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CHAPTER THREE

Searching for Clues

Linda O’Neal is in her kitchen cooking pasta. The television news on in the background is focusing on Ashley’s disappearance. While several graphics rotate, the news anchor’s voice reports, “Oregon City Police were called to the apartment Ashley Pond shares with her mother and two sisters six times last year. In two of the cases, anonymous callers asked police to check on the welfare of a child who had been locked out of the apartment. In two other instances, the state’s child protective services asked police to check on the welfare of the children.” Linda begins to mull over Ashley’s possible state of mind at the time the girl disappeared, asking herself where the teenager might be.

Watching the newscast, Linda realizes her step-granddaughter’s disappearance is not going to be easily solved. Linda begins to formulate a “To-Do” list and she decides to call her stepdaughter to organize a meeting of interested parties. The goal is to stimulate a proactive approach in the search. She dials Maria’s number. It rings four times before a young voice answers. “Hello?”

“Hi, is your mom home? This is Linda O’Neal.”

“No, she and Tony are at Bingo.”

“Is this Suzie?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Suzie, maybe you can help me. As you probably heard, I’m trying to help find your cousin, Ashley. Your mom told me she spent last weekend with you guys.”¹

“Yeah, she did.”

“Well, did she seem upset or tell you something was wrong?”

“About what?”

“Anything that explains why she might run away from home.”

“Well, Ashley talked about certain things that bothered her. I just don’t have a good memory, I mean, I don’t remember exactly, but I know she did tell me things about her mom and the babysitting. She had to watch the kids all the time. She had to take care of her younger sisters. When you’re only twelve, it’s hard. I used to have to do that with my sister and brother when both Mom and Dad had jobs. I’d watch them for hours and hours, so I kind of know how it feels. But Ashley was doing it and trying to take care of her mom at the same time.”

Linda responds thoughtfully, “That’s difficult, but in divorced situations, even so-called normal kids sometimes have to assume too many responsibilities.”

Linda, surprised by Suzie’s words, suddenly finds herself immersed in memories of her own mother’s emotional problems resulting in mood swings that kept her family walking on eggshells. The more she heard about Ashley’s life, the greater a sense of kinship she felt. She had been that girl wanting to leave, wanting something better. In that moment it becomes clear to her that she will do everything in her power to find the girl.

Linda’s attention is jerked back as Suzie continues, “Like, Ashley’d say her mom gets out of control some times, and she’d always be watching the kids. Like, taking care of them while her mom was passed out in the bedroom or something. I think Ashley came over to our house so much mainly to get away from everything and stuff. She always wanted to spend time with me and I feel bad now, because I never really did much. I mean, like, everybody knows she can really be obnoxious. That’s just Ashley. You know? She told me stuff about when her mom was drinking and stuff.”

Linda looks down for a moment, thinking, and then says, “Lori’s going to have her fourth baby in a few months. So maybe Ashley meant that she was taking special care of her mom to help with the pregnancy.”

“Linda, Lori needs help and everybody knows it. That’s more than kids should have to deal with.”

“Well, I’m sure that is very hard for Ashley. What do you remember most about her?”

“She’s lots of fun, but she has an attitude. Everybody knows Ashley has an attitude. Some people don’t want to deal with her, but she’s great to hang with.”

Linda smiles, “I can see you liked her—attitude and all. Do you have any idea where she could have gone, Suzie, any idea at all?”

Suzie sighs, “No, not really. My mom called every one of her friends and they haven’t seen her either.”

“I know. She’s doing a great job, your mom. How are you holding up through all of this?”

“I just wish I would’ve spent more time with Ashley. That’s what bugs me the most.”

“It’s a very natural reaction when someone special drops out of our lives. We all feel that way, Suzie, and we’re going to find her. I promise. Thanks for sharing with me, Sweetheart. Could you have your mom give me a call when she gets back, okay?”

“Okay, Linda. I will. Bye.”

Two days later Linda has organized a get-together with Philip, his daughter Maria, her husband Tony, and their daughter Suzie. Linda’s new intern, twenty-one-year-old Allison, is with her.

She is not making good time, caught in late afternoon freeway congestion. Linda is at the wheel of her green sedan, switching frantically from lane to lane and fearing she may be late for her own meeting. Intern Allison sits quietly in the passenger seat listening to the radio speakers blasting a Doobie Brothers tune that entices Linda to join in. Her cell phone intrudes on the moment. After muting the Doobies, she picks up.

“Linda O’Neal Investigations…speaking.”

“This is Bob Raymond. I represent Jack Jordan in a post conviction relief and I’m wondering, do you still have the case files?”

