MCMINNVILLE, Ore. — The mother of a woman who vanished after a wedding on Grand Island and turned up dead days later, stood before a judge Wednesday.
Jennifer Weathers is facing charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants and recklessly endangering another person.
Prosecutors said Weathers was driving drunk with her daughter Meighan Cordie and her 3-year-old granddaughter that night in August when Cordie went missing.
Weathers was not charged in Cordie’s death. The reckless endangerment charge is because the 3-year-old was in the car that night.
Many in the community are frustrated no one is being held criminally responsible for Cordie’s death. Prosecutors said they spent hours looking for a charge for her death, but nothing fit.
“I understand the frustration,” Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry explained. “We’ve certainly had lots of questions about it. I don’t know that there’s anybody as frustrated as law enforcement, as we are in law enforcement, in not being able to find something that fits. Sometimes you know, criminal statutes just don’t, they can’t fill every gap, and they don’t.”
Investigators said Weathers and Cordie got into a heated argument that turned physical that night. At some point, Cordie either jumped or fell out of the car and her mother left her behind. Investigators said Cordie hit a guardrail and died instantly. Her body was found five days after she was reported missing, roughly eight miles from where her mother said she was last seen.
“We don't know if she was intoxicated to the point which she didn't know exactly where it happened, we have a lot of conjecture, but we can't charge crimes based on conjecture,” Berry said.
Outside of the Yamhill County Courthouse on Wednesday, one woman showed up with a sign for Cordie, taking a stand against drunk driving.
“I just wanted to stand up for Meighan, she doesn't have a voice right now, and for all of the moms that would not leave their kids along the road,” said Karen Miller as she held her sign and walked along the sidewalk.
After court, Weathers was booked and released from jail. Her attorney said she has been completely forthcoming with information and disagrees with the district attorney’s portrayal of the case.
“These charges have nothing to do with the tragic death of my client’s daughter,” Weathers’ attorney Walter Todd explained. “Meighan jumped out of a moving car, my client was not involved in that. She’s devastated by the death of her daughter, of course, but these charges are unrelated to that investigation.”
Weathers was ordered not to have any contact with Cordie’s father or her granddaughter. After court, Weathers’ family said there is more to this story we do not know but would not say anything else.