say when they feel overlooked, when they 306 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:57.319 want attention, when they don't fully understand the weight of 307 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:01.559 their words. Miranda had become angry at Ashley for causing 308 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.039 so much turmoil, for disappearing and leaving everyone else to 309 00:20:05.079 --> 00:20:08.440 deal with the chaos and fear that followed. Her life 310 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.359 had changed. She took her mother's cell phone wherever she 311 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:15.799 left the house and stopped going anywhere alone. She didn't 312 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:19.880 understand that Ashley hadn't chosen to disappear, that her friend 313 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:24.400 hadn't wanted to become the center of a tragedy. Children 314 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:28.160 often believe that they're invincible the bad things happened to 315 00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:33.240 other people in other places at other times. Even with 316 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:37.799 Ashley's disappearance casting a shadow over Neil Creek Village, Miranda 317 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:41.720 probably didn't truly believe that the same darkness could reach 318 00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:45.200 for her. On the morning of the eighth of March 319 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:48.000 two thousand and two, Miranda sat at the kitchen table 320 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.000 in her bathroom eating breakfast while her mother, Michelle, prepared 321 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:55.359 for another day at work. It was a routine morning. 322 00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:59.960 Miranda told her mother about the dead ahead. She said 323 00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:02.160 ed school got out at one pm and she planned 324 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.279 on heading to her friend's house. She also had to 325 00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:09.359 return to school for a three pm dance rehearsal. Michelle 326 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:12.200 reminded Miranda to lock the apartment door when she left 327 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:16.119 for school, and then headed out at seven point thirty am. 328 00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:19.880 Miranda was supposed to leave around eight am, following the 329 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.319 same route up the hill to the bus stop that 330 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:27.119 Ashley had taken nearly two months earlier, the bus stop 331 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:31.720 that had already claimed one girl. But as Miranda finished 332 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:34.839 her breakfast and got dressed for school, she had no 333 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:38.160 way of knowing that her casual complaint about wanting to 334 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:44.480 be kidnapped was about to become a horrifying reality. Like Ashley, 335 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:52.680 Miranda never made it to that bus stop. The similarities 336 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.480 between Ashley and Miranda's disappearances were far too obvious to ignore. 337 00:21:57.319 --> 00:21:59.559 They were two young girls living in the same apartment 338 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:02.720 complex who vanished while walking to catch the skill bus. 339 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:06.480 The constant stream of police officers that had died down 340 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:10.960 since January was back flooding Nurl Creek Village apartments once more, 341 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:16.359 with flashing lights and the grim machinery of investigation. The 342 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:19.359 same volunteers who had searched for Ashley came together again, 343 00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:24.160 their faces more haggard now, their hope more fragile. They 344 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.839 searched the same streets, combed the same wooded areas, called 345 00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:30.480 out into the same silence that had swallowed their voices 346 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:34.920 two months earlier. This time they called for Miranda, but 347 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.359 the forest gave back nothing but echoes. Miranda's mother, Michelle, 348 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:44.359 stood before reporters and said, it's very frustrating. We've talked 349 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:47.200 to anybody and everybody. I hope she calls to us 350 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:51.720 to let us know she's okay. We've cried a lot today. Initially, 351 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:56.000 investigators considered the possibility that Miranda had staged drown disappearance. 352 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:00.000 After all, she had made that haunting comment about getting kidnapped. 353 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:04.359 But like Ashley before her, Miranda hadn't taken any of 354 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:08.359 her belongings. Her friends all insisted she'd been looking forward 355 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:12.400 to an upcoming dance competition. The theory crumbled under the 356 00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:17.039 weight of evidence that suggested something far more sinister. The 357 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:19.799 FBI set up a commands center on the second story 358 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:24.200 of the Oregon City Fire Department. As agents and detectives 359 00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:27.200 worked around the clock searching for the two girls, the 360 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:31.759 atmosphere at Neil Creek Village became suffocating with fear and suspicion. 