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subject to credit approval C store or ashley.com for [Music] details [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever
00:01:44
you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always a man that's driving a
00:01:51
four-wheeler on the highway through the danger zone he is the captain that's cuz
00:01:55
I got a honky tonk but donkey donk it's good to be seene and it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks for
00:02:03
telling your [Music] mother this week we are featuring Bennington from Night Shift brewing in
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Massachusetts garage grade 4 and a qu bottle caps listen up because this beer has a lot going on Bennington is an
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oatmeal stout brewed with Dutch processed cocoa and maple syrup this is a beautiful Montage of big flavors and
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Bennington was brought to us by all of you out there but specifically we have first up a big big thank you to Robbie
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and Steph and Clinton Massachusetts and a big we like your jib goes out to Junior in Toledo Ohio next up all the
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way in Sweden a cheers to Ellen and a big cheers mates to Lauren e and DC next up we have Hannah from Oklahoma and last
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but not least we have connory from Parts mispronounced Worster Massachusetts thanks everybody for helping us out with
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this week's beer run if you want to help us out with next week's go to True Crim
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garage.com and click on that little donate button did you say Oklahom Oklahom like okah Homie don't play that
00:03:09
yeah and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a
00:03:14
chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime the definition of the murder Gene is
00:03:46
that it is a DNA genetic variant that some scientists propose predisposes an individual to berserk
00:03:54
violence this is not a scientific or forensic expert term per se but is a term made Popular by the media to refer
00:04:03
to a particular variant of the monoamine oxidase Gene which apparently predisposes an individual to
00:04:11
disproportionate violence under any condition that triggers the carrier of that Gene sequence to
00:04:19
violence as referred to in the death penalty case of Moy V the state of Georgia the murder Gene is quote a
00:04:26
possible genetic basis for violent and impul F of behavior in certain individuals end
00:04:33
quote it is also known as The Rage gene or even more commonly the warrior Gene because of the theory that persons with
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this Gene would likely have been the most efficient berserk warriors on a field of
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battle the murder Gene as the theory goes suggests that behavior and activities from infancy into childhood
00:04:55
and through adulthood were not the products of Free Will as Society defines this term because the individual lacked
00:05:03
the ability to make non-impulsive considered choices about his or her life's path again this is not a
00:05:10
scientific nor forensic term per se but it is certainly worth exploring it's the age-old question of
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nature or nurture this week we discuss a case that begs the question are some people born
00:05:27
to kill [Music] Ward Weaver III was born April 6th 1963 in Humbolt County California his father
00:05:45
was the junor ward Weaver Jr and his mother's name is Trish Weaver when Ward was about four years old his father left
00:05:52
his mother and abandon the family all together a short time after he left Trish Weaver met another man and later
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the two got married the man's name Bob budo so after Ward Weaver the third's mother remarried this is when the family
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relocated moving up to Portland Oregon unfortunately it seems like there was a lot of abuse going on in that household
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bab Dro is described as an abusive alcoholic I can't say for certain whom in the house Bob was abusing could be
00:06:25
his wife a child or everyone but at some point during Ward Weaver teenage years he started abusing one or more of the
00:06:33
other children in the house okay there's a little brief history on Ward Weaver III's childhood now we need to fast
00:06:42
forward to February 1981 and go back to California for this next portion of this
00:06:48
week's case a young recently engaged couple this is 18-year-old Robert Radford and his fiance 23-year-old
00:06:57
Barbara Lavoy these two are driving from Robert's parents house they stayed there
00:07:02
for 2 weeks visiting they are driving to an Air Force base near Los Vegas see young Robert is one of the good guys he
00:07:10
is going into the Armed Forces and according to his mother the young couple laid out their future plans regarding
00:07:16
their marriage Robert wanted a long career in the Air Force and the two planned to have a bunch of kids but
00:07:24
before they got to the Air Force Base in fact they were still in California just
00:07:28
west of the Mojave desert their vehicle breaks down unfortunately for them a semi slowed down to talk to the young
00:07:36
couple less than two days later Robert radford's body was found along a desert highway according to the papers Robert
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was hit in the back of the head several times possibly with an axe or Hatchet and Barbara was missing and authorities
00:07:51
feared she had been abducted later that same year Ward Weaver Jr a Long Haul truck driver who spent a lot of time
00:07:59
away away from his family was arrested eventually he was convicted and sentenced to 42 years in prison this is
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because one night Ward Weaver Jr picked up two runaways in his truck he wanted very little to do with the 18-year-old
