The Truth Regarding Ashley Pond

[DarkDante]

The Truth Regarding Ashley Pond

In 2002, Unsolved Mysteries profiled the case of two young girls named Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis who were abducted on their way to school. The story was set in a small tight knit community in Oregon and the segment gave viewers an impression that this was a town where children could play freely outside without fear of ending up on a milkbox. Now I am aware that “Unsolved Mysteries” from time to time for a variety of reasons (ranging from time constraints to family’s wishes) neglect to tell the whole tale regarding a disappearance or murder case but in this case (stemming from the much harpooned 2001/2002 “Lifetime sanitized” seasons) they really dropped the ball omitting several key details and neglecting the facts while concentrating on other elements that were not exactly relevant to this case. For those of you unfamiliar with the case both Pond and Gaddis were found dead in the backyard of a neighbor’s house by the name of Ward Weaver. The sad thing is when you “google” this case you will discover that as sick as this crime is the true story of Ashley Pond reads somewhat like a bad tv-movie that “Lifetime” could put together; the only tragedy is that the events in this case are real.

Lori Pond was sixteen when she had Ashley, while I do not condemn this in the least for the first ten years of Ashley’s life she was lead to believe that David Pond who eventually married Lori was indeed her father. While it does strike me as a bit odd that a sixteen year old girl who has gotten pregnant and decided to have and raise her child would not look into checking into the identity of the father of her child (if indeed as it turned out she had several partners around the time when she was impregnated) it seems even odder that the David Pond himself would not be interested in this knowledge. The first ten years of Ashley’s life seem to follow the pattern of any young girl: school, friends, family etc.

But when Ashley turned ten her parents ended up getting a divorce. It was over a quarrel about child support payments that David Pond apparently decided to look further into the possibility that he was actually not Ashley’s biological father (and therefore would have a stronger case regarding not having to pay child support) – Indeed it was proven that Ashley’s father was not David Pond but in fact another man: Wesley Roettger

Apparently at this point Ashley like any young girl who has this type of bombshell dropped on her begins to likely experience uncertainty and mixed emotions towards both her parents and decides to pursue a relationship with her biological father Roettger. Things now slowly begin to go from bad to worse as friends and family begin to notice severe changes in Ashley’s mood and behavior during this time as she becomes sullen and confrontational and there is even evidence that she might be drinking.

All this is apparently due to during her weekend visits with Roettger, he begins to sexually molest her. Roettger is convicted of over 40 counts of sexual abuse and pleads to only one and is RELEASED!!! (all American town eh? Which lets an accused child molester walk the street while awaiting his trial!) – During this time it also appears that Lori Pond is anything but the hard working parent that “Unsolved Mysteries” portrayed her as police are called to the Pond residence on several occasions including neglect and Lori’s increasing alcohol abuse problem. Ashley again withdraws from her family and seeks comfort in the house of a friend who was the daughter of WARD WEAVER!

At first it seems that the Weavers (including Ward) are caring confidants of Ashley listening to her problems and even inviting her to join them on vacations. However there are indications that Ward Weaver’s is perusing an “adult relationship” with Ashley Pond and according to a teacher of Ashley was seen kissing the young girl on the lips.

According to Ashley, Ward Weaver also molested her and threatened to testify against her in her father’s rape trial. Another interesting point is around this time (April 2001) Ashley also makes accusations that two other men are also molesting her. While it is possible that all of this was true, what is more likely is that this is a cry for help to get her mother Lori Pond to pay attention to her.

Of course by this time Ashley is ostracized by Weaver and his family due to the allegations and incredibly due to the handling of the case by this town where “apparently everybody knows each other” formal charges are never brought against Weaver.

As the presence of Weaver begins to be less of a factor on Ashley’s life: it seems as if her behavior and stability of her life begin to improve. Her relationship with her mother improves during this time period however inexplicably by December of 2001 she again renews a friendship with Weaver. At this point I begin to question that what mother of a twelve year old girl would allow her to renew a friendship with a man who is obviously many years her senior and whom she had accused less than a year ago of molesting her unless in fact Lori Pond herself was unaware of her daughter’s actions. (this would seek to indicate to me that although relationship between mother and daughter might have been on the mend there were several serious issues regarding Ashley’s mental state and blocks in communication between parent and child)

On January 9, 2002 – Ashley Pond left for school and the “Unsolved Mysteries” segment pretty much takes it from there. The only thing that is odd is that there was a viable suspect in the case of Ashley’s (if not Miranda’s) disappearances and that would be Ward Weaver, the same man accused of sexual assault on Pond months earlier. While I can understand for legal reasons this being left out of the segment there are other “Unsolved Mysteries” segments that clearly cast similar suspicion on people in regards to disappearances. The other question that sticks out in my mind is something that Robert Stack pointed out “that Ashley Pond likely knew her abductor” when her abductor turned out to be Ward Weaver, it was obvious not only did Ms. Pond know Weaver but apparently still felt comfortable enough to get into his car. Ward Weaver was convicted of murdering both Pond and Gaddis in the fall of 2004 (after delaying his trial almost two years by claiming he was unfit to stand trial) and was sentenced to two life sentences.

