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[Music] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always a man that's driving a four-wheeler on the highway through the
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danger zone he is the captain that's cause I got a honky tonk but donkey donk it's good to be seen and it's good to
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see you thanks for listening thanks for telling your mother [Music] this week we are featuring Bennington
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from Night Shift brewing in Massachusetts garage grade four and a quarter bottle caps listen up because
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this beer has a lot going on Bennington is an oatmeal stout brewed with Dutch processed cocoa and maple syrup this is
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a beautiful Montage of big flavors and Bennington was brought to us by all of you out there but specifically we have
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first up a big big thank you to Robbie and Steph and Clinton Massachusetts and a big we like your jib goes out to
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Junior in Toledo Ohio next up all the way in Sweden it cheers to Ellen and the big cheers mates to Lauren e in DC next
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up we have Hannah from Oklahoma and last but not least we have Connery from Parts
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mispronounced Worcester Massachusetts thanks everybody for helping us out with this week's beer run if you want to help
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Oklahoma Oklahoma Homie don't play that yeah and that is enough of the business all right
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everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music]
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the definition of the murder Gene is that it is a DNA genetic variant that some scientists propose predisposes an
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individual to berserk violence this is not a scientific or forensic expert term per se but is a term made
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Popular by the media to refer to a particular variant of the monoamine oxidase Gene which apparently
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predisposes an individual to disproportionate violence under any condition that triggers the carrier of
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that Gene sequence to violence as referred to in the death penalty case of Mobley V the state of Georgia the
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murder Gene is quote a possible genetic basis for violent and impulsive behavior
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in certain individuals end quote it is also known as The Rage gene or even more commonly the warrior Gene
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because of the theory that persons with this Gene would likely have been the most efficient berserk warriors on a
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field of battle the murder Gene as the theory goes suggests that behavior and activities
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from infancy into childhood and through adulthood were not the products of Free Will as Society defines this term
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because the individual lacked the ability to make non-impulsive considered choices about his or her life's path
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again this is not a scientific nor forensic term per se but it is certainly worth exploring
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it's the age-old question of nature her nurture this week we discuss a case that begs
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the question are some people born to kill [Music] Ward Weaver III was born April 6 1963 in
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Humboldt County California his father was the junior Ward Weaver Jr and his mother's name is Trish Weaver when Ward
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was about four years old his father left his mother and abandoned the family altogether
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a short time after he left Trish Weaver met another man and later the two got married the man's name Bob Boudreau so
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after Ward Weaver the third's mother remarried this is when the family relocated moving up to Portland Oregon
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unfortunately it seems like there was a lot of abuse going on in that household Bob Boudreau is described as an abusive
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alcoholic I can't say for certain whom in the house Bob was abusing could be his wife a child or everyone but at some
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point during Ward Weaver's teenage years he started abusing one or more of the other children in the house
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okay there's a little brief history on Ward Weaver III's childhood now we need to fast forward to February 1981 and go
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back to California for this next portion of this week's case a young recently engaged couple this is
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18 year old Robert Radford and his fiancee 23 year old Barbara Lavoy these two are driving from Robert's parents
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house they stayed there for two weeks visiting they are driving to an Air Force base
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near Las Vegas see young Robert is one of the good guys he is going into the Armed Forces and according to his mother
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the young couple laid out their future plans regarding their marriage Robert wanted a long career in the Air Force
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and the two plan to have a bunch of kids but before they got to the Air Force Base in fact they were still in
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California just west of the Mojave Desert their vehicle breaks down unfortunately
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for them a semi truck slowed down to talk to the young couple less than two days later Robert radford's body was
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found along a desert highway according to the papers Robert was hit in the back of the head several times possibly with
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an ax or Hatchet and Barbara was missing and authorities feared she had been abducted
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later that same year Ward Weaver Jr a long-haul truck driver who spent a lot of time away from his family was
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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
