AMBER DUBOIS - 15 yo (2009) - Escondido CA

This was not supposed to happen, this first anniversary marking
Amber Dubois' disappearance.

How does a 14-year-old vanish in front of her high school on a
crowded Escondido street just 20 minutes before school starts?
Everyone is stumped about what happened to Amber after she was last
seen at 7:09 a.m. on Feb. 13, 2009.

"I just never thought she would be gone this long," said her
mother, Carrie McGonigle. "With nothing, no leads."

Amber, a shy, book-loving teen who had joined her high school's
Future Farmers of America group, doesn't fit the profile of a
typical runaway. Her family is convinced she was abducted for sex
slavery.

In the cruel year since Amber vanished, her mother has found
herself disappearing, too.

"I can't focus," McGonigle, 41, said. "I jump all over the
place. I can't sit still. Like if I get a tip about a Web site or a
blog. Like this one (tip), even though I knew it was deleted, I had
to find it. For eight days, I got two hours of sleep until I found
it."

In that instance, she said, she had been chasing an odd item
found on an out-of-the-way Web site, a posting about a man who said
he was keeping a 14-year-old girl in his basement. She found the
posting and, as with every tip she gets, passed it on to police
investigators. It turned out to be a dead end.

When she stops moving, when all is quiet, "That's when I start
freaking out," she said. "How do I find the strength? I don't.
People ask me that all the time: How do you keep going? I just have
to, I don't have a choice. I have to keep looking for her. And I
will."

That search has led her to follow even the vaguest tips.

"Just this week, this lady e-mailed me and said, 'I am not a
psychic, but I was meditating and an address came to me,'"
McGonigle said. "I never know. I'm not going to dismiss it."

So McGonigle, with a friend in tow, went to the local address at
night, armed with flashlights and peeking into vans. They found
nothing.

A different person, this one claiming to be a psychic, sent her
to a place called Slab City, near the Salton Sea. "It's a wayward
place where people live," she said. "It's a place that, if I woke
up there, I wouldn't know how to get out or who to trust."

After a number of two-hour treks to the remote site, she learned
that a teenager had been spotted out there. But it wasn't
Amber.

Three times now, her efforts to meet with well-known psychics
have fallen through.

Her search also includes traditional techniques. McGonigle works
at Golden State Graphics, a San Marcos printing company. Most
recently, she helped design a slick, glossy mailer and sent it to
police agencies nationwide. It includes business-card size
punchouts, each with Amber's photo, so officers from Washington to
Florida can carry it with them if they choose to.

Next up is a mailer directed at high schools across the
country.

This is on top of grabbing national media exposure, from talk
shows to "America's Most Wanted" to seeing her daughter's picture
on the cover of People magazine.

At night, she watches a videotape of her daughter. And
throughout the day, she pushes for vigils and plans more
searches.

"People ask me all the time, 'How are you so sure?' that she
didn't run away," McGonigle said. "Everything she thought she was
getting away with, I had already done. I'd go to the store, pull
down the driveway, walk back up the hill and peek in the windows to
check on her."

She said she sometimes peeked in Amber's backpack, or scrolled
through her text messages. Nothing indicated the college-bound girl
had a wild side.

"I would tell her, 'You are so boring,'" McGonigle said. "I just
know 100 percent she didn't run away."

Six weeks after Amber disappeared, McGonigle moved out, leaving
behind her longtime boyfriend, Dave Cave, and their daughter, who
is now 6 years old.

"I couldn't function in the house where Amber lived," she said,
sitting on the floor of her new residence, a few blocks from the
old place. "It was too much. I couldn't be a mom to my little one.
She would say something and I would snap."

These days, McGonigle's youngest child is getting counseling and
spending much more time with her mother. McGonigle said being with
the little girl keeps her sane.

In the weeks before Amber vanished, there had been two attempts
by gun-toting strangers to abduct girls in inland North County.
(Police said they were unable to find links between those incidents
and Amber's disappearance.) The attempts prompted McGonigle to talk
with Amber twice about abduction. She warned her daughter to be
more alert and told her to "run like hell" if someone came after
her.

"She said, 'Mom, I won't forget,'" McGonigle recalled. She said
Amber added: "'And I know you'd find me.'"

A bittersweet walkathon Saturday marked the end of one year
since teenage Amber Dubois disappeared while walking to Escondido
High School.

But it also marked the community support that remains. About 200
people signed up, laced up and walked the oval track around the
high school's football field to raise money for the efforts to find
the girl, who has turned 15 since she vanished on Feb. 13, 2009.
The event took place not far from the spot Amber was last seen.

"This is such a great turnout," said Amber's mother, Carrie
McGonigle. "I am so happy so many people still support us after a
year."

Amber's grandmother Sheila Welch said the event raised just shy
$18,000, through donations, raffle tickets and a silent
auction.

"I had no expectation that people would be this marvelously
generous to our Amber," Welch said.

The entire amount, she said, will go into the trust fund set up
to pay for search efforts, including mailers to high schools and
police agencies nationwide. None of the money goes to
administrative costs; Welch picks up that tab herself.

The walkers included family, friends, and even strangers who
said they have followed the coverage of Amber's disappearance.

Escondido resident Dorothy Jenkins, 45, said the banner ---- it
gives information about Amber ---- that hangs in front of Escondido
High prompted her to visit a Web site set up by family members.
That's where she learned of the walkathon.

"As soon as the details came up on the site, I started
training," Jenkins said as she made her eighth trip around the
track.

Also on the track was Diamond Bar resident Ronda Hampton, a
friend of Mitrice Richardson, 24, who disappeared in Malibu on
Sept. 17. Richardson's photo appeared with Amber's on the cover of
a November issue of People magazine for a story highlighting
missing persons cases.

"This is my first opportunity to come out and support someone
else's efforts," Hampton, 45, said as she walked with documentary
filmmaker Chip Croft, who said he was putting together a piece on
Richardson's disappearance.

Hampton said she has found "strength and inspiration" in Amber's
father, Maurice "Moe" Dubois.

Dubois, 40, also hit the track ---- running ---- and managed 27
laps around the quarter-mile stretch.