361 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.759 Jennifer Smith, the mother of three daughters, captured the terror 362 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:39.400 that had settled over the community, stating, if I didn't 363 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:41.799 have a lease, I'd be out of here tomorrow. She 364 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:45.599 wouldn't let her daughters play outside anymore. The specter of 365 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:49.759 a child abdoctor loomed heavy overhead, and parents were terrified 366 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:54.079 their child would be next. While detectives hadn't officially declared 367 00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:57.920 that the girls were abducted, that was now the main theory. 368 00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:01.359 Somewhere in their midst lurked a press editor who knew 369 00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:05.440 exactly when and where to strike somebody who could make 370 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:09.960 children disappear in broad daylight without anybody saying or hearing 371 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:14.440 a thing. Brandy Williams voiced what many residents were thinking 372 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:17.359 when she said, people are very suspicious of it being 373 00:24:17.400 --> 00:24:20.240 someone around here, someone who knows the neighborhood kids and 374 00:24:20.279 --> 00:24:24.079 their schedules. As the days trickled past with no trace 375 00:24:24.119 --> 00:24:28.119 of either girl, the FBI made two chilling announcements. They 376 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.920 believed the cases were linked, and they believed both girls 377 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:36.160 were abducted. More disturbing still, they were convinced that Ashley 378 00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:40.599 and Miranda knew their abductor. Chief Gordon Herres explained the 379 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:43.680 logic that led to this conclusion. If it was a 380 00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:47.160 forcible abduction, at least at that location, somebody would have 381 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:51.200 seen something or heard something. The apartment complex was typically 382 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:54.119 busy during the morning rush with people heading to work 383 00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:58.000 in school. Both girls' families insisted their daughters wouldn't have 384 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.079 been forced into a vehicle without screaming and fighting back, 385 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:05.160 yet nobody heard a thing. A family friend of Miranda's 386 00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:09.119 reinforced this assessment and said she's a tough person. She 387 00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:12.640 would have screamed at the top of her lungs. The 388 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:17.319 implications were terrifying. If the girls knew their abductor, if 389 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:20.720 they had gone willingly, at least initially, then the predator 390 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:25.400 wasn't some stranger lurking in the shadows. It was someone familiar, 391 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:31.240 someone trusted, someone who moved through their community undetected because 392 00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:35.559 he belonged there. In an effort to trace persons of interest, 393 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:42.079 detectives searched both girls computers. Their disappearances aired on America's 394 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:46.200 Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries, broadcasting their faces to millions 395 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:50.440 of views across the country. Shortly after the show aired, 396 00:25:50.920 --> 00:25:54.160 the FBI announced a fifty thousand dollars reward for information 397 00:25:54.279 --> 00:25:59.480 about the disappearances. Special Agent Charles Matthews directed a message 398 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:04.200 at the kidnap stating we will find you and we 399 00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:08.839 will arrest you. But as it turned out, they wouldn't 400 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:17.559 have to search very far at all. On the thirteenth 401 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:20.480 of August two thousand and two, more than seven months 402 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:24.720 after Ashley's disappearance, in five months after Miranda vanished, a 403 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:28.880 house close to Nuril Creek Village apartments was suddenly enveloped 404 00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:32.319 in crime scene tape. Detectives could be seen coming and 405 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:36.160 going with bags of evidence. The home belonged to thirty 406 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:40.039 nine year old Ward Francis Weaver, the Third. A few 407 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:43.200 hours earlier, a woman wrapped only in a blue plastic 408 00:26:43.319 --> 00:26:47.440 torp came running from Weaver's home. She flagged on a 409 00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:50.240 motorist who took her to the Payliss shoe source in 410 00:26:50.279 --> 00:26:53.920 the nearby Berry Hill shopping center, where she stumbled inside. 