The Murder Gene /// Part 1 /// 278 | Forensic Files

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the definition of the murder Gene is that it is a DNA genetic variant that some scientists propose predisposes an
individual to berserk violence this is not a scientific or forensic expert term per se but is a term made
Popular by the media to refer to a particular variant of the monoamine oxidase Gene which apparently
predisposes an individual to disproportionate violence under any condition that triggers the carrier of
that Gene sequence to violence as referred to in the death penalty case of Mobley V the state of Georgia the
murder Gene is quote a possible genetic basis for violent and impulsive behavior
in certain individuals end quote it is also known as The Rage gene or even more commonly the warrior Gene
because of the theory that persons with this Gene would likely have been the most efficient berserk warriors on a
field of battle the murder Gene as the theory goes suggests that behavior and activities
from infancy into childhood and through adulthood were not the products of Free Will as Society defines this term
because the individual lacked the ability to make non-impulsive considered choices about his or her life's path
again this is not a scientific nor forensic term per se but it is certainly worth exploring
it's the age-old question of nature her nurture this week we discuss a case that begs
the question are some people born to kill [Music] Ward Weaver III was born April 6 1963 in
Humboldt County California his father was the junior Ward Weaver Jr and his mother's name is Trish Weaver when Ward
was about four years old his father left his mother and abandoned the family altogether
a short time after he left Trish Weaver met another man and later the two got married the man's name Bob Boudreau so
after Ward Weaver the third's mother remarried this is when the family relocated moving up to Portland Oregon
unfortunately it seems like there was a lot of abuse going on in that household Bob Boudreau is described as an abusive
alcoholic I can't say for certain whom in the house Bob was abusing could be his wife a child or everyone but at some
point during Ward Weaver's teenage years he started abusing one or more of the other children in the house
okay there's a little brief history on Ward Weaver III's childhood now we need to fast forward to February 1981 and go
back to California for this next portion of this week's case a young recently engaged couple this is
18 year old Robert Radford and his fiancee 23 year old Barbara Lavoy these two are driving from Robert's parents
house they stayed there for two weeks visiting they are driving to an Air Force base
near Las Vegas see young Robert is one of the good guys he is going into the Armed Forces and according to his mother
the young couple laid out their future plans regarding their marriage Robert wanted a long career in the Air Force
and the two plan to have a bunch of kids but before they got to the Air Force Base in fact they were still in
California just west of the Mojave Desert their vehicle breaks down unfortunately
for them a semi truck slowed down to talk to the young couple less than two days later Robert radford's body was
found along a desert highway according to the papers Robert was hit in the back of the head several times possibly with
an ax or Hatchet and Barbara was missing and authorities feared she had been abducted
later that same year Ward Weaver Jr a long-haul truck driver who spent a lot of time away from his family was
arrested eventually he was convicted and sentenced to 42 years in prison this is
because one night Ward Weaver Jr picked up two runaways in his truck he wanted very little to do with the 18
year old man so he arranged for a friend to shoot the man and Ward Weaver Jr repeatedly raped the 15 year old girl
before letting her go it was when Ward Weaver Jr was in prison for the attack on The Runaways that he
confided in his cellmate that he had killed another couple Weaver Jr's cell mate told authorities and when police
showed up at the prison to ask Weaver Jr about the crime Weaver Jr had only one request I need to talk to my mother he
said they let him make a phone call and then he talked to them and he laid it all out
Weaver Jr said he beat 18 year old Robert Radford to death with a pipe hitting him from behind then Weaver Jr
kidnapped and attempted to rape the woman when he tried to gag her she bit off the
tip of his thumb well too bad she didn't bite off the tip of your dick well he said that he went home and he was quite
freaked out that night he told his family he had been in a bar fight and that a man had bitten off the tip of his
thumb Weaver Jr was so unnerved by the incident that he did not let his children attend school the following day
now according to court records he buried the girl's body in three places before moving her remains to a hole that his
son unaware of what the hole was for helped him dig behind his rented house in California right this is where Weaver
Jr's second wife and their young children lived Weaver Jr's son Rodney remembers packing the dirt later his
father sealed the grave with concrete and built a deck on top of it on the afternoon of July 26 1982 two
detectives showed up at the two story house and wanted to speak to Rodney about the holes he helped dig
they brought in a backhoe and cracked the concrete in two chunks from his bedroom on the second floor he watched
as they lifted up one of the pieces and there she was said Rodney Ward Weaver Jr was tried for the double
homicides and received two death sentences yeah one evil dude it turned out later that Ward Weaver Jr's truck
