Grieving Ore. Town Mourns Loss of ‘Two Beautiful Young Ladies’

OREGON CITY, Ore. —  With an old wooden piano set up on the gymnasium floor and the bleachers pulled all the way out, church members and community volunteers opened the doors to Oregon City High School on Thursday evening, letting thousands of mourners in for a tribute to two local girls.

Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis were eighth-graders at Gardiner Middle School when they vanished last winter. They would have started ninth grade at the high school next week. Instead, plans were being made for their funerals.

The girls lived in the same apartment complex; both disappeared on their way to the same bus stop next to a one-story home rented by an ex-convict named Ward Weaver.

Ashley vanished Jan. 9. Miranda spent eight weeks helping to look for her friend, but on March 8, she disappeared as well. The remains of both girls were discovered last weekend by FBI agents searching Weaver’s backyard. He has not been charged in connection with the crime, but the district attorney is seeking an indictment against him.

On Thursday night, mourners dropped off cards for the girls’ parents in red plastic Coca-Cola crates as they trooped into the gym, filling it to capacity.

Ken Swatman, youth and families pastor at Oregon City Christian Church, was a featured speaker at the service.

“We gather today as a community to mourn their loss and to honor their young lives,” Swatman said. He did not shy away from allegations that have surfaced in recent weeks that the girls were victims of sexual abuse before they disappeared. He referred to them as “two beautiful young ladies who endured so much at such a young age.”

In a town that hadn’t seen a homicide since 1993, the girls’ disappearance spooked many families, some of whom moved out of the apartment complex for fear of a serial kidnapper in the area.

The months wore on, but huge billboards with Ashley’s and Miranda’s photographs reminded local residents of their disappearances. Some people became inured to the signs by early summer, but concern for the girls was rekindled last weekend when the FBI got a search warrant for Weaver’s house and yard.

Within hours, the searchers had found Miranda’s remains, buried underneath a shed, enclosed in a cardboard box and wrapped in plastic. The next day, they unearthed Ashley’s remains from a sealed metal drum that had been stashed underneath a concrete slab that Weaver installed days after Miranda disappeared.

Oregon City now awaits charges in the case. Weaver’s attorney, Timothy Lyons, said that if his client is charged, he will ask for a change of venue. Too many people here, he said, have been influenced by the girls’ disappearances.