411 00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:58.640 Hysterical and shaking. She had red marks and scratches covering 412 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:01.960 her neck. The woman was the nineteen year old girl 413 00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:06.839 friend of Ward Weaver's son, Francis. Between sobs, she told 414 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:10.880 store employee and native Stuart that Ward Weaver had raped 415 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:14.359 her and tried to kill her. The young girl's story 416 00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:18.519 was as calculated as it was brutal. She had gone 417 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:21.720 to Ward Weaver's home to pick him up. He told 418 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:24.200 her he had forgotten something inside and asked her to 419 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:27.240 come in. When she was inside, he asked her to 420 00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:30.119 follow him into the bedroom because he wanted to show 421 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:34.319 her something. Once inside, Weaver raped her and then tried 422 00:27:34.359 --> 00:27:38.279 to strangle her. She had managed to fight back, pulling 423 00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:40.480 his hair and bashing his head to fend them off, 424 00:27:41.079 --> 00:27:45.000 before escaping into the afternoon, wrapped in nothing but a torp. 425 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:48.799 But that wasn't the only call that police received that day. 426 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:51.599 Around the same time, a nine one one call came 427 00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:56.119 in from Weaver's nineteen year old son, Francis. His voice 428 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.680 was shaken as he told the despatcher something that would 429 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:03.000 finally break the case wide open. His father had claimed 430 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:06.559 to have killed Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, and he 431 00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:10.279 was planning on fleeing to Mexico. Ward Weaver didn't get 432 00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:14.200 very far. Detectives tracked him down and arrested him as 433 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:18.279 he drove north on Interstate two five. As it turned out, 434 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:21.440 Weaver was already very familiar to detectives who were investigating 435 00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:26.000 the disappearances of Ashley and Miranda. In fact, he had 436 00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:29.960 been hiding in plain sight all along, a predator who 437 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:33.960 had filled everyone, including the investigators who should have seen 438 00:28:34.039 --> 00:28:45.039 him coming. Ward Francis Weaver third was born on the 439 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:49.039 sixth of April nineteen sixty three in Humboldt County, California, 440 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:52.519 to Trish and Ward Weaver Junior. From the moment he 441 00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:55.559 drew breath, he was destined to inherit a legacy that 442 00:28:55.559 --> 00:28:58.839 would make most families change their names and flee to 443 00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:03.599 different states. But the Weavers weren't most families. They were 444 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:06.839 a dynasty of predators, a blood line that seemed to 445 00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:11.079 pass violence in sexual devians from father to son, like 446 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:15.720 an heirloom that nobody wanted but everybody received. In nineteen 447 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:19.480 sixty seven, when Weaver was just four years old, his 448 00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:23.160 father abandoned the family. It was an abandonment that might 449 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:26.799 have seemed like mercy, except that Word Weaver Junior's absence 450 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:30.440 didn't spare his son from the family curse. It only 451 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:35.720 delayed its manifestation. Ward Weaver Senior, the boy's grandfather, had 452 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:39.160 raped his own sister and two of the family's granddaughters. 453 00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:43.559 Dorothy Weaver, his grandmother, harbored a dep hatred of men. 454 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:46.720 One day, she grabbed a butcher knife and declared she 455 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:51.039 wanted to cut off all of their penises. Despite his abandonment, 456 00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:55.160 Weaver still idolized Ward Junior, even when his father sat 457 00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:58.920 on death row. In nineteen eighty one, when Weaver was 458 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:02.480 eighteen years old, his father, Ward Junior, murdered eighteen year 459 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:05.799 old Air Force recruit Robert Radford and his twenty three 460 00:30:05.880 --> 00:30:10.559 year old girlfriend, Barbara Lavoy, who he also raped. Ward 461 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:13.240 Junior had found the couple stranded a long Highway fifty 462 00:30:13.240 --> 00:30:17.240 eight in California, where their car had broken down. He 463 00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:20.599 beat Robert to death on the spot, then kidnapped, raped, 464 00:30:20.680 --> 00:30:23.920 and sodomized Barbara before killing her and burying her in 465 00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:27.400 his back yard. The bidders only came to light when 466 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:31.000 Ward Junior was in prisonerretre serving a sentence of forty 467 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:34.160 two years he had picked up two other runaways and 468 00:30:34.279 --> 00:30:36.839 arranged for a friend to shoot one of them, while 469 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:40.160 he repeatedly raped the other, a fifteen year old girl, 470 00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:44.400 before letting her go. Ward Junior was convicted in nineteen 471 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:48.119 eighty four in Kern County Superior Court for first degree murder, 472 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:51.240 but the true scope of his crimes may never be known. 