00:08:13
man so he arranged for a friend to shoot the man and Ward Weaver Jr repeatedly raped the 15-year-old girl before
00:08:21
letting her go it was when Ward Weaver Jr was in prison for the attack on The Runaways that he confided in a cellmate
00:08:28
that he killed another couple Weaver Jr's soulmate told authorities and when police showed up at the prison to ask
00:08:35
Weaver Jr about the crime Weaver Jr had only one request I need to talk to my mother he said they let him make a phone
00:08:44
call and then he talked to them and he laid it all out Weaver Jr said he beat 18-year-old Robert Radford to death with
00:08:52
a pipe hitting him from behind then Weaver Jr kidnapped and attempted to rape the woman when he tried to gag her
00:09:00
she bit off the tip of his thumb well too bad she didn't bite off the tip of your dick well he said that he went home
00:09:06
and he was quite freaked out that night he told his family he had been in a bar fight and that a man had bitten off the
00:09:12
tip of his thumb Weaver Jr was so unnerved by the incident that he did not let his children attend school the
00:09:19
following day now according to court records he buried the girl's body in three places before moving her remains
00:09:27
to a hole that his son unaware of what the hole was for helped him dig behind his rented house in
00:09:35
California right this is where Weaver Junior's second wife and their young children lived Weaver Junior's son
00:09:41
Rodney remembers packing the dirt later his father sealed the grave with concrete and built a deck on top of it
00:09:50
on the afternoon of July 26th 1982 two detectives showed up at the twor house and wanted to speak to Rodney about the
00:09:58
holes he helped dig they brought in a back ho and cracked the concrete in two chunks from his bedroom on the second
00:10:06
floor he watched as they lifted up one of the pieces and there she was said Rodney Ward Weaver Jr was tried for the
00:10:14
double homicides and received two death sentences yeah one evil dude it turned out later that Ward Weaver Jr's truck
00:10:22
routes matched up with 26 unsolved hitchhiker homicides now to be clear we Jr has never been charged in any of
00:10:31
those cases nor do we know if he's tied to any of those for certain right meanwhile while all of this was
00:10:37
happening in California with Ward Weaver Jr back in Oregon in 1981 his son Ward Weaver III now this would be right
00:10:46
around the time Ward Weaver III was turning 18 years of age a teenage relative reported that Ward had
00:10:53
repeatedly raped and beat her police did investigate these allegations but mtima
00:10:58
County prosecutors decided not to pursue charges some sources say this is because
00:11:03
Ward Weaver enlisted in the Navy and was leaving Portland soon I think it was a bit more complicated than just simply
00:11:11
that Captain yeah I hope I hope so well it oh well just because you're out here raping and beating women oh once you
00:11:19
sign up for the Navy it's all good well I again I don't think it was just that simple it looks like they meaning the
00:11:26
authorities they were having trouble bringing the charges forward right and I'm sure weer leaving likely
00:11:31
didn't help to motivate the cause let's say m so shortly after Weaver graduated from Marshall High School in Portland he
00:11:40
joined the US Navy Reserve but this was short-lived as he was discharged the following year on May 17th 1982 for
00:11:49
heavy drinking and dereliction of Duty mhm during his tenure in the Navy he met his future wife Maria stal a native of
00:11:57
the Philippines I thought you were going to a douche canoeing of Duty the couple
00:12:02
moved in with Weaver's parents this is his mother's side of the family and Maria was soon pregnant 5 months into
00:12:09
her pregnancy she was physically assaulted by Weaver III and hospitalized but she refused to press charges against
00:12:15
her husband their son Francis was born in December of 1982 let's Flash Forward shall we and
00:12:23
introduce Ashley Marie Pond Ashley was born on March 1st 198 9 her mother Lori Davis was barely 16 at the time for the
00:12:33
first few years of Ashley's life she lived with her mother and her mother's high school sweetheart David Pond
00:12:39
eventually the two married and Ashley viewed David as her father Ashley was described as an easy child who could
00:12:47
entertain herself and one who enjoyed attention and affection she was well behaved but then about the age of 9 or
00:12:54
10 Lorie Pond divorced David Pond and this was a very big change change for little Ashley during the divorce the
00:13:01
couple fought about child support payments so a paternity test was administered to determine if Ashley was
00:13:07
indeed David Pond's biological daughter to everyone's surprise it was determined
00:13:12
that she was not you are not the father Wesley ruer was her real father she began to visit her biological father
00:13:21
staying with him on the weekends it was during this time that friends and family
00:13:25
noticed Ashley was becoming angry and confrontation she really did not want to spend time
00:13:31
with her biological father and she did not enjoy staying with her father right it took some time but eventually Ashley
00:13:37
told her mother that Wesley ruer her biological father had sexually abused her during her visits to his home in
00:13:45
January of 2001 Wesley ruer was indicted on 40 counts of rape and sexual abuse later in a bad plead deal he was able to
00:13:55
plead no contest to one of the counts and was released during the following months the police were called out to the
00:14:03
pond department for various reasons including an allegation that ly Ashley's mother was drunk and neglecting her
00:14:09
children by April 2001 Ashley Pond was spending a lot of time over the house of a friend mallerie Weaver daughter of
00:14:18
Ward Weaver III in early spring a report was made by Linda verden Ashley's reading teacher at Gaffney Lane
00:14:27
Elementary this was report was given to the principal Chris Mills she said that she saw Ward Weaver kiss Ashley on the
00:14:35
