02:37 PM PST on Monday, January 12, 2004

By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN, kgw.com Staff

Using a broken disposable razor, Ward Weaver, the man accused of murdering two Oregon City girls, tried to commit suicide in jail, authorities said.

Weaver slashed his chest and wrists Sunday night, but he inflicted only superficial wounds, said Deputy Angela Brandenburg, spokeswoman for the Clackamas Co. Sheriff's Office. A corrections deputy discovered Weaver cutting himself around 10 p.m. Sunday and found a suicide note in his cell.

Ward Weaver talks to KGW in a jailhouse interview. (KGW Photo)

Authorities would not disclose the note's contents.

He was taken to Willamette Falls Hospital where he was treated and released. While being treated for his non-life threatening cuts, Weaver was guarded and kept in full restraints including belly, wrist and leg chains.

"We took no chances with this guy," Brandenburg said. "He can be a dangerous guy, he had nothing to lose."

Weaver was returned to Clackamas County Jail several hours later and is currently in a medical isolation cell on suicide watch, with authorities checking on him every 15 minutes and a camera monitoring all his activities, Brandenburg said. He was already housed in isolation for his own safety prior to his suicide attempt.

Weaver is charged with aggravated murder in the 2002 deaths of his daughter's friends and middle school classmates, Ashley Pond, 12, and Miranda Gaddis, 13. The two girls were missing for months before their bodies were found in August of that year at Weaver's rental home near the apartment building where the girls lived.

(kgw.com graphic)

He is also accused of raping his oldest son's teenage girlfriend and sexually abusing her 15-year-old relative.

In jailhouse interviews, Weaver has denied killing the girls and even claimed that he knows who the "real" murderer is.

Last Monday, a judge ordered that Weaver no longer be permitted to have jailhouse visits with his 14-year-old daughter.

Weaver's attorney in the case told The Oregonian newspaper that Weaver would be very disappointed by the ruling and that it would affect his mood.

Weaver is scheduled to go to trial in June. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

In other recent developments in the case, Ashley Pond's mother on Friday filed a $9.7 million wrongful death lawsuit against welfare workers and police who investigated the case.

The suit was filed on the two-year anniversary of Ashley Pond's disappearance on her way to school in Oregon City.

Attorney Linda Beloof, who is representing Lori Pond, said the mother holds public officials responsible for her daughter's death. Pond also wants to see improvements in how the state responds to child-abuse complaints, Beloof said.

Pond, meanwhile, is trying to regain custody of her three surviving children, who were removed from her care in September after reports of neglect. They were placed with family members.

Michelle Duffey, Miranda's mother, also filed a wrongful death claim in August, against the state Department of Human Services.

(The Associated Press also contributed to this article)