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CNN Live Today

Weaver Family Has History of Brutal Killings

Aired August 27, 2002 - 12:33   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The man who lived on that property, Ward Weaver, is now in jail on an unrelated charge. He has yet to be charged in these cases, which are eerily similar to a murder his father committed years ago.
Jamie Wilson of our Portland affiliate KPTV, tells us about that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE WILSON, KPTV CORRESPONDENT: From Missouri to Oregon City, they share a common bond, people victimized by these two men. Ward Weaver Jr. and Ward Weaver III. The father and son's criminal histories date back to 1982. That's when Ward Francis Weaver Jr. killed Barbara Levoy's fiance, then kidnapped Levoy, raped her for days before finally killing her and burying her in his backyard.

Levoy's brother, Bob Levoy, has been watching the Oregon City search unfolding from Lebanon, Missouri.

BOB LEVOY, BROTHER OF VICTIM: And I know how those parents of those girls feel right now, because all of the waiting and waiting, and having an idea of what's going on, but just not knowing for sure, and I'm just glad they are finally are starting to do some digging back there to look.

WILSON: Ward Weaver Jr. is now on death row in California. Fast forward to 1996. Ward Weaver III, his ex-wife Kristi Sloan says Weaver attacked her with a cast iron frying pan, and she has always suspected Weaver's connection to the missing girls.

KRISTI SLOAN, WARD WEAVER III'S EX-WIFE: I did not trust him, and that he is capable of killing, he tried to kill me before.

MICHAEL KARSTEN, KRISTI SLOAN'S FATHER: Sorry that I did not kill him six years ago.

WILSON: Sloan's father, Weaver's ex-father-in-law Michael Karsten, threatened Weaver's life after he beat up his daughter Kristi. Karsten says this entire tragic ordeal doesn't surprise him one bit.

KARSTEN: I have been waiting for him to do it. I said all along, you know, he was capable of doing it.

WILSON: Then, August 14, Ward Weaver is arrested at his Oregon City home for allegedly raping his son's 19-year-old girlfriend. The girl ran from Weaver's house to a nearby store, naked and hysterical. LORI DEVER, LOCAL STORE MANAGER: She was just scared to death for her life, that he had tried to kill her, she said, and had raped her.

WILSON: Soon after that alleged rape, Ward's son, Francis Weaver, called police. He told them his father admitted to killing Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis. It is a random circle of strangers, all affected by the actions of two violent men, a father and his son.

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