lips regardless of this Ashley seems to be finding some comfort at the Weaver home or at least enjoying spending time
00:14:43
a lot of time with her friend according to the Portland Tribune Ashley spent almost the first half of 2001 with the
00:14:51
Weaver family even joining Ward Weaver Weaver's girlfriend and Weaver's daughter mallerie on a two-e vacation to
00:14:59
California in late June and early July of 2001 the calls to the police about disturbances at Ashley's mother's
00:15:07
apartment continued over the next few months and Ashley spent more and more time with the
00:15:13
Weavers then in early August so just about one month after Ashley went on vacation with the Weavers Ashley very
00:15:21
bravely confided in her reading teacher Linda verden that Ward Weaver had molested her according to Ashley she
00:15:27
said Ward I II was molesting her and Weaver used Ashley's biological father's pending rape trial as the threat to keep
00:15:36
her quiet so he threatened that he would testify against Ashley in her father's rape trial if she said what was going on
00:15:46
right we already mentioned that the plea deal we already mentioned that plea deal
00:15:51
but see all these allegations by the young girl were not just clean and simple they had their complexities and
00:15:57
the authorities did have some troubles getting all charges brought forth to be clear I'm not accusing this young girl
00:16:05
of lying in fact my stance is let's hear her out and go round up these perverts and see if we can charge them with
00:16:13
something but one of the complexities is back in April of that year Ashley also accused two other men of molesting her
00:16:22
but then later recanted those statements so I think some can see how this could be perceived as a boy who cried wolf
00:16:31
situation but regardless of any of these other situations well it's it's big difference between a boy crying wolf and
00:16:38
a girl crying rape regardless of any of these other situations and the details of those this
00:16:46
little very brave girl told someone what was going on right that Ward Weaver III
00:16:53
was molesting her that he was inappropriate with her and she stood up and told an an adult a good adult at
00:17:00
that once the accusations were made Ashley stopped going to the Weaver's house these accusations didn't come
00:17:09
without problems for Ashley who ultimately ended up being well what she described as feeling ostracized by Ward
00:17:17
Weaver's daughter and friends of Weaver's daughter due to the sloppy handling of the paperwork by County
00:17:24
officials regarding Ashley's accusations Ward Weaver was never investigated and therefore he was never charged with
00:17:32
sexually abusing Ashley at that time yeah that's nonsense all right Captain so here's where we are right we have
00:17:39
we're discussing the Weaver family basically we have Ward Weaver Jr who committed murders in California Yeah by
00:17:48
this time he's already locked up he's facing death sentences he's a real stinky pizza that's right he's got two
00:17:54
death sentences in the state of California M then we have his son Ward Weaver III now keep in mind Weaver Jr
00:18:02
left thei third's mother in the family when Ward Weaver III was like four years old so really these two have no to
00:18:11
little interaction with with each other but Ward Weaver III is now in Oregon and
00:18:18
he is being accused by his daughter's friend of molesting her right and as we stated due to some kind of slip up in
00:18:26
the paperwork lazy work you know sloppy work whatever you want to call it that accusation is not
00:18:34
really investigated even though in my opinion it's reported by a reputable uh it's a reputable report coming from her
00:18:42
school this was her school stating this I understand that there's problems going
00:18:46
on at her house at Ashley Pond's house with the police showing up with the situation with her mother right but this
00:18:53
little girl regardless of you know I referenced a boy who cried wolf situation the regardless of that this
00:19:02
girl can't catch a break she's gone through some very tough times she's had a [ __ ] bag for a biological father who
00:19:09
stin who wasn't there and then when she goes to visit him he I mean he he's accused and was charged with 40 counts
00:19:19
of rape or molestation charges he's able to plea down to one count of that and then we have these other accusations
00:19:28
going on with Ward Weaver III not investigated but into the fall of 2001 things started to look up for
00:19:37
Ashley who's obviously been through so much in her short life life seemed to settle down Ashley's grades were
00:19:44
improving and her family and home life was improving as well and the bright side of Ashley's personality was
00:19:52
returning unfortunately as Christmas approached sources say Ashley and Ward Weaver's daughter Aller the two girls
00:19:59
who were once friends they were both on the dance team together they partially renewed their friendship now on to the
00:20:06
day in question Captain right according to the Portland Tribune on January 9th 2002 Lorie Pond Ashley's mother says
00:20:15
Ashley got up just like any other day Ashley got ready for school and Lori heard Ashley say goodbye this was around
00:20:22
8:15 a.m. this was when she was heading out to catch her school bus Ashley Never reported to school that day
00:20:31
in fact her friends would later say Ashley never got on the bus and never arrived at the bus stop the report that
00:20:38
went out on January 9th 2002 this was a Wednesday in Oregon City Oregon Ashley Pond age 12 disappeared on her way to
00:20:47
meet the school bus it was just after 8:00 a.m. and Ashley was running late the bus stop was just 10 minutes from
00:20:54
the new well Creek Village Apartments where Ashley lived lived with her mother again Ashley Pond never got on the bus
00:21:02
never made it to her middle school that day because they had no eyewitnesses authorities were looking into the
00:21:08
possibility that she never made it out very far from the apartment complex itself where she lived neither her
00:21:15
mother nor most of her friends believe she had run away the local authorities jumped on this right away but the
