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

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subject to credit approval C store or ashley.com for [Music] details [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever
you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always a man that's driving a
four-wheeler on the highway through the danger zone he is the captain that's cuz
I got a honky tonk but donkey donk it's good to be seene and it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks for
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yeah and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a
chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime 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 Moy V the state of Georgia the murder Gene is quote a
possible genetic basis for violent and impul F of 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 or nurture this week we discuss a case that begs the question are some people born
to kill [Music] Ward Weaver III was born April 6th 1963 in Humbolt County California his father
was the junor ward Weaver Jr and his mother's name is Trish Weaver when Ward was about four years old his father left
his mother and abandon the family all together a short time after he left Trish Weaver met another man and later
the two got married the man's name Bob budo 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
bab Dro 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 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 fiance 23-year-old
Barbara Lavoy these two are driving from Robert's parents house they stayed there
for 2 weeks visiting they are driving to an Air Force base near Los 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 planned 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 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 axe 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 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 a cellmate
that he killed another couple Weaver Jr's soulmate 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 Junior's second wife and their young children lived Weaver Junior'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 26th 1982 two detectives showed up at the twor house and wanted to speak to Rodney about the
holes he helped dig they brought in a back ho 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 we 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 mtima
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 Captain yeah I hope I hope so well it oh well just because you're out here raping and beating women oh 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 weer leaving likely
didn't help to motivate the cause let's say m so shortly after Weaver graduated from Marshall High School in Portland he
joined the US Navy Reserve but this was short-lived as he was discharged the following year on May 17th 1982 for
heavy drinking and dereliction of Duty mhm during his tenure in the Navy he met his future wife Maria stal a native of
the Philippines I thought you were going to a 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 5 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 198 9 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 Lorie Pond divorced David Pond and this was a very big change 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 to everyone's surprise it was determined
that she was not you are not the father Wesley ruer 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 confrontation 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 ruer her biological father had sexually abused her during her visits to his home in
January of 2001 Wesley ruer was indicted on 40 counts of rape and sexual abuse later in a bad plead 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 ly Ashley's mother was drunk and neglecting her
children by April 2001 Ashley Pond was spending a lot of time over the house of a friend mallerie Weaver daughter of
Ward Weaver III in early spring a report was made by Linda verden 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 mallerie on a two-e 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 verden that Ward Weaver had molested her according to Ashley she
said Ward I II 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 in 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
situation but regardless of any of these other situations well it's it's 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 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 sentences he's a real stinky pizza that's right he's got two
death sentences in the state of California M then we have his son Ward Weaver III now keep in mind Weaver Jr
left thei 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 III 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 uh 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
stin who wasn't there and then when she goes to visit him he I mean he he's accused and 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 Aller 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 9th 2002 Lorie Pond Ashley's mother says
Ashley got up just like any other day Ashley got ready for school and Lori 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 9th 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 8:00 a.m. and Ashley was running late the bus stop was just 10 minutes from
the new well Creek Village Apartments where Ashley lived 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 believe 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 her 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 mirand gladus 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 pwn
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 belonged 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 23rd 2002 at the Oregon City High School but Miranda
would not be in it because on Friday March 8th just 2 months after Ashley disappeared 13-year-old Miranda Gladis
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 8:00
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 gladus two girls who were good
friends that went to the same school and lived in the same apartment complex both
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changer all right 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 I'm sipping on my beer
hold 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 Junior Ward
Weaver III 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 mhm yeah she's
over at his house all the time very good friends best friends with his daughter mallerie 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 thei kiss this 12-year-old
girl on the lips M so very likely a 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 it 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 Ward Weaver III and saying hey
you're a suspect for this MH because there were allegations against you right but this guy he thinks he's a rock star
now cuz people are 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 the the circumstance 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 mhm and or you got a predator in the area
and that's their mean means of opportunity mhm so it's but I'm leaning more towards maybe a parent of somebody
at the school well and some in the community would share that same thought but the thing we have to keep in mind
here regarding the bus stop itself mhm 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 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 MH 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 mhm they want a car they want a 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 ban the van campaign keeps going as well as it's going 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 2 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 pray 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 workingclass