routes matched up with 26 unsolved hitchhiker homicides now to be clear Weaver Jr has never been charged in any
of those cases nor do we know if he's tied to any of those for certain right meanwhile while all of this was
happening in California with Ward Weaver Jr back in Oregon in 1981 his son Ward Weaver III now this would be right
around the time Ward Weaver III was turning 18 years of age a teenage relative reported that Ward had
repeatedly raped and beat her police did investigate these allegations but multiple County Prosecutors decided not
to pursue charges some sources say this is because Ward Weaver enlisted in the Navy and was leaving Portland soon I
think it was a bit more complicated than just simply that cat yeah I hope I hope
so well oh well just because you're out here raping and beating women uh once you sign up for the Navy it's all good
well I again I don't think it was just that simple it looks like they meaning the authorities they were having trouble
bringing the charges forward right and I'm sure we were leaving likely didn't help
to motivate the cause let's say so shortly after Weaver graduated from Marshall High School in Portland he
joined the U.S Navy Reserve but this was short-lived as he was discharged the following year on May 17 1982 for heavy
drinking and dereliction of Duty during his tenure in the Navy he met his future
wife Maria Stout a native of the Philippines I thought you were going to say douche canoeing of Duty the couple
moved in with Weaver's parents this is his mother's side of the family and Maria was soon pregnant
five months into her pregnancy she was physically assaulted by Weaver III and hospitalized but she refused to press
charges against her husband their son Francis was born in December of 1982. let's Flash Forward shall we
and introduce Ashley Marie Pond Ashley was born on March 1st 1989. her mother Lori Davis was barely 16 at the time for
the first few years of Ashley's life she lived with her mother and her mother's high school sweetheart David Pond
eventually the two married and Ashley viewed David as her father Ashley was described as an easy child who could
entertain herself and one who enjoyed attention and affection she was well behaved but then about the
age of 9 or 10 Lori Pond divorced David Pond and this was a very big change for little Ashley during the divorce the
couple fought about child support payments so a paternity test was administered to determine if Ashley was
indeed David Pond's biological daughter so everyone's surprise it was determined
that she was not you are not the father Wesley Rutger was her real father she began to visit her biological father
staying with him on the weekends it was during this time that friends and family
noticed Ashley was becoming angry and confrontational she really did not want to spend time with her biological father
and she did not enjoy staying with her father right it took some time but eventually Ashley told her mother that
Wesley Rutger her biological father had sexually abused her during her visits to
his home in January of 2001 Wesley Rutger was indicted on 40 counts of rape and sexual abuse later in a bad plea
deal he was able to plead no contest to one of the counts and was released during the following months the police
were called out to the pond department for various reasons including an allegation that Lori Ashley's mother was
drunk and neglecting her children by April 2001 Ashley Pond was spending a lot of time over a house of a friend
Mallory Weaver daughter of Ward Weaver III in early spring a report was made by Linda Verdin Ashley's reading teacher at
Gaffney Lane Elementary this was report was given to the principal Chris Mills she said that she saw Ward Weaver kiss
Ashley on the lips regardless of this Ashley seems to be finding some comfort at the Weaver home or at least enjoying
spending time a lot of time with her friend according to the Portland Tribune Ashley spent almost the first half of
2001 with the Weaver family even joining Ward Weaver Weaver's girlfriend and Weaver's daughter Mallory on a two-week
vacation to California in late June and early July of 2001. the calls to the police about
disturbances at Ashley's mother's apartment continued over the next few months and Ashley spent more and more
time with the Weavers then in early August so just about one month after Ashley went on vacation with
the Weavers Ashley very bravely confided in her reading teacher Linda Verdin that
Ward Weaver had molested her according to Ashley she said Ward Weaver III was molesting her and Weaver used Ashley's
biological father's pending rape trial as the threat to keep her quiet so he threatened that he would testify against
Ashley and her father's rape trial if she said what was going on right we already mentioned that the plea deal
we already mentioned that plea deal but see all these allegations by the young girl were not just clean and simple they
had their complexities and the authorities did have some troubles getting all charges brought forth to be
clear I'm not accusing this young girl of lying in fact my stance is let's hear her out and go round up these perverts
and see if we can charge them with something but one of the complexities is back in April of that year
Ashley also accused two other men of molesting her but then later recanted those statements so I think some can see
how this could be perceived as a boy who cried Wolf's situation but regardless of
any of these other situations this big difference between a boy crying wolf and a girl crying rape
regardless of any of these other situations and the details of those this little very brave girl told someone
what was going on right that Ward Weaver III was molesting her that he was inappropriate with her and she stood up