473 00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:54.839 He was a truck driver whose route matched with twenty 474 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:58.599 six Unsalt hitchhiker murders, though he was never charged with 475 00:30:58.680 --> 00:31:03.039 any other crimes, the implication was chilling. War Junior may 476 00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:06.319 have been a serial killer whose cross country roots became 477 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:10.200 hunting grounds for young people unlucky enough to need a ride. 478 00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:14.799 This was the father that Weaver looked up to. This 479 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:18.039 was the man whose approval he craved, whose path he 480 00:31:18.039 --> 00:31:23.400 would eventually follow with horrifying precision. Weaver's mother went on 481 00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:26.960 to marry another man, Bob Budrew. He was said to 482 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:30.759 be an abuse of alcoholic. As a teenager, Weaver exhibited 483 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:34.480 anti social behavior. According to his sister, by the time 484 00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:37.519 he was twelve, he had physically and sexually abused at 485 00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:42.160 least one family member. Weaver's own criminal career began early 486 00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:46.640 and escalated steadily. In nineteen eighty one, a teenage relative 487 00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:50.279 reported him for rape, but ultimately prosecutors decided not to 488 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:53.440 pursue charges because Weaver had enlisted in the U. S. 489 00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:57.319 Army Reserves, but he was discharged the following year for 490 00:31:57.400 --> 00:32:01.279 heavy drinking and dereliction of duty. He married a woman 491 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:04.720 named Maria Stout and welcomed a baby boy, Frances, in 492 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:09.440 December of nineteen eighty two. Three more children followed. In 493 00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:12.319 nineteen eighty six, Weaver was arrested after he attacked the 494 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:16.319 teenage daughters of a friend who were babysitting. He hit 495 00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:18.079 one of the girls with a twelve pound block of 496 00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:22.519 concrete and was sentenced to three years in prison. After 497 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:26.319 his release, Weaver and his wife Maria relocated to Cambian, Oregon, 498 00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:30.759 where they operated a store. There. Maria gave birth to 499 00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:34.960 their fourth child, Mallory, in nineteen eighty nine, but even 500 00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:38.519 the facade of domestic normalcy couldn't contain Weaver's true nature. 501 00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:42.799 In nineteen ninety three, Maria filed a restraining order against 502 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:45.559 her husband, claiming he had threatened to shoot her and 503 00:32:45.640 --> 00:32:50.160 hit their children. Two years later, Weaver's girlfriend, Christie Sloane 504 00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:52.720 filed a restraining order, claiming he beat her over the 505 00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:55.640 head with the frying pan while she was asleep and 506 00:32:55.680 --> 00:32:58.960 threatened to kill her and her family. Her father, Mike, 507 00:32:59.079 --> 00:33:01.720 described Weaver as a domineering man who tried to control 508 00:33:01.799 --> 00:33:05.920 everything his daughter did. Whenever she went to her parents' house, 509 00:33:05.960 --> 00:33:09.160 she could only stay a few minutes before Weaver demanded 510 00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:12.599 her home. He was jailed for the incident, but Christie 511 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:16.480 opted out of testifying against him. The couple got back 512 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:20.359 together and ultimately married in nineteen ninety six, before divorcing 513 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:24.640 around three years later. She said of him, he's a 514 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:28.599 very mean and abusive person. Now that he's behind bars, 515 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:41.559 I'm not afraid to talk. By the time Ward Weaver 516 00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:44.440 third was arrested for the rape of his son's girlfriend, 517 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:48.200 he was no stranger to detective searching for Ashley and Miranda. 518 00:33:49.319 --> 00:33:51.599 He had become a person of interest very early on 519 00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:55.599 in the investigation because the connections between him and the 520 00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:59.240 missing girls were impossible to ignore once she started looking. 521 00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:03.279 His daughter, Mallory, had been friends with Ashley and Miranda. 522 00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.880 The three girls attended the same school and the same 523 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:10.760 dance class. Ashley had stead over at Weaver's house on 524 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:16.119 several occasions. Five months before Ashley disappeared, she had accused 525 00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:20.119 Weaver of attempting to rape her at his home. The 526 00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.719 incident was reported to police, but in a pattern that 527 00:34:22.760 --> 00:34:26.400 was becoming tragically familiar in Ashley's young life, they didn't 528 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:31.480 formally file any charges against Weaver. The timing was devastating. 