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year old man so he arranged for a friend to shoot the man and Ward Weaver Jr repeatedly raped the 15 year old girl
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before letting her go it was when Ward Weaver Jr was in prison for the attack on The Runaways that he
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confided in his cellmate that he had killed another couple Weaver Jr's cell mate told authorities and when police
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showed up at the prison to ask Weaver Jr about the crime Weaver Jr had only one request I need to talk to my mother he
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said they let him make a phone call and then he talked to them and he laid it all out
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Weaver Jr said he beat 18 year old Robert Radford to death with a pipe hitting him from behind then Weaver Jr
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kidnapped and attempted to rape the woman when he tried to gag her she bit off the
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tip of his thumb well too bad she didn't bite off the tip of your dick well he said that he went home and he was quite
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freaked out that night he told his family he had been in a bar fight and that a man had bitten off the tip of his
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thumb Weaver Jr was so unnerved by the incident that he did not let his children attend school the following day
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now according to court records he buried the girl's body in three places before moving her remains to a hole that his
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son unaware of what the hole was for helped him dig behind his rented house in California right this is where Weaver
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Jr's second wife and their young children lived Weaver Jr's son Rodney remembers packing the dirt later his
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father sealed the grave with concrete and built a deck on top of it on the afternoon of July 26 1982 two
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detectives showed up at the two story house and wanted to speak to Rodney about the holes he helped dig
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they brought in a backhoe and cracked the concrete in two chunks from his bedroom on the second floor he watched
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as they lifted up one of the pieces and there she was said Rodney Ward Weaver Jr was tried for the double
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homicides and received two death sentences yeah one evil dude it turned out later that Ward Weaver Jr's truck
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routes matched up with 26 unsolved hitchhiker homicides now to be clear Weaver Jr has never been charged in any
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of those cases nor do we know if he's tied to any of those for certain right meanwhile while all of this was
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happening in California with Ward Weaver Jr back in Oregon in 1981 his son Ward Weaver III now this would be right
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around the time Ward Weaver III was turning 18 years of age a teenage relative reported that Ward had
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repeatedly raped and beat her police did investigate these allegations but multiple County Prosecutors decided not
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to pursue charges some sources say this is because Ward Weaver enlisted in the Navy and was leaving Portland soon I
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think it was a bit more complicated than just simply that cat yeah I hope I hope
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so well oh well just because you're out here raping and beating women uh once you sign up for the Navy it's all good
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well I again I don't think it was just that simple it looks like they meaning the authorities they were having trouble
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bringing the charges forward right and I'm sure we were leaving likely didn't help
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to motivate the cause let's say so shortly after Weaver graduated from Marshall High School in Portland he
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joined the U.S Navy Reserve but this was short-lived as he was discharged the following year on May 17 1982 for heavy
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drinking and dereliction of Duty during his tenure in the Navy he met his future
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wife Maria Stout a native of the Philippines I thought you were going to say douche canoeing of Duty the couple
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moved in with Weaver's parents this is his mother's side of the family and Maria was soon pregnant
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five months into her pregnancy she was physically assaulted by Weaver III and hospitalized but she refused to press
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charges against her husband their son Francis was born in December of 1982. let's Flash Forward shall we
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and introduce Ashley Marie Pond Ashley was born on March 1st 1989. her mother Lori Davis was barely 16 at the time for
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the first few years of Ashley's life she lived with her mother and her mother's high school sweetheart David Pond
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eventually the two married and Ashley viewed David as her father Ashley was described as an easy child who could
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entertain herself and one who enjoyed attention and affection she was well behaved but then about the
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age of 9 or 10 Lori Pond divorced David Pond and this was a very big change for little Ashley during the divorce the
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couple fought about child support payments so a paternity test was administered to determine if Ashley was
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indeed David Pond's biological daughter so everyone's surprise it was determined
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that she was not you are not the father Wesley Rutger was her real father she began to visit her biological father
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staying with him on the weekends it was during this time that friends and family
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noticed Ashley was becoming angry and confrontational she really did not want to spend time with her biological father
