Anyway, you know what she told me? She said that she had once seen Ward Weaver stop Ashley from leaving his house by pressing his body up against her, even though Ashley wanted to leave. He just held her there. That’s what she said.”
“Maybe Mr. Weaver tried to compromise Ashley, sexually. Maybe it was all a big misunderstanding. Investigating the disappearance of a person requires asking a lot of tough questions and demanding answers that are not easy to come by.” Linda writes on her pad. “I promise I’ll dig into this Weaver fellow’s background and try to find out if the police have found anything on him, but we need to keep an open mind so we can gather any pertinent evidence.”
“Can we at least go over to his place and see if there are any clues?”
“No, no, no, not now,” Linda replies quickly. “Remember, as of today there is no evidence that officially connects this guy to any crime. If we traipse over there, we might contaminate the place if it is a crime scene. We’ve got to keep our investigation totally legal and above board. If we don’t, I can’t be involved. I cannot afford to lose my license. In most investigations you have to chase down dozens of leads to get the solution. It’s almost a mathematical equation. Rarely does it turn out to be the first guy you’re suspicious of. Too pat. Right now, Ashley Pond is a straw in a tornado.”
Suzie taps Linda’s arm. “What do we do next?”
“Well, the first thing we need to do is establish a list of every adult that may have had any kind of contact with her. And Maria, those friends of Ashley that you called, you need to call each of them again, every three days until we find Ashley. We also need to find out if any of Ashley’s acquaintances are missing or have run away, because first time runaways usually take off in pairs. Now, most of what we will be doing is drudgery and most of it will lead nowhere. But, there is no other way to conduct a missing person’s investigation except with diligence. That’s what it’s going to take.”
Allison raises a hand. Linda smiles. “What’s on your mind?”
“What’s your best guess, Linda? Do you think Ashley ran away?”
“I certainly hope she did, because that would be the best of all possible scenarios to lead to her safe return. Another possibility: maybe an adult had something to do with her disappearance. But the least likely scenario—and that’s what can give us a positive basis for hope—the least likely is a stranger abduction. From what I’ve been told, Ashley is a feisty, energetic child. The odds that some stranger grabbed her and forcefully took control of her are slight. And that’s good for us too, because you must all realize, in stranger abductions, the odds of finding the victim alive are cut in half in three hours and then cut in half again in eight hours.”
Tony interrupts. “We were told there would be a TV news story about Ashley. They said five o’clock, and it’s five o’clock. Maybe we ought to watch it.”
Linda nods. “Definitely.”
The group shifts to the nearby family room and focuses attention on the fifty-inch big screen TV in the back. Within minutes the male anchor introduces Ashley’s story. “Today marks the seventh day since twelve-year-old Ashley Pond mysteriously disappeared from the Newell Creek Apartments in Oregon City. News Channel 15’s special correspondent, Pinski Brown, has the details. Pinski?”
Pinski Brown is walking up the hill near Pond’s apartment to the school bus stop. This is the place Ashley disappeared from and Brown comments that there were no eye witnesses. She says, “Local law officials tell us that they see this case as most likely a possible runaway under suspicious circumstances. Experts in the field, however, inform us that time is the enemy in disappearance cases. If the disappearance is a stranger abduction, the odds of finding the victim alive are dramatically reduced if the person has been missing a week. But at this point, they believe she most likely is a runaway, not a kidnap victim.”
The TV screen juxtaposes a series of brief shots showing police passing out flyers, knocking on doors and talking to citizens. “Today marks the seventh day—the seventh consecutive day that has passed with no sign of the missing seventh grader. During the past seven days, police have canvassed the neighborhood, stopped commuters and interviewed dozens of passersby, so far, all to no avail.”
Ashley’s photo abruptly dominates the screen. Brown continues, “This case has baffled the local authorities as they have virtually nothing to go on. So, anybody out there, if you know anything at all about the disappearance of Ashley Pond, please call the Crime Stopper number at the bottom of your screen. They urgently need your help in solving this mystery. Back to you, Bill.”
“And there you have it, the latest on the missing Oregon City girl.” Tony switches the news off.
“Alright,” Linda says, “let’s try to give them the help they need.”
Oregon City was the first incorporated city west of the Mississippi River. Established in 1829, by Dr. John McLoughlin, as a lumber mill near Willamette Falls, it was later designated as Oregon’s territorial capital and was known as the end of the Oregon Trail. Now it is a working class suburb of Portland.
Under gray skies on the outside steps of the Oregon City Municipal Building, Police Detective Gary Harris and Chief of Police, Gordon Huiras, surrounded by a cadre of uniformed officers, are holding a press conference about Ashley Pond.1 While several TV cameras record the moment, Detective Harris explains to the assembled reporters that they have changed their minds in the missing child case. Whereas they had been leaning toward a runaway theory, they now consider Ashley missing and in danger, because: First, she did not take clothes or money with her. Second, she has been missing more than a week. And third, she has failed to make any contact with her friends or family members.2
A crime reporter asks Detective Harris, “Is there any truth to a circulating rumor that many local residents and members of the family have provided you with some tips about possible suspects?”
Harris nods. “We looked at those reports and lots of people mentioned in those reports have already been talked to. Nothing indicates that they had anything to do with the disappearance.”
A female TV reporter next asks, “If you’re now entertaining a theory of foul play, do you currently have any suspects?”
“We are looking closely at adults who know the girl to determine whether they had anything to do with her disappearance. There are four to six adults that have our attention.”
The reporter begins writing on her note pad. “Can you give us some names?”
Harris shakes his head solemnly. “You know I can’t do that. These are only persons of interest at the moment and their privacy must be respected.”
Another reporter shouts his query. “Have you been able to search the entire apartment complex for Ashley?”
“We did get into the primary places we wanted to get into, along with the area around the complex. We have also searched Lori Pond’s apartment. Ms. Pond consented to the search and nothing was found that can be linked to her daughter’s disappearance.”
A female reporter gets her turn. “How about computers that Ashley might have used? Anything there?”
“The
