Chelsea King -- Found Deceased 3/2/10 -- UPDATE: John Albert Gardner III admits he murdered Chelsea

This beautiful, vivacious 17 yr old went missing on Feb. 25th while doing something she loved - running...

Chelsea's alleged attacker has been arrested, and they are preparing forcible rape and murder charges against John Albert Gardner III, 30 yrs old - a known child molester. He was arrested in 2000 and charged w/ commiting lewd and lascivious acts w/ a child under 14. Gardner is also suspected in a recent attack on another jogger in the same area who was able to get away by hitting him in the face with her elbow. Presently however, Chelsea remains missing. As in the case of missing wife Ryann Bunnell Crow - police are confident that they have enough forensic evidence against Gardner to pursue a murder conviction even without Chelsea's body. Gardner is not cooperating with police.

Interestingly though, police have stated that they also suspect Gardner in the cold case of missing 14 yr old Amber Dubois - whose parents have joined themselves together with Kings parents in an effort to find their missing daughter. Police are now pouring over Dubois' case looking for any clues that might link Garnder to her disappearance.

"Chelsea is 5-feet-5 inches tall and 115 pounds, with strawberry blond hair and blue eyes.

She is a member of the San Diego Youth Symphony and a straight-A student at Poway High School, where she is due to graduate this spring.

The sheriff's department asked that anyone with information about King's whereabouts call 858-565-5200. "

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/TheLaw/chelsea-king-disappearance-suspect-linked-cases/story?id=9975272&page=2

Another sad story... Lets hope LE has the right monster so the streets will be a little safer today!

I hope thy can tie him to the cold case too. Her parents have been waiting too long !

What a tragedy, another young beautiful life taken away violently. My guess is Gardner will continue to not co-operate. Hopefully, it will lead to some answers for Amber's parents as well. How these monsters can fly below the radar for so long is beyond me. Another one that should not have been walking the streets.

makes me wonder if there are any other similar abductions that can be looked at more closely or reopened... the guy is 30 - he could have been operating for 10+ yrs... I'd like to know more about where's he's been in the last 10 yrs... sounds like he might be a serial rapist/child molester/murderer...

I agree, tish..... he very well may have been raping, molesting and murdering young women for 10+ years. I do hope they take a very close look at those years.

I also pray they can tie him to the disappearance of Amber Dubois. Her parents need to know what has happened to their daughter.

Thank you for posting, tish.

They need to look at similar cases anytime they arrest a predator like Gardner. If they are capable of killing once, they are capable of having killed multiple times. I hope Chelsea and Amber's parents get the answers they are looking for.

Oh no! Not another one...and a convicted child molester is now under arrest and LE intends to charge him with murder. Another case of the sex offender suspected in another death but there was no evidence to keep him locked up. He should have been locked up forever - instead he was free to continue and escalate his acts from rape to include murder.

I wonder when authorities will truly take notice of how many terrible things like this are happening. In almost all cases like this, the perp has previously been convicted but released. It seems to have been proven over and over that these creeps are not capable of being rehabilitated. They should never be free to commit these acts repeatedly. Just think of how many people would still be alive today if they had never crossed paths with these psychos. The laws as they are now seem to be made to protect the guilty.

good point pi-girl - come to think of it - i can't think of ONE single SO that i know that has been successfully rehab'd... I can think of 3 that i know personally who were repeatedly let go and repeatedly offended though... I think it's a pattern that these ppl CANNOT be rehab'd - or maybe someone needs to look at the prison rehab program for SO's and say, listen, this just ain't working. It's not right to see if programs work by trial and error - releasing them back in to the population to see if they might re-offend!!! these are (for the most part) CHILDREN'S lives they are putting at risk!!! what will it take to get our govt officials to 1) acknowledge that we have a problem here and 2) really do something to fix it (I vote for castration, or automatic dp for SO of a minor...) but, that's just me.... in Bible days they used to stone them immediately... we could go back to that... it seemed to work for them....

They just released new details of Gardners prior arrest and the victims' statement - he is very violent - i can't believe he only served 5 yrs for this...

Gardner, of Lake Elsinore, pleaded guilty in May 2000 to molesting a 13-year-old female neighbor and was sentenced to six years in prison. Prosecutors say he lured the victim to his home with an offer to watch "Patch Adams," a 1998 movie starring Robin Williams. He assaulted the child at the house, punching her several times after she tried to stop him from pulling her pants down, The Los Angeles Times reported.

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The newspaper also reported the victim's statements in sentencing memorandum. Gardner "was suffocating me. He had his hand on my mouth, and I couldn't breathe, and I got pretty fuzzy after he hit me, and I'm not sure if I blacked out," the victim said.

Court documents showed Gardner served only five years in prison for the offense after prosecutors rejected a psychiatrist's advice to seek a stiffer punishment.

Prosecutors said in 2000 that Gardner's lack of a significant prior criminal record justified less than the maximum sentence for molesting the girl.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35663135/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Body of missing Calif. teen believed found
Registered sex offender in custody in death of Chelsea King

updated 2 hours, 30 minutes ago

SAN DIEGO - A body found in a shallow grave Tuesday is believed to be that of 17-year-old Chelsea King, whose disappearance led to the arrest of a registered sex offender, authorities said.