At the end of the walkathon, the crowd heard from Mark Klaas,
whose daughter Polly Klaas, 12, was abducted at knife point by a
stranger during a slumber party in her Petaluma home in October
1993.

Polly's body was found two months later. Her killer was sent to
California's death row.

Klaas set up a foundation to help search for missing kids.

"Amber really has become the community's child," Klaas said. "We
all have an investment now."

The father of missing Escondido teen Amber Dubois was visibly shaken as he addressed the media shortly after the arraignment of Chelsea King’s accused killer, John Gardner.




“First off, I’d like to express, on behalf of Amber’s entire family, our
deepest (pause), our deepest sympathy and condolences to Chelsea and
the King family,” Maurice Dubois
said. “It’s not the result any of us were hoping to hear and I promise
you Chelsea’s going to be in our hearts for the rest of our lives.”
Dubois’ daughter, Amber, was last seen Feb. 13, 2009 while walking to Escondido High School.
Dubois sees similarities in the Chelsea King case and his own daughter's disappearance.
“In the back of our heads everyone in our family knows that yes, there’s
such a huge possibility that the likelihood is at a much larger
percentage than we could ever want it to be,” Dubois said. “In our
hearts we don’t want to accept that. We are constantly going to keep
searching for Amber. We feel she’s still alive and we always will feel
she’s still alive until we find her and we have her home.”

At the time of Amber’s disappearance, Gardner lived
just two miles from Escondido High School in the Rock Springs East
apartment complex. One neighbor said Gardner had moved out about a
month ago but had been living in the complex for a year with a woman
and a two-year old child.
Amber's father said he couldn’t help but draw connections between
his daughter's case and Chelsea King’s case.
“We have already spoken with law enforcement. Both agencies, ours in
Escondido as well as the Sheriff’s [investigators] who are handling the
case here,” he said.
Dubois said this isn’t the first time he’s heard the name John Gardner.
“We did pull a list of all sexual predators at the time Amber went missing.
He was on that list of sexual predators in the area,” he said.
Dubois said it has been a long and frustrating year for him and his family,
but didn’t want to take away from Chelsea’s disappearance.
“Our hearts are going out to their family and I want to keep this day on
Chelsea. I appreciate the opportunity to bring Amber up, but right now
my heart is going out to Chelsea and the King family,” he said.
Dubois also had some advice for parents.
“Educate your kids early,” he said. “Use such things as a ‘what if’ game, teach
your kids at a young age to start thinking analytically. Ask them
questions, what would you do if you couldn’t find me in a grocery
store, see how they answer.”
He said it will help them in the future.
“I also would strongly suggest that any parent and kid, if your child is
ever faced with someone trying to abduct them with a weapon or
anything, fight, scream, yell, do whatever you can to possibly get
away. Do not let that person get you under their control,” Dubois said.
John Albert Gardner III pleaded not guilty in the rape and slaying of
17-year-old Chelsea King. Gardner is due back in court on March 9 for a
status hearing. A preliminary hearing is set for March 18.

Two Missing Teen Cases in California Show Not All Cases Treated Same

Saturday, March 06, 2010



SAN DIEGO — The disappearances of 14-year-old Amber Dubois and 17-year-old
Chelsea King illustrate a sad fact: not all missing children cases are
treated the same.
Chelsea disappeared Feb. 25, last seen in a park with running clothes. The case
sparked a search involving about 1,500 law enforcement officials and
thousands of volunteers. It ended five days later when a body was found
in a shallow lakeside grave.

Amber was walking to school when she vanished a year ago just 10 miles north of
the site where Chelsea was last seen. Leads went nowhere. The news
media showed little interest.

After prosecutors charged a convicted sex offender in Chelsea's death, a
search for Amber has intensified. On Saturday, police drained a pond
for a second day at Kit Carson Park in Escondido to search for evidence
of Amber, Lt. Craig Carter said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588256,00.html?test=latestnews

San Diego area Police drained a pond in hopes of finding new clues in the
disappearance of a missing Escondido girl. For the second day
authorities searched "Kit Carson Park" after receiving a tip that a bag
of hair was spotted in the park last may. Police say the people who
first saw the bag remembered it after Chelsea King's body was found.
Amber
Dubois disappeared 13-months ago she was 14 years old. Late this
afternoon, authorities ended the search after finding no new evidence.
Investigators say they found the bag, but it did not contain anything
that could help the Dubois investigation.

Authorities have discovered the skeletal remains of Amber Dubois,
the 14-year-old girl who disappeared last year on her way to Escondido
High School.Police had re-focused attention on the case this
week after a registered sex offender was arrested in the murder of
Chelsea King, a high school senior from nearby Poway.


Amber's remains were discovered Saturday afternoon in a remote area near Pala
in northern San Diego County, Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher said.
Investigators
were following up on an unspecified lead and did not say if her death
is connected to Chelsea King's. John Albert Gardner, 30, faces murder
charges in that potential death penalty case.

The remains of Amber DuBois, a 14-year-old San Diego,
California-area girl who was missing for more than a year, have been
found, police said Sunday. Human skeletal remains found early
Saturday in Pala -- a rural, rugged area in northern San Diego County,
California -- have been positively identified as those of DuBois,
Police Chief Jim Maher of Escondido, California, said at a news
conference. DuBois was last seen walking alone to school on February 13, 2009. Her family lives in Escondido, a suburb of San Diego. Maher did not take questions at the brief news conference, saying the investigation of DuBois' death is ongoing. "Any detail, no matter how slight, would be inappropriate at this time," he said. The investigation is being handled by Escondido police, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, and the FBI. Amber
DuBois' parents, who police said were notified of their daughter's
found remains Saturday, attended the press conference. "We'd like to
thank everybody involved in the search for Amber... and above all, our
huge volunteer corps," her father, Moe DuBois, said. "They are the most
dedicated people you can ever imagine." "Without them we cannot have done anything," he said. Authorities
said last week they were investigating John Albert Gardner III, who
pleaded not guilty Wednesday to raping and murdering Chelsea King -- another San Diego-area teen -- to determine whether he was connected to Amber DuBois' disappearance. "We
have been working closely with San Diego Sheriff's Office, and our
investigators are working with theirs in case there is a connection,"
Lt. Robert Benton with the Escondido Police Department said last week.
"We are involved in the daily briefings on the King investigation." Amber DuBois' father attended Gardner's arraignment on Wednesday.
Maher did not mention any suspects during his brief news conference Sunday.

another tragic end to a missing child case. thank you tom - for keeping us updated. i hope the family somehow knows how we have taken amber to our hearts this past year - and that we at J4C have thought about her and prayed for them during this time. I just wish it would have had a different outcome.

oviedo45 wrote:another tragic end to a missing child case. thank you tom - for keeping us updated. i hope the family somehow knows how we have taken amber to our hearts this past year - and that we at J4C have thought about her and prayed for them during this time. I just wish it would have had a different outcome.

