Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2002)
FILE COPY Check us out, online. Wednesday, April 24,2002 http://depts.clackamas.cc.or.us/print Clackamas Community College_______ Oregon City, Oregon Volume XXXV, Issue 20 No solid leads in missing girls case; web sites busy with new information Design Editor More time has gone by, and still the authorities have no solid leads as to the whereabouts of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, who both disappeared from Newell Creek Apartments under similar circumstances. However, users at findmiranda.com and findashley.com have not given up hope. In fact, they are working harder than ever to bring the two girls home. Every day there is a new update to the forum offering new tips, ideas and just a place to talk. PC Projex based in Molalla maintains the site. Billy Crabtree from PC Projex has been one of the main persons in volved in helping to keep this site maintained, adding any new in formation or tips forwarded to the proper authorities. Both sites have a lot of the same informa tion copied over and to this day have had more than 38,000 visi tors. More billboards have been popping up, but less updates in the mèdia follow. In an outpour ing of community support the users on the site have banded to gether to keep everyone who logs on updated on the who’s and what’s in the cases. Taco Time in Estacada held a fundraiser from 4-9 p.m. on April 22; 50 percent of the sales will go to the families. A rummage sale was held April 13- 14 and raised over $2,647 for the families. On April 27, there will be a Pancake Feed from 8-11 a.m. at the Oregon City Christian Church at Ninth and Monroe. Thè users on the forum will also be initiating searches of Oregon City and outlying areas. The first one was held April 20 and will continue bi-weekly from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The searches are tentatively set to begin from Dale’s Auto Wrecking Yard on Molalla Avenue. The first search began from a connecting access road behind the complex and yielded a human skull. Questions have been flying since the dis covery with many wondering how the authorities could have missed this if they searched ev erywhere. No answers had been given at press time. “The investigators do talk with the families and allow them to do searches if they want to,” said Steele. Aerial photo of the Newell Creek Apartment complex (in box) and the surrounding area in Oregon City. Searchers have combed through this area several times in the last few weeks in the hopes of finding the whereabouts of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis. The girls, who live in the Newell Creek Apartments, are still missing, Pond since Jan. 9 and Gaddis since March 8. The FBI has received about 2,800 tips on the case, which continues to baffle investigators. The mission is clear: search for and try to locate the missing girls whose kidnappings have consumed the community and the families with an outpour ing of support and aid that will hopefully bring the girls home safe and sound. Tips are coming in from all over the United States. Help has come in all shapes and sizes, and. well wishes for Gaddis’ and Pond’s mothers have been going strong. People on the site have even tried enlisting the aid of well-known psychic, Sylvia Browne. She was unavailable to offer her services due to conflict ing schedules, but her son may be looking at this case, thanks to a generous donation by a user in California. Currently, a psychic based in Lake Oswego, Laurie McQuary, may be offering her help. Some of the people on the site are like angels who fly in at night and then disappear myste riously, posting to the site or making a show of support with donations or great ideas to help aid the search for Gaddis and Pond. Their true identities are hidden under user names with no real profile or personal informa tion— just people all trying to help. One of the users who came on line offered her services merely as a Good Samaritan. A woman, whom we will simply call “Car” (her nickname) to protect her identity from people who may not believe in what she does, has been on the See MISSING, page 3 SALENA DE LA CRUZ / Clackamas Print A view from the rear of the Newell Creek Apartments, where two teenage girls have disappeared in the last three months. A search of the area last weekend turned up a human skull that does not appear to be related to the case.