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and she did not enjoy staying with her father right it took some time but eventually Ashley told her mother that
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Wesley Rutger her biological father had sexually abused her during her visits to
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his home in January of 2001 Wesley Rutger was indicted on 40 counts of rape and sexual abuse later in a bad plea
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deal he was able to plead no contest to one of the counts and was released during the following months the police
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were called out to the pond department for various reasons including an allegation that Lori Ashley's mother was
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drunk and neglecting her children by April 2001 Ashley Pond was spending a lot of time over a house of a friend
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Mallory Weaver daughter of Ward Weaver III in early spring a report was made by Linda Verdin Ashley's reading teacher at
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Gaffney Lane Elementary this was report was given to the principal Chris Mills she said that she saw Ward Weaver kiss
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Ashley on the lips regardless of this Ashley seems to be finding some comfort at the Weaver home or at least enjoying
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spending time a lot of time with her friend according to the Portland Tribune Ashley spent almost the first half of
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2001 with the Weaver family even joining Ward Weaver Weaver's girlfriend and Weaver's daughter Mallory on a two-week
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vacation to California in late June and early July of 2001. the calls to the police about
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disturbances at Ashley's mother's apartment continued over the next few months and Ashley spent more and more
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time with the Weavers then in early August so just about one month after Ashley went on vacation with
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the Weavers Ashley very bravely confided in her reading teacher Linda Verdin that
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Ward Weaver had molested her according to Ashley she said Ward Weaver III was molesting her and Weaver used Ashley's
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biological father's pending rape trial as the threat to keep her quiet so he threatened that he would testify against
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Ashley and her father's rape trial if she said what was going on right we already mentioned that the plea deal
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we already mentioned that plea deal but see all these allegations by the young girl were not just clean and simple they
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had their complexities and the authorities did have some troubles getting all charges brought forth to be
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clear I'm not accusing this young girl of lying in fact my stance is let's hear her out and go round up these perverts
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and see if we can charge them with something but one of the complexities is back in April of that year
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Ashley also accused two other men of molesting her but then later recanted those statements so I think some can see
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how this could be perceived as a boy who cried Wolf's situation but regardless of
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any of these other situations this big difference between a boy crying wolf and a girl crying rape
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regardless of any of these other situations and the details of those this little very brave girl told someone
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what was going on right that Ward Weaver III was molesting her that he was inappropriate with her and she stood up
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and told an adult a good adult at that once the accusations were made Ashley stopped going to the Weaver's house
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these accusations didn't come without problems for Ashley who ultimately ended up being well what she described as
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feeling ostracized by Ward Weaver's daughter and friends of Weaver's daughter due to the sloppy handling of the
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paperwork by County officials regarding Ashley's accusations Ward Weaver was never investigated and therefore he was
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never charged with sexually abusing Ashley at that time yeah that's nonsense all right Captain so here's where we are
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right we have we're discussing the Weaver family basically we have Ward Weaver Jr who committed murders in
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California Yeah by this time he's already locked up he's facing death sentence he's a real stinky pizza that's
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right he's got two death sentences in the state of California then we have his son Ward Weaver III now
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keep in mind Weaver Jr left the third's mother in the family when Ward Weaver III was like four years old so really
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these two have no to little interaction with with each other but Ward Weaver the third is now in
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Oregon and he is being accused by his daughter's friend of molesting her right and as we stated due to some kind of
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slip up in the paperwork lazy work you know sloppy work whatever you want to call it that accusation is not really
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investigated even though in my opinion it's reported by a reputable it's a reputable report coming from her school
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this was her school stating this I understand that there's problems going on at her house at Ashley Pond's house
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with the police showing up with the situation with her mother right but this little girl regardless of you know I
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referenced a boy who cried wolf situation the regardless of that this girl can't catch a break she's gone
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through some very tough times she's had a [ __ ] bag for a biological father who wasn't there and then when she goes
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to visit him he I mean he he's accused and it was charged with 40 counts of rape or molestation charges he's able to