and told an adult a good adult at that once the accusations were made Ashley stopped going to the Weaver's house
these accusations didn't come without problems for Ashley who ultimately ended up being well what she described as
feeling ostracized by Ward Weaver's daughter and friends of Weaver's daughter due to the sloppy handling of the
paperwork by County officials regarding Ashley's accusations Ward Weaver was never investigated and therefore he was
never charged with sexually abusing Ashley at that time yeah that's nonsense all right Captain so here's where we are
right we have we're discussing the Weaver family basically we have Ward Weaver Jr who committed murders in
California Yeah by this time he's already locked up he's facing death sentence he's a real stinky pizza that's
right he's got two death sentences in the state of California then we have his son Ward Weaver III now
keep in mind Weaver Jr left the third's mother in the family when Ward Weaver III was like four years old so really
these two have no to little interaction with with each other but Ward Weaver the third is now in
Oregon and he is being accused by his daughter's friend of molesting her right and as we stated due to some kind of
slip up in the paperwork lazy work you know sloppy work whatever you want to call it that accusation is not really
investigated even though in my opinion it's reported by a reputable it's a reputable report coming from her school
this was her school stating this I understand that there's problems going on at her house at Ashley Pond's house
with the police showing up with the situation with her mother right but this little girl regardless of you know I
referenced a boy who cried wolf situation the regardless of that this girl can't catch a break she's gone
through some very tough times she's had a [ __ ] bag for a biological father who wasn't there and then when she goes
to visit him he I mean he he's accused and it was charged with 40 counts of rape or molestation charges he's able to
plea down to one count of that and then we have these other accusations going on
with Ward Weaver III not investigated but into the fall of 2001 things started to look up for Ashley who's obviously
been through so much in her short life life seemed to settle down Ashley's grades were improving and her family and
home life was improving as well and the bright side of Ashley's personality was returning unfortunately
as Christmas approached sources say Ashley and Ward Weaver's daughter Mallory the two girls who were once
friends they were both on the dance team together they partially renewed their friendship
now on to the day in question Captain right according to the Portland Tribune on January 9 2002 Lori Pond Ashley's
mother says Ashley got up just like any other day Ashley got ready for school and Laurie heard Ashley say goodbye this
was around 8 15 A.M this was when she was heading out to catch her school bus Ashley Never reported to school that day
in fact her friends would later say Ashley never got on the bus and never arrived at the bus stop the report that
went out on January 9 2002 this was a Wednesday in Oregon City Oregon Ashley Pond age 12 disappeared on her way to
meet the school bus it was just after 8 A.M and Ashley was running late the bus stop was just 10 minutes from the new
well Creek Village Apartments where Ashley lived with her mother again Ashley Pond never got on the bus never
made it to her middle school that day because they had no eyewitnesses authorities were looking into the
possibility that she never made it out very far from the apartment complex itself where she lived neither her
mother nor most of her friends believed she had run away the local authorities jumped on this
right away but the problem they very quickly ran into no one saw anything out of the ordinary no one saw Ashley get
into a vehicle no one saw her in any type of struggle no one reported hearing any screams right you know it was as if
she had just simply vanished the local police called in the FBI but again there simply was just no clues
that surfaced as to the whereabouts of the missing girl Ashley was popular at school and enjoyed
being on the swim team and dance team and her friends and her classmates well it was like a mixed bag as for feelings
about Ashley having gone missing most of the kids were saddened and likely afraid
regarding her disappearance but a few of her friends thought Ashley may have run
off I think you know that's fair I mean think of the crap that this kid has gone
through you know and basically the three-year time period of her parents divorcing and and all that I mean that's
it's a it's a horrible three years for her one of Ashley Pond's friends Miranda Gladys said when Ashley
didn't show up at the bus stop for school first Miranda was scared and then she said she got mad Miranda figured
Ashley probably ran away and she was upset that Miranda took off and then didn't even bother to call anybody and
at least say that she was fine Miranda felt that Ashley left everybody worrying for nothing
Miranda and her mother Michelle Duffy lived just a few apartments down from Ashley Pond the school organized a
benefit to raise money for a reward for Ashley's disappearance maybe a reward could help generate a tip a much needed
lead in a case that had no clues featured at the benefit would be the dance team that both Ashley and Miranda
belong to Miranda choreographed a solo routine as a special way of remembering her friend
Miranda's mother Michelle later said Miranda started realizing that even if Ashley did run away she wasn't coming
back anytime soon the dance benefit was scheduled for March 23 2002 at the Oregon City High
