05/23/2002

By DAVE NORTHFIELD and TERESA BELL, KGW Staff

Like Chandra Levy, two Oregon City teenagers disappeared months ago without a trace. But unlike the Levys, the families of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis are still holding out hope that their girls are alive.

Pond vanished over four months ago and Gaddis disappeared in March. Now the breakthrough in the Chandra Levy case is a reminder of how little investigators know about what happened in Oregon City.

When Washington D.C. police announced they had found Chandra Levy’s remains, Michelle Duffey understood what the young woman’s parents must be feeling.

FBI agents and police have conducted numerous searches around the area where the missing Oregon City girls lived. (KGW Photo)

Investigators believe Duffey’s daughter, Miranda Gaddis, was kidnapped. Duffey prays for her daughter’s safe return but says the Levys now have some comfort in knowing where their daughter is.

Forensic scientist Dr. Raymond Grimsbo has worked on dozens of criminal investigations out of his private lab in Portland. He knows that finding a crime scene is a breakthrough for detectives who may now be able to solve the mystery by sifting through every inch of the scene.

Local forensic expert Raymond Grimsbo (KGW Photo)

Local forensic consultant Rod Englert said even just a piece of clothing can bring a major break in missing person’s cases.

“Saliva or semen could turn up on clothing… and that could yield useful DNA,” Englert said. If a killer tightly twists a cloth or rope around the victim's neck, he could even unwittingly strip off skin cells from his hands, leaving them -- and their DNA -- on the murder weapon, according to Englert.

In searching the area around the body, "you sift through the dirt, you sift through the leaves," Englert said. Besides fibers and hairs, such a search could turn up a button that matches a shirt from a suspect, he said.

The Levy investigation should also include nearby bird and rodent nests, he said, because those animals may squirrel away jewelry, bits of clothing or other items that will pay off in the case.

"When you're looking at a crime scene like this, what you try to train yourself to do is look for something that shouldn't be there," Grimsbo said.

Miranda Gaddis (KGW Photo)

The community has rallied to help collect tips and the case has received national attention – just like Levy’s case.

But so far, there are no answers.

Ashely Pond (KGW Photo)

Yet the public isn’t giving up. This week’s people magazine will feature a cover story about Ashley and Miranda as well as the latest details on that investigation.