AMBER DUBOIS - 15 yo (2009) - Escondido CA

Why Amber?

Her mother wants to know.



If Carrie McGonigle could talk to the man who admitted he
abducted, raped and killed her daughter on Feb. 13, 2009, that
would be her first question.

Why, John Albert Gardner III, did you choose Amber Dubois?

More questions would follow.

Were you watching my 14-year-old daughter? For how long? Just
that drizzly Friday morning? Or had you spotted her, fixated on
her, before the day you took her?

Did you make contact with Amber in the days or weeks before you
did what you did to her? Talk to her or nod hello as she made her
way down the street as she usually did at 7 a.m., as she walked to
Escondido High School?

What did you say to my daughter, John Gardner?

And how did you get her into your vehicle? Trick her? Threaten
her? Grab her and throw her in?

What did you do with her backpack, her cell phone? Was that you
who called it long enough to check voicemail the day after you
killed her?

Why, as you stood handcuffed and shackled in front of a judge to
plead guilty, why did you look right at me for a few long seconds?
How did you know who I was?

Waiting for details

In her first at-length interview since Gardner's guilty plea on
April 16, Amber's mother said last week she doesn't think he has
given those sorts of details to authorities. She hopes he will.

"I just want to know," McGonigle said.

Gardner, 31, admitted raping and killing Amber on Feb. 13, 2009,
and raping and killing Poway resident Chelsea King, 17. Chelsea was
out for a run on a trail near Lake Hodges on Feb. 25 when he
grabbed her and dragged her to a remote spot.

Gardner's plea deal spares him from execution; he will be
formally sentenced to life in prison without parole on June 1.

Gardner confessed and led investigators to Amber's earthen
grave. But he won assurances that authorities would not use that as
evidence to execute him.

Authorities said DNA tied him to Chelsea, but they could find
nothing tying him to Amber, save the confession. The only way to
get justice for Amber was to take a deal that took the death
penalty off the table, San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie
Dumanis said.

To protect their investigation, authorities did not tell Amber's
parents what led them to find her remains until after the
life-or-death deal was in place.

McGonigle and Amber's father, Moe Dubois, buried their daughter
on March 26 without knowing how she had been found or how she had
died.

A year of searching

Gardner's crime touched off a cruel year for McGonigle.

She believed deeply that her daughter was alive and waiting to
be rescued.

Over the next year, McGonigle searched often and slept little.
From prowling the Internet to peering with a flashlight into
darkened cars, the blue-eyed woman with long auburn hair looked for
clues.

Escondido police characterized Amber as a missing person: maybe
she'd been abducted, maybe she was a runaway.

But to McGonigle, this was clearly a kidnapping. There was no
way that Amber, a shy, book-loving teen who had joined her high
school's Future Farmers of America group, would have run away.

On the day she disappeared, Amber was headed to school with a
$200 check in hand to adopt a lamb through the group. Amber had
been giddy about the lamb, and had already picked out a name:
Nanette.

As police investigated, McGonigle looked up all the registered
sex offenders in Escondido ---- including Gardner ---- and poked
around the outside of their homes. She found nothing.

McGonigle quickly learned all she could about the search for
missing children. She also joined searches for other missing
kids.

In the year Amber was gone, McGonigle knew the search for
missing children would define her future.

Her first step was to put together four days of classes designed
to teach search and rescue techniques to volunteers.

The initial class was April 15. On that same day, she would
learn that Gardner had led authorities to her daughter's remains,
and had agreed to plead guilty to raping and stabbing her within 90
minutes of coming into contact with her.

Burdened with secret information that had come like "a punch in
the gut," McGonigle still attended and spoke at the class that
night.

She went to the search and rescue class the next morning, too
---- and then left early to watch Gardner admit to a judge that he
had killed Amber and Chelsea.

The media comes into play

Amber's parents said authorities told them Gardner revealed
Amber's gravesite based on something the slain girl's father said
at a press conference an hour after prosecutors charged Gardner
with Chelsea's rape and murder.

Moe Dubois said he doesn't know what he said to trigger the
confession, or how Gardner saw footage of his statements. Nor does
McGonigle.

"Why then?" she said. "He had to have seen us on TV pleading and
begging for information all year. Why when he was in jail did he
suddenly have a guilty conscious? Was it just that he was sober
because he was incarcerated?"

"Do I give him credit? No," she said. "He gave us Amber only
because he got caught."

Does she hate him?

"Hate is such a strong word," McGonigle said. "I was raised
never to hate anybody. I raised my daughters the same way.

"But I think even my mother would change her mind about it
(hate) when it comes to him."

McGonigle worries about losing a court battle last week to keep
much of the investigative details about the rapes and murders
sealed from public view.

"I think it's wrong that Chelsea's autopsy report will be
public," McGonigle said. "She has a little brother (Tyler King is
13). A minor was raped and killed, and the details should not be
made public."

Amber's remains were skeletal, thus her autopsy likely won't
contain as much detail as Chelsea's. But like Chelsea, Amber has a
younger sibling: Allison, 6.

"I think any media that prints it (the autopsy reports) is just
wrong."

At last, peace

Amber's mother said she has a sense of peace now. She is
grieving, of course, but gone is the anxiety that plagued her when
she spent her days convinced that Amber was waiting for rescue.

She is struck by and grateful for the community support she has
seen since Amber's disappearance. And she is excited by a recent
push by local radio personalities to send birthday cards to Amber's
little sister, Allison, who will be 7 on May 6.

McGonigle said Allison will be thrilled to get the surprise
stacks of cards. (Cards can be sent to her father's workplace, at
1101 W. San Marcos Blvd., San Marcos, CA 92078.)

McGonigle misses Amber desperately. But now she can concentrate
more fully on watching Allison earn her next belt in karate class.
She can cheer as she watches the little girl with red hair and her
sister's crystal-blue eyes hit a Wiffle ball and run the bases.

And she can smile as she remembers Amber's "funny walk," sort of
a loping gait.

McGonigle plans to play a video with images of Amber when she
speaks at Gardner's sentencing hearing. The song is already picked
out, and even downloaded to her cell phone.

She wonders: Will Gardner watch the video as it plays in the
courtroom? Will he listen to the words and see the sorrow in her
eyes?

"It's my one chance," McGonigle said. "Maybe he will tell us
what happened."

The Escondido City Attorney's Office decided Thursday not to
release any police documents related to the disappearance and
murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, rejecting public records
requests by several news outlets and limiting the public's ability to examine how law enforcement
handled the case.

Robert Zornado, the city's deputy city clerk and records
manager, said Thursday afternoon that the city attorney's office
made the decision because the documents are "investigative."

He released a statement citing California Government Code
section 6254 (f), which notes that local police agencies are not
"required" to disclose investigative documents.

Escondido city attorneys, including City Attorney Jeffrey Epp,
did not immediately return calls for comment.

John Albert Gardner III, 31, pleaded guilty to Amber's rape and
murder earlier this month, along with the rape and murder of Poway
17-year-old Chelsea King.

Escondido police investigated Amber's disappearance over 14
months. The blue-eyed teen vanished Feb. 13, 2009, while headed to
Escondido High School.

Police during the probe said they were stymied by a lack of
evidence or even a suspect description in the case. More than two
dozen Escondido police investigators, officers and support staff
worked on the case initially. They interviewed more than 550
people, including Amber's family, friends and all her classmates
from Escondido High.

Hundreds of tips poured in from the public, but none led to a
case-changing lead, police said.

No suspect was named until after Gardner's arrest, by the San
Diego County Sheriff's Department in early March, for Chelsea's
murder.

Gardner led authorities to Amber's skeletal remains March 6. He
had buried her body in a shallow grave in a remote area near
Pala.

After Gardner's arrest, Escondido police said they had contacted
Gardner at least eight times while he lived in the city during 2008
and 2009. The contacts were made both before and after Amber went
missing, they said, though they would not say whether any were
related to Amber.

Capt. Bob Benton, a spokesman for the Escondido Police
Department, did not immediately return a call or e-mail Thursday
afternoon.

He said earlier in the week the decision on the public records
request was up to the city attorney's office. He added that the
decision would be made independent of the San Diego County district
attorney's office, which has urged all law enforcement not to
release anything related to the case.

He also said earlier this week that Escondido police would not
speak at length about the case until after Gardner's sentencing,
which is set for May 14.

