Tributes paid to dead US girls

Tributes were today being left near the home where the bodies of two missing girls were found hidden in a garden.

The remains of Ashley Pond, 12, were identified yesterday after being discovered buried under concrete in the back yard of her neighbour Ward Francis Weaver in Oregon City.

Ashley’s friend, 13-year-old Miranda Gaddis, was earlier discovered in a shed behind Weaver’s house.

Flowers, teddy bears and messages of condolence were placed on a makeshift fence erected by police around the property.

Hundreds of mourners from the local area have visited the house, including some family members.

Weaver has been in custody since earlier this month after being arrested on unrelated charges of raping his son’s 19-year-old girlfriend.

He has previously called himself the prime suspect in the girls’ disappearances but has denied any involvement.

Weaver’s father, who is also called Ward Francis Weaver, is currently on death row in California for murdering a young couple in 1982. He raped the woman and buried her in his garden.

Ashley’s family last saw her on January 9 eating breakfast with her younger sister before school. Miranda vanished from the same low-income apartment complex south of Portland on March 8.

The girls’ disappearance sparked a nationwide search that ended on Saturday a few hundred yards from the apartment complex where they had lived.

FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said search dogs first examined Weaver’s garden a few months ago, and that it was possible the bodies were not there at the time.

She said investigators did not believe there were any more human remains at the home, but were clearing it to make certain.

Relatives of the girls criticised the police for failing to find the bodies earlier.

“It makes a pit in your stomach. I get angry because she was right there the whole time,” said Terri Duffey, Miranda’s aunt.

“Detectives and police stood out here all hours with posters and they were right here all along.

“They came in and out of that driveway 100 times and they were right there, I mean right there and we couldn’t do anything.”

Wes Duffey, Miranda’s grandfather, said: “We are never going to forget what happened. This is going to hurt my daughter for the rest of her life.”