09/08/2002

By AP Staff

A man suspected of killing two neighborhood girls waged a campaign to discredit one of the children when she accused him of sexual abuse four months before her disappearance, according to the girl's friend and teacher.

Ward Weaver mocked 12-year-old Ashley Pond in front of her friends -- including his own daughter -- and called her a liar.

Ward Weaver. (Photo courtesy of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.)

At the same time, according to court documents and interviews, Ashley made similar allegations against two other men, then reversed herself and denied them.

Those events damaged Ashley's credibility, nearly destroyed the case against Roettger and deflected attention from her allegations against Weaver.

Those allegations were never investigated, despite three separate reports of abuse to child protective workers.

The bodies of Ashley and her classmate, 13-year-old Miranda Gaddis, were found Aug. 24 and 25 in the backyard of Weaver's rental house. The house is across the street from the apartment complex where both girls lived.

Weaver was arrested Aug. 13 for the alleged rape of his son's 19-year-old girlfriend and remains in jail. Weaver, 39, has not been charged in Ashley and Miranda's deaths, but prosecutors have said they will seek an indictment against him.

Linda Virden, who taught Ashley in elementary school and served as her mentor, said Saturday that Weaver tormented the girl after she accused him of sexually abusing her.

Virden said Ashley told her that Weaver threatened to testify that Roettger was a good man and to call Ashley a liar in court.

"There was no doubt she was terrified," Virden said.

Virden said she reported Weaver's threat to state child welfare workers in September 2001, at the same time she reported Ashley's allegations that he had attempted to rape her.

But the allegations were never investigated by police because welfare workers faxed the information to the wrong police agency then never checked back to see if the report had been received or acted on.

Four months later, on Jan. 9, Ashley disappeared. Miranda vanished on March 8.

A grand jury indicted Roettger on 40 counts of rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration. But because Ashley had accused two other men of abuse and then recanted, the case disintegrated and Roettger eventually pleaded no contest to one count of attempted unlawful sexual penetration. He was sentenced to probation.

In the days leading up to Roettger's plea, Ashley was also ostracized by her closest friends, because she had accused Weaver of molesting her, The Oregonian reported.

Her friends took sides with Weaver, leaving Ashley out of conversations at school and not inviting her to sleepovers.

In a July interview with The Associated Press, Weaver said he was furious with Ashley for accusing him of sexual abuse. He said he no longer allowed her to be at his house and regretted her previous visits.

"If I'd known her track record, there's no way she would have stayed here," he said.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)