Maurice Dubois said reaching out to Latice Sutton is therapeutic. Sutton
is the mother of Mitrice Richardson who went missing last September.
Friday was Richardson's 25th birthday.
"To not have your child home with you on their birthday is
indescribable," said Dubois. Richardson was released from
police custody on September 17, 2009. She was arrested after she
couldn't pay for a restaurant tab in Malibu. Dubois searched
for his 14-year-old daughter Amber for more than a year after she was
abducted on the way to school last year. He learned she was murdered by
John Gardner after he recently confessed.
"During those 386 days and all holidays that went by that year there was
no more single painful day than the day of Amber's birthday," said
Dubois. "I want to help people who are going through what we went
through." Dubois said he is compelled to help with a search for
Richardson planned for June 5 and 6th. "I cannot thank Mo
Dubois enough for reaching out and coordinating with us to help find
Mitrice and bring her home," said Sutton. Richardson's family
says in honor of her birthday they are asking the public to print out 25
missing person's flyers and post them in 25 businesses.

The father of abducted and murdered California teenager Amber Dubois
is working with lawmakers to develop a series of measures, mostly to
help authorities respond quickly when children are snatched off the
streets. “There are gaps and flaws
in the system,” said Moe Dubois. “We are trying to recognize those,
trying to close those with small legal patches. You can’t fix everything
in one day.”
Amber was killed Feb. 13, 2009, by convicted sex offender
John Gardner III, who is set to be sentenced next week to life in prison
without parole. He also killed teenager Chelsea King. The legislative
package on searches is expected to be unveiled May 25, a day set aside
every year to mark National Missing Children’s Day. One idea he is
suggesting would require child sex predators to carry driver’s licenses
identifying them as such. That way, police and businesses can be alert
for signs of inappropriate contact with children, such as a stuffed animal
in a back seat or loitering at a pizzeria during a child's birthday party.

The father of a 14-year-old Escondido girl raped and murdered by a
registered sex offender blames the legal system for letting the man roam
the streets after his parole expired.
John Gardner, 31, is to be sentenced Friday for the death of Amber
Dubois. Her father, Moe Dubois, says Gardner served a six-year prison
sentence for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 2000, but was
off parole and roaming free when he killed Amber, according to a
victim-impact statement intended for Gardner’s sentencing hearing.
Once off parole, his GPS device was removed, and “once again this
predator was allowed to stalk our streets,” Moe Dubois says in the
statement. “Less than five months later, John Gardner forcefully
abducted, brutally beat, physically raped, and then finally heartlessly
murdered and discarded our beautiful 14-year-old daughter.”
Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle, had a face-to-face jail visit with
Gardner and left saying she had found some closure. Moe Dubois said
the failed opportunities to protect society from Gardner allowed the
“monster” to stalk the streets for young girls.
“Now, with our last hope for justice, we depend on the prison
community to slowly and painfully cause (Gardner’s) remaining days on
this earth to be a living nightmare, and I truly hope he suffers a
hundred times the amount of pain he caused our family’s,” Moe Dubois
said in his statement. “He will burn in hell for the acts he committed, I
just hope that day is an agonizingly long way away and that he will
have to suffer as much as we all have, actually more.”
Amber Dubois went missing in February 2009. Her body wasn’t
discovered until two months ago, after Gardner was arrested for the rape
and murder of 17- year-old Chelsea King, a senior and straight-A
student at Poway High School.
King disappeared Feb. 25 during a run behind Rancho Bernardo
Community Park. Three days after Gardner was arraigned for her murder,
he agreed to lead authorities to Amber’s body in Pala.
Gardner gave police no other information, and he ended up pleading
guilty last week to both murders to avoid the death penalty.
Gardner will be sentenced to a pair of life terms in prison without
parole, plus 33 years to life for attacking a college student last
December. Moe Dubois is working with lawmakers to develop measures
that would help authorities respond quickly when children are snatched
off the streets.
He plans to unveil a full package on May 25, which is National
Missing Children’s Day. Among the ideas he’s suggesting is a measure
that would require child sex predators to carry driver’s licenses
identifying them as such.

Amber Dubois’ father and his girlfriend plan to tell a judge today
that the legal system failed two families by letting John Albert Gardner
III out of prison in 2005, according to statements written by the
couple and released by the court Thursday.

Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle, also will speak today, but she’s
unlikely to share the details of her meeting Wednesday in jail with her
daughter’s killer. Gardner is expected to be sentenced in San Diego
Superior Court today to life in prison without parole for raping and
murdering 14-year-old Amber of Escondido on Feb. 13, 2009, and Chelsea
King, 17, of Poway on Feb. 25, 2010.

At a news conference Thursday night at a Rancho Bernardo hotel,
McGonigle said she met with Gardner to find out how he had abducted
Amber as the teen walked to Escondido High School. She said she came
away with the closure she needed and insight into what to tell other
parents about how to keep their children safe.

Before talking publicly about the meeting, McGonigle said she wants
to share details of the conversation with her ex-husband, Moe Dubois.

“Yes, I will tell everyone how he got my daughter, but not today,”
she said. “Because Moe needs to know how he got our daughter.”

In his statement prepared for the sentencing, Dubois likened Gardner
to a mountain lion whose natural instinct is to stalk its prey and
attack when opportunity arises. In 2000, Gardner was convicted of
molesting a 13-year-old Rancho Bernardo girl and was sentenced to six
years in prison. He was released after five years.

“Now who is really at fault here, is it the lion (whose) natural
instinct is to stalk and attack, or is it the zookeeper who allowed the
predator to roam freely?” Dubois asked. “This is a question that I have
pondered, thought about, and cried over, for the last several weeks.”

Dubois quoted Dr. Matthew Carroll, a county psychiatrist, who wrote
in 2000 that Gardner exhibited predatory traits and was a danger to the
community. Carroll’s evaluation was attached to the probation report in
Gardner’s previous criminal case.

Five months after Gardner was released from parole, he abducted,
raped and murdered Amber, Dubois said.

“It’s obvious the legal system failed us here, with all of the missed
opportunities that ultimately allowed this monster to stalk our streets
and harm our loved ones,” Dubois wrote.

He added that he hoped Gardner’s remaining days would be “a living
nightmare.”

Dubois’ longtime girlfriend, Rebecca Smith, described the physical
and emotional pain she and Dubois had endured since Amber’s
disappearance. She said the day they were told that Amber’s remains had
been found was the worst of her life.

Smith said she believed since the day Chelsea King went missing that
the two teenagers were connected.

“These two girls have been murdered by someone that should have
remained in prison,” she wrote. “There has been a great injustice done
here as he should have never been released from prison to begin with.”

Brent and Kelly King have said they plan to address the court today
to talk about the loss of their daughter, who was attacked while on an
afternoon run at Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

McGonigle said Thursday night that she plans to finish her statement
today. She lashed out at the news media, saying she hadn’t been able to
complete it because reporters had repeatedly sought her out for comment
after she met with Gardner on Wednesday.

“It’s total disrespect that I feel. It’s really unacceptable,”
McGonigle said. “Yes, I met with Gardner. Yes, we talked. I got my
answers. I got my closure that I needed.

“It’s really no one’s business what his body language was, if we made
eye contact. (How) is that relevant to helping other children in the
world? It’s not. What is important is how he got my daughter, and yes, I
will tell everybody how he got my daughter; that’s the only thing
that’s relevant in this whole interview.”