School but Miranda would not be in it because on Friday March 8th just two months
after Ashley disappeared 13-year-old Miranda Gladys got up just like any other day she got ready for school
Miranda's mother Michelle Duffy left for work within 30 minutes before Miranda would typically leave for school each
weekday morning Miranda and some other kids would catch the school bus at the bus stop about a 10 minute walk from the
apartment complex at the top of the hill but later that day Michelle learned that
Miranda did not go to school and she immediately called the police Miranda just like Ashley didn't show up at the
bus stop that morning that she went missing police believe she vanished around 8 A.M while on her way to the bus
stop at the top of the hill and the paper said she disappeared from the new well Creek Village Apartments so
here we have both 12-year-old Ashley Pond and 13 year old Miranda Gladys two girls who were good friends that went to
the same school and lived in the same apartment complex both disappeared before school
[Music] foreign [Music] cheers mates there's a lot to unpack but let's try to do this slowly yes well
it doesn't help that two of the individuals that we've I'm sipping on my beer hold on
disgusting that's not just drink it like a normal person but it doesn't help captain that the two two of the
individuals that we're discussing have the same name Ward Weaver Jr Ward Weaver the third we don't need to talk about
Junior right now right so the third in his town we have this girl Ashley Ashley she goes missing but before she goes
missing she says hey Ward Weaver III he is molesting me yeah she's over at his house all the time very good friends
best friends with his daughter Mallory and he she eventually accuses him of molesting her now we also have the
reading teacher who says before these molestation allegations ever come up right the reading teacher says Hey on
one occasion I witness this grown man Ward Weaver III kiss this 12 year old girl on the lips so
very likely which is you know which is weird but also if you saw if you saw a grown man kiss like a
three-year-old wouldn't be so weird you know for me though I would think if I just like was out in public randomly and
saw something like that I would just assume it was like the kid's father right um but you know this reading teacher
knows different because she knows uh his daughter as well right so that's strange
and then they don't listen to her and they basically don't investigate these allegations at all
and then her friend Ashley's friend goes missing as well and now they're coming back to the Ward Weaver III and saying
hey you're a suspect for this because there were allegations against you right but
this guy he thinks he's a rock star now because people aren't they're interviewing him and he's saying well
come on in my house sit down let's talk about this yeah and and a lot of this occurs after the second girl Miranda
goes missing and what's so strange is that you have two girls that have disappeared and it's this the
circumstances of such are so similar right you know uh both of them were on their way apparently to the bus stop and
they never arrive at the bus stop which but also in my mind that makes it a little more suspicious that you would
think that a parent of somebody at their school would know the bus system roughly
when kids were waiting for the bus and or you got a predator in the area and that's their means of opportunity so
it's but I'm leaning more towards maybe a parent of somebody at the school well in some in the community would share
that same thought but the thing we have to keep in mind here regarding the bus stop itself
it's not like it's not like either of these girls were going to show up at the bus stop and be the only one waiting for
the school bus we have other kids their same ages that go to the same school ride the same bus and these kids when
question are saying we never saw either girl the day that they went missing right once again when we have Miranda
who goes missing under the similar circumstances investigators jump on it immediately but they come up empty there
again there's no leads to follow the investigators then started to look at the possibility that the person that
abducted the girls was possibly someone that knew them and whoever it was seemed
to be targeting possibly the same type of victim Ashley and Miranda were close in age involved in similar activities
and even According to some looked very similar to each other and and the fact that there is no eyewitnesses and
there's no there's nobody coming forward here saying that they heard a girl scream or anything that would lead me to
believe that as well well and you and I know that a lot of times what investigators are looking for when there
is a possible stranger abduction or any type of child abduction they want a car they want a vehicle
description of of what to be looking for or a van yeah and here we have no vehicle description we don't have any
eyewitnesses saying they saw anything at all but if our band the van campaign keeps going as well as it's gone
they won't be looking for Vans anymore that's true because they'll be off the streets well on the other side of the
coin here Captain we have some people in the community who wondered if perhaps the two girls ran away together now I
know that they went missing about two months apart but some of the people were wondering could Ashley have contacted
Miranda told her where she was and persuaded her to join her they were friends right that's a possibility but
again it's a 12 year old girl is she going to have the resources to be gone that long