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plea down to one count of that and then we have these other accusations going on
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with Ward Weaver III not investigated but into the fall of 2001 things started to look up for Ashley who's obviously
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been through so much in her short life life seemed to settle down Ashley's grades were improving and her family and
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home life was improving as well and the bright side of Ashley's personality was returning unfortunately
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as Christmas approached sources say Ashley and Ward Weaver's daughter Mallory the two girls who were once
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friends they were both on the dance team together they partially renewed their friendship
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now on to the day in question Captain right according to the Portland Tribune on January 9 2002 Lori Pond Ashley's
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mother says Ashley got up just like any other day Ashley got ready for school and Laurie heard Ashley say goodbye this
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was around 8 15 A.M this was when she was heading out to catch her school bus Ashley Never reported to school that day
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in fact her friends would later say Ashley never got on the bus and never arrived at the bus stop the report that
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went out on January 9 2002 this was a Wednesday in Oregon City Oregon Ashley Pond age 12 disappeared on her way to
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meet the school bus it was just after 8 A.M and Ashley was running late the bus stop was just 10 minutes from the new
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well Creek Village Apartments where Ashley lived with her mother again Ashley Pond never got on the bus never
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made it to her middle school that day because they had no eyewitnesses authorities were looking into the
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possibility that she never made it out very far from the apartment complex itself where she lived neither her
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mother nor most of her friends believed she had run away the local authorities jumped on this
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right away but the problem they very quickly ran into no one saw anything out of the ordinary no one saw Ashley get
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into a vehicle no one saw her in any type of struggle no one reported hearing any screams right you know it was as if
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she had just simply vanished the local police called in the FBI but again there simply was just no clues
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that surfaced as to the whereabouts of the missing girl Ashley was popular at school and enjoyed
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being on the swim team and dance team and her friends and her classmates well it was like a mixed bag as for feelings
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about Ashley having gone missing most of the kids were saddened and likely afraid
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regarding her disappearance but a few of her friends thought Ashley may have run
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off I think you know that's fair I mean think of the crap that this kid has gone
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through you know and basically the three-year time period of her parents divorcing and and all that I mean that's
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it's a it's a horrible three years for her one of Ashley Pond's friends Miranda Gladys said when Ashley
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didn't show up at the bus stop for school first Miranda was scared and then she said she got mad Miranda figured
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Ashley probably ran away and she was upset that Miranda took off and then didn't even bother to call anybody and
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at least say that she was fine Miranda felt that Ashley left everybody worrying for nothing
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Miranda and her mother Michelle Duffy lived just a few apartments down from Ashley Pond the school organized a
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benefit to raise money for a reward for Ashley's disappearance maybe a reward could help generate a tip a much needed
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lead in a case that had no clues featured at the benefit would be the dance team that both Ashley and Miranda
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belong to Miranda choreographed a solo routine as a special way of remembering her friend
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Miranda's mother Michelle later said Miranda started realizing that even if Ashley did run away she wasn't coming
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back anytime soon the dance benefit was scheduled for March 23 2002 at the Oregon City High
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School but Miranda would not be in it because on Friday March 8th just two months
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after Ashley disappeared 13-year-old Miranda Gladys got up just like any other day she got ready for school
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Miranda's mother Michelle Duffy left for work within 30 minutes before Miranda would typically leave for school each
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weekday morning Miranda and some other kids would catch the school bus at the bus stop about a 10 minute walk from the
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apartment complex at the top of the hill but later that day Michelle learned that
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Miranda did not go to school and she immediately called the police Miranda just like Ashley didn't show up at the
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bus stop that morning that she went missing police believe she vanished around 8 A.M while on her way to the bus
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stop at the top of the hill and the paper said she disappeared from the new well Creek Village Apartments so
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here we have both 12-year-old Ashley Pond and 13 year old Miranda Gladys two girls who were good friends that went to
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the same school and lived in the same apartment complex both disappeared before school
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[Music] foreign [Music] cheers mates there's a lot to unpack but let's try to do this slowly yes well