A sex offender who admitted murdering two teenage
girls was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday after crying
as the victims' families denounced him, the legal system and his
mother.
John Albert Gardner III received two consecutive life terms without
possibility of parole for murdering Chelsea King, 17, and Amber Dubois,
14, and a third life term with a 25-year minimum for the attempted rape
of Candice Moncayo, a jogger who escaped by smashing him in the nose
with an elbow. Gardner, 31, breathed heavily and cried at times
during emotional statements by the girls' parents and Moncayo before
Superior Court Judge David Danielsen pronounced the sentence.
Carrie McGonigle, Amber's mother, said there were not enough words to
describe her "minute-by-minute agony." "I've thought often about
her final moments," she said of her daughter. "Was she scared? Was she
calling my name?" Addressing Gardner, she said: "Most of all I'm
confident that you'll never make it to heaven." Gardner avoided
the death penalty by reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. His guilty
plea last month has sparked a far-reaching review of how California
deals with sex predators, a campaign that advocates hope to take to
Washington and state capitals. Calls to stiffen penalties for
child sex offenders began almost the moment Gardner was arrested Feb.
28, three days after he attacked Chelsea while she was on an afternoon
run in San Diego, strangled her, and buried her in a shallow, lakeside
grave. Amid their anger, the girls' parents spoke lovingly of
their daughters on Friday. "Chelsea was everything this man was
not," said her father, Brent King. "She was as good as this man is
evil." Impact statements from the families also faulted the
justice system for not keeping Gardner confined after an earlier assault
on a girl, despite a dire warning in a psychological report. Family
members also blamed his mother, Catherine Osborn, who was seated in
court. "She knew what you were capable of and did nothing," said
Kelly King, Chelsea's mother. Gardner served five years of a
six-year prison sentence for beating and molesting a 13-year-old girl in
San Diego in 2000. He faced a maximum of nearly 11 years in prison, but
prosecutors called for six years. A court-appointed
psychiatrist urged the maximum sentence allowed by law. He said in court
documents that Gardner was a "continued danger to underage girls" and
"an extremely poor candidate" for treatment. Maurice Dubois,
Amber's father, read the report by psychiatrist Matthew Carroll during
his impact statement. He likened his daughter's killer to a
mountain lion whose instincts are to stalk and attack. If the zookeeper
frees the lion from captivity, he asked, who is responsible for the
killings that come after? The case has put California's parole
system under the microscope. Gardner lived little more than a
football field's length from a San Diego preschool for at least 16
months while on parole from 2005 to 2008. That violated a condition of
parole that prohibited him from living within a half-mile of a school. A corrections department official let him stay until his lease expired
in 2006 but no one noticed he was still living there until a year later.
The parole board could have sent him back to prison but kept him on
parole, where he had six other less serious potential violations. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered a state board to review the
parole system. Brent and Kelly King are leading a campaign for
"Chelsea's Law" to allow life sentences for some convicted child
molesters in California and lifetime electronic monitoring of others.
The bill, which cleared its first legislative committee last month,
would also ban sex offenders from parks. Chelsea was a
straight-A student who ran on the cross-country team in suburban Poway,
played French horn in a youth symphony and was active in her school's
peer counseling program. The discovery of Chelsea's
semen-stained clothing during a massive search quickly led authorities
to Gardner. Days later, he led investigators to Amber's remains in a
remote, mountainous area north of San Diego. The investigation
into Amber's disappearance had gone nowhere since the Future Farmers of
America member disappeared walking to school in suburban Escondido in
February 2009. Gardner led authorities to Amber's remains on
condition that the information not be used in court. Investigators were
unable to independently link him to the crime, and his guilty plea to
that murder was a big reason why the death penalty was dropped.
Gardner also pleaded guilty to attempting to rape the jogger on Dec. 27,
near the spot where he attacked Chelsea.

Authorities are set to speak publicly about the sex
offender who raped and murdered two teenage girls and the
investigation that led to his capture and conviction.San Diego County's district attorney, sheriff and
other law enforcement officials are holding a news conference Monday to
answer questions about John
Albert Gardner III, three days after he was sentenced to life in
prison.The officials have remained largely silent about the case
so far, even after a judge lifted an order that had prohibited them from
discussing it publicly.

On Friday, the 31-year-old Gardner received two life terms without
possibility of parole for murdering 17-year-old Chelsea
King and 14-year-old Amber Dubois. He got a third life term with a
25-year minimum for the attempted rape of Candice Moncayo, a jogger who
escaped by smashing him in the nose with an elbow.

A man who pleaded guilty to raping and murdering two teenage girls
admitted involvement in other "assault-type" crimes but did not
implicate himself in additional killings, authorities said Monday.John
Albert Gardner III spoke with investigators for more than two hours
after he was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility
of parole for the attacks on 17-year-old Chelsea King and 14-year-old
Amber Dubois, San Diego County sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos said."He
didn't shed a lot of light, but he did speak about other cases," said
Brugos, who declined to elaborate about victims or provide other
details.The remarks came during a news conference involving a
number of San Diego County's top law enforcement officials who had
repeatedly refused to answer questions about the case since Gardner, 31,
was arrested Feb. 28 in suburban Escondido.Sheriff Bill Gore
said the news conference was intended to fill in the blanks, but
authorities revealed little new information about the case that sparked
widespread calls to change the way California tracks and punishes child
sex predators.Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher did acknowledge a
misstep after an officer was flagged down by a woman motorist who
reported she was being followed by a man in a nearby Ford Focus.The
officer approached the car and questioned Gardner, who was with his
girlfriend's 3-year-old son. However, the officer didn't pursue the
stalking report further because the woman left the scene and has never
been identified.Gardner was cited for driving with an open
container of alcohol in the April 2009 incident, but the information was
not given to detectives investigating the disappearance of Dubois
nearly two months earlier while she was walking to school."Revisiting
this, it certainly would have been better if the officer had made
personal contact with the detective," Maher said. "He didn't."Neighbors
had described seeing a red truck near the spot where Dubois vanished.
But Maher noted that Gardner was not driving a red truck when he was
cited for having the open container.The officer "did everything
he could under the law," Maher said.Gardner, a registered sex
offender in Escondido at the time, didn't become a suspect in the Dubois
case until he was arrested nearly a year after her disappearance by
police investigating the King abduction.Days after his arrest,
Gardner led authorities to the remains of Dubois in a rugged area north
of San Diego.Also Monday, San Diego police Capt. Jim Collins
defended his department's response to a jogger's report that she was
tackled by a man in December near the spot where King was attacked two
months later.Some critics have said police should have done more
to alert residents about the first attack, which was initially treated
as an attempted robbery because the assailant demanded money.Gardner
pleaded guilty to attempting to rape the jogger, who escaped after
smashing his nose with her elbow and later spoke at his sentencing
hearing.Collins said police attempted to have the jogger meet
with a sketch artist, but there were scheduling conflicts on both sides
before she returned to college in Colorado.Police collected DNA
from the woman's elbow that was tested after King disappeared but showed
no link to Gardner, police said."We didn't have a lot of
information on the suspect," Collins said.King's disappearance
unleashed a massive investigation in which the FBI said it searched 363
homes near the park with the consent of residents.Authorities
declined to detail how Gardner abducted King and Dubois.Carrie
McGonigle, the mother of Dubois, appeared on ABC's "Good Morning
America" and said Gardner told her in a jailhouse interview that he
trapped the girl on a fenced street and forced her into his car.Gardner
was previously convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl in 2000.

The father of slain Escondido teenager Amber Dubois recognizes that
legislation he plans to unveil Tuesday could receive a hostile reception
in some Capitol corners.

Nevertheless, Moe Dubois is convinced that requiring convicted sex
offenders to always carry a distinctive driver’s license or state-issued
identification card will help police and businesses better protect
children from predators.

“Do I think it’s going to pass through smoothly? No,” Dubois said in a
telephone interview.

If it stalls, Dubois vows to bypass lawmakers by appealing directly
to voters.

“I have a feeling it will get stopped in one of the committees. Then
we’ll pursue it via an initiative,” he said. “There are many more people
who want protection for their children from predators.”

Assemblymen Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, and Pedro Nava,
D-Santa
Barbara, have signed on to jointly carry the driver’s
license measure as part of a four-bill package aimed at sex offenders.

Those proposals are designed to help law enforcement authorities more
quickly respond when children are taken, including the formation of a
state rapid response team of experts to assist local authorities
responding to abductions.

Amber, 14, disappeared while on her way to school on Feb. 13, 2009.
Her body was not found until a year later. John Albert Gardner III, 31, a
convicted sex offender who had been released from parole supervision,
earlier this month pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Amber and
17-year-old Chelsea King,
17, of Poway. He is serving two life sentences without the possibility
of parole.

Chelsea’s parents, Kelly and Brent King, have been active in the
campaign to pass “Chelsea’s Law” that increases penalties for violent
sexual crimes. Assembly Bill 1844 goes before the Assembly
Appropriations Committee Friday.

Dubois and supporters plan to release his proposals Tuesday because
May 25 is National Missing Children’s Day, first proclaimed by President
Reagan in 1983.

Under Assembly Bill 589, all registered sex offenders would be issued
special driver’s licenses that would identify them as such. If they do
not drive, they must obtain a state-issued identification card, also
with a distinctive mark.

The licenses or identification cards would have to be carried “at all
times, outside of his or her place of residence,” the bill states.

Supporters say that will help police quickly identify sex offenders
and scrutinize circumstances such as a child as a passenger or a toy in
the back seat.

“The second they walk up to a vehicle they should know who they’re
dealing with,” Dubois said.

Also, businesses could voluntarily require identification at events
catering to children to ensure that sex offenders are not scouting for
their next victim, supporters say.

