Stephen Beaven reports for The Oregonian. Excerpt:
OREGON CITY — The mothers of two missing girls took lie-detector tests this week, family friends said Thursday.
Lori Pond, the mother of Ashley Pond, and Michelle Duffey, the mother of Miranda Gaddis, took the tests at the Oregon City Police Department on Wednesday.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to discuss the tests. It was not clear why the two women were asked to take them more than six months after the investigation began.
Sharonda Garrett, a friend of Duffey, said Thursday that investigators finally had accepted Duffey’s offer to take a polygraph test.
“She’s offered since the very beginning,” Garrett said. “Just to get (other) people to take the polygraph, Michelle thought she should take one.”
Duffey’s test took about 90 minutes, Garrett said. She declined to say what questions were asked. Duffey could not be reached for comment.
Pond also took a test on Thursday, said James Keightley, her boyfriend. He did not know what was asked. Pond could not be reached for comment.
Ashley disappeared Jan. 9 from the Newell Creek Village apartments in Oregon City. Miranda disappeared from the same complex on March 8. Both are 13 years old and were in seventh grade at Gardiner Middle School.
Investigators think the girls were kidnapped by the same person or persons. The FBI and local police are looking closely at 10 to 20 people, all of whom are thought to live in Oregon. But no forensic evidence has been found, and no crime scene is known.