---My sentiments exactly. We were one of the featured sites on her internet search site page. I feel for Mo, her Mom and all the family. They were just so hopeful. I am betting that Gardner spilled the beans to get himself a "no death penalty" deal. I am not sure if that's a fair trade-off or what?

Poster's Note: Well, so much for that theory...

Accused killer John Albert Gardner III had nothing to do with the
tip that led law enforcement to Amber Dubois’ remains, according to a
local private investigator who worked on the case.

Bill Garcia, hired by Amber’s family shortly after she disappeared,
said he was told by a person with first-hand knowledge that the tip
about the location of the remains did not come from Gardner, who was
charged Wednesday with the rape and murder of Chelsea King, 17, of
Poway.

“The entire Chelsea King event emotionally pulled at somebody who
had this information,” Garcia said. “They’ve seen the community in a
lot of pain. Someone who had been afraid to say something finally came
forward.”

Amber was 14 when she disappeared the morning of Feb. 13, 2009, as
she was walking to Escondido High School. Her body was found Saturday
in the Pala area of North County, authorities announced today.

Garcia said he’s long suspected Amber's body might be found in the
Pala area, because any abductor would have wanted to get away from
high-traffic areas quickly, and rural routes out of Escondido lead to
the Pauma Valley.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the past year, working that canyon,”
Garcia said. “You put yourself in the mindset of someone who would
perpetrate this crime, and all the indicators point in that direction.
It’s no mystery to me that’s where she was found.”

He said his “suspicion” is that the remains were found in the
northeast corner of the Pala reservation, “in an area that is difficult
to get into and an area we have not searched.”

People.com initially reported that a hiker had stumbled on the remains, but a law enforcement source told The San Diego Union-Tribune that is not correct. People.com removed the reference in later versions of its story.

A former federal firefighter, Garcia has been a private investigator
since 1992 and has been involved in two other high-profile searches in
San Diego for missing children, Danielle van Dam and Jahi Turner.

One of his teams found Danielle’s body in Dehesa, 25 days after the
7-year-old was snatched from her bedroom in Sabre Springs in February
2002. A neighbor, David Westerfield, was convicted in the case and is
on death row.

Jahi, 2, was reported missing from a playground near the edge of Balboa Park in April 2002. He is still missing.

Garcia said about the only positive thing to come from the discovery
of Amber’s remains “is that Moe and Carrie finally have some answers.
Not knowing — that’s what destroys families.”

Devastating news Tom. I think you are still half correct and we'll find out that Gardner is the creep in both cases. He may not have been the one to come clean about Amber but perhaps someone close to him has provided the tip that lead to Amber.

When 17-year-old Chelsea King went
missing last month San Diego, Maurice Dubois had a sinking feeling that
his 14-year-old daughter had fallen victim to the same killer.Amber
Dubois vanished walking to school on Feb. 13, 2009, about 10 miles from
where Chelsea was last seen in running clothes at a park. Amber's
father noted their similar builds - 5-foot-5, thin, blue-eyed."We're
hoping they're two separate isolated incidents," he said last week. "In
the back of our minds we know the possibility is so strong there is a
connection."

Authorities found Amber's
skeletal remains early Saturday in a remote, rugged area of Pala, a
small town in the Pala Indian Reservation, which stretches more than
12,000 acres in north San Diego County, said Escondido Police Chief Jim
Maher. The county medical examiner's office confirmed the remains were
Amber's through dental records, he said.Police
did not say if the discovery was linked to Chelsea's accused killer,
John Albert Gardner III. Maher did not answer questions during a brief
news conference Sunday."This is an ongoing murder investigation
and any details, no matter how slight, would be inappropriate to reveal
at this point in time," he said.Amber's parents, Maurice Dubois
and Carrie McGonigle, appeared distraught at his side. Maurice Dubois
briefly thanked everyone who searched for Amber, particularly
volunteers."They were the most dedicated people you could ever imagine," he said. "Without them, we couldn't have done anything."Gardner,
30, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murdering Chelsea and raping or
attempting to rape her and attempting to rape another woman in
December, a potential death penalty case.A spokesman for the San
Diego County district attorney's office, Paul Levikow, declined to
comment Sunday on the investigation into Amber's death.Gardner
was registered as a sex offender in Escondido, a north San Diego
suburb, from January 2008 to January 2010, with some gaps, police say.He
served five years of a six-year prison term for molesting a 13-year-old
neighbor in San Diego in 2000; he saw her at a bus stop and lured her
to his home to watch movies. He completed parole in September 2008.Amber
was last seen walking with a man about 200 yards from Escondido High
School by a woman who used to drive her to middle school, according to
her father. Another neighbor reported seeing her about 300 yards from
school. She never appeared on school surveillance cameras.Amber, who was active in Future Farmers of America, left home with a $200 check to buy a lamb. It was never cashed.There
was no physical evidence recovered, hindering early search efforts, her
father said. Calls reporting sightings of the girl came in, but none
panned out.In contrast, physical evidence was quickly recovered
when Chelsea went missing, sparking a massive, round-the-clock search.
Gardner was arrested three days after the disappearance outside a
Mexican restaurant in Escondido.Gardner is being represented by
Michael Popkins, a public defender who declined to speak with reporters
after Wednesday's arraignment. No one answered the phone at the public
defender's office Sunday night.Chelsea's death sparked outrage in her hometown of Poway, a wealthy suburb near Escondido.A
court-appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Matthew Carroll, recommended the
maximum sentence allowed under law for Gardner in 2000, calling him an
"extremely poor candidate" for treatment and a "continued danger to
underage girls in the community."He faced a maximum sentence of nearly 11 years in prison under a plea agreement, but prosecutors urged six years.