Nava and Cook agreed with Dubois that the measure will face stiff
resistance from civil libertarians and others who argue that tighter
restrictions will not necessarily make the streets safer. Opposition has
yet to emerge, given the newness of the proposals. Cost estimates have
not been prepared. Sen. Mark Leno, D-San
Francisco, a frequent critic of crime crackdowns, said
he had not seen the legislation.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Cook, adding law enforcement
authorities he has talked to welcome the license. “They really like it.
It gives them a chance to react quickly. It could make a big
difference.”

Said Nava, “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Legislature objects
to the reasonable approach. Then the citizens of this state will take
it upon themselves to get the results.”

Some states are ahead of California
. Delaware,
for example includes the letter “Y” on sex offender licenses. In Louisiana,
it’s “SEX OFFENDER” in all-capital orange letters.

Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, said his organization has not taken a position on
marking driver’s licenses.

“We haven’t analyzed the effect ... We’d have to know a lot more
about how it would help,” he said in a telephone interview.

But Allen is enthusiastic about other proposals to speed up
responses.

“Time is the enemy in searching for a missing child,” Allen said.

Less controversial, but far from a guaranteed signature by the
governor, are three other measures:

— Assembly Bill 1022 would establish within the Department of Justice
the “California Missing Children Rapid Response Team” that would be
available to help local police when children disappear. The team would
also assist local officials with protocols, programs and technologies
related to abductions.

— Assembly Bill 34 would require the state to file within two hours
information about a reported missing child under the age of 16 to the
Violent Crime Information Center and the National
Crime Information Center. The current requirement is
four hours.

— Assembly Bill 33 would require the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training to develop specialized guidelines and courses for
law enforcement related to investigating missing children cases. That
measure also seeks to make it easier for law enforcement to target sex
offenders who live within five miles of the scene of a crime.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who supports Chelsea’s Law, has not
reviewed the new measures and does not have a position, said a
spokeswoman.

Dubois has come up with a new proposal, which is much earlier in the
formative stages. He wants to prevent impact statements from being
released before victim families get to read them in court at sentencing.
Dubois’ statement was released before Gardner was sentenced on May 14.

“I truly felt victimized,” Dubois said. “I want a law so that doesn’t
happen to a victim’s family again.”

The parents of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, who was
abducted and murdered last year in northern San Diego County, have
announced legislation designed to find missing children more quickly and
keep a closer watch on sex offenders.

Amber's parents, Moe Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, announced the
proposed measures Tuesday at a noon news conference in Long
Beach. Their daughter went missing on Feb. 13, 2009, after last being
seen walking to class at Escondido High School.





Assemblymen Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) and Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley)
are sponsoring the four measures.

Amber's parents spent the last year meeting with police and
sheriff's officials around the state and learned there was no single,
consistent way that police respond to a report of a
missing child.

"They believed that had there been better protocols and practices,
that
their daughter could have been found alive," Nava said of Amber's
parents.

One bill would establish a missing child rapid response team in the
state attorney general's office that would help local law enforcement
agencies search for and recover abducted children in a timely manner.





A second bill would require registered sex offenders to be issued
driver's licenses or identification cards with distinguishing marks,
such as a colored stripe, and require them to carry the cards at all
times.

The third bill would require the state to establish training courses
and a checklist for how to handle cases of missing children and require
state officials to provide local law enforcement with a list of all sex
offenders within a five-mile radius of an abduction within two hours of
it being reported.

The fourth bill would require law enforcement agencies to report
credible reports of missing adults and children to state and national
databases within two hours, up from the current law of four hours.







John Albert Gardner III, a registered sex offender, was
sentenced to life in prison this month for raping and killing Amber
and Chelsea King, 17, who also was from northern San Diego County.
King, a senior at Poway High School, went missing on Feb. 25 after going
for a run near Lake Hodges.

State parole agents missed numerous chances to send a convicted child
molester back to prison before he raped and killed two San Diego-area
teenagers, the corrections department said Wednesday.John Albert
Gardner III wore a tracking device for a year before he finished parole
in September 2008, but his parole agent did not review the data because
he was considered a low-risk sex offender, Inspector General David Shaw
said.The data from the GPS ankle bracelet showed numerous
violations by Gardner, including the apparent commission of a new felony
by going to a state prison parking lot, the report said.He
repeatedly violated other parole conditions, including getting within
100 yards of places where children gather, that also could have put him
back in prison, the report said.Better monitoring "could have
sent Gardner back to prison, making it impossible for him to murder two
young girls and commit the attempted sexual assault," Shaw said in his
report. "The department did not identify Gardner's crime and parole
violations because it did not require parole agents to review the GPS
data."In addition, the public is endangered because the
department continues to poorly track 4,500 other sex offender parolees
who are not considered high-risk, Shaw said.After Gardner was
released from parole, he raped and murdered 17-year-old Chelsea King and
14-year-old Amber Dubois in San Diego County.Gardner, 31,
pleaded guilty to those crimes and was sentenced last month to life in
prison without the possibility of parole. He also pleaded guilty to a
separate charge of attempted rape.Gardner was a registered sex
offender off parole and living in Lake Elsinore at the time of the
attacks. In 2000, he was released after serving five years of a six-year
sentence for molesting a 13-year-old girl.Matthew Cate,
secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in a
letter to Shaw that the report criticized a parole policy that no
longer existed. The department changed its policy in March to more
actively supervise even parolees considered less dangerous.Previously,
the movements of lower-risk parolees were reviewed only when they were
suspected of a new crime or misconduct. Now agents are required to
randomly review their movements for two, 48-hour period each month.Shaw's
report said the new policy, "though improved, remains deficient"
because random reviews are unlikely to reveal violations. It still
ignores 87 percent of the GPS data collected for lower-risk offenders.Gardner
told the inspector general that he drove to Richard J. Donovan State
Prison on July 12, 2008, to drop off and pick up a friend so she could
visit a prison inmate.The San Diego County District Attorney's
Office told Shaw's investigators that prosecutors would have charged
Gardner with a third strike offense for visiting the prison, potentially
sending him to prison for 25 years to life.The report found
Gardner violated at least three other conditions of his parole on a
regular basis. The offenses included living within a half-mile of a
school, renting a storage facility and leaving his home in violation of a
curfew.In hindsight, Cate said, the answer would be to review
every offender's movements every day. But he said it was unclear how
this can be done, given limitations on technology and overworked parole
agents.Steps could include setting priorities for which
suspicious movements or electronic violation alerts should be
investigated or reviewing parolees' movements in higher volume to detect
patterns.

A man serving life in prison for the murders of two California
teenagers is sharing a prison unit with cult leader Charles Manson.Prison
officials said John Albert Gardner III was transferred last week to the
Corcoran State Prison near Bakersfield, which houses the state's only
protective housing unit.Gardner has his own cell but can
socialize with other inmates in the unit including Manson and Mikhail
Markhasev, who was convicted of killing Bill Cosby's son.Gardner
pleaded guilty in April to the murders of 17-year-old Chelsea King and
14-year-old Amber Dubois.Chelsea's body was found days after she
was attacked while running in a park in February. Amber's remains were
found in March, more than a year after she disappeared while walking to
school.

The Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday rejected legislation
proposed by the father of murdered Escondido teenager Amber Dubois that
would have required a distinct identifier on driver’s licenses for
convicted sex offenders.

Senators expressed deep reservations over the bill, noting it would
brand even minor offenders and didn’t include penalties for
noncompliance.

Further, experts said there is scant evidence that public safety
would be greatly improved.

“They brought up some points that we have to recognize are valid. We
will have to rework it,” Moe Dubois conceded after testifying at the
hearing. ”We knew this would be a tough one.”

The bill was rejected on a 5-2 vote split along party lines, with Democrats
opposed. State Sen. Christine
Kehoe, D-San Diego,
voted against the measure.

Fourteen-year-old daughter Amber was raped and murdered in February
2009 by convicted child molester John Albert Gardner III. In April, he
pleaded guilty to the crime along with raping and murdering 17-year-old
Chelsea King of Poway this past February. He is serving two life
sentences without the possibility of parole.

Dubois, teaming up with a bipartisan pair of lawmakers, has proposed a
package of measures that he said would speed police response to
abductions and help recover children before they are harmed further.

Assembly Bill 589, driver’s license measure, was the most
controversial of the four bills.

“My only child was murdered by a sex offender, I have nothing I can
protect except the children of this state,” Dubois said, adding he wants
to bring the bill back next year.

The legislation also would have required a designation on
state-issued identification cards. Registered sex offenders would have
had to carry a license of identification card with them at all times
outside their homes.