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it doesn't help that two of the individuals that we've I'm sipping on my beer hold on
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disgusting that's not just drink it like a normal person but it doesn't help captain that the two two of the
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individuals that we're discussing have the same name Ward Weaver Jr Ward Weaver the third we don't need to talk about
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Junior right now right so the third in his town we have this girl Ashley Ashley she goes missing but before she goes
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missing she says hey Ward Weaver III he is molesting me yeah she's over at his house all the time very good friends
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best friends with his daughter Mallory and he she eventually accuses him of molesting her now we also have the
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reading teacher who says before these molestation allegations ever come up right the reading teacher says Hey on
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one occasion I witness this grown man Ward Weaver III kiss this 12 year old girl on the lips so
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very likely which is you know which is weird but also if you saw if you saw a grown man kiss like a
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three-year-old wouldn't be so weird you know for me though I would think if I just like was out in public randomly and
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saw something like that I would just assume it was like the kid's father right um but you know this reading teacher
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knows different because she knows uh his daughter as well right so that's strange
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and then they don't listen to her and they basically don't investigate these allegations at all
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and then her friend Ashley's friend goes missing as well and now they're coming back to the Ward Weaver III and saying
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hey you're a suspect for this because there were allegations against you right but
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this guy he thinks he's a rock star now because people aren't they're interviewing him and he's saying well
00:26:18
come on in my house sit down let's talk about this yeah and and a lot of this occurs after the second girl Miranda
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goes missing and what's so strange is that you have two girls that have disappeared and it's this the
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circumstances of such are so similar right you know uh both of them were on their way apparently to the bus stop and
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they never arrive at the bus stop which but also in my mind that makes it a little more suspicious that you would
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think that a parent of somebody at their school would know the bus system roughly
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when kids were waiting for the bus and or you got a predator in the area and that's their means of opportunity so
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it's but I'm leaning more towards maybe a parent of somebody at the school well in some in the community would share
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that same thought but the thing we have to keep in mind here regarding the bus stop itself
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it's not like it's not like either of these girls were going to show up at the bus stop and be the only one waiting for
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the school bus we have other kids their same ages that go to the same school ride the same bus and these kids when
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question are saying we never saw either girl the day that they went missing right once again when we have Miranda
00:27:43
who goes missing under the similar circumstances investigators jump on it immediately but they come up empty there
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again there's no leads to follow the investigators then started to look at the possibility that the person that
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abducted the girls was possibly someone that knew them and whoever it was seemed
00:28:02
to be targeting possibly the same type of victim Ashley and Miranda were close in age involved in similar activities
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and even According to some looked very similar to each other and and the fact that there is no eyewitnesses and
00:28:16
there's no there's nobody coming forward here saying that they heard a girl scream or anything that would lead me to
00:28:23
believe that as well well and you and I know that a lot of times what investigators are looking for when there
00:28:31
is a possible stranger abduction or any type of child abduction they want a car they want a vehicle
00:28:39
description of of what to be looking for or a van yeah and here we have no vehicle description we don't have any
00:28:46
eyewitnesses saying they saw anything at all but if our band the van campaign keeps going as well as it's gone
00:28:53
they won't be looking for Vans anymore that's true because they'll be off the streets well on the other side of the
00:29:00
coin here Captain we have some people in the community who wondered if perhaps the two girls ran away together now I
00:29:07
know that they went missing about two months apart but some of the people were wondering could Ashley have contacted
00:29:14
Miranda told her where she was and persuaded her to join her they were friends right that's a possibility but
00:29:21
again it's a 12 year old girl is she going to have the resources to be gone that long
00:29:26
yeah where's she going to go and you know unfortunately that's what both families were praying they were hoping
00:29:34
that that was the situation right but law enforcement officials certainly didn't think so once again the FBI was
00:29:42
called in and they this time they brought in profilers from the FBI headquarters in Quantico Virginia they
00:29:49
were dispatched to this working-class suburb of Portland and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
00:29:55
and stated a task force to search for the girls now FBI spokeswoman Beth Ann Steele stated during a press interview
00:30:04
quote there is a growing belief that these cases are related and while there's a slight hope that they have run
00:30:10
away there is a growing belief that there was some kind of criminal activity involved the two cases had so many
00:30:19
frightening parallels the police had to believe that they were probably linked at this point well I think the
00:30:26