I have had a lot of sadness on this blog with all the missing and murdered children. But Amber Dubois touched my heart like no other. I checked out her name for information everyday for the past year hoping to catch some good news just to be able to post it here. Last night when I heard that they found her, the sadness I felt was so overwhelming that I just had to log off and say goodnight. I prayed for Amber's family, I didnt pray for Amber cause I know that she is in Heaven and prayers are not needed there. She is being taken care of, but her parents need all the support they can get to deal with this tragic end. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Dubois realize how diligently our bloggers here have worked posting and hoping that Amber was found alive. But that was not to be. Everyday that I looked at Amber's picture I felt like her blue eyes were looking straight at me, begging me not to stop looking through the archives on this vast internet. I was not one of the volunteers that helped search in Escondido, but we were here on our computers looking for her.

Amber Dubois, May you Rest in Peace, and my condolences for the Dubois family. You are Finally Home...May God give your family the courage to go on without you. You made such a difference in everyone you touched from near and far.

tears4caylee wrote:I have had a lot of sadness on this blog with all the missing and murdered children. But Amber Dubois touched my heart like no other. I checked out her name for information everyday for the past year hoping to catch some good news just to be able to post it here. Last night when I heard that they found her, the sadness I felt was so overwhelming that I just had to log off and say goodnight. I prayed for Amber's family, I didnt pray for Amber cause I know that she is in Heaven and prayers are not needed there. She is being taken care of, but her parents need all the support they can get to deal with this tragic end. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Dubois realize how diligently our bloggers here have worked posting and hoping that Amber was found alive. But that was not to be. Everyday that I looked at Amber's picture I felt like her blue eyes were looking straight at me, begging me not to stop looking through the archives on this vast internet. I was not one of the volunteers that helped search in Escondido, but we were here on our computers looking for her.

Amber Dubois, May you Rest in Peace, and my condolences for the Dubois family. You are Finally Home...May God give your family the courage to go on without you. You made such a difference in everyone you touched from near and far.

--- Well said! My hopes are that her tragic death will add to the public outcry about these types of predators. Amber's light will shine on these creeps and hopefully we will see some substantial changes in how we deal with miscreants like this.

Students, staff and teachers filed into Escondido High School on
Monday morning, with the grim discovery of Amber Dubois' body heavy
on their minds.

The bookish high school freshman vanished while walking to the
school Feb. 13, 2009, under similar dark rain clouds that drenched
the suburban campus Monday morning. She was 14.

Law enforcement discovered her skeletal remains in Pala on
Saturday.

A vigil for Amber is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at the high
school.

Escondido High School Principal Rich Watkins said extra
counselors are on campus Monday for grieving students.

"The search for Amber has come to a close," he told reporters
outside the school. "Our hearts go out to family and friends ...
It's a loss for our school community."

Jen Winters, a ninth-grade algebra teacher at the school, said
she reacted with shock upon hearing about Amber's discovery. She
left a red begonia plant at the small memorial for the teen along
North Broadway outside the school.

"I'm going to be talking with my students today about how they
can stay safe in the community," Winters said. "I think that one of
the best ways we can honor Amber and Chelsea."

Winters referred to Chelsea King, the Poway teen who was found
dead last week in a shallow grave near Lake Hodges.

Authorities said last week they were investigating whether the
registered sex offender charged with Chelsea's murder, John Albert
Gardner III, may be connected to Amber's disappearance.

They refused to discuss any details about Amber's case
Sunday.

Pausing for a moment in the rain, freshman Ashlynn Simpson, 15,
said she hasn't walked to school alone since Amber disappeared.

She added that she was glad, at the very least, that Amber's
parents do not have to search anymore for their daughter.

Amber's parents, Moe Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, organized
dozens of extensive searches for their daughter over the past 13
months. They thanked the community Sunday for its support.

Chelsea King's parents, Kelly and Brent, released a statement
Monday about this weekend's discovery.

"We have spoken with the Dubois family and our hearts go out to
them in this time of deep sadness. We share their indescribable
grief for the loss of Amber’s precious young life."

Sheree Dohanyos, moments after dropping off her son and daughter
at Escondido High, said she hasn't found the right words yet to
discuss the loss of Amber and Chelsea with her children. She said
she's doing all she can to protect her kids, dropping them off each
day instead of allowing them to walk.

"We felt if anything good could come from this Chelsea King
(tragedy), Amber would be found," Dohanyos said.

The convicted sex offender charged with the slaying of Poway
teenager Chelsea King remains the focus of the investigation into the
slaying of Escondido teenager Amber Dubois, Escondido police said
Monday.

Escondido police Lt. Craig Carter issued a statement saying John
Albert Gardner III continues to be a suspect as investigators search
the hillside in Pala where 14-year-old Amber’s skeletal remains were
found Saturday.

Moe Dubois, Amber’s father, said Monday that he couldn’t discuss any
details of the investigation that have been shared with him. He said
police have not told the family what led them to his daughter’s remains.

“We’re on a gag order,” he said.

Investigators have openly questioned whether Gardner played a role
in Amber’s disappearance since semen on a piece of Chelsea’s clothing
led to Gardner’s arrest on Feb. 28. The police statement appears to
indicate that those questions remain even after the discovery of
Amber’s remains.

Amber, a student at Escondido High School, disappeared Feb. 13,
2009, as she walked toward campus an hour before class. Until Gardner’s
arrest, police said they knew nothing more about her whereabouts than
they did on the day she went missing.


The remains were found west of Pala Temecula Road, about three miles
north of the historic Pala Mission and the Pala Casino. There is a
single-lane asphalted road that leads up a steep mountain and then over
a hill. The grave appears to be out of sight over the hill.