Driver’s licenses with specific characteristics are not unique in California.
Drivers under 18 are issued a license with a blue stripe because of
certain limitations. Those under 21 are provided a license with a red
stripe to make it easier for merchants to spot minors trying to buy
liquor. There is also a large “donor” and pink dot on licenses of those
enrolled in an organ registry.

Supporters say that will help police quickly identify sex offenders
and assess clues as to whether the person poses a danger, such as having
a child as a passenger or simply a toy or clothing in the back seat,

A few states have imposed similar requirements. For example, Delaware
includes the letter “Y” on sex offender licenses. In Louisiana,
it’s “SEX OFFENDER” in capital orange letters.

But the California measure ran into stiff opposition from several
opponents noting that it would stigmatize many who pose no risk of
attacking again and prevent them from finding jobs or otherwise leading
law-abiding lives.

“The worst of the worst offenders will simply choose not to (have) a
driver’s license,” said Ignacio Hernandez, representing the California
Attorneys For Criminal Justice.

Hernandez pointed out that police could quickly identify sex
offenders given that law enforcement data bases already link to those on
active parole.

The Sex Offender Management Board, an advisory panel to the governor
and lawmakers, also refused to endorse the measure, saying there is no
evidence that such identification reduces recidivism.

Also, the Department
of Motor Vehicles expressed concern over mistakenly
issuing a branded license to an innocent driver. DMV officials also said
such a significant change could force them to reopen a new contract
with a private vendor to produce licenses and identification cards at
about 1.4 cents each.

Dubois is also lobbying for three other bills, all of which are
before the Senate Public Safety Committee June 22:

• Assembly Bill 1022 would establish within the Department of Justice
the “California Missing Children Rapid Response Team” to help local
police when children disappear. The team also would assist local
officials in developing abduction-related protocols, programs and
technologies.

• Assembly Bill 34 would require the state to file within two hours
information about a reported missing child under the age of 16 to the
Violent Crime Information Center and the National
Crime Information Center. Four hours is the current
maximum wait.

• Assembly Bill 33 would require the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training to establish guidelines for law enforcement
related to investigating missing children cases. That would also make it
easier for law enforcement to target sex offenders who live within five
miles of the scene of a crime.

Meanwhile, “Chelsea’s law” faces a major test before the Senate
Public Safety Committee June 29.

Chelsea’s parents, Kelly and Brent King, have been active in the
campaign to pass the law named after their daughter.

Assembly Bill 1844 includes a one-strike penalty that eliminates any
chance of parole for those guilty of a forcible sex crime against a
minor under the age of 14 if the child is physically injured in other
ways.

The legislation also would impose stiffer penalties for other sex
crimes against those under 18 and bars predators from parks without
prior permission of authorities.

Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who supports Chelsea’s Law, has not
reviewed the measures proposed by Moe Dubois and does not have a
position, said a spokeswoman.

A benefit for slain Escondido teen Amber Dubois is planned for Saturday, June 26 at Kit Carson Park. However, a sponsorship of $439 is needed for
the show to go on, as an insurance policy with the city of Escondido
still needs to be purchased.
Proceeds from the event will
be donated to the Dubois' Foundation, "No More," to assist families with
missing children. Two bills sponsored by the "No More" passed the
Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday with a unanimous vote.
The first bill, the ‘Missing
Child Notification Act,’ would reduce law enforcement’s reporting
timeframe of a missing child case into the National Crime Information
Center from 4 hours to 2 hours.
The second bill, the
‘Department of Justice Missing Person Resource Coordinator,’ would
establish a position in the Department of Justice for an individual to
coordinate all local, state, and federal resources available to law
enforcement when a child is reported missing.
A final bill, which establishes written procedures
for law enforcement to follow when a child is reported missing, will be
heard on Tuesday, June 29.
A full day of music is
planned for the event on Saturday, with over fifteen artists scheduled
to perform throughout the day. In addition, various vendors, painters,
jugglers, and balloon makers will be around to entertain people of all ages.
The event is being organized by Michelle Quintanar and Willie Tuckerson, a local couple who
stepped up to organize the first Amber Dubois benefit.
“I just love them all, they’re just so nice,” Quintanar said of her interactions with the
Dubois family. “It’s just a wonderful family. I have children and
grandchildren and I just can’t even imagine the pain they’re going
through. I don’t want Amber to ever be forgotten so we’ll do this every year for her.”
While the event is free, event organizers are still hoping to raise a good amount of money. A
dedication and opening ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. and entertainment begins at 11 a.m.
For more information or if you would like to sponsor, call event organizers Quintanar or Tuckerson
at 760-520-4135 or 760-658-2688.

The parents of a Southern California teenager who was raped and
murdered by a convicted child molester have filed damage claims against
the state, according to documents released Thursday to The Associated
Press.Maurice Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, the parents of
14-year-old Amber Dubois, alleged the state corrections department
missed chances to send John Albert Gardner III back to prison while he
was on parole. They are seeking unspecified damages of more than
$25,000.The documents, which were filed June 10, were disclosed
in response to the AP's inquiry.Gardner is serving a life
sentence after pleading guilty in April to murdering the girl after he
was off parole. He also admitted to raping and murdering 17-year-old
Chelsea King.King family spokeswoman Sara Fraunces said the
family will not comment because Thursday was their daughter's birthday.
The King family has not filed a claim, said Lynn Margherita, a
spokeswoman for the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board.Amber
Dubois was kidnapped, raped and murdered in February 2009 as she was
walking to Escondido High School in the San Diego area. Gardner led
police to her body in March 2010 after his arrest in Chelsea's death.The
DuBois family's damage claims were made public the same day state
lawmakers approved a $20 million payment to the family of Jaycee Dugard,
who was kidnapped as a girl and held captive in Northern California for
18 years by a paroled sex offender, Phillip Garrido. The state agreed
to pay the money to Dugard and her two daughters.The allegations
by Amber's parents are similar, alleging that parole agents failed to do
their job.Gardner "violated his parole at least five times while
on probation (sic) for molesting and beating a teenage girl in 2000,
and each time he was left on the street," said the claims filed by
attorney Robin Sax. "Our claim follows the meeting (of the) California
Sex Offender Management Board which questioned why John was not sent
back to prison for parole violations in 2007 and 2008. Had he been
returned to prison, he would have been evaluated for commitment to a
state mental hospital as a sexually violent predator."Margherita
said the board had not yet begun processing the claims. She said it was
unclear if they will be negotiated in the same way as the Dugard family
settlement.Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for the state
attorney general, and Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Thursday they could
not comment on pending claims.

The mother of murdered Escondido teenager Amber Dubois has launched a website in memory of her daughter.

The Team Amber Rescue site, at http://teamamberrescue.com, was put together by Carrie McGonigle to honor her daughter and to help train people in ways to search for missing children.

Amber disappeared while walking to Escondido High School the morning of Feb. 13. 2009.

According to the Web site:

“Reported missing, the police declined to issue an Amber Alert and
maintained that she was likely a runaway although possibly she could
have been abducted. Carrie knew her daughter was someone’s victim, and,
praying that she was still alive, worked with family, friends and
volunteers to find her with searches on foot, on horse, door to door,
websites, mailers, posters, media, psychics, and, even knocking on doors
of known sex offenders.

“After almost 13 month of searching, on March 6, 2010, Amber’s
remains were found because her murderer had raped and killed again. The
registered sex offender repeatedly violated his parole but was left free
to drive the quiet streets near three schools. He admitted he had
snatched, raped and stabbed her to death within 90 minutes.

“Carrie and Team Amber Rescue want to be there with immediate help
whenever a child goes missing but you need to be prepared for such an
emergency.”

John Albert Gardner III pleaded guilty in April to raping and killing
Amber and Poway teenager Chelsea King. He is currently serving two life
sentences and will never be eligible for parole.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs “Dubois” bills


Amber Dubois, a 14-year-old was kidnapped from an Escondido street in February 2009, and Amber Dubois' body was found earlier this year. Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger signed the “Dubois” bill which outlines three basic measures to bring an abducted or kidnapped child home before he or she falls prey to horrific crimes like rape or child abuse. The three measures are: · Assembly Bill 34 requires the state to report abduction to a national tracking system within two hours, instead of the current four hours. · Assembly Bill 33 requires improved law enforcement coordination across jurisdictions to improve responses to abductions. · Assembly Bill 1022 creates a position of “director of missing children operations” to oversee programs aimed at reducing abductions. Amber Dubois’s father, Moe Dubois said, “We’re ecstatic, hopefully this will help.” Moe Dubois was the one who supported this legislation to be passed in the memory of his daughter Amber Dubois so that in the future, appropriate measures are taken. He also said, “When a child is being taken from you a mile a minute, every minute counts.”

