Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Two Oregon Families Coming to Grips With Worst Possible News
Aired August 27, 2002 - 09:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Two Oregon families now coming to grips with the worst of possible news. Remains found on Ward Weaver's property in Oregon City have been identified as those of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis.
With his rather unique perspective on what families are going through, feeling and experiencing, Marc Klaas is with us again, this time from San Francisco.
Marc, good morning to you. Appreciate you getting up early for us this morning.
MARC KLAAS, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Sure thing, Bill. It's always nice to talk to you.
HEMMER: Listen -- I appreciate that, thank you.
What we are hearing right now from the police that is legally they could not have gone on to his property, could not have gone into his home, could not have conducted a search prior to this. You feel exactly the opposite. You believe the police were protecting the rights of the suspect, as opposed to the two young girls now dead. Explain that.
KLAAS: Well, Bill, I think we have to look at we have to look at what's been going on this year. I would take as my model somebody like Sheriff Corona down in Orange County, who very aggressively pursued the kidnapper of little Samantha Runnion. I mean, he pulled out all the stops went after this like there is no tomorrow.
In this case, with the two girls in Oregon, this was a very passive pursuit. You know, they initially categorized Ashley Pond as a runaway, and obviously, despite the fact that somebody apparently put a sign in Ward Weaver's yard that said "dig here." despite the fact that he had been accused of molesting the little girl, despite the fact that he knew both girls very well, despite the fact that his own father is a serial killer who's on death row for having buried somebody under a slab, and despite the fact that his own ex-wife said, you have to look at this guy, he tried to kill me in the past, they didn't get a search warrant. That doesn't make sense to me.
HEMMER: Try and make sense of this then. Do you think investigators, do you think police were trying to avoid making mistake in a high-profile case, perhaps the most high profile that I can ever -- remember coming out of Oregon City. You are shaking your head no?
KLAAS: Well, if they did, what they did is they cost Miranda Gaddis her life. All they had to do is categorize first girl correctly say, you know what, listen, this was a poor little white girl who had problems, she was a disturbed teen, and also, it sometimes becomes easier to dismiss and write off children like that than to pursue what had happened to them, and if they pursued Ashley Pond, if they had correctly categorized her, if they had been aggressive in the investigation as to what happened to Ashley Pond, if that sheriff or police chief had come out and said "Look, don't let your children walk to school alone," then Miranda Gaddis might very well be alive.
So you know, you have to be aggressive in these cases. We have to be aggressive in the pursuit of crimes against children. If we don't, we are not only not serving our children, we are not serving our society. And it may very well have cost this one young girl her life.
HEMMER: Listen Linda Beloof is an attorney in Oregon City. She represents the two mothers of the two dead girls. Listen, know what she had to say yesterday about the how family was feeling, about the police, and about the investigation. We will try and reconcile it out of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA BELOOF, MOTHERS' ATTORNEY: Michelle Duffy wants to let people know that she does not see anything at all that the FBI or the police could have done differently, or could have done to prevent Miranda's disappearance. She has complete faith in the FBI and the police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Marc, I know where you stand. I hear it in your voice, and I can hear it in your heart, too. But how do we reconcile this, when the family comes out and says, you know what, we know you guys were trying, you did everything you could, and lo and behold, there is the other side. That says you know what, why didn't you guys look into these matters prior to Friday, in fact, Friday evening, when they got a search warrant.
KLAAS: Sure, I think that the facts basically speak for themselves. You have all of these red flags surrounding this guy. I mean, just take a look at the flags, man, see what's going on here and do something, about it. Everybody was pointing at these people, except for the apparently the mothers of the two girls. But you know, they've also got a lot on their hands, so I don't want to second-guess or judge these gals, but, you know, I think we are all entitled to our opinion. I think I know enough about this subject to understand that you have to aggressively pursue the cases. If I were Michelle Duffy, Miranda's mother, I'd be particularly disturbed right now.
HEMMER: Marc, take us back about 10 years to your own experience. Can you relate to us at all, what the parents are feeling right now, what they are experiencing. I read interesting comments from you. You said you would go in one of three directions. As a parent, describe that for us. KLAAS: Yes, that is absolutely correct. You know, they have just heard. They have just had their worst fears realized, and truly are at the depth of human misery, and this is a very difficult place from which to extricate one's self. In the short term, the best way of doing it is to pursue psychological counseling.
But ultimately, you are sort of left with three choices. You can either succumb to the trauma, and lose yourself in depression, alcohol or drugs. You can go into denial and try to pretend it didn't happen, and I have seen that time and time again. Or you can do what people like John Walsh and myself and so many others, Patty Wetterlean (ph), so many others have done, and that's fight back. And that really then is a way to try to create meaning out of the death of your own child, and create a legacy in their name, and ultimately, as far as your long term mental health goes, I think that that's the best pursuit.
Now people will say that well, you know you are going to be reminded of it all the time. But you know, quite frankly, one is reminded of these things all the time anyway.
HEMMER: Also hearing from Samantha Runnion from time to time, the mother of Samantha Runnion as well. Thank you, Marc. Mark Klaas in San Francisco, KlaasKids Foundation.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