suburb of Portland and the Federal Bureau of Investigation instated a task force to search for the girls now FBI
spokeswoman Beth Anne steel 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 I think the relationship between the two girls would that's all you need for me for
them to be linked well 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 Lor P everybody running a true
crime podcast both Michelle Duffy and Lorie Pon 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 and 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 MH 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 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 is it's negative attention right right in 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 they're still molestation or rape or whatever is happening mhm this
is an environment that she's been in mhm 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 if that makes any sense well but we do know Predators will Prey Upon children
that have little to no support system well right but we also know in this community that people have heard about
these allegations right so now if you have a predator they 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 prays 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 Pon 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
and 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 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 newel Creek Village Apartments yeah uh 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 Al that's also going to make it more difficult on investigators because if you have a bunch of people leaving
the area mhm they might just be leaving for the safety of their children but investigators have to go well 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 mcely mhm uh 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 was a long time ago I remember there was this family that was
arrested because they had cages for their kids they put their kids in cages mhm do you know what I'm talking about
yeah 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 a cage for your children like just till they're about 156 right I might if I listen to 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 ACDC 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 that 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 of that I'm very well 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
mean better than having no lead at all though exactly and but what I mean by that is 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 pull 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 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 15th 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 screw drivers 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 uh three years in prison for his actions on that night yeah 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 organ 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 mhm 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 aay 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 signs of
physical abuse they take somebody away period mhm 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 nowadays 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 that 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 to testify we can still press charges
against him and then he realizes and for the person especially for the me 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 and
right and and so then then that person can't go well it's this person's fault if that makes sense no I 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 impl 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 is probably just being very
upfront and honest with this victim and saying unfortunately we don't have a whole lot to work with here right you
know now K news this is what you were uh referring to earlier on the interview yeah so the news station k a they were
actually on to Ward Weaver B 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 uhhuh 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 it's no comment or they just slam the door
shut Ward Weaver thei third 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
with 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 it's kind of like Mark buers 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 go ahead 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 look
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 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 weeks he let him in there for three weeks but you know some people I
mean again you just wonder if he he got off on this on on on some way mhm 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 investig 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 and 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 grizzly crimes committed
more than two decades ago by his father the Long Haul trucker who murdered 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 mhm I'm I'm the whz and nobody can beat me again that goes back to what what I refer to is him very
obviously seeming to like the spotlight of of standing in front of the news camera and and get and being uh part of
the interview process do we know if 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 a
this polygraph test cool I'll take one mhm 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
mhm 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
fail a polygraph and 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 got to 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 listen to them for free on the Stitcher app we
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the time what is off the Record well sometimes it's non 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 into little parts
of big cases mainly un Sol cases and we've done this week we talk about the John B ramsy 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 trr garage.com and click on the
off the Record link it'll take you right [Music] there [Music] all right thanks everybody for joining
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Angie that

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

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://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

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Brief Summary

The episode covers the "murder gene" theory and the disappearances of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gladus, linking them to Ward Weaver III's troubling past.

Key points

The Murder Gene. Exploring the concept of a genetic predisposition to violence, known as the murder gene.
Ashley Pond's Disappearance. On January 9, 2002, Ashley Pond vanished on her way to school, leaving no clues behind.
The Disappearance of Miranda Gladis. Miranda goes missing just two months after Ashley, raising alarms in the community.
FBI Task Force Established. The FBI is called in to investigate the disappearances, believing they are linked.
The Pressure of Testifying. Victims often feel scared to testify due to lack of evidence and support.
Ward Weaver's Outgoing Interview. Ward Weaver invites news cameras into his home, presenting himself as innocent.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is not a scientific term, but it's worth exploring.

5:14WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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