Amber Dubois would be 16 now. The teen, who was raped and murdered by a registered sexoffender in February 2009, would be a high school junior, andfinally old enough to drive. On her birthday Monday, against a backdrop of balloons, candles,flower bouquets and a banner that read "Sweet Sixteen," about 100people gathered on Stanley Avenue, the quiet Escondido street whereshe was kidnapped 20 months ago. "I know she is here with us," Amber's little sister, Allison, 7,said. "I know she's watching all the time." The crowd laughed, and cried, as Amber's friends and familyspoke of the teenager's spunk, her piercing blue eyes and her loveof animals. Holding a votive candle, friend Hailey Kosinski called Amber "abig influence on my life." "She had a lot of hope and a lot of joy ---- just like thiscandle lights up the darkness," said Hailey, 16. Amber's mother, Carrie McGonigle, held the birthday gathering atthe same spot where Amber had been abducted as she walked toEscondido High School just before 7 a.m. Feb. 13, 2009. Amber's killer, John Albert Gardner III, is serving a lifesentence for his admission he raped and killed Amber, and thenraped and killed Poway resident Chelsea King, 17, in February. Monday marked Amber's first birthday since her killer ledauthorities to her remains, which he had buried in a remote stretchof Pala. "We all love and miss Amber lots," McGonigle told the gatheredcrowd. "It's great to see all the support. Thank you very much forhelping me get through this day." McGonigle believes Amber ended up on Stanley Avenue ---- whichis a diversion from the path she regularly walked to school ---- tomeet up with a friend to make the trek to campus together. But her friend had left a little early that day. On Monday, the friend, who asked that she only be identified asJennifer, was among the faces at the birthday party. She said she initially blamed herself for what happened toAmber. "I was going to call her to walk to school that morning,"Jennifer said. Jennifer said she and Amber had once scrawled their names in wetcement on the back patio of Jennifer's home. Last year, while the teen was still missing, Amber's familythrew a birthday party for her, complete with cake and balloons atEscondido's Dixon Lake Recreation Area under a clear sky near wheresearch and rescue operations concentrated in the early days ofAmber's disappearance. This time, the birthday party in the middle of Stanley Avenuenear Broadway marked the site of her abduction. Escondido policebriefly closed the road to traffic for the event. Corrina Douglas, 54, lives near the site and made it a point toattend Amber's birthday celebration, even though she did not knowthe girl or her family. "It haunts me to no end. That animal drove right past my house.That poor girl was in such danger, but there was no force of natureto wake us up. We didn't know that evil whooshed right past ourhouse," Douglas said. Guests at the street party, which started about 9 p.m., weretreated to cupcakes ---- a sea of them with white frostingsurrounding chocolate cupcakes that spelled out "16" ---- tales ofAmber, and a serenade by a boy who McGonigle said adored Amber. The boy, Nate Petersen, 18, hushed the crowd as he sang "I WillBe Your Friend." Afterward, he stood off to the side, in tears, as a friend ofAmber's family embraced him. "Amber is the greatest," said Kari "Junior" Moore. "She willnever be forgotten."

The Amber Dubois Story

Last updated: Sunday, November 7, 2010

(CBS) for one year and half from the time that 14-year-old Amber Dubois first went missing, “48 hours” was frightened by her extended family. You will learn how the tension of her disappearance she wore down, and for a time, tore them apart.

It has been 22 days since Amber Dubois disappeared, and the desperate search for the straight-A student is in high gear.

More than 400 volunteers are combing 200 square miles of countryside on foot.

The crisis has put together a broken family: Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle, Amber’s father, Moe Dubois, and Dave Cave, the man now lives with Carrie.

“Every morning she’d wake me up before they go to school and give me a kiss … and tell me she loved me,” says Carrie “48 Hours Mystery” correspondent Troy Roberts.

Amber lives in my house. And I come home to her every day. She’s my daughter to me. She’s my girl, “says Dave Cave.

It is the spirit of a special child that keeps hope alive.

“My daughter Amber is my baby,” Moe says Dubois. “She’s a little girl who is always a little grin on her face, teasing me all the time … give me a hard time about my receding hairline. That’s my child.”

“She loves to read,” adds Carrie. “She has friends at school and stuff, but they do not go to the mall. She hates shopping. She did not wear make-up … she’s a bookworm.”

But as the days pass without interruption in the case, the stress starts taking a toll on all three parents.

“This is Carrie’s heart from her tears,” Cave from Dave. “She’s just – I hate what it does to her.”

“It consumes you, you know,” says Carrie. “You do not know where your daughter, your child is. It just makes you whole, your whole world changes.”

“I do not want to make it to one month,” says Moe. “I want a hug tomorrow. I want a hug tonight. I want to see someone tonight call us and say, ‘We’ve got her, she’s coming home.”

The mystery of the disappearance Amber Dubois’ began on the day before Valentine’s Day, February 13, 2009.

“Amber, she had waited one year for this day. She’s in animals, because they are still in diapers,” says Carrie. “Her science project is to raise a baby lamb. She was so excited when I left that morning, she’s like, ‘Thanks, Mom, I love you so much, thank you for the lamb.” Amber was last seen about 7 hours just blocks from Escondido High School.

“She was seen by two different parents walk down the street,” says Carrie Roberts. “She walked on her own for the first time … and the second time a man or a child beside her.”

When Amber did not show up at home by 4:30 that afternoon, her stepfather, Dave, looking for her.

“I went to her first class and her teacher told me that she had not shown up to class and immediately I knew something was wrong,” he says.

I do not know where Amber is “a phone call from Carrie saying it”. [They] hysterical. In tears, “recalls Moe.

Her family immediately went into panic mode, searching, checking Amber’s route to school, plastering the city with flyers and knocking on every door in the neighborhood.

Nobody in the family, Amber is ready to give up hope – even the smallest member, 7-year-old Dave and Carrie’s daughter, Allison.

“They hear people say kidnapped and she’ll freak kind of, you know.” Amber is kidnapped, “and she wants to search, so we walk with the dogs and we go looking for her sister because she wants to. She wants to participate in “said Carrie.

Amber’s father, Moe, puts his life on hold, taking a leave from his job as an electrical engineer in Los Angeles and move to a nearby hotel with his partner, Rebecca Smith.

“Most of my night ended with about two or three hours of crying,” he says. “I have to release my point … If volunteers and everyone around here are starting to see my frustration … than it is to trickle through them.” As the days pass, hope is fading, replaced by a growing suspicion that Amber could have met with foul play in her own home.

Escondido police begin to focus on a family member in particular: Amber’s stepfather, Dave Cave.

“How soon after her disappearance, did you know a person of interest?” Dave Roberts asks.

“I do not think it really mean to me for a few weeks,” he replies. “The main seeker said,” You can not be involved in the search, because you do not want the person who will be Amber. ” And I looked at them like, ‘Why not? ” And they said: ‘If the person you find something, they are going to pin on you. ”

Dave, who was the last person to see Amber, “48 hours” went by what he says happened the morning she disappeared:

“Amber and got ready to go to school on time, without warning, because she knew she got her check to get her lamb,” he says.

“Over time I had finished dressing, Amber came into my room and said, ‘Dave, you got my check on the lamb?” And I said, ‘I’ll give it to you before I go sweetie. ” So she came several times and I think it was the fourth time she asked for the check. I said, ‘Honey, I will send the check before I leave, just go down. You will have the control. I promise . Just relax. ”

“So I came down and I sat down at the table … and I wrote the check for the lamb … I went to the check down on the arm of the sofa and Amber sat on the floor … she was eat a bowl of cereal. And I said, “Honey, here’s your check for your lamb. I’ll see you later I love you.” And I turned around and walked out the door and went about my day. ”

That was the last of Dave saw Amber.
But it was what this man had not done routine was quickly made him a major suspect. Dave Cave did not show up for work that day. He says he went to the gym and then home to do his taxes.

“When I came back to the house, she was gone. So I thought she went to school, should have been in school then,” he tells Roberts.

While he was at home, Dave somehow did not get the message from the school secretary that Amber alert – the girl with the perfect attendance – failed to show up at school.

“Fairly early in the research was suspicion swirling around your partner, Dave,” comments Carrie Roberts. “But eventually, you became suspicious as well.”

“You know, Dave came to work that day and brought me some chocolate covered strawberries and roses a few days,” she says. “It was Valentine’s Day – it was the 13th addition to Dave not celebrate Valentine’s Day … And he stuck around for like 45 minutes that day and I am, I had to ask him to leave … I’m like,” Dave, what are you doing here. go. “

Another concern for researchers centers on some tension between Dave and Amber who led the family counseling.

