08/19/2002

By KGW and AP Staff

Ward Weaver, a self-described suspect in the case of two missing Oregon City girls and now in jail on an unrelated rape charge, attended a juvenile court hearing Monday to decide temporary custody of his daughter.

The 13-year-old was friends with Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, also both 13 years old, who went missing last winter.

The court decided temporary custody of the girl while Weaver is in jail, according to Bob Kambra, a supervisor for the Clackamas County Juvenile Department. He declined to say who was awarded custody.

Ward Weaver as he appeared in a video arraignment on rape charges last week. (KGW Photo)

However, court sources told KGW that the hearing judge granted temporary custody of Mallori Weaver to the Clackamas County Dept. of Human Services. The girl has been placed with another family member for the time being.

A review hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 26.

Deputy district attorney Summer Gleason said she could not discuss the reasons why the county requested the temporary custody order from the court. Monday's custody hearing lasted only about 10 minutes, she told KGW.

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In an unrelated case, Weaver was arrested last week on charges of raping the girlfriend of his 19-year-old son, Francis Weaver.

After that arrest, Francis called 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers and expressed anger at his father for allegedly raping his girlfriend, and went on to say his father had confessed to killing the two missing girls, according to a summary of the call obtained by The Oregonian newspaper.

However, Francis had previously told the Portland Tribune newspaper that his father had no involvement in the disappearances of Pond and Gaddis.

Francis not only told the paper that his father was "innocent," but added that he would've turned his father in to authorities if he would've had any doubts about his innocence.