Chelsea King, 17, Missing 2-25-2010 Rancho Bernadino CA (BODY FOUND)

[Tracygirl]

Yea b is the joggers attack. What is D? hmm don't recall

[Northern Rose]

close up

[klaasend]

According to SignonSanDiego, Chelsea's body was found here:



http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/02/reports-body-found-lake-hodges/

[klaasend]

Northern 

[Northern Rose]

Body found at Lake Hodges

A body has been found in a shallow grave near Lake Hodges and San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said there is a “strong likelihood” that it is missing Poway teenager Chelsea King.

Gore said the body was found shortly after 1 p.m. by investigators about 10 to 15 feet from a tributary that led to the lake -- an area that had been searched extensively and is about a half-mile from a parking lot where her locked car was found Thursday.

Gore said he informed Chelsea’s parents before holding a news conference just before 4 p.m.

“Obviously they’re devastated,” he said. “They were holding out hope as we all were that we’d find her alive.”

Investigators have been searching the area for Chelsea since she disappeared Thursday from the nearby Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

The five-day search involved more than 4,000 volunteers who combed the area in and around the park looking for clues.

John Albert Gardner III, 30, a registered sex offender from Lake Elsinore, has been arrested on suspicion of rape and murder in Chelsea’s disappearance. He is being held in the downtown Central Jail and has an arraignment hearing Wednesday.

Prosecutors might divulge some or all of the facts that led to the arrest of Gardner at the arraignment. It often comes during the portion of the hearing when bail is set, and a prosecutor summarizes facts and evidence against a defendant in order to justify a bail amount.

The search for Chelsea focused on a 4-square-mile area near Lake Hodges after authorities said evidence led them there. Divers sifted the lake’s depths Tuesday while investigators searched the shoreline for clues.

Hundreds of volunteers also continued the search for Chelsea, a 17-year-old Poway High School student, in the surrounding areas Tuesday morning. They stuck to their message -- “Bring Chelsea Home” -- even though the unspoken fear was that it may not be possible to bring her home alive.

One couple, James and Vicki Byrne, said they had no choice but to come and help as the search entered its fifth day.

“I’ve got a son and daughter and two grandkids and I can’t just sit around at home,” said Vicki Byrne of Clairemont. “I’d rather do something productive, make a difference.”

The investigation into the sex offender suspected of abducting Chelsea widened as authorities linked him to a December assault and probed whether he had a role in last year’s disappearance of Escondido teenager Amber Dubois.

San Diego police Capt. Jim Collins said Gardner has been tied to a Dec. 27 attack on a jogger in the same park, but it was not through DNA evidence. He declined to say how the link was made, but that they were working with police in Colorado Springs, where the jogger lives.

The San Diego police crime lab over the weekend rushed to test a DNA swab taken from the elbow of the victim of the December attack but came back with no suspect DNA, only the victim’s, Collins said.

The 22-year-old jogger, Candice, told officers she had used her bare elbow to knock her assailant in the face, possibly breaking his nose.

“We thought we could get something good on that, but unfortunately not,” Collins said.

The DNA sample was not tested earlier because it was considered an attempted robbery, which is not as high on the crime lab’s priority list as other violent crimes, Collins said. As of December, the lab’s DNA unit was dealing with a backlog of about 500 various cases.

Gardner is also under investigation for possible involvement in the case of Amber Dubois, a 14-year-old who disappeared while walking to Escondido High School on Feb. 13, 2009, also is under investigation.

Gardner’s mother and stepfather live in a townhouse on Matinal Road in the Westwood neighborhood of Rancho Bernardo, near the park. As recently as November 2009, Gardner registered as a sex offender at an Escondido address, two miles from Escondido High School, near where Amber went missing.

In 2000, Gardner was convicted of a forcible lewd act on a child and false imprisonment after a 13-year-old neighbor girl accused him of repeatedly punching her in the face and touching her private parts. He was sentenced to six years in prison and served five years before he was released in September 2005. He completed probation in 2008.

Court records show that the psychiatrist who interviewed Gardner in that case said the man’s callous attitude and lack of remorse made him “an extremely poor candidate for any sexual offender treatment.”