“Amber and I do not always get along perfectly,” to Dave. “In one house there are rules. She’s a teenager. She does not follow the rules. There’s a certain amount of conflict.”

“They really do not talk for the whole month before Amber disappeared,” says Carrie. “It was a constant bickering.”

Dave claims that the night before Amber disappeared, she finally called a truce.

“I know the night before they went missing and we went shopping and went to the bookstore and stuff and we had a really good time,” he recalls.

Amber would possibly have said or done something the next morning set off with Dave?
Escondido police take a hard look at Dave and the answers he gives the police will increase Carrie’s suspicions further.

Within a few days of the disappearance Amber Dubois, “Escondido police start zeroing in on Dave Cave, the husband of the missing 14-year-old phoned her stepfather.

“When I went for the initial interview with police, they took pictures of my hands. Take off your shirt, picture arms, my back, my chest … to make sure I do not have spots on me.”

“If you ask the question directly detectives – Amber did you murder?” Troy Roberts asks.

“They never … I do not think she used the word kill. She immediately asked,” Do you know Amber’s whereabouts. Do you know anything about the disappearance of Amber’s. ” That sort of thing. And they ask the polygraph test if asked. ”

Dave has eight times the polygraph exam. “They had nothing to go” he says Roberts. “They are clearly looking for something to go.”

“But they kept coming back to you,” says Roberts.

“Statistics point to me. Statistics indicate the man of the household that the child is living in.”

“Did the police ever come to you and say:” We believe Dave may be responsible for Amber’s disappearance, “Roberts asked Carrie.

“Have they ever come right out and say that? No. Do they hint that? Absolutely,” she says.

“Well, this is someone you trust, I would assume.”

“Hmmm. I trust,”

“You loved him?”

“Uh-huh. He is the father of my child.”

“But you also believe he was capable of murder?”

“I had doubts.”

“Did you ever ask Carrie to the question:” Were you responsible for her disappearance? ” Dave Roberts asks.

“Oh, absolutely,” he replies.

“She asked you – this is the woman you’re in love with him and she suspected that you might as well.?”

Dave nods yes. He admits he does not know where their relationship is headed.

Six weeks after Amber disappeared, Carrie makes a heartbreaking decision. She picks up and moves out, with Allison, the daughter she shares with Dave.

Asked why they decided to move, Carrie says, “I had to … Because I could not lie in the same bed with the man I thought might have done something with my daughter. Do I honestly believe that this is premeditated Dave, that he might have? No. Do I think that maybe Amber overheard him five or six times over the control, as she did and there was perhaps a confrontation, maybe she fell down the stairs … I do not know . I can not tell you what went through my head. But did I think that Dave planned to kill Amber? Absolutely not. Do I think an accident would have happened? Yes. And he hid Yes. ”

“I feel like I’m 100 years old. It’s taken a tremendous toll on everyone. It’s just destroyed everyone’s life,” says Dave, who neglects his scaffolding business, which begins to crumble. “I was the driving force in my business and I stopped driving … and we pay the price … I do not think we make it through.”

Amber’s father, Moe Dubois, loses his job and his savings financing the search. No leads in the case, the whole family lives in a constant state of paranoia.

Dave says he is afraid that something might happen to Allison.

“My daughter is not pretty much out of my eyes as they with me,” he says. “She does not go to the playground … without anyone sitting in the front yard … I just, I have lost faith in people.”

In August, six months after Amber disappeared, Carrie’s mother hires a team of live scent search and recovery dogs Amber’s steps to return to the last day she was seen.

'I will kill, I know I will... I am an animal': The chilling TV warning from the man who murdered Chelsea King and Amber Dubois

8th November 2010

A man convicted of raping and murdering two teenage girls said he is an 'animal' and warned he would kill again if he were freed.
In a chilling TV confession, John Gardner said: 'I never want to be let out. I will kill. I know I will.

'I am the type that needs to be locked up forever. I am an animal.'


'I will kill again': John Gardner makes his chilling confession on CBS's 48 hours




Amber DuBois was just 14 when Gardner abducted her, raped her and murdered her

Gardner, 31, was jailed for life last year after admitting killing 17-year-old Chelsea King and 14-year-old Amber Dubois in separate abductions in California.
A guilty plea spared the convicted sex offender from being sentenced to death.

He also pleaded guilty to attempting to rape another woman who was jogging in San Diego.
Candice Moncayo spoke at his sentencing. She managed to fight Gardner off by punching him in the nose.
Through tears, she said she had come to the sentencing to 'ask him how his nose is'.


True face of a murder: Gardner reacts during the trial to the testimony of Candice Moncayo, whom he attempted to rape but who escaped after punching him in the nose. A tearful Candice said she wanted to ask him 'how his nose was'. The fury on Gardner's face is palpable as he protests to his lawyer






Trying to move on: Amber's mother Carrie McGonigle said she is trying to cope for the sake of her seven-year-old daughter

The fury on Gardner's face was palpable.

Gardner, who was jailed for life without parole, said he will die in prison - either by killing himself or at the hands of other prisoners so disgusted by his crimes.
'Eventually someone will come and get to me,' Gardner says.
'That will be a release for me,' he told the CBS show 48 Hours Mystery on the weekend.
'It's either going to be that or I end up killing myself, one of the two. I can't stand to be confined.
'I'm like an animal. Just like they said. I'm an animal.'
Gardner abducted Chelsea, a talented student and cross country runner, while she was jogging in the city of San Diego on February 25.

He raped and strangled her before dumping her body in a shallow grave by a lake.

The convicted sex offender was arrested within days and soon after led authorities to Amber's body who had been missing since February last year.

Gardner admitted kidnapping, raping and stabbing her.
At the time of his arrest, Gardner was a convicted sex offender on parole with a 10-year criminal record.
He had recently spent six years in prison for beating and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.


FBI agents searching for the body of Amber DuBois

Gardner said he had been violent since he was a child and has taken countless medicines.

'I was on about 16 to 20 different medications throughout my life,' he said. 'Lithium, Tagretol, Melarel.'

These are drugs usually prescribed to control severe psychiatric disorders, but Gardner says nothing has helped him control his rage.
'I've done things to my family members, I've hurt them, I've hit people, I've beaten people, I've done a lot of things that I regret in my life and I wish I could take back. But I still do the same things over and over again,' he said.

'I'm on meds right now and you can see the anger in my eyes just trying to talk. I get angry, I blow up, I explode.

'I don't know how to describe it. I feel like I'm out of control with myself at times and I go and I do things that I regret for the rest of my life.'

Amber Dubois' parents also took part in the TV show and admitted they have struggled to cope.

Her mother said she is trying to concentrate on raising her seven-year-old daughter.

'I'll never forget, you know,' said Carrie McGonigle. 'I'm taking things slow.'

