Ward Weaver III
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Ward Francis Weaver III (born April 6, 1963) is an American convicted murderer and rapist responsible for the murders of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis.
Biography edit
Weaver was born in Humboldt County on April 6, 1963. His father, Ward Weaver Jr., abandoned the family when Weaver was four and was later executed for murder. According to his siblings Tammi and Robert, Weaver regularly beat them up and sexually abused at least one relative. In 1981 this relative contacted the police about the abuse, but they decided not to press charges because Weaver had joined the military and would soon be leaving town.
Weaver was suspended from the military in 1982 for dereliction of duty. Soon after he met Maria Stout and married her. During their marriage Weaver beat up Stout while she was pregnant, but she refused to press charges. He was sentenced to three years in 1984 for attacking a teenage girl with a concrete block. His wife filed a restraining order and divorced him for domestic abuse in 1993. He was arrested yet again in 1995 for attacking his new girlfriend with an iron skillet, but was released when she refused to testify.
In 2001 his daughter's friend Ashley Pond accused Weaver of trying to rape her; however the police chose not to file charges. On January 9, 2002, Pond went missing. On March 8 her friend Miranda Gaddis disappeared as well. After the two of them disappeared, Weaver dug a hole in his garden and filled it in with concrete. When asked he claimed to be building a jacuzzi. He was named as the FBI's prime suspect in July.
On August 13, Weaver's son Francis called the police claiming that his father had attempted to rape his girlfriend. While Weaver was in custody charged with sexual assault, the FBI got a warrant to search his property. Gaddis's remains were found in a box in Weaver's shed. The concrete slab was subsequently removed and Pond's body was found underneath. Weaver was charged with murder, and was also charged with his attempt to rape Pond following an investigation into the initial claim, and the attempt to rape his son's girlfriend.
Weaver pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and received two life sentences without parole. On March 4, 2007, Weaver was stabbed by another inmate but survived. In 2009 Gaddis's sister Miriah visited him in prison, where he admitted to her that he killed her sister and Pond, and told her he had intended to kill her next. He is currently still in prison.