Two law enforcement officers guarded the entrance to the road Monday
morning keeping people out, and “no parking” signs were posted along
the few turnouts within a half-mile either north or south of the road.

Dubois said he was eating dinner at a restaurant Saturday when he
was called and asked to come to Escondido police headquarters, where he
and Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle, were told the news.

“Everything is going to change for us,” Dubois said. “It’s going to be so much different.”

Parents of dead SoCal teen urge new predator laws



ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) -- The father of a 14-year-old girl whose bones were found more than a year after she vanished walking to school urged supporters to behave like his late daughter's favorite animal, the wolf, to hunt down child predators.



"Wolves hunt to survive, wolves hunt to together to catch their prey," Maurice Dubois told more than 1,000 mourners at a candlelight vigil Monday night for Amber Dubois. "We as parents and the community need to make a change for the protection of our children."

Mourners held a moment of silence for Amber, whose remains were found early Saturday in a rugged area north of San Diego, and 17-year-old Chelsea King, who disappeared Feb. 25 in a north San Diego park. A body presumed to be Chelsea's was found March 2 in a shallow, lakeside grave.

John Albert Gardner III pleaded not guilty last week to murdering and raping or attempting to rape 17-year-old Chelsea King of Poway and attempting to rape another woman in December in the same park where King disappeared.

His public defender, Michael Popkins, did not respond to a phone message.

The registered sex offender was expected in court Tuesday for a brief hearing to address procedural issues.

Escondido police say Gardner, 30, is also a focus of their investigation into Amber's death.

Carrie McGonigle, Amber's mother, said laws need to be changed.

"I still see a lot of children walking by themselves and it scares me," she said on a chilly night in the courtyard of Escondido High School, near the spot where Amber disappeared Feb. 13, 2009, in the north San Diego suburb.

Police said Sunday that Amber's remains were identified through dental records. They have not said what led them to the remote area near Pala because the discovery is part of a murder investigation.

"Yesterday was my personal time for tears," Dubois told the audience. "Now, for Amber, it is our time to take action."

Amber, a member of Future Farmers of America, left home with a $200 check to buy a lamb on the day she vanished. It was never cashed, fueling suspicion of foul play.



But, as Dubois noted in his remarks, rumors that she was a runaway hampered the family's efforts to bring national media attention to their search. Gardner's arrest three days after Chelsea King disappeared renewed interest in Amber.

Amber was an avid reader and animal lover who had a horse at her grandmother's stable in the Los Angeles area.

Kelly Elsbernd, a cousin, said she and Amber grew up drawing animals together and pretending to be seals and otters when they went swimming.

"They never really played with dolls," said Nicole Elsbernd, Kelly's mother. "They played with bugs."

Jade Fidel, Amber's best friend, said Amber had two dogs, a cat and a bird but wolves were her favorite.

"She liked them," Fidel said. "They were free, independent."

Gardner was registered as a sex offender in Escondido from January 2008 to January 2010, with some gaps, according to police. He served five years of a six-year prison term for molesting a 13-year-old neighbor in San Diego in 2000 and completed parole in September 2008

Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher told the crowd he would do everything possible to find Amber's killer.

"If not closure, we can certainly get justice," he said

The parents of slain Escondido teenager Amber Dubois asked mourners
last night to turn their anguish into action by pushing for tougher
penalties and stricter laws to protect children from predators. Hours
earlier, Escondido police said the investigation into Amber’s death
remains focused on convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III.

Amber’s parents, Moe Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, joined more than
1,000 people at Escondido High School for a candlelight vigil in memory
of their daughter, whose remains were found Saturday in a wooded
hillside in Pala after a 13-month search.



Escondido police say Gardner, who was charged last week with raping
and murdering Poway teenager Chelsea King, continues to be a suspect in
Amber’s case.

Dubois told those at the vigil: “Please take a minute for every tear
you have ever shed for Amber, for Chelsea and for any other child who
has suffered at the hands of these predators, and come back tomorrow
and take just as many minutes of action in our fight to protect our
children.”

McGonigle added: “We do need to make changes, and hopefully with the
support of all the parents, we’ll be able to change the laws to make
things safe.”

It was the second vigil in a week to commemorate a North County
teenager. Thousands attended a similar event March 2 for Chelsea at a
Poway church. The teens’ disappearances were eerily familiar, and each
story ended in tragedy.

Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher told the hushed crowd last night
that there’s never closure in a case like Amber’s but that their
support helps the family heal.

“The Escondido Police Department, San Diego Sheriff’s Department,
FBI and all the other agencies have and will continue to do everything
else to bring this investigation to a resolution and successful
prosecution,” Maher said.

Investigators have questioned whether Gardner played a role in
Amber’s disappearance after he was arrested Feb. 28 in the Chelsea King
case. Escondido police issued a statement yesterday to say Gardner, who
received six years in prison in 2000 for molesting and falsely
imprisoning a 13-year-old girl, remains “a focus” of their
investigation.

Amber, a 14-year-old Escondido High School freshman, disappeared
Feb. 13, 2009, as she walked toward the campus an hour before class.
Her skeletal remains were found Saturday west of Pala Temecula Road,
about three miles north of the historic Pala Mission and the Pala
Casino. Police kept people out of the area yesterday as they searched
for evidence.

In August, two dogs from Virginia-based VK9 Scent Specific Search
and Recovery Unit, an organization dedicated to finding missing people,
searched for Amber at her family’s request. The dogs were given Amber’s
scent and tracked it to Pala. The information was passed along to
police.

In an interview last month, Escondido police Lt. Bob Benton said
detectives went to Pala and interviewed many people, most of whom were
aware of Amber’s disappearance but none recalled ever having seen her.
Then, in November, a different set of tracking dogs, often used by the
FBI, were brought in to see if they could duplicate the finding. They
could not.

Dubois had nothing but praise of law enforcement officials
yesterday, but he did say he is angry about misinformation being spread
by a private investigator the family hired shortly after Amber
disappeared. He said that neither he nor McGonigle has spoken to
private investigator Bill Garcia since their daughter’s remains were
found.