529 00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:35.840 Ashley's accusation came just as her biological father was about 530 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:40.039 to face trial for sexually abusing her. According to her aunt, 531 00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:45.239 Caroline Amos, Ashley's accusations against Weaver undermined her credibility in 532 00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:49.079 her father's case. It made it look like Ashley was 533 00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:53.880 making up stories, Carolyn would later explain, so, once again, 534 00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:58.519 a system meant to protect Ashley instead failed her. Naturally, 535 00:34:58.519 --> 00:35:02.760 Weaver became a person of interes in Ashley's disappearance. Well 536 00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:06.280 not admisable in court. He took a polygraph examination and 537 00:35:06.360 --> 00:35:11.119 failed spectacularly. But rather than retreating into silence like most 538 00:35:11.159 --> 00:35:15.800 suspects might, Weaver did the opposite. He maintained a high 539 00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:20.119 profile throughout the investigation. He spoke with reporters, telling them 540 00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:23.679 openly that he was the lead suspect. He admitted that 541 00:35:23.719 --> 00:35:26.679 he had failed a polygraph, but insisted he had nothing 542 00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:31.000 to do with the disappearances. Most remarkably, he spoke about 543 00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:33.000 Ashley's allegations against him. 544 00:35:33.320 --> 00:35:36.599 Actually has a habit. She gets in trouble by someone 545 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:41.320 should make accusations against that person. And the first time 546 00:35:41.320 --> 00:35:44.360 that I actually had to come down on her about 547 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:48.719 her mouth, she did just that. You know, she made 548 00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:51.639 accusations that I in lest her. I know, Astra ran away, 549 00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:54.280 you know, and the fact that the FBI has thrown 550 00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:57.599 both of these cases, you know, until someone took them both. 551 00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:01.239 It's like, okay, fine, you know, I don't see it 552 00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:03.440 that way. And I would really not like them think 553 00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:09.920 that someone took Miranda either girl. Actually, but I well, 554 00:36:10.679 --> 00:36:12.719 I don't have anything to do with what's going. 555 00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:16.840 On, he said to one reporter. Basically, Ashley's problem was 556 00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:19.360 she just wanted someone to care about her. She was 557 00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:22.400 looking for somebody steady who was going to take care 558 00:36:22.440 --> 00:36:24.920 of her and trade her like a young little girl. 559 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:28.199 He even claimed that Ashley had lived with him for 560 00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:33.079 five months, something her family denied. We were described that 561 00:36:33.119 --> 00:36:36.639 he had treated Ashley like a daughter, paying for her clothing, 562 00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:40.119 feeding her, and taking her to California with the family 563 00:36:40.199 --> 00:36:43.960 the summer before. His obsession with Ashley was so obvious 564 00:36:44.280 --> 00:36:47.400 that it had caused conflict with his then girlfriend, who 565 00:36:47.400 --> 00:36:53.119 felt that Ashley was receiving preferential treatment. We've explained she 566 00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:56.519 felt that Ashley was trying to take over, as if 567 00:36:56.559 --> 00:36:59.559 a twelve year old girl could somehow manipulate an adult man, 568 00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:03.280 rather than the other way around. We were also revealed 569 00:37:03.320 --> 00:37:07.400 telling details about his relationship with Ashley that in hindsight, 570 00:37:07.880 --> 00:37:12.119 painted a picture of calculated grooming. He often drove her 571 00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:15.719 to school because she missed the school bus. He explained, 572 00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:19.480 Ashley had this habit. She really really didn't like to 573 00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:22.079 get up and catch the bus. She took her time, 574 00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:25.400 waiting until the last minute to take a Shore, so 575 00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:27.400 I would end up having to take her to school. 576 00:37:28.199 --> 00:37:31.719 But it wasn't just Ashley that Weaver knew intimately. Miranda 577 00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:34.000 was in the same church youth group as his daughter. 578 00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:37.559 He would drive Miranda to youth group meetings and school 579 00:37:37.679 --> 00:37:41.519 dance team practices, inserting himself into her life with the 580 00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:46.639 same calculated patients he had shootn with Ashley mirand had 581 00:37:46.679 --> 00:37:50.679 spent the night at Weaver's house on several occasions. He 582 00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:52.400 was asked if he knew where they were by a 583 00:37:52.440 --> 00:37:56.360 reporter for Katu none. 584 00:37:56.719 --> 00:37:57.280 I like to know her. 585 00:37:57.320 --> 00:38:00.559 Both of mar like to see Miranda come home. Masha, 586 00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:03.079 I'd igno where she's at, but honestly I didn't leave 587 00:38:03.079 --> 00:38:03.440 her there. 588 00:38:04.199 --> 00:38:08.039 While under investigation, Weaver told his brother Rodney the police 589 00:38:08.039 --> 00:38:13.079 only suspected him because of their father's grizzly past. Just 590 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:16.480 a couple of days after Miranda vanished, Weaver had poured 591 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:21.000 concrete over a hole in his backyard. His daughter Mallory, 592 00:38:21.039 --> 00:38:23.920 had told the school guidance counselor she missed the church 593 00:38:24.039 --> 00:38:27.079 service for Ashley and Miranda because she needed to help 594 00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:30.480 her father dig a hole in the garden. He claimed 595 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:33.320 it was for a hot tub, but no hot tub 596 00:38:33.559 --> 00:38:37.840 ever emerged, just a suspicious concrete slab in the yard 597 00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:43.159 of a man whose daughter's friends kept disappearing. Soon after, 598 00:38:43.199 --> 00:38:47.280 neighbors noticed him packing up his belongings, claiming he planned 599 00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:50.679 to move from the house. And