'I miss my baby so much,' says mom
"There's a sense of loss that's hard to deal with. I miss my baby so much," said Miranda's mother, Michelle Duffey.
Miranda disappeared March 8. Her friend Ashley Pond, 13, disappeared from the same apartment complex two months earlier.
The FBI thinks both girls were kidnapped by the same person. Investigators have interviewed residents at the apartment complex where the two girls lived, gone on national TV with appeals for information and passed out fliers with pictures of the missing girls.
The FBI has received about 3,000 tips but still has not been able to identify a suspect.
The investigation is progressing, "but there hasn't been a big breakthrough at this point," said Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Portland.
As police look for the two girls, their mothers struggle to maintain hope their daughters will be returned to them.
Michelle Duffey, 34, has two other daughters and a son. They live in the Newell Creek Apartment Complex, tucked into a wooded valley south of Portland.
During an interview, Michelle Duffey wore a white sweat shirt with a picture of Miranda under red block lettering with the words "My Daughter Is Missing."
Duffey has taken time off from her job as an office manager at an engineering company while another local business has donated the services of its bookkeeper to fill in for her.
She spends her days posting fliers, giving interviews and staying in touch with police.
"A lot of people are telling us to get back (to normal)," Duffey said.
Her two other daughters — 11-year-old Miriah and 15-year-old Maryssa — have seen their grades plummet since their sister disappeared, Duffey said.
Maryssa, who is sometimes mistaken for Miranda, cannot go unnoticed at Oregon City High School. Recently, a boy told her the search for Miranda was useless; the girl is most likely dead. Upset, Maryssa began staying home and missed too many days to earn passing grades this semester, Duffey said.
A special hearing was required to restore Maryssa's grades, and the school has given her extra homework to compensate for missed days. Duffey said she must concentrate on helping her with that.
Miriah has returned to Gardiner Middle School, where Miranda also was a student, and found support in mutual friends, Duffey said.
Miriah had shared Miranda's room before her sister disappeared, then slept on a couch while the room was sealed by the FBI to preserve evidence.
"She's not real good with it. She's nervous about it. She's afraid she'll cry a lot," Duffey said.
Looming over highways outside Oregon City are giant billboards bearing larger-than-life photographs of the two missing girls. Smaller posters are plastered around town.
Duffey tries not to look at them, because they make her long for her daughter even more.
Sometimes she tries to take a break from her worries by imagining her daughter has not actually been kidnapped.
"I stay strong by convincing myself that she's not really missing, that she's at a friend's house," Duffey said.
Ashley's mother, Lori Pond, lives a few doors away from Duffey. She is eight months pregnant with her fourth child, in addition to caring for Ashley's two sisters, who are 11 and 7.
Lori Pond declined a request for an interview and has generally kept a lower profile. Her stepfather, Don Pond, has been speaking on her behalf.
"We're scared to death" for the two missing girls, he said.
Lori Pond is considering moving from the apartment complex.
The path through a stand of hemlock trees to the school-bus stop near where the girls likely vanished has become a troubling reminder of her daughter's mysterious disappearance, according to Pond.
Lori Pond becomes distraught when she happens to see children playing on a jungle gym at the apartment complex unattended by their parents, Don Pond said.
"She is a strong woman emotionally. But boy, this has brought her right down to her knees," he said.