Fate of missing Oregon girls a mystery

Miranda Gaddis, left, and Ashley Pond

OREGON CITY, Oregon (CNN) -- They're the same age. They went to the same middle school and dance class. They lived in the same Oregon City apartment complex.

And two months apart, two 13-year-old friends, Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, vanished on their way to school.

Ashley was last seen walking outside her apartment January 9. Miranda, who was worried about her missing friend, disappeared March 8.

Neither girl took clothes or other personal effects with them, so nothing suggests the girls ran away.

"This is really a heartbreaking case," said John Walsh, host of TV's "America's Most Wanted."

Deepening the mystery is a frustrating lack of evidence.

"There is no crime scene, there are no forensics and we have no witnesses," said FBI agent Charles Mathews, who is working the case.

Investigators believe that Ashley and Miranda were taken by the same person, and previous cases are under scrutiny for similarities. But the absence of evidence makes comparisons difficult.

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Authorities know one thing: If this is the work of a sexual predator, it raises the possibility of future abductions.

"Eventually this kind of predator will strike again, and this, of course, is obviously what propels our need to resolve what happened to our girls," Mathews said.

'Absolutely helpless'

Four months since the last disappearance, frustrations and fears linger.

"I feel absolutely helpless," said Miranda's mother, Michelle Duffey. "We can't do anything at all. I just wish there was something we can do. We can't help search we can't help nothing. All we can do is sit in the house."

At the apartments where Miranda and Ashley once lived and played, neighbors have been moving out.

There was a flurry of activity in July when some apartments were searched and more than a half-dozen men reportedly were given polygraph tests. The FBI considers some of them "persons of interest," but so far there are no official suspects.

"The actual solution to this case is still in the community. It's still out there," Mathews said. "Someone still has the info we need to resolve what's taken place."

Recent attention has turned to canine searches of popular recreation areas, places reportedly frequented by one man questioned by the FBI.

But dogs, search warrants, polygraphs and thousands of tips have yet to provide the break investigators, families and the community have hoped for, leaving the fates of Miranda and Ashley as much a mystery as when they disappeared.