00:21:22
problem they very quickly ran into no one saw anything out of the ordinary no one saw Ashley get into a vehicle no one
00:21:31
saw her in any type of struggle no one reported hearing any screams right you know it was as if she had just simply
00:21:39
vanished the local police called in the FBI but again there simply was just no clues that surfaced as to the
00:21:46
whereabouts of the missing girl Ashley was popular at school and enjoyed being on the swim team and dance team her and
00:21:54
her friends and her classmates well it was like a mixed bag as for feelings about Ashley having gone missing most of
00:22:01
the kids were saddened and likely afraid regarding her disappearance but a few of
00:22:06
her friends thought Ashley may have run off I think you know that's fair I mean think of the crap that this kid has gone
00:22:15
through you know and basically the three-year time period of her parents divorcing and and all that I mean that's
00:22:22
it's a it's a horrible three years for her one of Ashley Pond's friends mirand gladus said when Ashley didn't show up
00:22:30
at the bus stop for school first Miranda was scared and then she said she got mad
00:22:35
Miranda figured Ashley probably ran away and she was upset that Miranda took off
00:22:41
and then didn't even bother to call anybody and at least say that she was fine Miranda felt that Ashley left
00:22:47
everybody worrying for nothing Miranda and her mother Michelle Duffy lived just a few apartments down from Ashley pwn
00:22:56
the school organized a benefit to raise money for a reward for Ashley's disappearance maybe a reward could help
00:23:04
generate a tip a much needed lead in a case that had no clues featured at the benefit would be the dance team that
00:23:11
both Ashley and Miranda belonged to Miranda choreographed a solo routine as a special way of remembering her friend
00:23:19
Miranda's mother Michelle later said Miranda started realizing that even if Ashley did run away she wasn't coming
00:23:27
back anytime soon the dance benefit was scheduled for March 23rd 2002 at the Oregon City High School but Miranda
00:23:37
would not be in it because on Friday March 8th just 2 months after Ashley disappeared 13-year-old Miranda Gladis
00:23:45
got up just like any other day she got ready for school Miranda's mother Michelle Duffy left for work within 30
00:23:52
minutes before Miranda would typically leave for school each weekday morning Miranda and some other kids would catch
00:23:58
the school bus at the bus stop about a 10-minute walk from the apartment complex at the top of the hill but later
00:24:05
that day Michelle learned that Miranda did not go to school and she immediately called the police Miranda just like
00:24:12
Ashley didn't show up at the bus stop that morning that she went missing police believe she vanished around 8:00
00:24:17
a.m. while on her way to the bus stop at the top of the hill and the paper said she disappeared from the new well Creek
00:24:24
Village Apartments so here we have both 12-year-old Ashley Pond and 13-year-old Miranda gladus two girls who were good
00:24:32
friends that went to the same school and lived in the same apartment complex both
00:24:37
disappeared before [Music] school this show is sponsored by better help do you look forward to the holidays
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changer all right cheers mates there's a lot to unpack but let's try to do this slowly
00:27:04
yes well it doesn't help that two of the individuals that we I'm sipping on my beer
00:27:11
hold disgusting that's not just drink it like a normal person but it doesn't help
00:27:17
captain that the two two of the individuals that we're discussing have the same name Ward Weaver Junior Ward
00:27:22
Weaver III we don't need to talk about Junior right now right so the Third in his town we have this girl Ashley
00:27:32
Ashley she goes missing but before she goes missing she says Hey Ward Weaver III he is molesting me mhm yeah she's
00:27:42
over at his house all the time very good friends best friends with his daughter mallerie and he she eventually accuses
00:27:51
him of molesting her now we also have the reading teacher who says before these molestation allegations ever come
00:28:00
up right the reading teacher says Hey on one occasion I witness this grown man Ward Weaver thei kiss this 12-year-old
00:28:07
girl on the lips M so very likely a which is you know which is weird but also if you saw if you saw
00:28:17
a grown man kiss like a three-year-old wouldn't it be so weird you know for me though I would think if I just like was
00:28:24
out in public randomly and saw something like that I would just assume it was like the kid's father right um but you
00:28:32
know this reading teacher knows different because she knows uh his daughter as well right so that's strange
00:28:39
and then they don't listen to her and they basically don't investigate these allegations at all and then her friend
00:28:47
Ashley's friend goes missing as well and now they're coming back to Ward Weaver III and saying hey
00:28:58
you're a suspect for this MH because there were allegations against you right but this guy he thinks he's a rock star
00:29:06
now cuz people are they're interviewing him and he's saying well come on in my house sit down let's talk about this
00:29:14
yeah and and a lot of this occurs after the second girl Miranda goes missing and
00:29:20
what's so strange is that you have two girls that have disappeared and it's the the circumstance of such are so similar
00:29:30
right you know uh both of them were on their way apparently to the bus stop and they never arrive at the bus stop which
00:29:37
but also in my mind that makes it a little more suspicious that you would think that a parent of somebody at their
00:29:44
school would know the bus system roughly when kids were waiting for the bus mhm and or you got a predator in the area
00:29:55
and that's their mean means of opportunity mhm so it's but I'm leaning more towards maybe a parent of somebody
00:30:05
at the school well and some in the community would share that same thought but the thing we have to keep in mind
00:30:11
here regarding the bus stop itself mhm it's not like it's not like either of these girls were going to show up at the
