Remains found on missing girls' suspect's property

A second set of human remains has been found at the US home of a man who has said he is the prime suspect in the disappearance of two teenage girls, police said.

The FBI also identified a body found on Saturday in the man’s shed as one of the girls.

The second set of remains were found in a barrel beneath a cement slab Ward Weaver, 39, had poured behind the home in Oregon City, Oregon, after the disappearance of neighbours Miranda Gaddis and Ashley Pond last winter, said city Police Chief Gordon Huiras.

No charges had been filed in the case, said Charles Mathews, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Oregon.

Mr Huiras also said Weaver is a suspect in the case. It’s the first time Weaver – who has denied involvement in the girls’ disappearances – has been identified as a suspect by any law enforcement official.

“Obviously, this is a very sad conclusion to this investigation,” Mr Mathews said. “On the other hand, I think the case has been resolved.”

Weaver said weeks ago that he was a suspect in the FBI investigation, and investigators have been searching the grounds of his rented home for the past two days.

They discovered remains of one human body hidden in a shed behind the house, but did not immediately identify them.

Agents used shovels and a pickaxe yesterday to dig several shallow holes about 50 feet away from the shed after specialists went over the property with a thermal-imaging device.

Weaver agreed to the search because he wanted to “bring closure to the families”, his lawyer, Timothy Lyons, told The Oregonian newspaper, although he did not elaborate.

Weaver has been in custody since August 13 when he was charged with raping his 19-year-old son’s girlfriend. His distraught son told emergency operators that his father had killed Ashley and Miranda.

Weaver said Ashley was a friend of his daughter who frequently stayed overnight at their house. He said she had even lived at the home for several months last year while her own father was in jail on charges of abusing her.

Ashley’s family last saw her on January 9 eating breakfast with her younger sister before school. On March 8, Ashley’s friend Miranda also disappeared from the same low-income neighbourhood in the woods south of Portland.

Investigators received thousands of tips, but were unable to single out a suspect until Weaver’s son called.

When residents found out about the son’s allegations, they urged authorities to remove the concrete slab that Weaver had poured shortly after Miranda’s disappearance. Ashley’s former stepmother taped a sign to the slab reading: “Dig Me Up”.

Weaver, whose own father is on death row in California for killing a woman and burying her body in his yard, told reporters several months ago that the FBI considered him a suspect. The previous summer, Ashley had accused him of molesting her, but he denied the allegations and was never charged.

Weaver told The Associated Press in an interview last month that he treated Ashley as a daughter when she visited.

Yesterday, a chain-link fence that authorities had put up around the house had become a makeshift memorial, with visitors attaching teddy bears, flowers and notes.