“Carrie is livid that he is going out and speaking on behalf of the family,” Dubois said. “We haven’t talked to him.”

Garcia told The San Diego Union-Tribune in a phone interview Sunday
afternoon that the tip leading investigators to Amber’s remains did not
come from Gardner. A few minutes later, when he was asked again about
the tip and how he knew it didn’t come from Gardner, Garcia said, “I
talked to someone who knows it firsthand.” He said he couldn’t say any
more without getting into trouble.

Garcia changed his story when contacted yesterday.

“What I said was somebody close to the family called me and said
they had found Amber’s body near the Riverside County line,” he said.
“That’s all they told me. I then said it’s my belief that the tip did
not come from Gardner. That was just my opinion. I haven’t been told
that.”

Garcia said he hasn’t worked for the family in nearly a year but has
been doing some investigating on his own and feeding all of his
findings to Escondido police.

Gardner, 30, of Lake Elsinore, could face the death penalty if
convicted in Chelsea’s death. She disappeared Feb. 25 while heading for
an afternoon jog at Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Her body was found
March 2 in a shallow grave near Lake Hodges, about a half-mile from
where her car was parked.

Semen found on Chelsea’s clothing led to Gardner’s arrest.

Chelsea’s parents, Kelly and Brent King, released a brief statement yesterday.

“We have spoken with the Dubois family and our hearts go out to them
in this time of deep sadness,” they said. “We share their indescribable
grief for the loss of Amber’s precious young life.”

A day after Amber Dubois' mother said in a national television
interview that police were not giving her any information about her
daughter's death, she got some answers.

Carrie McGonigle and Maurice Dubois, the parents of the
Escondido teen whose remains were found earlier this month near the
Pala Indian Reservation, said they spoke with law enforcement
officials Wednesday.

"We had a conversation with them," Dubois said. "We have
received answers to some of the questions that we had, and we are
satisfied with the investigation at this point."

Dubois and McGonigle declined to comment further on what they
learned.

McGonigle was interviewed Tuesday night on CNN's "Larry King
Live." She and her representative, Robin Sax, a former sex crimes
prosecutor, raised numerous questions about why the family had not
been given basic information about Amber's death.

McGonigle said police had not told her how her daughter had died
or how they were able to find her remains.

"Nothing," she said in the interview. "They said, 'In time,
you'll find out.'"

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, McGonigle would only say
that she spoke with law enforcement and that she was satisfied with
the conversation she had.

Authorities have been tight-lipped about their investigation,
saying that any comments they make could jeopardize their case.

Amber disappeared on her way to school more than a year ago. Her
remains were found March 6 just days after authorities arrested
John Gardner III, a registered sex offender, in connection with the
murder and rape of Chelsea King, a Poway teen who went missing late
last month.

The murder investigations in the two cases became intertwined
when Escondido police said Gardner was also a focus in their
investigation of Amber's death.

Last week, San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen issued
a gag order in Chelsea's case. Escondido police say it also limits
what they can share about any links they might find between Gardner
and Amber's murder.

The general purpose of a gag order is to ensure the defendant
gets a fair trial, and that the jury pool is not influenced by
potentially inflammatory statements from attorneys or authorities
close to the investigation.

When Amber Dubois' remains were found in a rugged area of the Pala
Indian Reservation, many thought accused killer John Gardner had
provided authorities with the tip -- a theory the San Diego County
Sheriff's Department has not confirmed to be true.But a private
investigator hired by Amber's grandmother to find the missing teen claims
he was with highly trained scent dogs when they first led them to
the reservation last August.Two days after deputies discovered
Chelsea King's body, Larry Olmstead felt he had to do something.
Olmstead said he was frustrated with the Escondido Police Department and
contacted the Sheriff's department to tell them where search dogs had
tracked Amber's scent last August."They should follow up at three
specific locations in the Pala area and how we gathered the information
through our K-9 search effort," Olmstead says.Two days
later, deputies discovered Amber's body. Olmstead said he believes last
August, when the dogs led them directly to Pala, Amber was still alive."The
search we did was a live search, which means we were searching for
Amber based on her scent as a living person not a cadaver," said
Olmstead. "There's a possibility she could have been in Pala alive,
taken to another location and possibly killed and deposited back in
Pala."The dogs not only led them to several places in Pala, but
to a couple of items on the reservation."I believe there are two
specific items that she touched while she was in Pala literally with her
hands," said Olmstead.Although he could not elaborate on what
those things were, Olmstead feels the items were of great interest
to Amber.He also said there were two pings on Amber's cell phone
-- one in Escondido shortly after she disappeared, and another one the
next day in Long Beach where her aunt lives.Olmstead also worked
on the Jon Benet Ramsey murder case and hopes Amber's case will have a
much different ending -- one where a killer is found and brought to
justice.

For more than a year her face could be seen all over Escondido,
indeed throughout the county and beyond, on missing fliers posted in
store windows, on telephone poles and in the back windows of cars.

Saturday afternoon, on a beautiful day inside a football stadium just
a few hundred feet from where she went missing, Amber was remember and
loved.

Organizers estimated the memorial celebration crowd at about 1,000 in
Escondido High School’s Wilson Stadium.



Amber disappeared the morning of Feb. 13, 2009, while walking to
school with a $200 check to buy lamb for the agriculture study that she
loved.

Her skeletal remains were found earlier this month in a rural and
rugged part of North County, three miles north of the community of Pala.

Amber's parents, after 13 months of experiencing the agony of not
knowing what happened to their baby, and of holding out hope beyond hope
that she might still be alive, now have partial answers.

There have been no arrests in the case, however Escondido Police have
said that convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III is a focus of
its investigation. Amber’s remains were found six days after Gardner was
arrested and later charged with murder and rape in connection with the
death of 17-year-old Chelsea King,
the Poway girl who was killed after she went for a run near Lake Hodges
in Rancho
Bernardo Community Park.

On Saturday, Amber's friends and some of her teachers spoke of the
girl's love of reading and animals and of her compassion and
intelligence.

Amber’s cousin, Tessa DeViso, said she was glad so many people had
come to the celebration. She said she missed Amber.