00:30:18
bus stop and be the only one waiting for the school bus we have other kids their
00:30:23
same ages that go to the same school ride the bus and these kids when question are saying we never saw either
00:30:32
girl the day that they went missing right once again when we have Miranda who goes missing under the similar
00:30:39
circumstances investigators jump on it immediately but they come up empty there again there's no leads to follow the
00:30:46
investigators then started to look at the possibility that the person that abducted the girls was possibly someone
00:30:53
that knew them and whoever it was seemed to be targeting possibly the same type of victim Ashley and Miranda were close
00:31:01
in age involved in similar activities and even According to some looked very similar to each other and and the fact
00:31:08
that there is no eyewitnesses and there's no there's nobody coming forward here saying that they heard a girl
00:31:14
scream or anything that would lead me to believe that as well MH well and you and
00:31:20
I know that a lot of times what investigators are looking for when there is a possible stranger abduction or any
00:31:28
type of child abduction mhm they want a car they want a a vehicle description of
00:31:34
of what to be looking for or a van yeah and here we have no vehicle description we don't have any eyewitnesses saying
00:31:41
they saw anything at all but if our ban the van campaign keeps going as well as it's going they won't be looking for
00:31:48
Vans anymore that's true because they'll be off the streets well on the other side of the coin here Captain we have
00:31:55
some people in the community who wondered if perhaps the two girls ran away together now I know that they went
00:32:01
missing about 2 months apart but some of the people were wondering could Ashley have contacted Miranda told her where
00:32:09
she was and persuaded her to join her they were friends right that's a possibility but again it's a 12-year-old
00:32:17
girl is she going to have the resources to be gone that long yeah where's she going to go and you know unfortunately
00:32:25
that's what both families were pray they were hoping that that was the situation
00:32:30
right but law enforcement officials certainly didn't think so once again the FBI was called in and they this time
00:32:38
they brought in profilers from the FBI headquarters in Quantico Virginia they were dispatched to this workingclass
00:32:45
suburb of Portland and the Federal Bureau of Investigation instated a task force to search for the girls now FBI
00:32:54
spokeswoman Beth Anne steel stated during a press interview quote there is a growing belief that these cases are
00:33:01
related and while there's a slight hope that they have run away there is a growing belief that there was some kind
00:33:08
of criminal activity involved the two cases had so many frightening parallels the police had to believe that they were
00:33:17
probably linked at this point I think the relationship between the two girls would that's all you need for me for
00:33:25
them to be linked well FBI profilers and agency officials went on television issuing an advisory to the public but
00:33:34
this was without explaining why they were issuing an advisory so they were telling the public to be on the lookout
00:33:41
for someone who recently sold a car or vehicle someone who shows signs of increasing drug or alcohol use right
00:33:49
someone who appears to be tired from being up all night now both Michelle Duffy and Lor P everybody running a true
00:33:57
crime podcast both Michelle Duffy and Lorie Pon say they believe neither girl ran away but they were also sure that
00:34:07
neither would have have allowed someone to abduct them or be abducted by a stranger right and this goes back to
00:34:15
what you were saying you know you would start to wonder was this a someone that they knew
00:34:22
yeah I and I'm such a pessimist too if I was one of the parents and I heard the other parents saying well maybe Ashley
00:34:31
contacted her and they're they're off in the woods somewhere living happily and nothing happened I would be thinking in
00:34:38
my head get your head out of your ass MH that's not a possibility well I think that that comes from the public and it
00:34:47
may have come from Ashley's school that speculation because some people there at
00:34:52
the school knew a lot of the terrible stuff that was going on in Ashley life personal life outside of school and
00:35:01
you know it's not uncommon for when a child is having that difficult of a time being and and being a victim right to to
00:35:09
run away to flee from a bad situation well and you're also more likely if if you're having that how can
00:35:19
I say this is it's negative attention right right in the worst form but she doesn't have a father figure or the
00:35:29
father figure that she thought she had she didn't have and then she was molested by the other father
00:35:36
figure so she is more prone to having even just let's say a stranger that says hey let me take care of you and if if
00:35:47
they're taking care of you part of the time but they're still molestation or rape or whatever is happening mhm this
00:35:54
is an environment that she's been in mhm so she can survive in that environment right so all I'm saying is she's more
00:36:02
likely to maybe go with somebody and um if that makes any sense well but we do know Predators will Prey Upon children
00:36:13
that have little to no support system well right but we also know in this community that people have heard about
00:36:20
these allegations right so now if you have a predator they they have their target and
00:36:29
again then you go well if they're friends and Ashley has gone through all this does she tell this Predator hey my
00:36:38
friend went through some of this too and now he prays on her as well right the pond family kept a low profile since
00:36:46
Ashley's disappearance but after The Disappearance of Miranda Ashley's mother Lori Pond appeared with Michelle Duffy
00:36:53
on three television networks pleading for the return of their daughters uh she stated she's very loud referring to
00:37:00
