Remains found at home of suspect in missing girls case

OREGON CITY, Ore. -- The FBI uncovered human remains Saturday in an outbuilding behind the house of Ward Weaver, the self-described No. 1 suspect in the case of two missing girls who lived across the street, officials said.

The remains of one person were found hidden in a shed, said Charlie Mathews, special agent in charge of the FBI's Portland office. Teams continued to look under a concrete slab directly behind the house for more remains, he said.

Police Chief Gordon Huiras said the body had been turned over to the medical examiner and had not been identified.

The FBI began searching Weaver's property Saturday morning; police erected a chainlink fence around the property late Friday.

After a quiet morning Saturday, activity at the scene picked up around 3 p.m. as crime reconstruction teams, digging equipment and FBI agents poured into the fenced area. A medical examiner's vehicle pulled up about two hours later and backed into a shed near the house.

Around that time, the girls' grandfathers, Don Martin and Wesley Duffey, abruptly left the search scene, saying they had to be with their daughters.

"Wes got a call from the FBI that said, "Get to your family now,' " said Cassie Winter, a friend of the families.

Weaver, a 39-year-old single father who knew Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, was evicted from the single-story house after his arrest Aug. 13 on charges he raped his son's 19-year-old girlfriend.

The night of the alleged rape, his angry and distraught son told 911 dispatchers that his father had confessed to killing Ashley and Miranda.

Weaver has pleaded innocent to the charge and denied involvement in the disappearances, but has told AP that he is considered a suspect.

The 13-year-old girls, friends who lived in the same apartment complex near Weaver's home, vanished within two months of each other this past winter.

On Saturday morning, police set up two large white portable tents behind Weaver's house. One appeared to be over the concrete slab; the other was farther back near a shed.

Three search dogs worked the property, along with about 40 investigators from the FBI, Oregon City Police and the Oregon State Police.

Ashley disappeared Jan. 9. She was last seen eating breakfast with her younger sister and was to walk about eight minutes to a bus stop near Weaver's home. Michelle Duffey, Miranda's mother, last saw her daughter in a bathrobe eating breakfast on March 8.

Bush wraps up fundraising, faces more protesters

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- President Bush collected campaign cash in New Mexico and in Los Angeles on Saturday, closing out a three-day Western swing marked by unusually large and aggressive protests that seemed to dramatize the obstacles he is likely to face as he prepares the nation for an extended, expanded war on terror.

"Oh, the hill might be steep at times," Bush said. "But we're going to cross that terrain to achieve peace -- not only peace for ourselves but, see, we value life all around the world."

Outside a Los Angeles breakfast benefiting California gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon, scores of shouting demonstrators against threatened U.S. military action in Iraq banged drums and held antiwar signs, one of which suggested Bush send his twin daughters to war.

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