Marc Klaas, a nationally known missing child advocate and activist
who helped Amber’s family organize search efforts early on, received a
loud ovation when he said the person responsible for Amber’s death must
be punished to the full extent of the law, as all those who harm
children must.

“This is absolutely absurd,” he said.

Father Moe Dubois talked about Amber's sense of humor and how she
would pluck little hairs from the back of his ear while he was driving.

He also echoed Klaas' comments and asked everyone who has cried for
Amber or Chelsea to take one minute for each tear to get involved and
pressure lawmakers to strengthen and fund laws designed to protect
children.

"Amber didn’t need to die for nothing,” he said. "I want us to make a
change. It’s a big thing that happened, its an unfortunate thing that
happened. But we have to learn from it.”

Dubois made his remarks off the cuff. He said he had tried to prepare
something in writing, but every time this past week he sat down to
write, the ink on the paper would be smeared by his tears.

Amber's mother, Carrie McGonigle, thanked the Escondido Police
Department for all their hard work and for their kind handling of her
constant inquiries.

"She was a great kid," she said. "She was filled with a lot of love.
She’s going to be missed a lot."

The end of the ceremony featured the parents of Danielle van Dam,
Chelsea King, Polly Klaas and Amber releasing doves in their child’s
memory, and then in memory of all missing children.




My name is Amber Dubois

Please don’t cry sad tears for me

All of you here and my family

I am looking down from heaven up above

Waiting till we meet again, yet watching you with love.

I had so much to offer, so much more to give

I was denied the chance for this, long life not mine to live

For animals I came to help, or so it was I thought

My purpose now is different than one I ever sought.

I know that you are sad and you don’t understand

But take my word and rest assured that I am in good hands.

Amber Dubois, was my name and it will always be,

When you think of all your children, please remember me

Written by Carrie McGonigle in the memorial program

With two teary-eyed mothers looking on, sex offender John Albert
Gardner pleaded guilty Friday to murdering their teenage daughters after
prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.Gardner, 31,
faces life in prison without parole for killing 14-year-old Amber Dubois
and 17-year-old Chelsea King in San Diego County.He also pleaded
guilty to attempting to rape another woman who was jogging in San Diego
and waived his right to an appeal.Gardner, wearing a dark blue
jail jumpsuit with his shackled arms hanging at his sides, said nothing
but "yes" repeatedly as the judge asked him for his pleas.Parents
Brent and Kelly King, and Maurice Dubois and Carrie McGonigle were in
the courtroom to hear the admissions. Kelly King and McGonigle were
teary-eyed throughout the proceeding. Sobbing could be heard when
Gardner entered his pleas.District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said
Gardner led investigators to the skeletal remains of Dubois two days
after authorities charged him with the murder of King. He did so on the
condition that prosecutors not go public with the information or use it
against him in court."This was a somber decision," Dumanis said.
"To end the anguish of the unknown for the Dubois family and to bring
Amber home, we agreed."Officials, however, retained the ability
to use any evidence obtained from the crime scene to build their case.Escondido
police and crime lab technicians worked round-the-clock to find
evidence linking Gardner to the killing of Dubois, but Dumanis said they
did not succeed.Dubois vanished in February 2009, and the
investigation produced few solid leads until King disappeared Feb. 25
during an afternoon run in a San Diego park about 10 miles south of the
site where Dubois vanished.Gardner was arrested three days after
King disappeared. He initially pleaded not guilty to her killing.In
a surprising turn, Gardner admitted Friday to kidnapping, raping and
stabbing Dubois. He also admitted dragging King to a remote area where
he raped, strangled and buried her.Gardner offered to plead
guilty to both murders if prosecutors agreed to not seek the death
penalty."Accepting this plea has been an extremely difficult
decision," Dumanis said after the hearing. "We have the evidence to
pursue a murder charge against the defendant for Chelsea's murder, but
not for Amber's murder."Prosecutor Kristen Spieler told the judge
the victims' families agreed to the plea agreement.Brent King,
Chelsea's father, said his family wanted to spare their 13-year-old son
the drama of a protracted trial and appeals process, which prosecutors
said could drag on for decades."There's nothing satisfying about
this moment. It is only one more unbearably painful day that we will
have to carry in our memory as long as we live," Brent King said.The
Kings also wanted to help the grieving family of Dubois."While
our unequivocal first choice is the death penalty, we acknowledge that
in California that penalty has become an empty promise," he said.Later
he added: "The Dubois family has been through unthinkable hell the past
14 months. We couldn't imagine the confession to Amber's murder never
seeing the light of day, leaving an eternal question mark."Sentencing
was set for June 1.Defense attorneys left the courtroom without
talking to reporters.Chelsea King's body was discovered March 2
in a shallow lakeside grave after a massive search. Prosecutors said
Gardner was linked to the crime by DNA found on her clothing.The
bones of Dubois were discovered March 6 in a rugged, remote area north
of San Diego, a day after Gardner led authorities there. She vanished
with a $200 check to purchase a lamb she was going to raise for Future
Farmers of America. The check was never cashed.Gardner served
five years in prison after pleading guilty in 2000 to molesting a
13-year-old neighbor girl. Records show he later violated parole by
moving too close to a school but was allowed to remain free.Gardner's
history of parole violations has led to calls to strengthen
California's already stringent laws on sex predators.Brent and
Kelly King, the victim's mother, have traveled to Sacramento to announce
the introduction of "Chelsea's Law," which would send some child
molesters to prison for life after a first conviction and monitor others
with tracking technology until they die.