Ashley she's very loud and outgoing and she likes talking so she would likely talk to you Pon said in a statement
00:37:08
directed to the abductor should they be watching right where the girls lived is described as a
00:37:16
125 unit apartment complex a cluster of neat gray two-story buildings with balconies uh sheltered in a deep Gully
00:37:26
and a nest of forest a place with plenty of kids and there were a lot of stay-at-home moms in this apartment
00:37:33
complex parents in the area were obviously concerned but they were uncertain what danger to watch out for
00:37:41
they were concerned is this like a stranger lurking in the woods near the school bus stop or was this someone that
00:37:47
everyone knows well they could have started by just hey walk your kid to the bus stop and designate a parent just to
00:37:55
stay at the the bus stop can start there well where some of the family started and this is I don't find this to be
00:38:03
surprising at all family started moving out of the newel Creek Village Apartments yeah uh one neighbor this is
00:38:11
Kim Hamlin said quote there's a lot of young families here a lot of children and a lot of people are up at that hour
00:38:19
of the morning getting kids off to school going to work she said I keep thinking to myself it had to be someone
00:38:26
they knew because for a stranger to have come and violently abducted them somebody would have seen something well
00:38:34
that's Al that's also going to make it more difficult on investigators because if you have a bunch of people leaving
00:38:39
the area mhm they might just be leaving for the safety of their children but investigators have to go well why are
00:38:47
they leaving are they yeah should they be a suspect right is is there is their father that's moving them out of there
00:38:54
is he Mr mcely mhm uh Kim Hamlin added I personally don't feel comfortable and safe for my child
00:39:02
unless he's in the house under lock and key so obviously at least one parent many parents probably feeling the same
00:39:11
way that you're feeling Captain well you know there was a long time ago I remember there was this family that was
00:39:18
arrested because they had cages for their kids they put their kids in cages mhm do you know what I'm talking about
00:39:26
yeah unfortunately it's happened more than once but I I do remember a story of you're talking about one just a couple
00:39:32
years ago I think yeah but it's like and I think one of the reasons that they had the cages was the parents were
00:39:39
saying is also for their safety but it's like if you listen to enough of these True Crime shows you might think about
00:39:46
getting a cage for your children like just till they're about 156 right I might if I listen to enough
00:39:54
of these True Crime shows I might feel like getting a cage for myself yes well I already bought you a cage for next
00:40:01
Christmas there's a line from an ACDC song where Brian Johnson says I feel safe in a cage in New York City all
00:40:10
right you would have to ask him what exactly he means by that next time I see him I will okay regarding the
00:40:17
investigation there were two very obvious problems that hold on I just want for the record do not send me an
00:40:23
email stating that people shouldn't put kids in cages you're aware of that I'm very well aware of that I was making a
00:40:31
joke look I won't vouch for you on everything but I'll vouch for you there right okay so regarding this
00:40:36
investigation there are two very obvious problems that investigators faced one they had about 30 suspects and we've
00:40:45
seen several cases when you have a lot of suspects you likely have a lot of nothing you know they they can't what I
00:40:52
mean better than having no lead at all though exactly and but what I mean by that is is it's very difficult to
00:40:57
investigate all 30 of these guys all at the same time you know all you can really do is investigate and work to
00:41:05
thin the herd of suspects so to speak now they had 28 suspects that lived in the same apartment complex as the two
00:41:13
missing girls that could not be ruled out and for then you know for for months authorities had no real evidence that a
00:41:22
crime had even been committed because they had no eyewitnesses to such all they have is two missing girls right but
00:41:30
that there's your crime just assume at that point well they they're they're doing more than assuming they're
00:41:36
investigating right right it would take months but investigators would Whittle the suspect pull down uh no one knows
00:41:43
for sure how many suspects of the 30 or so were cleared only that the FBI agent in charge did announce publicly that
00:41:52
they were down to quote about 10 or 20 suspects at one one time in the investigation one of those suspects was
00:41:59
Ward Weaver III Ward as we know was not only Accused by one of the missing girls
00:42:05
Ashley Pon of molestation but Ward Weaver's home was near the two girls bus stop Weaver was a brutal man with a long
00:42:14
history of violence and assaults against women okay let's take a quick look at Ward Weaver's past criminal activity
00:42:21
shall we on June 15th 1986 Ward Weaver III then 23 years old was picked up outside of a bowling alley in Fairfield
00:42:31
California by the young daughters of a friend after feuding with his girlfriend or I'm sorry after feuding with his wife
00:42:39
Weaver consumed six beers six vodka screw drivers a little marijuana and a gram of powdered speed when the girls
00:42:47
pulled the van over so Weaver could relieve himself he opened the passenger door and struck the younger sister in
00:42:54
the head with a chunk of concrete he then grabbed the 16-year-old driver put her in a headlock and pulled
00:43:02
her to the floor now I'm a little clueless as to the rest of the details of this assault but he was charged with
00:43:11
this assault and he did serve uh three years in prison for his actions on that night yeah if you hit somebody with
00:43:19
concrete it should be attempted murder right right in January of 1988 Ward Weaver III was released from prison in
00:43:29
California and this is when he and his wife moved to Canby organ where they briefly operated a gift shop so she