now with the Weaver 600 00:38:50.760 --> 00:38:55.119 behind bars on charge of first degree rape, detectives finally 601 00:38:55.199 --> 00:39:03.440 had the opening they needed. Detectives obtained to search warrant 602 00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:06.480 for Ward Weaver's home on the twenty third of August 603 00:39:06.519 --> 00:39:10.559 two thousand and three. They were focusing specifically on the yard, 604 00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:13.920 on that concrete slab that was supposed to have been 605 00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:18.440 for a hot tub that never materialized. The concrete slab 606 00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:22.719 itself had become an accusation. One of Ashley's relatives had 607 00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:25.840 taped a sign to the surface that simply read dig 608 00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:30.159 me up. Before excavation, detectives methodically searched the rest of 609 00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:33.800 the yard. First, there was a storage shed towards the 610 00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:38.079 back of the property. They creaked open the door and 611 00:39:38.199 --> 00:39:43.880 saw a microwave oven box inside with the remains of 612 00:39:43.920 --> 00:39:48.440 Miranda Goddess, the girl who had dreamed of modeling, who 613 00:39:48.440 --> 00:39:51.679 had complained about Ashley getting all of the attention, who 614 00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:55.840 had made the haunting prediction about getting kidnapped. She'd been 615 00:39:55.880 --> 00:40:01.199 there all along. Then they excavated the concrete slab. Underneath 616 00:40:01.239 --> 00:40:04.440 was a fifty five gallon barrel that had become Ashley 617 00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:08.760 Pond's tomb. Her body had been mummified, and there was 618 00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:12.519 evidence she had been frozen at some stage. A white 619 00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:15.480 rope had been wrapped around her neck and connected to 620 00:40:15.519 --> 00:40:19.320 her wrists and hands. Both girls had been wrapped in 621 00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:24.719 plastic shading that came from Weaver's employer Manufactures Tool Service. 622 00:40:26.039 --> 00:40:28.760 Weaver's fingerprints were found on the tape that was used 623 00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:32.880 to seal the cardboard box containing Miranda's body. Ward Weaver, 624 00:40:32.960 --> 00:40:36.199 the third was indicted on charges of aggravated murder, rape, 625 00:40:36.360 --> 00:40:40.679 attempted rape, sexual abuse, and abuse of a corpse. The 626 00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:44.440 prosecution announced that they were seeking the death penalty. In 627 00:40:44.440 --> 00:40:47.320 the wake of the discovery, the true scope of institutional 628 00:40:47.400 --> 00:40:52.280 failure began to emerge. Weaver's ex wife, Christie, revealed that 629 00:40:52.280 --> 00:40:55.519 she had told detectives five months earlier that they should 630 00:40:55.559 --> 00:40:59.079 dig beneath the concrete in the yard. She had also 631 00:40:59.119 --> 00:41:03.039 told them about weaver Ver's family history, about how Weaver's 632 00:41:03.039 --> 00:41:06.119 father had buried his victim in the yard and then 633 00:41:06.159 --> 00:41:10.280 filled it up with concrete. Yet somehow this crucial information 634 00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:14.519 had been ignored or forgotten while Ashley and Miranda lay 635 00:41:14.519 --> 00:41:20.360 decomposing mere yards where investigators walked their search dogs. The 636 00:41:20.360 --> 00:41:22.880 community was stunned that Ashley and Miranda had been right 637 00:41:22.920 --> 00:41:28.079 there in the neighborhood all along. Miranda's aunt, Terry Duffrey, 638 00:41:28.199 --> 00:41:31.679 captured the anguish that everyone felt when she said they 639 00:41:31.719 --> 00:41:34.199 came in and out of that driveway a hundred times 640 00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:37.400 and they were right there, I mean right there, and 641 00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:41.280 we couldn't do anything. On the thirtieth of August, Oregon 642 00:41:41.320 --> 00:41:44.559 City High School opened their doors for thousands of mourners 643 00:41:44.599 --> 00:41:48.280 in tribute to Ashley and Miranda Kent. Swatman addressed the 644 00:41:48.280 --> 00:41:51.079 crowd and said, we gathered today as a community to 645 00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:54.400 mourn their loss and to honor their young lives. The 646 00:41:54.440 --> 00:41:57.599 town hadn't seen a homicide since nineteen ninety three, and 647 00:41:57.679 --> 00:42:01.480 thousands of people came out to pay their respect. But 648 00:42:01.519 --> 00:42:03.719 beyond the grief and the flowers and the promises to 649 00:42:03.800 --> 00:42:08.400 never forget, a more uncomfortable reckoning was beginning. Governor John 650 00:42:08.480 --> 00:42:11.519 Kizzieber announced that the state needed a fail safe system 651 00:42:11.559 --> 00:42:14.800 for investigating and following up on allegations of sexual abuse. 652 00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:18.440 He promised they would examine whether the state had mishandled 653 00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:24.199 Ashley's sexual abuse allegations against Weaver. That examination revealed a 654 00:42:24.280 --> 00:42:29.320 cascade of failures. Ashley had told multiple people what Weaver 655 00:42:29.400 --> 00:42:33.000 had done to her, including a teacher and a prosecutor, 656 00:42:33.159 --> 00:42:36.760 had even been made aware. In total, Child Protection Services 657 00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:40.719 received five separate calls reporting that Ashley had accused Weaver 658 00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:45.639 of sexually abusing her. Five opportunities to save not just Ashley, 659 00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:49.639 but Miranda as well. State officials claimed they had sent 660 00:42:49.719 --> 00:42:53.079 reports to the Sheriff's office, but the sheriff's office claimed 661 00:42:53.079 --> 00:42:57.039 they never received them. State officials later acknowledged they hadn't 662 00:42:57.039 --> 00:42:59.320 followed up to see if their reports were received or 663 00:42:59.400 --> 00:43:02.199 acted upon. As it turned out, they had sent the 664 00:43:02.199 --> 00:43:06.000 reports to the wrong place, a bureaucratic error that would 665 00:43:06.079 --> 00:43:10.400 cost two children their lives. The truth was even worse 666 00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:15.559 than simple incompetence. After Ashley reported Weaver's abuse, he had 667 00:43:15.599 --> 00:43:18.679 made her life hell. He told her he was going 668 00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:22.360 to testify in her father's trial, claiming that her rapist 669 00:43:22.400 --> 00:43:25.679 father was a good man and accusing Ashley of lying 670 00:43:25.719 --> 00:43:30.559 in court. Her mandor at school, Linde Verden, witnessed Ashley's 671 00:43:30.679 --> 00:43:34.480 terror and recalled there was no doubt she was terrified. 