yeah where's she going to go and you know unfortunately that's what both families were praying they were hoping
that that was the situation right but law enforcement officials certainly didn't think so once again the FBI was
called in and they this time they brought in profilers from the FBI headquarters in Quantico Virginia they
were dispatched to this working-class suburb of Portland and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and stated a task force to search for the girls now FBI spokeswoman Beth Ann Steele stated during a press interview
quote there is a growing belief that these cases are related and while there's a slight hope that they have run
away there is a growing belief that there was some kind of criminal activity involved the two cases had so many
frightening parallels the police had to believe that they were probably linked at this point well I think the
relationship between the two girls would that's all you need for me for them to be linked well the FBI
profilers and agency officials went on television issuing an advisory to the public but this was without explaining
why they were issuing an advisory so they were telling the public to be on the lookout for someone who recently
sold a car or vehicle someone who shows signs of increasing drug or alcohol use right someone who appears to be tired
from being up all night now both Michelle Duffy and Lauren ponds everybody running a true crime podcast
both Michelle Duffy and Lori Ponce say they believe neither girl ran away but they
were also sure that neither would have have allowed someone to abduct them or be
abducted by a stranger right and this goes back to what you were saying you know you would start to wonder was this
a someone that they knew yeah I I'm such a pessimist too if I was one of the parents and I heard the other
parents saying well maybe Ashley contacted her and they're they're off in the woods somewhere living happily and
nothing happened I would be thinking in my head get your head out of your ass that's not a possibility well I think
that that comes from the public and it may have come from Ashley's school that speculation because some people there at
the school knew a lot of the terrible stuff that was going on in Ashley's life personal life outside of school
and you know it's not uncommon for when a child is having that difficult of a time being and and being a victim right
to to run away to flee from a bad situation well and you're also more likely if if you're having that how can I say
this it's negative attention right right and the worst form but she doesn't have
a father figure or the father figure that she thought she had she didn't have and then she was molested by the other
father figure so she is more prone to having even just let's say a stranger that says hey let me take care of you
and if if they're taking care of you part of the time but there's still bless station or rape
or whatever is happening this is an environment that she's been in so she can survive in that environment right so
all I'm saying is she's more likely to maybe go with somebody and um but but if that makes any sense
well but we do know Predators will Prey Upon children that have little to no support system but right but we also
know in this community that people have heard about these allegations right so now if you have a predator
they're they have their target and again then you go well if they're friends and Ashley has gone through all
this does she tell this Predator hey my friend went through some of this too and
now he preys on her as well right the pond family kept a low profile since Ashley's disappearance but after The
Disappearance of Miranda Ashley's mother Lori Pond appeared with Michelle Duffy on three television networks pleading
for the return of their daughters uh she stated she's very loud referring to Ashley she's very loud and outgoing and
she likes talking so she would likely talk to you Pawn said in a statement directed to the abductor should they be
watching right where the girls lived is described as a 125 unit apartment complex a cluster of
neat gray two-story buildings with balconies uh sheltered in a deep Gully in a nest of forest a place with plenty
of kids and there were a lot of stay-at-home moms in this apartment complex parents in the area were obviously
concerned but they were uncertain what danger to watch out for they were concerned is this like a stranger
lurking in the woods near the school bus stop or was this someone that everyone knows well they could have started by
just hey walk your kid to the bus stop and designate a parent just to stay at the bus stop
can start there well where some of the family started and this is I don't find this to be
surprising at all family started moving out of the new well Creek Village Apartments yeah one neighbor this is Kim
Hamlin said quote there's a lot of young families here a lot of children and a lot of people are up at that hour of the
morning getting kids off to school going to work she said I keep thinking to myself it had to be someone they knew
because for a stranger to have come and violently abducted them somebody would have seen something well that's all
that's also going to make it more difficult on investigators because if you have a bunch of people leaving the
area they might just be leaving for the safety of their children but investigators have to go but why are
they leaving are they yeah should they be a suspect right is is there is their father that's moving them out of there
is he Mr mcfeely Kim Hamlin added I personally don't feel comfortable and safe for my child unless he's in the
house under lock and key so obviously at least one parent many parents probably feeling the same way
