09/04/2002

By PAT DOORIS and TERESA BELL, KGW Staff

The house Ward Weaver rented in Oregon City will be torn down possibly as early as next week.

But will that affect the criminal case against him?

The landowner, Steve Hopkins, said he always planned to put some sort of business on the land. Now he thinks the time is right.

The home that Ward Weaver rented in Oregon City. (KGW File Photo)

The mere sight of the house in Oregon City no doubt haunts the relatives of the murdered girls who lived nearby and it’s questionable whether anyone would ever want to live in the place where the bodies of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis were found.

Hopkins said it’s time to start over.

“My plan was to put one of my auto parts stores there,” he said. “But I've just built some other stores since I built the property so its now time for me to reconsider that or some other development that might be a better use."

Yet a veteran defense attorney not involved in this case said many lawyers would want to collect evidence at the house, instead of trusting the work of FBI agents and local police entirely.

“I think the question could best be answered by Timothy McVeigh's co-defendant when it was discovered that the FBI had lost pieces of evidence, had mislabeled pieces of evidence and had incorrectly analyzed them," explained attorney Emily Simon.

But Weaver’s defense attorney, Tim Lyons, told KGW he sees no reason to try and stop the demolition of the home.

Simon said this could mean that either Lyons is comfortable with local investigators or it may be a moot point – if he plans to cut a deal withi prosecutors.

Lyon’s office said no deal negotiations are underway because Weaver has not been charged with killing the girls.