Second missing Oregon girl identified

The remains of two missing Oregon girls, Miranda Gaddis, left, and Ashley Pond, have been identified.

OREGON CITY, Oregon (CNN) -- Authorities have confirmed that a second set of remains found behind the Oregon City house of Ward Weaver belong to Ashley Pond, one of two area girls who had been missing since earlier this year.

Her remains were found Sunday in a barrel buried beneath a concrete slab at the house of Weaver, 39, a neighbor who is in jail on unrelated charges. Ashley was 12 when she vanished January 9.

On Saturday, the remains of Ashley's friend, Miranda Gaddis, 13, were discovered in a shed behind Weaver's rented house. She was last seen March 8.

Authorities have identified Weaver as a suspect in the girls' deaths and kidnappings. The cause of their deaths hasn't been determined.

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Weaver has called himself the prime suspect in the girls' disappearances but has denied any involvement. No charges have been filed against him.

Attempts to contact Weaver were unsuccessful. According to his attorney, Weaver gave authorities permission for a search to give the girls' families "closure."

Clackamas County Chief Deputy District Attorney Greg Horner said his office was preparing to present evidence in the deaths to a grand jury.

Horner said there is still much evidence to examine and many witnesses to contact. "As a result, a timeline for presenting evidence to a grand jury has not been determined," he said.

Investigators ended their search of Weaver's back yard Monday night, FBI Special Agent Charles Mathews said Tuesday.

"We're confident that we've obtained the evidence that's there and in a format suitable to assist the prosecution," Mathews said.

Weaver was arrested this month on charges of raping his son's 19-year-old girlfriend and is in the Clackamas County Jail on $1 million bail.

Weaver's former wife, Kristi Sloan, said she told the FBI months ago to investigate after she became suspicious. She said she was "disgusted" that the search took so long.

Sloan said her suspicions were raised when Weaver poured a concrete slab in the middle of the night in winter and claimed it was for a hot tub.

"If only people would have listened to me five months ago and try to understand why I was so frustrated," Sloan said.

On Tuesday, Oregon City Police Chief Gordon Huiras defended the pace of the investigation into the girls' disappearances, saying certain legal standards had to be met "before we were able to obtain a search warrant to do the search that we did this weekend."

FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said Weaver allowed police dogs onto the property shortly after Miranda disappeared but they found nothing.

"There's certainly the possibility that the bodies were moved at some point" from another location, Steele said.

Investigators also combed the property about two weeks after the alleged August 13 rape of the son's girlfriend, Steele said, but the search was limited to that charge.

On Friday evening, law enforcement officials got simultaneous consent from Weaver and a Clackamas County judge to search the grounds again. Investigators felt they had enough evidence for a search warrant, Steele said, but they can't divulge what the evidence was.

Weaver's father, Ward Francis Weaver Jr., also is behind bars. He is on death row in California for killing a woman and her fiance. He buried the woman under a wooden platform he built in his yard.