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Special Agent in Charge Discusses Missing Oregon Girls

Aired March 13, 2002 - 13:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The disappearances of two middle school girls in Oregon City are now being called abductions. Federal and local authorities are linking Miranda Gaddis's disappearance on Friday with that of another missing girl from two months previous: Ashley Pond vanished back in January. Meanwhile, the community is left with only unanswered questions.

And James Hattori now bring us up to date on what is happening there in Oregon City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to pray that God will be with us as a community, that he will be overseeing our young people.

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prayers and tears filled the Oregon City Christian Church Tuesday night as a community copes with the disappearance of two young girls in as many months from a nearby apartment complex. They gathered not to memorialize, but to seek strength and hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It helps comfort me that many people really cared.

HATTORI: Michelle Duffey's 13-year-old daughter, Miranda Gaddis, vanished last Friday morning, apparently after leaving for school. Around the same time, eight weeks earlier, 12-year-old Ashley Pond disappeared on her way to catch the bus. Both girls attended the same middle school and were on the dance team.

Over the weekend, dozens of law enforcement officers scoured a wooded area adjacent to the apartment complex. The investigation turned up no evidence of a crime, but no signs the girls planned to run away either, leading officials to presume that foul play was involved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think all the investigators have concluded that we are dealing with abductions here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like a dream, and I am imagining it's someone else's kid I'm looking for. That way, I can deal with it better.

HATTORI (on camera): The FBI is calling in a team of behavioral experts to profile a possible suspect. Meantime, investigators hope a witness will step forward, someone who may have unwittingly seen something, or someone, to provide a break in this case.

CHARLES MATTHEWS, FBI: They may have jotted down a license plate, or noted a particular car, or van or a truck, with somebody in an area that they just simply didn't belong in, around a schoolyard, around a play yard,

HATTORI: Until some new information surfaces, friends and families of the missing girls are praying for answers.

James Hattori, CNN, Oregon City, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: We are going to stay on this topic right now. For the very latest on the effort to find those girls, we are now joined by the FBI special agent, Charles Mathews, who heads that investigation. You might have seen him there a moment ago in James Hattori's story.

Sir, good afternoon to you. We really appreciate your time in talking with us.

MATHEWS: Good afternoon.

HEMMER: First off the top, is there anything new report on the investigative front?

MATHEWS: Actually, there are no new developments to report as far as the investigation goes; in fact, it is obviously ongoing and we are still receiving a number of calls from the community, a number of tips, if you will, and we are following up on those.

HEMMER: Tell us why you believe at this point there was an abduction that took place.

MATHEWS: Well, this is a disappearance where there are no eyewitnesses to either girl when she disappeared. So we look initially to what indicators there may be of whether or not these may be runaways, and those just don't exist; there are no notes left behind, apparel wasn't taken, items that they were particularly fond of weren't taken.

On the other hand, when Miranda left, she left with her backpack and school books, and that indicates to us, obviously, that she was en route to school when she disappeared.

HEMMER: Here is my understanding: that she disappeared, as you just mentioned, en route to school early in the morning, and the previous girls as well -- Ashley Pond -- dating back in January. Did they take a similar route to school, sir?

MATHEWS: Absolutely. The apartment complex -- they both lived in the same complex -- has a driveway that leads up to the bus stop. It is our understanding that both girls would have walked the same path to the bus stop. But we have no witnesses. We have no one who observed either girl from the moment they left their apartment. Neither girl arrived at the bus stop.

HEMMER: Is it possible for them to get to school just by walking and bypassing the bus all together?

MATHEWS: That's true. That could happen. Children take rides with other friends occasionally. They don't necessarily take the bus every time. But neither girl, obviously, arrived at the school either.

HEMMER: The reason I asked that question, can you describe what the area is like between the apartment complex and the school itself?

MATHEWS: Well, there are a number of wooded areas, particularly surrounding the complex. It is a large apartment complex that's built amongst a very heavily treed area. But once you get out of the complex itself, you get to more urban environment.

HEMMER: I know some computers have been taken inside the house of Miranda. Have they turned up anything?

MATHEWS: I can't go into the specifics of the investigation. It is routine in cases of this nature in today's world to look at the computers. Children, adults, routinely use e-mail to converse with each other. We have no specific individual of interest at this point.

HEMMER: Are you getting the cooperation you are looking for?

MATHEWS: Absolutely. Obviously, very close cooperation with the Oregon City Police Department and other law enforcement, but the community itself; we have been to every apartment in the complex. We have been in every apartment, been invited in every apartment. And the local area is very supportive of this effort.

HEMMER: I heard Michelle Duffey (ph), who is the mother of Miranda, she was quoted earlier as saying that it is finally starting to set in for her; the reality, I think, is what she was referring to. Have you had similar conversations with her?

MATHEWS: I have been involved with the agents who have, obviously, been in daily contact with her, and we understand that what she is going through at this point.

HEMMER: I know -- listen -- based on your history, given your profession, that you have seen a lot of cases similar to these. I'm curious to know based on that history if there are things you draw out of this that you have seen in prior cases.

MATHEWS: I can tell you that these cases can have a successful resolution. We can obviously find and have found abducted children alive and returned them to their parents. These are time sensitive, obviously, and we need to move quickly. Part of this conversation is to get the message out to the Portland community that things that we have seemed unremarkable when you observed them before may be very important us to now, and that type of information is what we are soliciting from the community, to help us move as quickly as we can on this case.

HEMMER: Listen, good luck, OK?

MATHEWS: Thank you.

HEMMER: If people are listening there out in the state of Oregon, good luck as well. Keep up the hunt.

Charles Mathews, FBI special agent in charge there in Oregon, thank you sir, appreciate it, we'll talk again.

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