“It is my opinion that (the defendant) would be a continued danger to underage girls in the community,” said Dr. Matthew Carroll.

Prosecutors initially charged Gardner with more violent sex crimes that could have resulted in a sentence of more than 30 years because the terms would have been served consecutively. A plea deal meant the maximum he could have faced was 10 years and eight months in prison.

Carroll recommended the maximum sentence, but a sentencing memorandum from the District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors asked for a six-year sentence to resolve the case without a trial and spare the victim from testifying.

A candlelight vigil for Chelsea had been set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Poway’s St. Michael Catholic Church, 15546 Pomerado Rd. It wasn’t clear if it would still be held now that a body has been found.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/02/reports-body-found-lake-hodges/?imw=Y

[sebastian]

This is sickening! My heart goes out to Chelsea's friends and family. I cannot even begin to imagine their horror and sadness. RIP Chelsea. May justice actually work for you!

[Adam In California]

Well.  I get to sit here and wait for my son to come home - he plays French Horn at Poway High too.

Kind of hard to explain this to a 16 year old kid.

[can]

I just sent this to John and Ken at KFI in LA - Jerry Brown needs to answer some questions

Jerry Brown announced today that he will run again for Governor of California

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/03/jerry-brown-announces-he-will.html?wprss=44

He currently serves as Attorney General of California.

As Attorney General, he is responsible for the State's Bureau of
Forensic Services which operates the State's DNA database - a database
created and funded by voter initiative Proposition 69.

On December 27, 2009 a female jogger was assaulted in the same park
where Chelsea King's body was just recovered.  According to NBC in Los
Angeles and The San Diego Union Tribune, DNA of the assailant was
recovered at the time of crime via swabbing of blood left on the
victim's elbow.    The same reports state that law enforcement has now
forensically linked that assault to John Albert Gardner III, a
previously convicted sex offender who is being held as the lone
suspect in the rape and murder of Chelsea King.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/02/mom-recalls-dec-attack-on-daughter/

The DNA database that Jerry Brown administers exists for the purpose
of matching DNA found at crime scenes to known felons.

Had the DNA sample recovered on December 27th been processed in a
timely manner, John Albert Gardner III would have been in jail
awaiting trial on February 25th, 2010 instead of hunting down, raping,
murdering and then disposing of Chelsea King.

As the chief Law Enforcement Officer for the State of California
operating a voter mandated database that collected in 2008 twice as
many dollars in funding than the agency spent on the database, he
should have to answer why samples have a 2 month backlog for
processing.

http://ag.ca.gov/bfs/pdf/2008DNAFundReport.pdf
http://ag.ca.gov/bfs/pdf/Monthly.pdf

Why weren't collected funds spent on eliminating the backlog?  Why
wasn't a prioritization scheme in place to get DNA samples from
violent attacks higher priority in processing?

The same database was used to implicate John Albert Gardner III from
the DNA found on Chelsea's underwear and was processed in a matter of
hours.

This is a scandal.  A complete breakdown in governance.  Californians
are willing to pay for public safety.  Prop 69 funds get collected yet
only half get spent and there is a backlog 5 years after the
initiative was passed.

Jerry Brown wants to Governor?  On the basis that he is even a mildly
competent Attorney General?

He should have to defend his management of the BFS and his
administration of the Prop 69 DNA database.

Bravo Adam!

[can]

So tragic and sad.  Prayers to Chelsea's Mom and Dad and family.

[ArmChairAnalysist]

It seems that he buried the body in a shallow grave close to the shore. I wonder if that means he pushed her body in the mud and then tied her down with the weeds or what ever you call those things. That would keep the body from floating away. If he took Amber there an did the same shallow grave would there still be anything left for them to find?

As devastated as Chelsea's parents are tonight. They have their daughter back to bury. Amber's parents still have to search for their daughter. I feel for both parents. My heart goes out to them. If I could take some of the suffering off their hearts I would.

This peace of Sh_ _  fat boy JAG needs like Edward said to have his thumbs removed, his toes removed and a painful slow castration.

 I just want to cuss words that would make a truck driver blush. In the same breath I feel so bad for the family that feel I should apologizing to them for something he did and will probably never admit to.

I wonder too how many other victims there have been since 2006. 