672 00:43:34.840 --> 00:43:39.760 Linda Ward didn't rape me. He tried to rape me. 673 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:45.519 I know the difference. Then she chilled me to the 674 00:43:45.559 --> 00:43:52.239 bone by saying quietly, usually when I spent the night 675 00:43:52.280 --> 00:43:55.920 over there, he only lies on top of me. 676 00:43:57.400 --> 00:43:59.960 So Ashley was caught in a perfect storm of institut 677 00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:04.280 tuitional failure and personal manipulation, a system that ignored her 678 00:44:04.320 --> 00:44:07.639 cries for help, while her abuser threatened to destroy what 679 00:44:07.719 --> 00:44:12.239 little credibility she had left. She was twelve years old, 680 00:44:12.679 --> 00:44:16.400 facing down two adult predators and a bureaucracy that seemed 681 00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:20.400 designed to protect everyone except the children it claimed to serve. 682 00:44:21.719 --> 00:44:24.800 In the end, to child welfare agency workers were fired 683 00:44:25.199 --> 00:44:29.360 for how they handled Arshley's reports of sexual abuse. They 684 00:44:29.400 --> 00:44:34.239 blamed an overwhelming workload in a final insult to Ashley's memory. 685 00:44:34.920 --> 00:44:43.199 Both workers were eventually rehired. In August of two thousand 686 00:44:43.199 --> 00:44:46.519 and three, Miranda's mother, Michelle, filed a one point five 687 00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:50.239 million dollar lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Human Services, 688 00:44:50.920 --> 00:44:55.440 claiming they had mishandled the abuse reports. The next month, 689 00:44:55.480 --> 00:44:58.840 Ashley's mother, Laurie, lost Costaday of her three remaining children 690 00:44:59.400 --> 00:45:02.320 after a co cutler reported a case of abuse by neglect. 691 00:45:03.639 --> 00:45:06.320 Lourie then filed a nine point seventy five million dollar 692 00:45:06.440 --> 00:45:10.239 federal lawsuit claiming police and child welfare officials had failed 693 00:45:10.280 --> 00:45:13.800 to protect Ashley from Weaver. The lawsuits ultimately ended in 694 00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:18.239 a ten thousand dollars settlement. Meanwhile, Ward Weaver the third 695 00:45:18.360 --> 00:45:21.960 was speaking with reporters from behind bars, spinning new lies 696 00:45:22.039 --> 00:45:25.000 even as the evidence of his guilt surrounded him, He 697 00:45:25.119 --> 00:45:28.960 claimed that a shadowy conspiracy of outlaw motorcycle gang members 698 00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:33.440 and drug dealers were actually responsible for the murders. He said, 699 00:45:33.480 --> 00:45:35.800 I'm ninety nine percent sure I'm going to walk out 700 00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:38.519 of this place in mid September when my trial is over. 701 00:45:39.079 --> 00:45:40.840 He spoke with the confidence of a man who had 702 00:45:40.840 --> 00:45:44.920 spent his entire life manipulating his way out of consequences. 703 00:45:45.880 --> 00:45:48.559 He spoke with katu, did you kill. 704 00:45:48.360 --> 00:45:49.639 Ashley find and ran again. 705 00:45:49.920 --> 00:45:51.360 No, I did not. 706 00:45:51.679 --> 00:45:52.760 So if you didn't. 707 00:45:52.559 --> 00:45:54.800 Kill Ashley and Miranda, then how did they wind up 708 00:45:54.800 --> 00:45:56.079 in your backyards? 709 00:45:56.880 --> 00:46:00.840 Public property? Who knows that place has been public existence, 710 00:46:00.800 --> 00:46:03.599 those apartments and those kinds have been built. People kick 711 00:46:03.639 --> 00:46:05.679 out the back fence and walk up through my backyard. 712 00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:10.920 But reality was beginning to intrude on Weaver's delusions. In January, 713 00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:13.800 he was taken to hospital after slashing his chest and 714 00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:18.760 wrists with a disposable razor. The injuries were superficial, and 715 00:46:18.800 --> 00:46:22.199 he was back in jail within ours. A few months later, 716 00:46:22.199 --> 00:46:25.880 a judge sent him to a state psychiatric hospital indefinitely, 717 00:46:25.960 --> 00:46:30.000 suspending the trial. Judge Robert Herndon said Weaver suffered from 718 00:46:30.039 --> 00:46:34.039 severe depression that prevented him from cooperating in his own defense. 719 00:46:35.239 --> 00:46:38.079 A psychiatrist for the defense had diagnosed him with narcissistic 720 00:46:38.119 --> 00:46:42.000 personality disorder and major depression, but a competing expert for 721 00:46:42.039 --> 00:46:45.039 the prosecution said that he was faking some of his symptoms. 722 00:46:46.239 --> 00:46:49.639 Since January, Weaver had carved his daughter's name into his forearm, 723 00:46:50.159 --> 00:46:54.000 lacerated his chest, banged his head against a wall, and 724 00:46:54.079 --> 00:46:56.920 told doctors he believed he was in jail as punishment 725 00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:02.000 for spanking his daughters. He also reported here voices. In August, 726 00:47:02.039 --> 00:47:06.360 after spending four months under psychiatric evaluation, Weaver was found 727 00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:10.159 combetan to stand trial. The tarade of mental illness had 728 00:47:10.239 --> 00:47:12.679 run its course, and it was time to face the 729 00:47:12.679 --> 00:47:16.159 consequences of what he had done to Ashleigh and Miranda, 730 00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:19.480 but a murder trial would never come. On the twenty 731 00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:22.280 second of September two thousand and four, Ward Weaver the 732 00:47:22.320 --> 00:47:26.159 Third was escorted into the courtroom, his shoulders slumped and 733 00:47:26.239 --> 00:47:29.480 his voice barely audible as he pleaded guilty to the 734 00:47:29.559 --> 00:47:34.559 murders of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis. The charges kept coming, 735 00:47:35.239 --> 00:47:38.559 two counts of abuse of a corpse, three counts of 736 00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:42.360 sexual abuse, the rape of his son's girlfriend's teenage sister, 737 00:47:43.360 --> 00:47:46.679 and no contest played at ten more charges, including the 738 00:47:46.760 --> 00:47:50.559 rape of yet another friend of his daughter, seventeen counts. 