Amber Dubois’ stepfather says a trial for John Albert Gardner III would have been a waste of taxpayer’s money.
Now he hopes this ordeal will somehow trigger change.
David Cave was questioned by Escondido Police for months in Amber’s disappearance.
“Opened my house, gave them my computers, opened my vehicles up for them,
gave them all my corporate account information,” Cave said. “I said, ‘you guys investigate me,
do what you have to do, but hurry up so you can find the right person’.”
He says detectives always treated him with respect, but until recently, never ruled him out as a possible suspect.
Now that the right person is behind bars, Cave says he feels a sense of closure -- but still, plenty of rage.
“The jerk does not realize how many people's lives he's affected and destroyed,” Cave said.
Now, his focus is on changing the state's law. He calls the death penalty "a joke."
“How many millions of dollarsget spent a year by Californians on people who have been sitting on
death row for 30 years, for 20 years for 10 years?” Cave said.
His plea is for legislators to take action and leave all the talk behind.
“Last time I checked, they worked for us,” Cave said.
Amber vanished in February 2009 with a $200 check to purchase a lamb she was to raise for Future
Farmers of America. The check was never cashed.
The investigation produced few solid leads until Chelsea King disappeared Feb. 25 near the
site where Amber went missing.
Gardner led authorities to the 14-year-old Escondido teen’s body on March 5 with the
agreement that it couldn’t be used against him in court. Her bones were
discovered March 6 in a rugged, remote area north of San Diego.
On Friday, Gardner pleaded guilty to kidnapping, raping and stabbing Amber one and a half hours
after he met her. In the plea deal, he will avoid the death penalty and
get two consecutive life terms without parole and a third life term with
a minimum of 33 years. He relinquished his right to appeal.
On Saturday Cave had a tearful message for his stepdaughter.
”I love you Amber. I miss you and I love you and I'm going to keep missing your forever,” Cave said.

On Thursday, Maurice "Moe" Dubois waited five painfully long
hours ---- and came away with more revelations than he possibly
could have seen coming.

At 9 a.m. that day came a call from Escondido police, requesting
his presence at 2:15 p.m. for a secret meeting with San Diego
County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, Dubois said on Monday.

It was an odd time, 2:15 p.m., he remembered thinking. Odd
location, too: a parking lot a couple of blocks from the county
courthouse. He was told to look for a man in a red Ford Taurus.

Dubois had become numb to the unusual in the months spent
investigating the disappearance of his daughter, Amber Dubois, 14,
whose remains were found last month. But this meeting was
different. He knew something big was coming.

He would soon learn that his daughter's killer had confessed. In
fact, the killer had agreed ---- 10 days earlier ---- to plead
guilty to two murders in order to escape the death penalty.

The man in the red sedan took Dubois, his longtime girlfriend,
Rebecca Smith, and Amber's mother, Carrie McGonigle, to a parking
garage under the Hall of Justice, the courthouse in downtown San
Diego.

Avoiding the main entrance to the courthouse, as well as public
scrutiny, the man escorted them upstairs to the district attorney's
main offices.

Dumanis was there. So was Deputy District Attorney Kristen
Spieler, who was prosecuting John Albert Gardner III, the
registered sex offender accused of killing one teen and suspected
of killing Amber. Also at the table, Dubois said, were Escondido
police Chief Jim Maher and Lt. Bob Benton.

"We thought for sure they were going to tell us they were
charging somebody," Dubois said. "But it wasn't at all what we
thought it was going to be."

On March 6, just short of 13 months after Amber went missing
---- she vanished while walking to Escondido High School ----
police found her remains in a remote site in Pala.

Dubois knew that police had focused on Gardner in Amber's
murder. He knew that his daughter's remains were found less than a
week after authorities arrested Gardner for raping and killing
Poway resident Chelsea King, 17.

But how police knew where to look, and what role Gardner had
played ---- that remained a mystery to him until Thursday.

That's when Dubois learned Gardner had led police to his
daughter's remains. And that Gardner had confessed to the
killing.

Raping her. Stabbing her. All inside of 90 minutes. And then he
buried her.

It was the first time Dubois heard how his daughter died,
although authorities still haven't told him how the hulking Gardner
got the freckled freshman into his car.

They did tell him, though, that when Gardner confessed to
killing Amber, he said that Dubois' statements at a March 3 news
conference had influenced his decision to come clean.

Dubois doesn't know what he said to influence Gardner, but
speculates it may have been the way he fought to maintain composure
when asked about the varied levels of media attention given to
Amber's and Chelsea's cases.

Authorities told Amber's parents that Gardner was willing to
plead guilty to murdering both girls, as long as prosecutors would
spare him from the death penalty.

Court documents show that Gardner and his attorney signed the
proposed plea deal on April 5 ---- 10 days before Dubois met with
Dumanis.

Dubois read the statement that would serve as the basis for
Gardner's guilty plea, three paragraphs that included the words: "I
took Amber Dubois to a remote area of Pala where I raped and
stabbed her."

Dumanis was thinking of taking the deal. And she wanted input
from Amber's parents, Dubois said. Dumanis met with Amber's family
after meeting separately with Chelsea's parents, Kelly and Brent
King.

Less than 24 hours later, Dubois, McGonigle and Smith sat in the
front row of a crowded courtroom, next to Chelsea's parents. All
five of them watched the shackled Gardner as deputies escorted him
into the courtroom.

"You can't put into words ... looking at a person who has ripped
apart your life," Dubois said.

Prosecutors formally charged Gardner with Amber's slaying.
Moments later came the guilty plea.

San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen read aloud the
same three paragraphs that Dubois had read a day earlier.

Dubois leaned forward and dropped his chin. He stared at the
ground and slowly shook his head as Danielsen said the words:
Raped, stabbed.

"You don't want to hear that," Dubois said. "That's the last
thing any parent in the world wants to hear, the confession of
someone raping and stabbing (your daughter)."

Gardner is set for sentencing on June 1. Dubois plans to be
there, and he plans to speak.

Amber's disappearance has shaped her father's life. During the
year before her remains were found, he and Smith started More Kids,
an organization dedicated to finding missing children.

The group ---- at www.morekids.org
---- will work to
support victims and families of missing kids "whether they need a
Web site put up or just a hug," he said. It will also help
coordinate search efforts when kids go missing. Public safety and
education are also a part of the master plan.

He also hopes to reform legislation dealing with search efforts
for missing children. Not sweeping changes, Dubois said, but rather
"fixing the leaks."

"We have been through what we have been through, and we have
seen flaws in the system," Dubois said. "Amber was my only child. I
want to protect the child of everybody out there."