[AZSunny]

So tragic and sad.  Prayers to Chelsea's Mom and Dad and family.

So sad, and such a waste of a life.  What a beautiful and talented young woman she was.  My heart is breaking for her, and for her family.  I can't even imagine what they must be going through right now. 

Adam, I hope you have some help in directing your words.  They will have a huge impact, and my prayers and concerns are with you.

[klaasend]

http://www.10news.com/news/22678790/detail.html

Sheriff: 'Strong Likelyhood' Body Found Is Chelsea King
Sex Offender John Gardner Charged To Be Charged With The Murder Of Chelsea King, 17

POSTED: 12:14 am PST February 26, 2010
UPDATED: 4:58 pm PST March 2, 2010

SAN DIEGO -- A body found Tuesday in a shallow grave on the shore of Lake Hodges is believed to be that of 17-year-old Poway High School senior Chelsea King who disappeared while jogging in Rancho Bernardo Community Park last Thursday, the San Diego County sheriff said Tuesdsay afternoon.

"Although positive identification has not been made, there is (a) strong likelihood that we have found Chelsea," Sheriff William Gore announced after breaking the news to the parents of the 17-year-old student.

A registered sex offender, John Albert Gardner III, was arrested Sunday in connection with Chelsea's disappearance and was booked into county jail on suspicion of rape and murder. Gardner is listed on the Megan's Law Web site, which indicates he lives in Lake Elsinore and committed lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years old.

Gardner, 30, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in a downtown San Diego courtroom.

A member of a law enforcement dive team found the body shortly after 1 p.m. on the south side of the lake, about 10 feet from the water's edge, Gore said.

"It's a heavily wooded area and not observable from the homes on the hillside or the park," he told reporters gathered at Rancho Bernardo Community Park, where Chelsea, an avid runner, disappeared Thursday afternoon.

The corpse was buried under a thin layer of earth and debris about a half-mile from where she had parked her car that day, according to Gore. He declined to say whether the body was clothed.

"I have just left the home of (Chelsea's parents) Brent and Kelly King, where I shared this information," the sheriff told news crews. "Obviously they are devastated, and I ask that you respect their privacy during this extremely difficult time."

Word of the grim discovery began spreading in the afternoon among the throngs of volunteers who had joined in the desperate effort to find Chelsea, a straight-A student and member of the San Diego Youth Symphony and her school's cross-country team.

Sheriff's officials abruptly postponed a planned 3 p.m. update on the case, then rescheduled the briefing for an hour later.

As the news broke, some of those who had been donating their energies to the search sobbed and hugged each other for support.

This morning, hundreds of good Samaritans joined law enforcement personnel in fanning out over fields, swamps and marshes around Lake Hodges for a sixth straight day today in a determined effort to find the girl, who vanished Thursday afternoon after parking her car at Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

About 1,600 volunteers searched for Chelsea on Sunday, while about 1,000 went out Monday, according to figures posted on her family's Facebook page, which they created following her disappearance, in addition to the Web site findchelsea.com. In all, the family estimates about 4,000 volunteers helped looked for her.

Since Chelsea's family reported her missing Thursday evening, a number of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, pitched in to find her, scouring the Lake Hodges area by foot, air and boat, using sonar for underwater searching.

The sheriff has said physical evidence led them to Gardner, but declined to elaborate. Chelsea's mother later told news stations her daughter's underwear had been found near where the girl went missing.

Detectives also have linked Gardner to another attack late last year on a jogger in the same northern San Diego park where Chelsea was last seen, according to SDPD Capt. Jim Collins.

The morning of Dec. 27, a Colorado woman in the San Diego area on a family visit was running alone in the area when a man tackled her and demanded money. The 22-year-old victim, who managed to escape after elbowing the assailant in the face, left town before she could work with investigators on a sketch of the assailant, according to Collins.

Authorities say they also are investigating whether Gardner might be responsible for the February 2009 disappearance of Escondido High School freshman Amber Dubois, who was 14 when she vanished while walking to campus.

According to public records, Gardner committed a forcible lewd act on a child and false imprisonment in 2000. The victim, a 13-year-old neighbor girl, said he repeatedly punched her in the face and fondled her at his mother's townhouse, which is about a mile from Rancho Bernardo Community Park. The girl said she went to the residence after Gardner invited her in to watch a movie.