Linda slowly merges into the right lane. “It was 1995, wasn’t it?”

“Wow! I’m surprised you remember that. Do you still have your investigative notes on that case?”

“Yeah, hold on.” Linda swerves her car into the emergency lane and brakes. Getting out while ignoring the whizzing traffic, she and Allison open the trunk and rearrange several paper grocery sacks, each stuffed with thick manila file folders. “There it is.” Linda spies one sack labeled “1995” and roots through the contents. Allison stares in bewilderment watching the private detective extract the documents before returning her attention to the cell phone caller. “Yeah, I’ve got my hands on them this moment. Do you need this stuff right now? Or can it wait until the end of the day? I’m on my way to an important appointment.”

“No, the end of the day is fine. You’ve got my fax number.”

Linda hangs up her cell phone and offers a comment to her intern. “There you go Ally, the most significant issue in the investigation process: good records, easily accessible.”

Soon they are back on the road and arrive at her stepdaughter’s house. Maria lives with her husband Tony in a sprawling one-story ranch nestled in a Portland suburb. Their daughter Suzie stands in the front yard waiting for Linda. After hiking a block from the closest parking spot, Linda approaches carrying a large briefcase with Allison a few steps behind. The teenage girl grabs the handle. “Let me help you with that, Linda.”

“Why thank you, Suzie. Is your mom in the house?”

“I think so. And if you’re looking for my grandpa, he’s in the house too.” She giggles.

Linda follows the girl through the front door. Philip stands near the grey stone fireplace holding court with Tony and Maria. “Yeah, your mother and I used to run the gut in Salem in my old Plymouth. Everybody saw us coming. Remember that old car, Maria? You were just a baby when I finally got rid of it. It just wore out, I guess. But I sure loved it. It had a pull down shade over the back window, a big floor shift and a windshield that cranked out with a tiny knob.” He chuckles.

Linda approaches and hugs Maria before touching her intern’s arm. “I want you all to meet my newest sleuth-in-training. She just started interning with me this week. This is Allison. She just graduated from the College of Legal Arts. She was my best student last term. And she’s real interested in helping us find Ashley, whatever it might take.”

Tony says, “We’re all ready to follow your lead, Linda. But Lori and her mother and the rest of that side of the family aren’t too high on us doing our own investigation. The cops told them to let them handle it. They don’t want anybody else sticking their nose in it and all, I guess.”

Linda takes her briefcase from Suzie. “I can understand that. But let’s have our meeting and then we can figure out what, if anything, we can do to help the situation, not hurt it.”

Allison asks, “How do her mother and grandmother fit in the picture?”

Linda expounds. “Philip was married to Lori’s mother and they had two kids, Maria and Jon. They got divorced and Lori’s mother got married again and had two more kids. One of them, Lori, had a child—well several children—one of whom is Ashley Pond, the girl who’s missing. I don’t really know a lot of these people well, but my husband is involved in all their lives.”

Within minutes, most are assembled around the fireplace. Linda stands in front of smoldering coals and her voice is strong and firm. “I’m here to create an effective investigative structure. With everyone’s cooperation, we can inject more energy into the challenges ahead. Maria feels the police don’t seem to be looking for Ashley. I have agreed to donate some of my time to the case, but remember, I’m a private investigator; all of my work will be done in addition to what the cops may or may not be doing. So, Lori and her mother have nothing to fear from that standpoint. My trails may cross the paths the police are following. They may not. But I can promise all of you, we will sooner or later find Ashley.”

From her briefcase, Linda retrieves her unofficial copy of the police report. “The police are treating the disappearance as a ‘suspicious circumstances incident, no crime scene, no witnesses, probable runaway.’ Now this was partly due to the fact that the Pond family had domestic disturbances causing police visits over the past year.”²

Maria scowls. “That’s not fair,” she says. “Most of those police visits didn’t even involve Lori or the kids.”

“Fair or not, you’ve got to understand how the police view situations. And the fact is, in their experience, regardless of who was actually making the disturbances, they had been dispatched several times to quell situations.” For emphasis Linda holds up a folder and thumps the side with her hand. “It’s all here, every call and when you read through it, if you’re a cop, you’re going to get the idea that Ashley was much more likely to be a runaway than a kidnap victim.”

Maria shakes her head. “Well, I still think it isn’t fair.”

“It may not be, but I found out that the detective charged with handling this case just entered Lori’s 9-1-1 call into evidence. And they wouldn’t have done that unless there were some inconsistencies.”

Maria shakes her head. “I want you to talk to Ward Weaver.”