A law enforcement task force that formed after the arrest ofJohn Gardner, the registered sex offender who raped and murderedtwo North County girls, concluded he probably didn't kill anyoneelse, although officials say he admitted to trying to kidnapothers. But Riverside County prosecutors said last week that they arestill reviewing whether Gardner, 31, who is serving three lifeterms in prison without the possibility of parole, should becharged for allegedly attempting to force a Lake Elsinore girl intohis car at gunpoint. That crime happened some eight months after Gardner abducted14-year-old Amber Dubois as she walked to school in Escondido inFebruary 2009, and four months before he killed Chelsea King, 17,along a Lake Hodges running trail Feb. 25. The John Gardner Task Force formed shortly after Gardner's Feb.28 arrest for King's rape and murder. It included 30 investigators from nine agencies, including thesheriff's departments in San Diego and Riverside counties, theEscondido Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigationsand the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It quietly disbanded a few months later. Within days of his arrest, Gardner had agreed to lead detectivesto Amber Dubois' remains in a remote area of Pala. She had been missing for more than a year, and her disappearancewas a mystery until Gardner's arrest. Because Gardner had lived in Escondido, Vista, Rancho Bernardoand Lake Elsinore for years, authorities were concerned that thepredator might have killed or hurt others. So detectives from around the region met for several weeks toreview Gardner's activities since his release from prison in2005. He served a five-year sentence for sexually assaulting andbeating a 13-year-old neighbor girl at his mother's house in RanchoBernardo. "We looked at girls between the ages of 12 and 25 reportedmissing from San Diego County and Riverside County, and we tried todetermine whether he was in the area when they disappeared," saidLt. Dennis Brugos, who heads the San Diego County Sheriff'sHomicide Unit and was a member of the task force. Gardner spoke openly with investigators after his May 14sentencing, Brugos said. He talked about other abduction attempts and minor crimes, suchas assaults on drugs dealers, but he said he did not rape or murderother victims. "Everybody seems to get the feeling he was pretty forthright inwhat he was saying, because he did mention some other things andbecause he did mention some possible attempts," Brugos said. Investigators reviewed cell phone and financial records andglobal positioning system data from the electronic monitoringdevice Gardner wore his last year of parole, between September 2007and September 2008. They are satisfied Gardner is not linked to any missing girls oryoung women, Brugos said. The FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, which specializes in serialkillers, also analyzed Gardner. Its conclusions have not been released. While it's possible Gardner found a victim whom no one knew wasin the area, such as a runaway from another state, the task forceexhausted leads on missing girls from this region and disbandedfeeling confident Gardner did not claim any of them, Brugossaid. The lieutenant said Gardner admitted in interviews that he hadmade some ineffective attempts to snatch other victims. But Brugos couldn't recall if he confessed to showing a gun to aLake Elsinore girl on Oct. 28, 2009, demanding she get in hiscar. The girl ran away unhurt; a sketch released of her assailantlooked uncannily like Gardner, and the description of theabductor's car matched his gold 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix seizedafter his arrest. In May, Riverside County sheriff's authorities said they wouldask the district attorney's office there to charge Gardner with thecrime. The case is still under review, and prosecutors are awaitingadditional information from San Diego County before ruling whetherGardner was responsible, Riverside County District Attorney'sspokesman John Hall said Thursday. If Gardner did try to abduct the Lake Elsinore girl, thenprosecutors must decide whether to file charges against a man whowon't face more prison time, even if he's found guilty, Hallsaid. In Escondido, after Gardner's arrest, detectives were mostconcerned with linking him to Amber Dubois' disappearance, Lt.Craig Carter said. They essentially knew Gardner killed her ---- he led authoritiesto the missing teen's body in exchange for a promise thatprosecutors would not use it against him ---- but Escondidodetectives weren't able to build other evidence to prove heabducted or murdered the girl. In reviewing phone records, interviewing Gardner's close tiesand acquaintances, scouring for witnesses, searching his cars andresidences, nothing established what the Escondido killer had done,Carter said. Ultimately, the case resolved with Gardner admitting to Amber'skilling and pleading guilty to her murder and King's, as well as anassault on a Rancho Bernardo jogger who escaped, in exchange for asentence of life in prison, not execution. Like other members of the Gardner Task Force, Escondidodetectives also wanted to know whether he was responsible for anymissing women or suspicious deaths in the city, Carter said. Police concluded he wasn't. "No stone was unturned when it came to missing people orunsolved homicides," Carter said. Gardner was nowhere near Sheila Lopez's Emerald Heights homewhen the 71-year-old Alzheimer's patient wandered away from home inAugust 2008, Carter said. She hasn't been seen since, despite extensive terrain searchesand numerous fliers posted about her disappearance. Nor was Gardner linked to the still-unsolved death of43-year-old Martha Lopez Perez, Carter said. The Escondido mother of two was last seen on surveillance tapeleaving an AMVETS hall on East Valley Parkway in December 2007. A bicyclist discovered her skeletal remains almost three monthslater in a remote, brushy area of Jesmond Dene Park in northernEscondido. Her cause of death was unclear. Although investigators suspectsomeone killed her, there was never enough evidence to classify thedeath as a homicide, suicide or accident, according to a medicalexaminer's report. Escondido police worked with state parole officials to reviewGardner's whereabouts at the time the women disappeared, Cartersaid. Gardner was monitored by GPS when both women went missing; theelectronic records, which show Gardner's track on a map for anygiven day, showed neither Lopes nor Perez could have been hisvictims, he said.

For 13 months they lived the hell of not knowing what happened to their daughter, Amber Dubois.

“Every day of not knowing is devastating,” Moe Dubois said. “Every day of not knowing is equal to a month of knowing.”

“It’s 100 times worse,” said Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle. “Your
mind plays such games with you. I never lost my faith that she was still
alive, but then all my thoughts would go from there: What’s happening
to her? How much is she suffering?

“Knowing that she didn’t suffer that long and knowing that she was safe all that time was such a deep relief.”

Two years ago today, Feb. 13, a rainy Friday morning, 14-year-old Amber never made it to classes at Escondido High School.

Within 90 minutes after being abducted from along a side road, about a
half-mile north of the school, she had been raped and stabbed to death
by John Albert Gardner III, a previously convicted rapist who a year
later would kill Chelsea King of Poway and finally be caught.

The “craziness” that had consumed McGonigle while Amber’s fate was
unknown, and during the months later as the drama of Chelsea and Amber
unfolded publicly in court and in the media, finally calmed in June.

One day, she said, everything came crashing down and for two weeks
she couldn’t get out of bed. It was just as a psychologist had told her
it would be: The grieving would truly begin and reality would set in.

“For 15 months I’d done nothing but run around crazy,” she said. “Then, suddenly, it was like this is what life is about.”

She never returned to work at a printing company in San Marcos and
now collects disability as she pursues her new passion — forming a
private search-and-rescue team to help find girls like Amber and
Chelsea.

Moe Dubois, who lives in Orange County with his partner, Rebecca
Smith, interacts little with Carrie these days. Moe and Rebecca are
trying to move on, but it’s been difficult.

“The past two years have thrown us into financial ruin,” he said.
“Going back to work was very, very difficult for me.” He’s working part
time for the same company he has for more than a decade as an estimator
of computer and fiber optic communication systems.

He and Rebecca established the More Kids organization, and Dubois is
now devoted to lobbying for legislation to protect children. Last year,
three state laws were created with Dubois’ backing. One requires the
state to report an abduction to a national tracking system within two
hours instead of four; another requires better law enforcement
coordination to improve abduction response times, training and
procedures; and a third creates the position of “director of missing children operations” to oversee programs.

“With all my heart I want to pursue legislation,” he said. “The only
problem is legislation doesn’t pay. Not a penny. And it costs a lot.”

Both Dubois and McGonigle spoke with Gardner before he was sent to
prison, where he will remain until he dies after pleading guilty in
April to raping and killing Amber and Chelsea. Neither ever wants to
speak with him again, and both were sickened when CBS’ “48 Hours” aired a
piece in November about the case that included an interview with
Gardner.

McGonigle wanted answers from Gardner and got them. She felt it gave
her closure. She finally knew how Amber was abducted and what her last
minutes alive were like. She said she believed most of what he told her.

Gardner couldn’t look McGonigle in the eyes while they spoke.

He told her he thought he was seeing a ghost when he first saw
McGonigle in the courtroom a few weeks earlier when he pleaded guilty.
She looked so much like Amber, he said.

“When I left (the jail), he was curled up in a full sweat, crying. He
was a wreck, and I was perfectly happy with that,” she said.

During the year and a month of not knowing what happened to Amber,
McGonigle, Dubois and a small army of volunteers plastered much of
Southern California
and beyond with more than 300,000 missing posters. For months they
seemed to be in every convenience store window, every gas station.

McGonigle said Gardner told her everywhere he went he saw Amber’s
face, that it haunted him daily. But he didn’t want to return to prison
so he kept silent. And then killed again.

McGonigle has formed a group called Team Amber Rescue, which is
training to become auxiliary searchers for when a child or adult goes
missing. Later this week about eight members of Team Amber are scheduled
to travel to Texas to help with the search for 13-year-old Hailey Dunn,
who has been missing since Dec. 27.

McGonigle has also become a confidant to other mothers whose children
are gone. She’s there to comfort them and to hug them and to let them
know they are not alone. Just recently she went to Riverside to comfort a
woman whose daughter had been abducted a few days earlier. “She was
hugging me and thanking me,” McGonigle said. “She said she had been lost
before I showed up.”

Amber’s parents say they have no ill will toward Escondido police and
their search. Some conflicts arose during the year of Amber’s
disappearance, but they said they now realize the police did what they
could given what little information they had. Indeed, the few leads,
based on eyewitnesses who thought they saw Amber walking along Broadway
just north of the school that morning, turned out to be wrong.

They also said they have no problem with Gardner’s sentence.

“There is no death penalty in California,” Dubois said. “He’ll die
faster in general population than he will by a needle. He’s off the
streets. He can’t do it again. What more can you ask? I mean, sure, I’d
like to have a week with him, but that’s never going to happen.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/13/amber-dubois-parents-search-solace/