00:43:37
stayed with him yes oh great in 1993 Maria Weaver files a restraining order against Ward Weaver and ends their
00:43:48
marriage Ward Weaver was getting involved in selling cocaine and methamphetamine at the time this is
00:43:54
according to police records and family interviews mhm then in 1994 Weaver III then 31 years of age beat his new
00:44:03
18-year-old girlfriend Christy Sloan with a cast iron skillet in their Portland apartment for this Weaver was
00:44:10
jailed but the charges were dropped after Sloan told a prosecutor she was so afraid of Weaver that I mean she was too
00:44:18
terrified to testify against him in court see now now tell me if I'm right or wrong like I know now that if you if
00:44:28
somebody calls the police back in the day if they showed up and the girl was beat up or the guy was beat up if nobody
00:44:37
was going to press charges they wouldn't take aay away yes and this varies by state to
00:44:43
state and it has changed throughout the years right but that that was back then but now you show up and there signs of
00:44:51
physical abuse they take somebody away period mhm now that doesn't mean that the charges will be pressed but I do
00:45:00
know and correct me if I'm wrong that like in this case right we have this scenario where he beats this
00:45:08
18-year-old tells the prosecutor hey look I'm too afraid to press charges but nowadays they will still press charges
00:45:16
or they can yeah but it's it's it's it can still be a sticky situation because the way I
00:45:25
see this going down is we have the prosecutor probably telling Christy Sloan hey we don't have really any
00:45:33
evidence other than your testimony to hopefully get a conviction against this guy so when you are a victim and you're
00:45:41
very much afraid of this man and you hear even with your testimony we don't know if he's going to get any jail time
00:45:48
or get a guilty verdict right I could see how somebody could be very easily scared off of testifying against him
00:45:55
especially if you knew that you had the means to to probably just get out of the
00:46:01
situation somehow you know and and maybe not make a lifetime enemy with somebody
00:46:07
that you I'm sure Christy Sloan she knows firsthand that he's a he's a violent maniac right but I wish there
00:46:13
was things in place in the system where they would go okay here's the scenario we have evidence of the markings we took
00:46:21
pictures of that we took um a statement from her so even though she's not to testify we can still press charges
00:46:29
against him and then he realizes and for the person especially for the me men that are beating these women for them to
00:46:37
understand that this this person it doesn't matter what you say to your girlfriend that you beat up it's not on
00:46:45
her to press the charges you see what I'm saying and they're going to press charges against you no matter what and
00:46:51
right and and so then then that person can't go well it's this person's fault if that makes sense no I it makes 100%
00:47:00
sense I mean everybody at the end of the day everybody wants to be safe and everybody wants all of their loved ones
00:47:06
and all of the good people out there to be safe as well the problem is impl implementing A system that that allows
00:47:15
for that um and I know I'm being kind of vague there but again if it's if the prosecutor believes that the jury or
00:47:25
judge will see a situation as a he said she said right then I mean that prosecutor is probably just being very
00:47:33
upfront and honest with this victim and saying unfortunately we don't have a whole lot to work with here right you
00:47:40
know now K news this is what you were uh referring to earlier on the interview yeah so the news station k a they were
00:47:53
actually on to Ward Weaver B based on a tip that they received about and this is
00:47:59
a very vague tip but go with me on this they received a tip about a quote bushy-haired neighbor at the top of the
00:48:08
hill now this vague description fit Weaver and the home that he lived in as we said was near the bus stop at the top
00:48:17
of the hill it wouldn't take long for KATU to arrange an interview with Ward Weaver now this is interesting captain
00:48:25
for on so many different levels uhhuh cheers um a lot of times what we see when somebody is regarded by the public
00:48:35
as a suspect if news cameras if the news team shows up and knocks on the door what
00:48:41
what do we often see like you don't even see like the dude's face like you just see the door open a little bit yeah and
00:48:47
you see like the darkness behind the door yeah it's no comment or they just slam the door
00:48:53
shut Ward Weaver thei third that's not the situation here the news team shows up they say hey look you you
00:49:01
live by what police believe is a crime scene even though we have no evidence of of the abduction we don't have any great
00:49:09
leads you're on their suspect list we got this tip about a bushy-haired man that lives at the top of the hill near
00:49:16
near the bus stop and we think you're that guy he he's like very outgoing and and
00:49:25
with willing to talk with the news team not so much so that he's like hey come on into my house you know doors wide
00:49:32
open bring the cameras and they it's kind of like Mark buers right yeah yeah in a sense in a sense uh yeah yeah no
00:49:41
you're actually spot on I mean very kind of outgoing and loves to talk loves to talk um he I know somebody that likes to
00:49:50
talk I know two people that uh go ahead okay um so he invites the news team into his home with the cameras
00:50:01
rolling and he gives a very upfront interview regarding the missing girls and regarding
00:50:09
his status as a suspect in their case and he says look you know I I've I have a daughter of my own she's the same age
00:50:17
as the two missing girls I've had both the girls over to my home at different times because they are all friends they
00:50:24
live near one another um yes I see the kids walking up to the school bus to the bus stop in the mornings and and
00:50:32
arriving in the afternoon and walking home and he walks them through several rooms if not most of his
00:50:41