However even with the conviction of Weaver, this case still has more questions than answers and still has a lot to be resolved in my mind. First off I am by no means a psychologist although in my opinion, Ashley Pond was anything but the well adjusted young girl who enjoyed dancing that the segment portrayed her as: gaining sympathy is one thing but obscuring the truth is quite another. It is obvious that Pond if she had not met with such an untimely death would likely continue to struggle with her demons which involved trying to find a suitable “father figure” in her life whether it be David Pond, Wesley Roettger or even Ward Weaver. The fact that she was constantly seeking out attention from potential father figures and then levying charges against them as far as sexual assault is concerned should at least be “red flags” that all was not well with this young lady.

While I don’t doubt that the charges against Weaver and company were true, there was obviously a lot more to this story than meets the eye. Yes it is true that charges were pending against Weaver and due to a state foul up were never processed, why is it that Ashley was again in his company in the month prior to her death. Furthermore, it is extremely odd that Ashley Pond would accept a ride from Weaver under any circumstance due to their past history, but yet she did (I feel UM made a quite a good case for the fact that Pond was not forcibly abducted but instead entered Weaver’s car on her own volition)

This brings me to Ashley’s mother, Lori Pond who last I heard was planning on suing the Oregon Department of Human Services for neglect. While I do agree with Ms. Pond that the agency dropped the ball here and may have not been as diligent as one would think they should be in the case of an alleged child molestation (actually two allegations one against Weaver and the other against Roettger) – They are not the only ones on the hook here in fact everyone from the court system, to the agencies and yes to the parents themselves hold a bit of responsibility in Ashley’s death. Here we have at least two accused child molester’s roaming the streets one of which was never brought to trial due to mismanagement and the other given bail. I’m sorry if I sound cynical here but “Unsolved Mysteries” gave the impression that the area in which Pond and Gaddis lived was secure but when you have two alleged child molesters roaming amongst you, I’m sorry but that doesn’t sound like a very stable environment for children to be in.

Which brings me to the parents, yes I understand that children do not tell their parents every detail about their lives but in the case of Ashley Pond who basically experienced several traumas in her young life within a year and a half, wouldn’t it been prudent of Lori Pond to at least keep tabs on her daughter a little more closely especially after Ashley was alleging several older men had molested her? I won’t even begin to speculate that Lori Pond knew that Ashley was in Weaver’s company again and allowed it because it would be incredulous so I assume that Lori Pond was ignorant as to whom her daughter was keeping company with. Ashley Pond in my opinion was failed by the system and the adults around her. This whole case makes me sick!

Later.

[dynoguy88]

Yikes! My head is spinning after reading all of that. Do you live in this town or somewhere nearby in Oregon? Or is this all from newspaper articles? That's an awful lot of detail.

I watched this segment today again, such a sad case. I noticed that Lori Pond looked awful young to have a 12 year old daughter. That's an awful lot of emotional baggage for the Pond's to have.

What about Miranda? Was her situation just being in the wrong place at the wrong time or did she know Ward Weaver as well?

[DarkDante]

Apparently Ms. Pond is also not the individual that "Unsolved Mysteries" portrayed her as. She has a history of child abuse and alcoholism even prior to Ashley's death. Several times the police were called to the Pond residence (which again I stress was stressed in the segment as an ideal area for a child to grow up in) - All these events occured in 2001

Jan. 25: Police respond to Lori Pond's apartment after a mid-afternoon caller tells child welfare workers that Pond may be drunk and neglecting her children.

* March 16: Police respond to the Pond apartment after a report that a 12-year-old girl (Ashley Pond) has been locked out and is walking around crying, a "regular occurrence with this family," the caller says

* Early April: Ashley begins staying regularly with Ward Weaver, who has a daughter Ashley's age. (This is possibly due to the situation of living at home with mother Lori is no longer an attractive option to young Ashley)

* May 13: Police respond to Pond apartment after a caller reports a five-year-old girl is outside crying. "Seems the mother would not let the child back in," according to dispatch report.