relationship between the two girls would that's all you need for me for them to be linked well the FBI
00:30:33
profilers and agency officials went on television issuing an advisory to the public but this was without explaining
00:30:41
why they were issuing an advisory so they were telling the public to be on the lookout for someone who recently
00:30:49
sold a car or vehicle someone who shows signs of increasing drug or alcohol use right someone who appears to be tired
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from being up all night now both Michelle Duffy and Lauren ponds everybody running a true crime podcast
00:31:05
both Michelle Duffy and Lori Ponce say they believe neither girl ran away but they
00:31:11
were also sure that neither would have have allowed someone to abduct them or be
00:31:17
abducted by a stranger right and this goes back to what you were saying you know you would start to wonder was this
00:31:25
a someone that they knew yeah I I'm such a pessimist too if I was one of the parents and I heard the other
00:31:35
parents saying well maybe Ashley contacted her and they're they're off in the woods somewhere living happily and
00:31:43
nothing happened I would be thinking in my head get your head out of your ass that's not a possibility well I think
00:31:51
that that comes from the public and it may have come from Ashley's school that speculation because some people there at
00:31:59
the school knew a lot of the terrible stuff that was going on in Ashley's life personal life outside of school
00:32:06
and you know it's not uncommon for when a child is having that difficult of a time being and and being a victim right
00:32:14
to to run away to flee from a bad situation well and you're also more likely if if you're having that how can I say
00:32:25
this it's negative attention right right and the worst form but she doesn't have
00:32:33
a father figure or the father figure that she thought she had she didn't have and then she was molested by the other
00:32:41
father figure so she is more prone to having even just let's say a stranger that says hey let me take care of you
00:32:52
and if if they're taking care of you part of the time but there's still bless station or rape
00:32:59
or whatever is happening this is an environment that she's been in so she can survive in that environment right so
00:33:07
all I'm saying is she's more likely to maybe go with somebody and um but but if that makes any sense
00:33:14
well but we do know Predators will Prey Upon children that have little to no support system but right but we also
00:33:23
know in this community that people have heard about these allegations right so now if you have a predator
00:33:32
they're they have their target and again then you go well if they're friends and Ashley has gone through all
00:33:40
this does she tell this Predator hey my friend went through some of this too and
00:33:46
now he preys on her as well right the pond family kept a low profile since Ashley's disappearance but after The
00:33:54
Disappearance of Miranda Ashley's mother Lori Pond appeared with Michelle Duffy on three television networks pleading
00:34:01
for the return of their daughters uh she stated she's very loud referring to Ashley she's very loud and outgoing and
00:34:09
she likes talking so she would likely talk to you Pawn said in a statement directed to the abductor should they be
00:34:17
watching right where the girls lived is described as a 125 unit apartment complex a cluster of
00:34:26
neat gray two-story buildings with balconies uh sheltered in a deep Gully in a nest of forest a place with plenty
00:34:35
of kids and there were a lot of stay-at-home moms in this apartment complex parents in the area were obviously
00:34:43
concerned but they were uncertain what danger to watch out for they were concerned is this like a stranger
00:34:49
lurking in the woods near the school bus stop or was this someone that everyone knows well they could have started by
00:34:57
just hey walk your kid to the bus stop and designate a parent just to stay at the bus stop
00:35:04
can start there well where some of the family started and this is I don't find this to be
00:35:10
surprising at all family started moving out of the new well Creek Village Apartments yeah one neighbor this is Kim
00:35:18
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 of the
00:35:26
morning getting kids off to school going to work she said I keep thinking to myself it had to be someone they knew
00:35:33
because for a stranger to have come and violently abducted them somebody would have seen something well that's all
00:35:41
that's also going to make it more difficult on investigators because if you have a bunch of people leaving the
00:35:46
area they might just be leaving for the safety of their children but investigators have to go but why are
00:35:54
they leaving are they yeah should they be a suspect right is is there is their father that's moving them out of there
00:36:00
is he Mr mcfeely Kim Hamlin added I personally don't feel comfortable and safe for my child unless he's in the
00:36:10
house under lock and key so obviously at least one parent many parents probably feeling the same way
00:36:17
that you're feeling Captain well you know there's a long time ago I remember there was
00:36:22
this family that was arrested because they had cages for their kids they'd put their kids in cages do you
00:36:31
know what I'm talking about unfortunately it's happened more than once but I I do remember a story of
00:36:37
you're talking about one just a couple years ago I think yeah but it's like and I think one of the reasons that they
00:36:44
had the cages was the parents were saying is also for their safety but it's like if you listen to enough of these
00:36:50
True Crime shows you might think about getting in a cage for your children like just until
00:36:55
they're about 15-16 right I'm like listen enough of these True Crime shows I might feel like getting a cage for
00:37:03
myself yes well I already bought you a cage for next Christmas there's a line from an AC DC song where Brian Johnson
00:37:11
says I feel safe in a cage in New York City all right you would have to ask him what exactly
00:37:19
he means by that next time I see him I will okay regarding the investigation there were two very obvious problems
00:37:26
wait hold on I just want for the record do not send me an email stating that people shouldn't put kids in cages
00:37:34
you're aware I'm very well I'm aware of that I was making a joke look I won't vouch for you on everything but I'll
00:37:39
vouch for you there right okay so regarding this investigation there are two very obvious problems that
00:37:45
investigators faced one they had about 30 suspects and we've seen several cases when you have a lot of suspects you
00:37:54
likely have a lot of nothing you know they they can't what I better than having no lead at all though
00:38:00
exactly and but what I mean by that is it's very difficult to investigate all 30 of these guys all at the same time
00:38:07
you know all you can really do is investigate and work to thin the herd of suspects so to speak
00:38:14
now they had 28 suspects that lived in the same apartment complex as the two missing girls that could not be ruled