739 00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:55.519 In total, seventeen ways he had destroyed innocence. The plea 740 00:47:55.559 --> 00:47:58.719 deal would spare him from death row, but Ward Weaver, 741 00:47:58.840 --> 00:48:02.800 the third, would never see freedom again. He received two 742 00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:07.760 consecutive life sentences. The plea had come after Weaver's daughter 743 00:48:08.360 --> 00:48:12.280 sent him a letter that simply begged, Daddy, make it stop. 744 00:48:13.360 --> 00:48:15.880 His own child could no longer bear the weight of 745 00:48:15.920 --> 00:48:19.039 what he had become. In the victim impact statemens, the 746 00:48:19.039 --> 00:48:23.239 mother's words cut through the courtroom like broken glass. Michel 747 00:48:23.360 --> 00:48:28.440 Miranda's mother said, I ask you today, Ward, did she suffer? 748 00:48:29.119 --> 00:48:34.280 What were her last words? Laurie Ashley's mother said, part 749 00:48:34.280 --> 00:48:37.599 of my life died with her. I ask you, why 750 00:48:37.599 --> 00:48:41.679 did you have to kill her? Weaver offered no explanation 751 00:48:41.840 --> 00:48:46.840 for his crimes. He remained silent about his motivations, leaving 752 00:48:47.000 --> 00:48:51.239 only the detective's theories to fill the void. Ashley had 753 00:48:51.239 --> 00:48:55.519 made allegations against him, accusations that threaten to unravel his 754 00:48:55.639 --> 00:49:01.159 carefully constructed facade, so she had to disappear. Miranda, they 755 00:49:01.199 --> 00:49:05.679 believed knew too much. After Ashley vanished, Miranda had warned 756 00:49:05.719 --> 00:49:09.079 a friend never to stay overnight at Weaver's home. She 757 00:49:09.199 --> 00:49:12.880 believed he had molested Ashleigh, that other girls were in danger. 758 00:49:13.960 --> 00:49:18.880 In Weaver's twisted logic, her knowledge made her liability. Judge 759 00:49:18.880 --> 00:49:21.920 Hendon then addressed him and said, you will leave here 760 00:49:21.960 --> 00:49:24.280 with your life to day, such as it may be, 761 00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:27.960 I see nothing but evil. I believe every one probably 762 00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:30.960 shares the hope that there's a special place in hell 763 00:49:31.119 --> 00:49:37.039 for people like you. Years pasted, Miranda's younger sister, Maria, 764 00:49:37.800 --> 00:49:40.960 was only eleven when the murder shattered her world. She 765 00:49:41.000 --> 00:49:43.840 grew into a young woman that was haunted by questions. 766 00:49:44.559 --> 00:49:47.159 When she was eighteened, she reached out to her sister's killer. 767 00:49:48.159 --> 00:49:54.000 She needed answers. In prison, Weaver finally spoke. He admitted 768 00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:58.639 what everyone already knew. He had killed them both. Ashleygh 769 00:49:58.679 --> 00:50:02.519 he claimed because she he saw something Miranda, in a 770 00:50:02.519 --> 00:50:06.559 grotesque twist of justification, to protect her from a bad 771 00:50:06.639 --> 00:50:10.480 home life, he described strangling both the girls with his 772 00:50:10.559 --> 00:50:14.679 bare hands, moving their bodies to confuse the police dogs. 773 00:50:15.280 --> 00:50:18.719 Mira even visited him, but the visit stopped abruptly when 774 00:50:18.719 --> 00:50:23.559 Weaver made one final chilling revelation. If he hadn't been caught, 775 00:50:24.199 --> 00:50:28.280 she would have been next. Even behind bars word Weaver 776 00:50:28.360 --> 00:50:32.079 the third remained a predator. The Weaver name would make 777 00:50:32.119 --> 00:50:36.039 headlines once more. In two thousand and four, Francis Weaver, 778 00:50:36.599 --> 00:50:38.840 the boy who had grown up in his father and 779 00:50:38.920 --> 00:50:43.840 grandfather's shadow, was charged with murder during a drug robbery 780 00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:47.480 gone wrong. He in two accomplices, shot Edward Spangler in 781 00:50:47.519 --> 00:50:52.320 the face and shoulder and left him to die. Three generations, 782 00:50:52.920 --> 00:50:58.239 three weaver Men, three murderers. The apple it seemed truly 783 00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:01.760 didn't fall far from the tree, But then came a 784 00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:05.119 revelation that cast everything in a different, more disturbing light. 785 00:51:06.440 --> 00:51:11.159 Francis wasn't actually Waver's biological son. His mother admitted that 786 00:51:11.199 --> 00:51:16.079 his real father was either Richard, a deceased marine, or Christopher, 787 00:51:16.199 --> 00:51:19.239 a man in the navy. The boy raised as a 788 00:51:19.239 --> 00:51:23.000 Weaver wasn't really a Waver at all, which raised the 789 00:51:23.039 --> 00:51:27.480 most chilling question of all. Was evil inherited or was 790 00:51:27.480 --> 00:51:31.719 a tout? In the case of the Waver family, Perhaps 791 00:51:31.719 --> 00:51:35.519 it didn't matter. Francis had been raised in War's image, 792 00:51:36.239 --> 00:51:41.840 molded by his example, shaped by his twisted worldview. Biology 793 00:51:41.920 --> 00:51:44.920 be damned, he had learned to be a monster from 794 00:51:44.960 --> 00:52:11.760 the Master himself. Well that is it for this episode 795 00:52:11.800 --> 00:52:14.239 of Morbidology. As always, thank you so much for listening, 796 00:52:14.280 --> 00:52:15.960 and I'd like to say a massive thank you to 797 00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:19.559 my new supporters up on Patreon, sav and Susan. The 798 00:52:19.599 --> 00:52:22.039 link to Patreon is in the show notes. If you'd 799 00:52:22.079 --> 00:52:25.440 like to join, I upload adfree and early release episodes 800 00:52:25.440 --> 00:52:27.760 behind the scenes, and I also sand out March along 801 00:52:27.800 --> 00:52:30.840 with a thank you card. I also do monthly bonus 802 00:52:30.880 --> 00:52:35.159 episodes of Morbidology Plus that are on the regular podcast platforms, 803 00:52:35.400 --> 00:52:37.920 and you can get these on Apple subscriptions as well. 804 00:52:38.519 --> 00:52:40.880 Remember to check us out at morebidology dot com for 805 00:52:40.920 --> 00:52:43.519 more information about this episode and to read some true 806 00:52:43.519 --> 00:52:47.920 crime articles. Until next time, take care of yourselves, stay safe, 807 00:52:48.440 --> 00:53:20.840 and have an amazing week.