* June 10: Police are called to the Pond home at 1:51 a.m. after a caller reports a "loud large party, beer cans all over the place" and says juveniles in attendance.

July 15: Police are called to the Pond apartment at 1:39 p.m. for a "disturbance" involving children and adults.


What is very very odd to me is in all the articles I've read about this case dealing with the death of Ashley Pond, it seems that the reporters are very sympathetic to Lori Pond and seem to wash over these incidents as Lori disciplining her unruly pre-teen daughter Ashley. However when one looks at the various disturbances listed above one can see that the methods that Lori Pond employed in dealing with her daughter fell well outside the normal means of parental discipline.

Anyhow Ashley's younger siblings (yes she had brothers and sisters despite UM making it sound as if she was an only child FOR OBVIOUS REASONS I agree with them on not making knowledge of other children in the Pond household common knowledge!) were removed from their mother's care in the Fall of 2003 due to allegations of abuse in the household. This means that almost two years after Ashley's death Lori Pond was still abusing her children in some way shape or form. The children were placed in the custody of their respective biological fathers (David Pond & another man whose name I forget - NOT Roettger!) but the youngest boy is later returned to Ms. Pond after she entered a substance abuse program in April of 2004. No word on whether or not Ashley's two sisters were returned to Ms. Pond at this time.

Now if I may speculate that the reason why Lori Pond might have not been as diligent in her protection of Ashley from sexual predators such as Roettger and Weaver is that she herself also was inbound with addictions and therefore was not a suitable parent for Ashley or her siblings. It is at this point I ask what the hell is going on here?

Why wasn't Ashley removed from Lori's care after at least the second instance of domestic violence in the household? - Does anyone else find it a bit odd that at no point in time between April 2001 and January 2002 (when Ashley was murdered) did Ms. Pond attempt to file a restraining order against Mr. Weaver to keep him away from Ashley?

While it is possible that Ward Weaver would have not observed this order I think due to the fact that he distanced himself from Ashley when even allegations were made that if something like a restraining order was levied against him he might have avoided her completely. Also for such a tight knit community why didn't anyone notify DYPHUS (sp?) of the abuse occurring in the household in 2001 or did the police attempt to relocate Ashley with either David Pond or a grandparent or suitable relation?

Equally baffling that as a parent myself, if charges were pending against a man who molested my child (Roettger), while another man accused of doing the same thing basically is walking around free due to a paperwork foul up (Weaver) wouldn't I try to get my child as far away from these animals as possible? - I don't think it's far fetched to think any parent would! - Yet Lori Pond didn't she remained in the exact same area where these men were located.

It is my opinion that all of Ms. Pond's efforts post Ashley's death from her whitewashed appearance on UM to setting up a fund in Ashley's memory; to suing Oregon Department of Human Services for neglect are merely promotional shucks for the media to deflect attention away from her own negligence as a parent to Ashley and her siblings. While I do not doubt that she is grieving for Ashley or even feeling guilty I would not shed any tears if Ms. Pond was locked up in a cell right next to Ward Weaver as her behavior during Ashley's final year alive and after is truly disgusting

To answer dyno's questions: No I am not a local resident just fan of UM who likes to research the cases he sees profiled and this one begged for me to at least "smarten" people up as to the full story on Ashley Pond and the degenerates around her. I have not researched Miranda's case yet but plan to in the next few days - Stay tuned!

[nohwheregirl]

Dante,
I imagine that the UM producers thought better of pissing on the grave of a dead young girl. From your story, it's pretty obvious that Ashley was a very troubled young lady (through no fault of her own) with a very troubled family. As awful as it sounds, there are people out there who will judge a little girl for her parents' actions, not to mention her molesters' actions. This is especially true when it's happened repeatedly and with different predators. "Oh, she must have liked it. Maybe she got what was coming to her." Sick, but true.

UM, and other journalists were just covering their butts, as well as choosing not to tarnish her memory. Is omitting all of this information right or wrong? It's a tough question...i don't have the answer.

Also, as a total geek, i'd be interesting in knowing what your sources were. You certainly are very detailed!

[DarkDante]

I can understand why they did it although one wonders why the mother decided to enlist the help of "UM" at all when she all but knew who killed Ashley. It's just such a sad sad case -The "Miranda Gaddis" case isn't very pretty either which I'll report on maybe tomorrow but if you can't wait go here for the info on Ashley Pond which actually goes into a bit more detail then I did - The actual police reports though are not there and are on a private pay site where you need a password to gain access although they may be available elsewhere - anyhow look here

http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/ashleypond.htm