actual household and then they go outside and continue the interview out there and he States reasons why he
00:50:47
understands that he's a suspect but he also gives many reasons why he is innocent and that they are probably look
00:50:55
looking at the wrong guy yeah which could come off multiple ways like this guy is trying to steer The Narrative or
00:51:03
this guy has nothing to hide so why is he concerned you know he's just going to do anything that he can help the
00:51:09
investigation out with and the thing too is he does not appear to be like nervous
00:51:14
or fidgety during any portion of this interview in fact he seems to enjoy having the camera on him and he enjoys
00:51:24
answering the question questions I mean he's smiling and laughing from time to time during the course of this lengthy
00:51:30
interview and when it breaks when you break it down you know this is actually ends up only being a few minutes of TV
00:51:39
on the news but who knows how long they actually stayed at his home and spoke with him that day and how many questions
00:51:45
he fielded I heard it was three weeks three weeks he let him in there for three weeks but you know some people I
00:51:54
mean again you just wonder if he he got off on this on on on some way mhm well he certainly seemed to enjoy the
00:52:02
spotlight now behind the scenes when the cameras are off during this whole time Ward
00:52:10
Weaver is calling his half brother this is Rodney Weaver who lives in Idaho and during these phone calls these lengthy
00:52:18
phone calls from time to time he's complaining that one he believes his phone is tapped that investig are
00:52:25
listening in on his conversations he also believes that he's being followed by law enforcement and unmarked cars
00:52:32
well if you're a suspect then that might be something that they do and he has told his brother his half brother that
00:52:40
the investigators have been questioning him often and that they were Relentless during these questioning periods
00:52:49
pressing him to confess to the abductions of both Ashley and Miranda right and Ward Weaver insisted it was
00:52:58
all a simple mistake according to Weaver the police were on to the wrong guy the
00:53:04
only reason the police zeroed in on Ward Weaver as a suspect according to Ward is
00:53:10
one the police believed he was capable of killing Ashley and Miranda simply because of the grizzly crimes committed
00:53:19
more than two decades ago by his father the Long Haul trucker who murdered young
00:53:25
couple and buried the woman in the backyard right and then number two Ward Weaver highlighted that his close ties
00:53:33
to Ashley one of the missing girls and he did portray himself he says he he was a fatherly figure to this girl but as we
00:53:42
know the family members were reminding authorities look Ashley had accused him of sexual abuse before she vanished
00:53:51
right Weaver publicly proclaimed his innocence even though he drew attention to himself with claims that he was the
00:53:59
Prime Suspect and had failed a polygraph test right so this clown is basically going around saying hey guys I am the
00:54:06
number one suspect mhm I'm I'm the whz and nobody can beat me again that goes back to what what I refer to is him very
00:54:15
obviously seeming to like the spotlight of of standing in front of the news camera and and get and being uh part of
00:54:22
the interview process do we know if actually took a polygraph test well by his own admission publicly he told
00:54:30
people hey I I'm so much a suspect they brought me in for questioning and hooked
00:54:34
me up to a lie detector test and I failed well he's so arrogant that he would be like oh you want me to take a
00:54:41
this polygraph test cool I'll take one mhm you can't use it in court but then he's going to go around he's so
00:54:47
braggadocious that he's going hey guys I took one of their tests and I failed it
00:54:54
mhm what kind of piece of [ __ ] are you well it's weird because you have to wonder is that a shot at the uh that's
00:55:01
got to be a shot at the authorities you know look look I'm their Prime Suspect I
00:55:06
fail a polygraph and here here I'm still here living my life in my house near the
00:55:12
where they believe the crime scene is well on top on top of that he's also saying they're only looking at me for
00:55:18
the stuff my father did let's not think about the stuff that I did let's not think about the crimes I committed or
00:55:25
the reasons why I've been in jail they're only looking at me because of my father and by pushing that blame onto
00:55:31
somebody else anytime that somebody does that where it's so obvious you shouldn't
00:55:36
be pushing the blame those people normally have some issues so okay so we got to dive more into this tomorrow and
00:55:45
real quick before we leave you today if you want more True Crime garage don't forget about the Stitcher app it's free
00:55:51
we have all of our catalog there all of the old episodes you can listen listen to them for free on the Stitcher app we
00:55:57
also have our fantastic show that me and the captain absolutely love and we're so
00:56:01
glad so many have joined in on our other show off the Record available on Stitcher premium and people ask me all
00:56:07
the time what is off the Record well sometimes it's non we can't say we can't say it's off the Record sometimes it's
00:56:13
nonsense but it's a lot of case updates and the other thing that we've been doing lately is diving into little parts
00:56:22
of big cases mainly un Sol cases and we've done this week we talk about the John B ramsy case and we're diving into
00:56:31
this confession that was released by a known sex offender so that's what we've been diving into this week check out off
00:56:39
the Record and if you're looking for the link it's pretty easy just go to our website trr garage.com and click on the
00:56:45
off the Record link it'll take you right [Music] there [Music] all right thanks everybody for joining
00:56:59
us here in the garage today we will see you again tomorrow until then be good be
00:57:04
kind and don't [Music] [Applause] [Music] litter [Music] you can start your day off right when
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