Search Renewed for Missing Oregon Girls
June 19 -- Using specially trained dogs, a task force has launched a renewed search for two Oregon City teenagers who disappeared months ago on their way to school.
Investigators searched Canemah Park in Oregon City and Bagby Hot Springs on Tuesday, about 50 miles southeast of the Portland suburb. The FBI's latest leads point to the two areas, as well as Old Canemah Park in Oregon City, and agents have begun what a bureau spokewoman said will be extensive searches of the three areas.
Search teams are using a tool 10,000 times more sensitive than the human nose — a canine nose. The dogs are trained to sniff out backpacks, clothing, shoes or human remains, FBI spokeswoman Beth Ann Steele said.
"It is huge and it is very overwhelming, but the dogs are hopefully able to smell more than we can see," FBI special agent Sonja Nordstrom said as she and her dog Niko rested from the search. "We are looking for any evidence that we can find regarding the two missing girls."
Although agents won't say specifically what prompted their search, they did say their investigation has taken them to sexual predator lists, school areas and play areas where someone might have crossed paths with Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, the two girls who disappeared from the same apartment complex in Oregon City, two months apart.
Investigators have received new leads that "simply need to be checked out," Steele said.
As investigators uncovered enough evidence to lead them to carry out the new searches, they have also generated a short but ever-changing list of "persons of interest," they said.
"We're now working on those individuals who have been surfaced either through that investigation or through the tips in the community … and these searches are part of that," FBI Special Agent in charge Charles Mathews said.
Teams will also search some storage lockers near Old Canemah Park if time permits, he said.
Fallen Angels
Steele said teams have searched Bagby Hot Springs before, but the bureau did not notify the public. The springs are about 30 miles from Estacada, which is southeast of Portland.
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