Linda is puzzled. “You’ve never mentioned him before. Who’s Ward Weaver?”

“Ward Weaver is the father of one of Ashley’s friends. And Ashley told me that he tried to have sex with her. I talked to one of Ashley’s school friends and she was really freaked out about it.”

“Who?”

“Miranda Gaddis. She goes to school with Ashley and is on the dance team with her. And she lives at Newell Creek with a bunch of sisters. Anyway, you know what she told me? She said that she had once seen Ward Weaver stop Ashley from leaving his house by pressing his body up against her, even though Ashley wanted to leave. He just held her there. That’s what she said.”

“Maybe Mr. Weaver tried to compromise Ashley, sexually. Maybe it was all a big misunderstanding. Investigating the disappearance of a person requires asking a lot of tough questions and demanding answers that are not easy to come by.” Linda writes on her pad. “I promise I’ll dig into this Weaver fellow’s background and try to find out if the police have found anything on him, but we need to keep an open mind so we can gather any pertinent evidence.”

“Can we at least go over to his place and see if there are any clues?”

“No, no, no, not now,” Linda replies quickly. “Remember, as of today there is no evidence that officially connects this guy to any crime. If we traipse over there, we might contaminate the place if it is a crime scene. We’ve got to keep our investigation totally legal and above board. If we don’t, I can’t be involved. I cannot afford to lose my license. In most investigations you have to chase down dozens of leads to get the solution. It’s almost a mathematical equation. Rarely does it turn out to be the first guy you’re suspicious of. Too pat. Right now, Ashley Pond is a straw in a tornado.”

Suzie taps Linda’s arm. “What do we do next?”

“Well, the first thing we need to do is establish a list of every adult that may have had any kind of contact with her. And Maria, those friends of Ashley that you called, you need to call each of them again, every three days until we find Ashley. We also need to find out if any of Ashley’s acquaintances are missing or have run away, because first time runaways usually take off in pairs. Now, most of what we will be doing is drudgery and most of it will lead nowhere. But, there is no other way to conduct a missing person’s investigation except with diligence. That’s what it’s going to take.”

Allison raises a hand. Linda smiles. “What’s on your mind?”

“What’s your best guess, Linda? Do you think Ashley ran away?”

“I certainly hope she did, because that would be the best of all possible scenarios to lead to her safe return. Another possibility: maybe an adult had something to do with her disappearance. But the least likely scenario—and that’s what can give us a positive basis for hope—the least likely is a stranger abduction. From what I’ve been told, Ashley is a feisty, energetic child. The odds that some stranger grabbed her and forcefully took control of her are slight. And that’s good for us too, because you must all realize, in stranger abductions, the odds of finding the victim alive are cut in half in three hours and then cut in half again in eight hours.”

Tony interrupts. “We were told there would be a TV news story about Ashley. They said five o’clock, and it’s five o’clock. Maybe we ought to watch it.”

Linda nods. “Definitely.”

The group shifts to the nearby family room and focuses attention on the fifty-inch big screen TV in the back. Within minutes the male anchor introduces Ashley’s story. “Today marks the seventh day since twelve-year-old Ashley Pond mysteriously disappeared from the Newell Creek Apartments in Oregon City. News Channel 15’s special correspondent, Pinski Brown, has the details. Pinski?”

Pinski Brown is walking up the hill near Pond’s apartment to the school bus stop. This is the place Ashley disappeared from and Brown comments that there were no eye witnesses. She says, “Local law officials tell us that they see this case as most likely a possible runaway under suspicious circumstances. Experts in the field, however, inform us that time is the enemy in disappearance cases. If the disappearance is a stranger abduction, the odds of finding the victim alive are dramatically reduced if the person has been missing a week. But at this point, they believe she most likely is a runaway, not a kidnap victim.”

The TV screen juxtaposes a series of brief shots showing police passing out flyers, knocking on doors and talking to citizens. “Today marks the seventh day—the seventh consecutive day that has passed with no sign of the missing seventh grader. During the past seven days, police have canvassed the neighborhood, stopped commuters and interviewed dozens of passersby, so far, all to no avail.”

Ashley’s photo abruptly dominates the screen. Brown continues, “This case has baffled the local authorities as they have virtually nothing to go on. So, anybody out there, if you know anything at all about the disappearance of Ashley Pond, please call the Crime Stopper number at the bottom of your screen. They urgently need your help in solving this mystery. Back to you, Bill.”

“And there you have it, the latest on the missing Oregon City girl.” Tony switches the news off.

“Alright,” Linda says, “let’s try to give them the help they need.”