that you're feeling Captain well you know there's a long time ago I remember there was
this family that was arrested because they had cages for their kids they'd put their kids in cages do you
know what I'm talking about unfortunately it's happened more than once but I I do remember a story of
you're talking about one just a couple years ago I think yeah but it's like and I think one of the reasons that they
had the cages was the parents were saying is also for their safety but it's like if you listen to enough of these
True Crime shows you might think about getting in a cage for your children like just until
they're about 15-16 right I'm like listen enough of these True Crime shows I might feel like getting a cage for
myself yes well I already bought you a cage for next Christmas there's a line from an AC DC song where Brian Johnson
says I feel safe in a cage in New York City all right you would have to ask him what exactly
he means by that next time I see him I will okay regarding the investigation there were two very obvious problems
wait hold on I just want for the record do not send me an email stating that people shouldn't put kids in cages
you're aware I'm very well I'm aware of that I was making a joke look I won't vouch for you on everything but I'll
vouch for you there right okay so regarding this investigation there are two very obvious problems that
investigators faced one they had about 30 suspects and we've seen several cases when you have a lot of suspects you
likely have a lot of nothing you know they they can't what I better than having no lead at all though
exactly and but what I mean by that is it's very difficult to investigate all 30 of these guys all at the same time
you know all you can really do is investigate and work to thin the herd of suspects so to speak
now they had 28 suspects that lived in the same apartment complex as the two missing girls that could not be ruled
out and for then you know for for months authorities had no real evidence that a
crime had even been committed because they had no eyewitnesses to such all they have is two missing girls
right but that there's your crime just assume at that point well they they're they're doing more than assuming they're
investigating right right it would take months but investigators would Whittle the suspect pool down uh no one knows
for sure how many suspects of the 30 or so were cleared only that the FBI agent in charge did announce publicly that
they were down to quote about 10 or 20 suspects at one time in the investigation
one of those suspects was Ward Weaver III Ward as we know was not only Accused by one of the missing girls Ashley Pon
of molestation but Ward Weaver's home was near the two girls bus stop Weaver was a brutal man with a long
history of violence and assaults against women okay let's take a quick look at Ward Weaver's past criminal activity
shall we on June 15 1986 Ward Weaver III then 23 years old was picked up outside of a
bowling alley in Fairfield California by the young daughters of a friend after feuding with his girlfriend or I'm
sorry after feuding with his wife Weaver consumed six beers six vodka screwdrivers a little marijuana and a
gram of powdered speed when the girls pulled the van over so Weaver could relieve himself he opened the passenger
door and struck the younger sister in the head with a chunk of concrete he then grabbed the 16 year old driver
put her in a headlock and pulled her to the floor now I'm a little clueless as to the rest of the details of this
assault but he was charged with this assault and he did serve three years in prison for his actions on that night if
you hit somebody with concrete it should be attempted murder right right in January of 1988 Ward Weaver III was
released from prison in California and this is when he and his wife moved to Canby
Oregon where they briefly operated a gift shop so she stayed with him yes oh great
in 1993 Maria Weaver files a restraining order against Ward Weaver and ends their
marriage Ward Weaver was getting involved in selling cocaine and methamphetamine at the time this is
according to police records and family interviews then in 1994 Weaver III then 31 years of age beat his new 18 year old
girlfriend Christy Sloan with a cast iron skillet in their Portland apartment for this Weaver was jailed but the
charges were dropped after Sloan told a prosecutor she was so afraid of Weaver that I mean she was too terrified to
testify against him in court see now now tell me if I'm right or wrong like I know now that if you if
somebody calls the police back in the day if they showed up and the girl was beat
up or the guy was beat up if nobody was going to press charges they wouldn't take anybody away
yes and this varies by state to state and it has changed throughout the years right but that that was back then but
now you show up and there's signs of physical abuse they take somebody away period now that doesn't mean that the
charges will be pressed but I do know and correct me if I'm wrong that like in this case right we have this scenario
where he beats this 18 year old tells the prosecutor hey look I'm too afraid to press charges but now of days they
will still press charges or they can yeah but it's it's it's it can still be a sticky situation because the way I see
this going down is we have the prosecutor probably telling Christy Sloan hey we don't have
really any evidence other than your testimony to hopefully get a conviction against this guy
so when you are a victim and you're very much afraid of this man and you hear even with your testimony we don't know
if he's going to get any jail time or get a guilty verdict right I could see how somebody could be very easily scared