00:38:22
out and for then you know for for months authorities had no real evidence that a
00:38:28
crime had even been committed because they had no eyewitnesses to such all they have is two missing girls
00:38:35
right but that there's your crime just assume at that point well they they're they're doing more than assuming they're
00:38:42
investigating right right it would take months but investigators would Whittle the suspect pool down uh no one knows
00:38:50
for sure how many suspects of the 30 or so were cleared only that the FBI agent in charge did announce publicly that
00:38:58
they were down to quote about 10 or 20 suspects at one time in the investigation
00:39:04
one of those suspects was Ward Weaver III Ward as we know was not only Accused by one of the missing girls Ashley Pon
00:39:12
of molestation but Ward Weaver's home was near the two girls bus stop Weaver was a brutal man with a long
00:39:20
history of violence and assaults against women okay let's take a quick look at Ward Weaver's past criminal activity
00:39:27
shall we on June 15 1986 Ward Weaver III then 23 years old was picked up outside of a
00:39:36
bowling alley in Fairfield California by the young daughters of a friend after feuding with his girlfriend or I'm
00:39:43
sorry after feuding with his wife Weaver consumed six beers six vodka screwdrivers a little marijuana and a
00:39:51
gram of powdered speed when the girls pulled the van over so Weaver could relieve himself he opened the passenger
00:39:58
door and struck the younger sister in the head with a chunk of concrete he then grabbed the 16 year old driver
00:40:06
put her in a headlock and pulled her to the floor now I'm a little clueless as to the rest of the details of this
00:40:14
assault but he was charged with this assault and he did serve three years in prison for his actions on that night if
00:40:24
you hit somebody with concrete it should be attempted murder right right in January of 1988 Ward Weaver III was
00:40:34
released from prison in California and this is when he and his wife moved to Canby
00:40:40
Oregon where they briefly operated a gift shop so she stayed with him yes oh great
00:40:47
in 1993 Maria Weaver files a restraining order against Ward Weaver and ends their
00:40:54
marriage Ward Weaver was getting involved in selling cocaine and methamphetamine at the time this is
00:41:00
according to police records and family interviews then in 1994 Weaver III then 31 years of age beat his new 18 year old
00:41:11
girlfriend Christy Sloan with a cast iron skillet in their Portland apartment for this Weaver was jailed but the
00:41:18
charges were dropped after Sloan told a prosecutor she was so afraid of Weaver that I mean she was too terrified to
00:41:25
testify against him in court see now now tell me if I'm right or wrong like I know now that if you if
00:41:34
somebody calls the police back in the day if they showed up and the girl was beat
00:41:40
up or the guy was beat up if nobody was going to press charges they wouldn't take anybody away
00:41:47
yes and this varies by state to state and it has changed throughout the years right but that that was back then but
00:41:54
now you show up and there's signs of physical abuse they take somebody away period now that doesn't mean that the
00:42:04
charges will be pressed but I do know and correct me if I'm wrong that like in this case right we have this scenario
00:42:13
where he beats this 18 year old tells the prosecutor hey look I'm too afraid to press charges but now of days they
00:42:21
will still press charges or they can yeah but it's it's it's it can still be a sticky situation because the way I see
00:42:31
this going down is we have the prosecutor probably telling Christy Sloan hey we don't have
00:42:38
really any evidence other than your testimony to hopefully get a conviction against this guy
00:42:45
so when you are a victim and you're very much afraid of this man and you hear even with your testimony we don't know
00:42:52
if he's going to get any jail time or get a guilty verdict right I could see how somebody could be very easily scared
00:42:59
off of testifying against him especially if you knew that you had the means to to probably just get out of the
00:43:07
situation somehow you know and and maybe not make a lifetime enemy with somebody
00:43:13
that you I'm sure Christy Sloan she knows firsthand yeah but I think he's a he's a violent maniac right but I wish
00:43:19
there was things in place in the system where they would go okay here's the scenario we have evidence of the
00:43:26
markings we took pictures of that we took um a statement from her so even though she's not willing to testify we
00:43:34
can still press charges against him and then he realized it and for the person especially for the men that are beating
00:43:42
these women for them to understand that this this person it doesn't matter what you say to your girlfriend that you beat
00:43:49
up it's not on her to press the charges you see what I'm saying and they're going to
00:43:55
press charges against you no matter what right and and so then then that person can't go well it's this person's fault
00:44:02
if that makes sense no I mean it makes 100 sense I mean everybody at the end of the day everybody wants to be safe and
00:44:10
everybody wants all of their loved ones and all of the good people out there to be safe as well the problem is
00:44:16
implementing implementing A system that that allows for that um and I know I'm being kind of vague
00:44:24
there but again if it's if the prosecutor believes that the jury or judge will see a
00:44:32
situation as a he said she said right then I mean that Prosecutor's probably just being very upfront and honest with
00:44:41
this victim and saying unfortunately we don't have a whole lot to work up with here right you know now
00:44:48
KATU news this is what you were referring to earlier other interview yeah so the news station
00:44:57
KATU they were actually on to Ward Weaver based on a tip that they received about and this is a very vague tip but
00:45:07
go with me on this they received a tip about a quote bushy-haired neighbor at the top of the hill
00:45:15
now this vague description fit Weaver and the home that he lived in as we said was near the bus stop at the top of the
00:45:24
hill it wouldn't take long for KATU to arrange an interview with Ward Weaver now this is interesting Captain for on
00:45:33
so many different levels uh-huh cheers um a lot of times what we see when somebody is regarded by the public as a
00:45:42
suspect if news cameras if the news team shows up and knocks on the door what what do
00:45:48
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 you
00:45:54
see like the darkness behind the door yeah and it's no comment or they just slam the door shut
00:46:00
Ward Weaver III that's not the situation here the news team shows up they say hey
00:46:06
look you you live by what police believe is a crime scene even though we have no
00:46:11
evidence of of the abduction we don't have any great leads you're on their suspect list we got this tip about a
00:46:20
bushy-haired man that lives at the top of the hill near near the bus stop and we think you're that guy