Gardner was sentenced to six years in prison and served five before he was released in September 2005. He was on probation until 2008. He registered as a sex offender using his grandmother's Lake Elsinore address but reportedly had been staying with his mother lately.

Dr. Matthew Carroll, a psychiatrist who interviewed Gardner following the 2000 assault, described him as "callous" and lacking remorse, making him "an extremely poor candidate for any sexual offender treatment," according to court records.

"It is my opinion that (Gardner) would be a continued danger to underage girls in the community," Carroll wrote as he recommended the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

A memorandum from the District Attorney's Office said prosecutors asked for a six-year sentence to resolve the case without a trial and to spare the victim from testifying.

While awaiting his first court appearance in the alleged murder of Chelsea, Gardner was being held in solitary confinement "so he can be observed and make sure he doesn't harm himself or nobody else harms him," the sheriff said.

[klaasend]

It seems that he buried the body in a shallow grave close to the shore. I wonder if that means he pushed her body in the mud and then tied her down with the weeds or what ever you call those things. That would keep the body from floating away. If he took Amber there an did the same shallow grave would there still be anything left for them to find?

As devastated as Chelsea's parents are tonight. They have their daughter back to bury. Amber's parents still have to search for their daughter. I feel for both parents. My heart goes out to them. If I could take some of the suffering off their hearts I would.

This peace of Sh_ _  fat boy JAG needs like Edward said to have his thumbs removed, his toes removed and a painful slow castration.

 I just want to cuss words that would make a truck driver blush. In the same breath I feel so bad for the family that feel I should apologizing to them for something he did and will probably never admit to.

I wonder too how many other victims there have been since 2006. 

If he did the same with Amber, only skeletal remains would be left.

[no rose colored glasses]

While awaiting his first court appearance in the alleged murder of Chelsea, Gardner was being held in solitary confinement "so he can be observed and make sure he doesn't harm himself or nobody else harms him," the sheriff said.
    Oh please, too bad Chelsea, and his other victims didn't have someone over them observing and making sure no harm would come to them.

[CarolF]

I am so sorry for this family and my sadness is just beyond words. I am so mad that these sex offenders are allowed out of prison time and time again to rape, torture and kill. After all they have rights they are human beings. Well what about the rights of citizens who never ever break the law? What about the victims? Our prisons and jails are so over crowded with people for smoking pot and not paying child support. What the hell is wrong with this picture? People can do years for robbing and stealing but commit a sex crime but they are almost guaranteed to get out to make someone another victim of their warped and crazed minds.

I am not just going to sit here anymore just reading. I have had it. There are so many sex offenders everywhere in this country. I am going to start looking them up in my area, print up flyers and take them around to different places and see if they will let me put them in the windows of their stores and the schools might be another place. I am going to write letters. I have just had it.

[Northern Rose]

Well.  I get to sit here and wait for my son to come home - he plays French Horn at Poway High too.

Kind of hard to explain this to a 16 year old kid.

He will need some time.  Give him lots of hugs.

[no rose colored glasses]

Well.  I get to sit here and wait for my son to come home - he plays French Horn at Poway High too.

Kind of hard to explain this to a 16 year old kid.

He will need some time.  Give him lots of hugs.

Very hard to explain, and I agree with Northern's advice. Can't imagine what the children at the school all must be going through.

[klaasend]

FYI on the Chelsea King Search facebook they are confirming it is Chelsea's body.

[no rose colored glasses]

FYI on the Chelsea King Search facebook they are confirming it is Chelsea's body.

Thank-you

[mizjay]

While awaiting his first court appearance in the alleged murder of Chelsea, Gardner was being held in solitary confinement "so he can be observed and make sure he doesn't harm himself or nobody else harms him," the sheriff said.
    Oh please, too bad Chelsea, and his other victims didn't have someone over them observing and making sure no harm would come to them.

NRCG  Right, everybody has to walk on eggshells to make sure none of his civil rights are violated, and by all means we all are supposed to be awed if some publicity hound lawyer takes his case and let's all hear the sorid circumstances that drove him to act out............makes me want to puke