June 23, 2004 - Judge dismisses Lori Pond's $10 million lawsuit

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A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed the charges in a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by Lori Pond, the mother of a 12-year-old girl found buried in a neighbor's backyard.

The judge found that the State of Oregon and the Department of Human Services were not responsible for the deaths of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis and that they are immune from wrongful death suits in federal court.

Ashley's mother, Lori Pond, filed the suit in January, two years after her 12-year-old daughter disappeared claiming her daughter would still be alive if the Department of Human Services had better responded to complaints that her daughter was being molested by their neighbor, Ward Weaver. Weaver has since been accused of killing 12-year-old Ashley and her classmate, 13-year-old Miranda Gaddis, whose bodies were discovered in his backyard.

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