00:46:27
he he's like very outgoing and and willing to talk with the news team not so much so that he's like hey come on
00:46:36
into my house you know doors wide open bring the cameras and they just kind of like Mark Byers
00:46:42
right yeah yeah in a sense in a sense uh yeah yeah no you're actually spot on I mean very kind of outgoing and
00:46:51
loves to talk loves to talk um he I know somebody that likes to talk I know two people that uh
00:47:01
good okay um so he invites the news team into his home with the cameras rolling and he
00:47:09
gives a very upfront interview regarding the missing girls and regarding his status as a suspect in their case and he
00:47:20
says look you know I I've I have a daughter of my own she's the same age as the two missing girls I've had both the
00:47:26
girls over to my home at different times because they are all friends they live near one another
00:47:33
um yes I see the kids walking up to the school bus to the bus stop in the mornings and and arriving in the
00:47:39
afternoon and walking home and he walks them through several rooms if not most of his actual
00:47:48
household and then they go outside and continue the interview out there and he States reasons why he understands that
00:47:54
he's a suspect but he also gives many reasons why he is innocent and that they are probably looking at the wrong guy
00:48:03
yeah which could come off multiple ways like this guy is trying to steer The Narrative or this guy has nothing to
00:48:11
hide so why is he concerned you know he's just going to do anything that he can help the investigation out with and
00:48:18
the thing too is he does not appear to be like nervous or fidgety during any portion of this interview in fact he
00:48:24
seems to enjoy having the camera on him and he enjoys answering the question the
00:48:32
questions I mean he's smiling and laughing from time to time during the course of this lengthy interview and
00:48:38
when it breaks when you break it down you know this is actually ends up only being a few minutes of TV on the news
00:48:46
but who knows how long they actually stayed at his home and spoke with him that day and how many questions he
00:48:52
fielded I heard it was three weeks three three weeks you let him in there for three weeks no but you know some people
00:48:59
I mean again you just wonder if he got got off on this on on some way well he certainly seemed to enjoy the
00:49:09
spotlight now behind the scenes when the cameras are off during this whole time Ward Weaver
00:49:16
is calling his half-brother this is Rodney Weaver who lives in Idaho and during these phone calls these
00:49:24
lengthy phone calls from time to time he's complaining that one he believes his phone is tapped that
00:49:31
investigators are listening in on his conversations he also believes that he's being followed by law enforcement and
00:49:37
unmarked cars well if you're a suspect then that might be something that they do and he has told his brother his
00:49:45
half-brother that the investigators have been questioning him often and that they were
00:49:52
Relentless during these questioning periods pressing him to confess to the abductions of both Ashley and Miranda
00:50:01
right now Ward Weaver insisted it was all a simple mistake according to Weaver the police were on to the wrong
00:50:10
guy the only reason the police zeroed in on Ward Weaver as a suspect according to
00:50:15
Ward is one the police believed he was capable of killing Ashley and Miranda simply because of the grisly crimes
00:50:25
committed more than two decades ago by his father the long-haul trucker who murdered a young couple and buried the
00:50:32
woman in the backyard right and then number two Ward Weaver highlighted that his close ties to
00:50:40
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
00:50:48
know the family members were reminding authorities look Ashley had accused him of sexual abuse before she vanished
00:50:57
right Weaver publicly proclaimed his innocence even though he drew attention to himself with claims that he was the
00:51:05
Prime Suspect and had failed a polygraph test right so this clown is basically going around saying hey guys I am the
00:51:13
number one suspect I'm I'm The Wiz and nobody can beat me again that goes back to what what I referred to as him very
00:51:21
obviously seeming to like the spotlight of of standing in front of the news camera and get and being uh part of the
00:51:29
interview process do we know if he actually took a polygraph test well by his own admission publicly he told
00:51:36
people hey I I'm so much a suspect they brought me in for questioning and hooked
00:51:40
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 it
00:51:47
to this polygraph test cool I'll take one you can't use it in court but then he's going to go around he's so
00:51:54
braggadocious that he's going hey guys I took one of their tests and I failed it
00:52:01
what kind of piece of [ __ ] are you well it's weird because you have to wonder is
00:52:06
that a shot at the uh that's got to be a shot at the authorities you know look look I'm their Prime Suspect I failed a
00:52:13
polygraph in it here here I'm still here living my life in my house near the where they believe the crime scene is
00:52:20
well on top on top of that he's also saying they're only looking at me for the stuff my father did
00:52:26
let's not think about the stuff that I did let's not think about the crimes I committed or the reasons why I've been
00:52:32
in jail they're only looking at me because of my father and by pushing that blame onto somebody else anytime that
00:52:39
somebody does that where it's so obvious you shouldn't be pushing the blame those
00:52:45
people normally have some issues so okay so we gotta dive more into this tomorrow
00:52:51
and real quick before we leave you today if you want more True Crime garage don't
00:52:55
forget about the Stitcher app it's free we have all of our catalog there all of the old episodes you can listen to them
00:53:01
for free on the Stitcher app we also have our fantastic show that me and the captain absolutely love and we're so
00:53:08
glad so many have joined in on our other show off the Record available on Stitcher premium and people ask me all
00:53:14
the time what is off the Record well sometimes it's not we can't say we can't say it's off the Record sometimes it's
00:53:19
nonsense but it's a lot of case updates and the other thing that we've been doing lately is diving in into
00:53:27
little parts of big cases mainly unsolved cases and we've done this week we talked about the JonBenet Ramsey case
00:53:36
and we're diving into this confession that was released by a known sex offender so that's what we've been
00:53:43
diving into this week check out off the Record and if you're looking for the link it's pretty easy just go to our
00:53:49
website True Crime garage.com and click on the off the Record link it'll take you right there
00:53:56
thank you foreign thanks everybody for joining us here in the garage today we will see you again
00:54:08
tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause] thank you
00:54:34
[Music]