off of testifying against him especially if you knew that you had the means to to probably just get out of the
situation somehow you know and and maybe not make a lifetime enemy with somebody
that you I'm sure Christy Sloan she knows firsthand yeah but I think he's a he's a violent maniac right but I wish
there was things in place in the system where they would go okay here's the scenario we have evidence of the
markings we took pictures of that we took um a statement from her so even though she's not willing to testify we
can still press charges against him and then he realized it and for the person especially for the men that are beating
these women for them to understand that this this person it doesn't matter what you say to your girlfriend that you beat
up it's not on her to press the charges you see what I'm saying and they're going to
press charges against you no matter what right and and so then then that person can't go well it's this person's fault
if that makes sense no I mean it makes 100 sense I mean everybody at the end of the day everybody wants to be safe and
everybody wants all of their loved ones and all of the good people out there to be safe as well the problem is
implementing implementing A system that that allows for that um and I know I'm being kind of vague
there but again if it's if the prosecutor believes that the jury or judge will see a
situation as a he said she said right then I mean that Prosecutor's probably just being very upfront and honest with
this victim and saying unfortunately we don't have a whole lot to work up with here right you know now
KATU news this is what you were referring to earlier other interview yeah so the news station
KATU they were actually on to Ward Weaver based on a tip that they received about and this is a very vague tip but
go with me on this they received a tip about a quote bushy-haired neighbor at the top of the hill
now this vague description fit Weaver and the home that he lived in as we said was near the bus stop at the top of the
hill it wouldn't take long for KATU to arrange an interview with Ward Weaver now this is interesting Captain for on
so many different levels uh-huh cheers um a lot of times what we see when somebody is regarded by the public as a
suspect if news cameras if the news team shows up and knocks on the door what what do
we often see like you don't even see like the dude's face like you just see the door open a little bit yeah and you
see like the darkness behind the door yeah and it's no comment or they just slam the door shut
Ward Weaver III that's not the situation here the news team shows up they say hey
look you you live by what police believe is a crime scene even though we have no
evidence of of the abduction we don't have any great leads you're on their suspect list we got this tip about a
bushy-haired man that lives at the top of the hill near near the bus stop and we think you're that guy
he he's like very outgoing and and willing to talk with the news team not so much so that he's like hey come on
into my house you know doors wide open bring the cameras and they just kind of like Mark Byers
right yeah yeah in a sense in a sense uh yeah yeah no you're actually spot on I mean very kind of outgoing and
loves to talk loves to talk um he I know somebody that likes to talk I know two people that uh
good okay um so he invites the news team into his home with the cameras rolling and he
gives a very upfront interview regarding the missing girls and regarding his status as a suspect in their case and he
says look you know I I've I have a daughter of my own she's the same age as the two missing girls I've had both the
girls over to my home at different times because they are all friends they live near one another
um yes I see the kids walking up to the school bus to the bus stop in the mornings and and arriving in the
afternoon and walking home and he walks them through several rooms if not most of his actual
household and then they go outside and continue the interview out there and he States reasons why he understands that
he's a suspect but he also gives many reasons why he is innocent and that they are probably looking at the wrong guy
yeah which could come off multiple ways like this guy is trying to steer The Narrative or this guy has nothing to
hide so why is he concerned you know he's just going to do anything that he can help the investigation out with and
the thing too is he does not appear to be like nervous or fidgety during any portion of this interview in fact he
seems to enjoy having the camera on him and he enjoys answering the question the
questions I mean he's smiling and laughing from time to time during the course of this lengthy interview and
when it breaks when you break it down you know this is actually ends up only being a few minutes of TV on the news
but who knows how long they actually stayed at his home and spoke with him that day and how many questions he
fielded I heard it was three weeks three three weeks you let him in there for three weeks no but you know some people
I mean again you just wonder if he got got off on this on on some way well he certainly seemed to enjoy the
spotlight now behind the scenes when the cameras are off during this whole time Ward Weaver
is calling his half-brother this is Rodney Weaver who lives in Idaho and during these phone calls these
lengthy phone calls from time to time he's complaining that one he believes his phone is tapped that
investigators are listening in on his conversations he also believes that he's being followed by law enforcement and
unmarked cars well if you're a suspect then that might be something that they do and he has told his brother his
