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American Morning

Interview with Cyril Wecht

Aired August 26, 2002 - 07:08   ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back again to that grim discovery in Oregon.
As we had mentioned earlier, medical examiners expect to know possibly later today if a set of remains found on Sunday belong to that of Ashley Pond. Remains found on Saturday identified as those of her friend, Miranda Gaddis. Both girls disappeared earlier this year.

The remains were found at the home where Ward Weaver lived, but until now, Weaver had not been identified as a suspect, even though he, himself, said at times that he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARD WEAVER, ACCUSED RAPIST: I mean, I had a lot of contact with both girls, you know. And so, I expect to be looked at and, you know, questioned and background checks and that kind of thing. You know, I've got no problem with any of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Ward Weaver is in jail on an unrelated rape charge.

So, then, the question: Where do investigators go from here?

Let's go to Pittsburg. Forensic pathologist, Dr. Cyril Wecht, is with us this morning.

Doctor, good morning to you.

DR. CYRIL WECHT, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Good morning.

HEMMER: I know you are a pathologist and not a psychiatrist. But is Ward Weaver looking for attention, going around town and telling people he's a suspect? In fact, that sometimes when the attention drifted away from him, he seemed to pull it back in his direction.

WECHT: Yes, this could be...

HEMMER: Did you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the same way?

WECHT: This could be a part of that particular crime of sexual psycho-perversion, indeed. The pragmatic and relevant aspects of that have to deal with the question of whether or not attention should have been focused on him after the first girl was missing, Ashley, in January. Ashley had claimed that she had been raped by Weaver back sometime last summer.

When she wound up missing, the question, I think, is a very legitimate one: Why was more attention not focused on him then? Because that possibly -- possibly might have led to the saving of Miranda.

The other thing having to do with the procrastination here on the part of law enforcement agencies is the matter of determination of cause of death and the determination of physical, chemical DNA evidence for use in subsequent prosecution. The longer a body has been dead, the more decomposition occurs, and the more things are lost.

If they had found these bodies, although obviously it would have still been the tragic murder of two girls, then three or four months ago, it is quite likely that it would have been easier for the medical examiner and for the criminalist and chemist and serologist and entomologist, et cetera, to locate these things to identify and test them.

So this really is a very sad and puzzling case, and I don't know the answer as to why there was this kind of a delay. But these are the pragmatic ramifications that are going to be played out in the future months that...

HEMMER: You know, doctor, I just think so many of these questions are so obvious now on this Monday morning. Search your brain. Is there any reason that you can come up with as to why investigators would not have gone to this home before?

WECHT: No. And remember another thing, too, which we know is a fact that a dog had picked up a scent back in I think it was February or March in the yard, too. These dogs are extremely well-trained.

When you throw that into the pot, then -- no, I cannot possibly imagine -- I just think it's one of those situations that you encounter in the field of medicine, and we call it medical malpractice, legal malpractice and so on. And malpractice can occur in any profession or business.

HEMMER: Listen, the ex-wife was saying they were pouring concrete in the middle of the night...

WECHT: Yes.

HEMMER: ... to build a new hot tub. I don't know -- if red flags don't go off then, I don't know when they do.

Listen, in terms of evidence right now, how do you go about in terms of DNA, method of murder, aspects of the investigation that will take them in that direction?

WECHT: The medical examiner, the forensic pathologist, will be looking to determine the cause of death. If it's blunt force trauma, like a fractured skull, if it's possible stab wounds that have inflicted wounds on a rib cage, or so on, then they will be able, possibly, to determine that as the cause of death. If the hyoid bone, a small u-shaped bone high up under the jaw, is fractured, they will be able to ascertain reasonably that it was manual strangulation. Otherwise, you may have Chandra Levy revisited. You may not find anything as to the cause of death.

They'll look for evidence of sexual assault, and that depends, then, on the state of decomposition of the pelvic organs and structures. They will look for DNA. There may be semen. There may be blood in the area.

Remember, one thing different from the Levy case is that these bodies were not exposed to the elements for 13 months. They have been dead for seven and five months, respectively. But presumably, they were covered up.

They'll look, then, for transfer of physical evidence from the girls into his home. Is there any evidence from their clothing, their hairs, or so on, in his rugs, carpets, sofa, chairs, and so on. And conversely, is there any evidence of fibers and fabric materials from his home on their bodies, on their clothing, and so on.

So these are the things that are going to be looked for.

HEMMER: And as you mentioned, since they were contained possibly in a barrel, possibly concealed by concrete, it's possible they could have been held much more intact than some of the other cases we've talked about.

WECHT: Yes, absolutely.

HEMMER: Thank you, Doctor.

WECHT: Thank you.

HEMMER: Dr. Cyril Wecht in Pittsburgh with us, forensic pathologist, we'll talk again. Thank you.

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