The remains were found buried in a park about 10 feet from the shoreline of Lake Hodges, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said.

"Although positive identification has not been made, there is (a) strong likelihood that we have found Chelsea," he told reporters.

Gore said he had informed the teen's parents.

"Obviously they are devastated and I ask that you respect their privacy during this extremely difficult time," he said.

Police, meanwhile, said the registered sex offender suspected in King's disappearance likely assaulted a jogger in December in the same park.

The 22-year-old Colorado woman managed to fend off her attacker on Dec. 27 in Rancho Bernardo Community Park on the northern edge of San Diego, where King's 1994 BMW was found with her belongings inside, police Capt. Jim Collins said.

Police said evidence has linked 30-year-old John Albert Gardner III to both cases but further details have not been released.

Collins, however, said a swab taken from the elbow of the Colorado woman did not match Gardner's DNA.

Gardner is now in custody without bail for investigation of murder and rape in the King case.

Previous conviction
Gardner of Lake Elsinore pleaded guilty in May 2000 to molesting a 13-year-old female neighbor. Prosecutors said he lured the victim to his home with an offer to watch "Patch Adams," a 1998 movie starring Robin Williams


ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Albert Gardner.

The girl was beaten before escaping and running to a neighbor.

Gardner served five years in prison after prosecutors rejected a psychiatrist's advice to seek stiffer punishment, court documents state.

Prosecutors said in 2000 that Gardner's lack of a significant prior criminal record justified less than the maximum sentence. They also said they wanted to "spare the victim the trauma of testifying."

Gardner had faced a maximum of nearly 11 years in prison under terms of his plea agreement. Prosecutors urged six years — the sentence later ordered by a judge.

In their 11-page sentencing memo, prosecutors said Gardner "never expressed one scintilla of remorse for his attack upon the victim" despite overwhelming evidence.

Psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Carroll wrote in sentencing documents, "There is no known treatment for an individual that sexually assaults girls and does not admit to it in any way."

Paul Pfingst, the San Diego County district attorney in 2000, said he had no memory of the case but added a six-year sentence was not unusual for someone with no significant prior criminal record.

The district attorney's office declined to comment or make available David Hendren, the prosecutor who handled the case.

State records showed Gardner was released from prison on Sept. 26, 2005 and was on parole for three years.

'We just had that feeling'
Chelsea King was described as a straight-A student at Poway High School, playing French horn for the San Diego Youth Symphony, competing on her school cross-country team and volunteering in a peer counseling program.

In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, the Kings, who also have a 13-year-old son, recounted learning Thursday that their daughter had disappeared.

Brent King had returned from the gym around 5:30 p.m., the same time his wife, Kelly, 48, got home with groceries. Chelsea, who always kept them advised of her whereabouts, wasn't home.

"Because it was so out of character for Chelsea not to tell us or call us and say I'm going to be late ... we just had that feeling," Brent King said.

tish wrote:
Court documents showed Gardner served only five years in prison for the offense after prosecutors rejected a psychiatrist's advice to seek a stiffer punishment.

Prosecutors said in 2000 that Gardner's lack of a significant prior criminal record justified less than the maximum sentence for molesting the girl.

There is something so very wrong with this decision!

So he was released in 2005. They can't be reformed! Do not release them! My instincts would lead me to believe there are other victims in these last 5 years. He decided to silence poor Chelsea.

They did find a body, and think it is Chelsea....I read it at Marinade Dave's...In a shallow grave near the water...

So sad, senseless and cruel

tish wrote:(I vote for castration, or automatic dp for SO of a minor...) but, that's just me.... in Bible days they used to stone them immediately... we could go back to that... it seemed to work for them....

I totally agree with you, tish!

Julie wrote:

tish wrote:
Court documents showed Gardner served only five years in prison for the offense after prosecutors rejected a psychiatrist's advice to seek a stiffer punishment.

Prosecutors said in 2000 that Gardner's lack of a significant prior criminal record justified less than the maximum sentence for molesting the girl.

There is something so very wrong with this decision!

Why ignore the medical advice of a professional? What made the prosecutors think they knew better than the psychiatrist? There is definitely something way wrong with the system.

I feel very bad for Chelsea's family and friends. We need to get these sexual deviants who keep raping and murdering our kids off the streets and keep them off. I think sentences for all sex crimes should at the very least be tripled with no chance of parole or early release.

i think it is round about time that judges/prosecutors face some accountability for the sentences they give these violent offenders.

this judge/prosecutor was given testimony from numerous professional sources that this man was DANGEROUS--the maximum sentence was advised, yet, he gave the minimum.

i think if the judges/prosecutors had accountability for their CLEAR lack of reason... there would be much less of this crap occurring!!

this is sheer negligence. and this beautiful young woman paid the ultimate price.

This is awful news for her family. Our Justice System really needs to get with the times, and start cracking the whip when it comes to these types of crimes! They really need to get some stiffer penalties in the law books.