half-brother that the investigators have been questioning him often and that they were
Relentless during these questioning periods pressing him to confess to the abductions of both Ashley and Miranda
right now Ward Weaver insisted it was all a simple mistake according to Weaver the police were on to the wrong
guy the only reason the police zeroed in on Ward Weaver as a suspect according to
Ward is one the police believed he was capable of killing Ashley and Miranda simply because of the grisly crimes
committed more than two decades ago by his father the long-haul trucker who murdered a young couple and buried the
woman in the backyard right and then number two Ward Weaver highlighted that his close ties to
Ashley one of the missing girls and he did portray himself he says he he was a fatherly figure to this girl but as we
know the family members were reminding authorities look Ashley had accused him of sexual abuse before she vanished
right Weaver publicly proclaimed his innocence even though he drew attention to himself with claims that he was the
Prime Suspect and had failed a polygraph test right so this clown is basically going around saying hey guys I am the
number one suspect I'm I'm The Wiz and nobody can beat me again that goes back to what what I referred to as him very
obviously seeming to like the spotlight of of standing in front of the news camera and get and being uh part of the
interview process do we know if he actually took a polygraph test well by his own admission publicly he told
people hey I I'm so much a suspect they brought me in for questioning and hooked
me up to a lie detector test and I failed well he's so arrogant that he would be like oh you want me to take it
to this polygraph test cool I'll take one you can't use it in court but then he's going to go around he's so
braggadocious that he's going hey guys I took one of their tests and I failed it
what kind of piece of [ __ ] are you well it's weird because you have to wonder is
that a shot at the uh that's got to be a shot at the authorities you know look look I'm their Prime Suspect I failed a
polygraph in it here here I'm still here living my life in my house near the where they believe the crime scene is
well on top on top of that he's also saying they're only looking at me for the stuff my father did
let's not think about the stuff that I did let's not think about the crimes I committed or the reasons why I've been
in jail they're only looking at me because of my father and by pushing that blame onto somebody else anytime that
somebody does that where it's so obvious you shouldn't be pushing the blame those
people normally have some issues so okay so we gotta dive more into this tomorrow
and real quick before we leave you today if you want more True Crime garage don't
forget about the Stitcher app it's free we have all of our catalog there all of the old episodes you can listen to them
for free on the Stitcher app we also have our fantastic show that me and the captain absolutely love and we're so
glad so many have joined in on our other show off the Record available on Stitcher premium and people ask me all
the time what is off the Record well sometimes it's not we can't say we can't say it's off the Record sometimes it's
nonsense but it's a lot of case updates and the other thing that we've been doing lately is diving in into
little parts of big cases mainly unsolved cases and we've done this week we talked about the JonBenet Ramsey case
and we're diving into this confession that was released by a known sex offender so that's what we've been
diving into this week check out off the Record and if you're looking for the link it's pretty easy just go to our
website True Crime garage.com and click on the off the Record link it'll take you right there
thank you foreign thanks everybody for joining us here in the garage today we will see you again
tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause] thank you
[Music]

The Murder Gene /// Part 1 /// 278

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

This week we set out to discuss the disappearance of two girls that went missing within 2 months of each other. The prime suspect in both cases has an interesting criminal history. Ward Weaver III is a man with a violent history and he is the son of a serial killer. This week we examine a much requested case from Oregon. This case unlike any other will make you question if serial murder runs in the family. Join the Captain and Nic as we crack a few beers and talk though this strange tale. Beer of the Week - Bennington from Night Shift Brewing Garage Grade - 4 and a quarter bottle caps out of 5

Beer Fund: https://truecrimegarage.com/home

Brief Summary

The episode discusses the murder gene theory and the cases of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gladys linked to Ward Weaver III.

Key points

The Murder Gene. Exploring the concept of a genetic predisposition to violence, known as the murder gene.
Ashley Pond's Disappearance. Ashley Pond, age 12, goes missing on her way to school, sparking a massive search.
Miranda's Dance Benefit. A benefit is organized to raise money for Ashley's disappearance, featuring a dance performance.
The Disappearance of Two Girls. Ashley Pond and Miranda Gladys, both young friends, vanish before school.
FBI Involvement. The FBI is called in as the investigation intensifies, linking the two cases.
Ward Weaver's History. Ward Weaver III, a suspect, has a violent past and allegations against him.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Are some people born to kill?

Introduction to the concept of the murder gene.

4:24WatchNov 22, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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