PUBLIC MEMORIAL SET FOR CHELSEA KING MARCH 13
March 5, 2010 (San Diego) – John Albert Gardner III has pleaded not guilty to the murder and rape of Chelsea King. View a video of his arraignment: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/04/chelsea-king-body-confirm....
A preliminary hearing is set for March 18. Sheriff Bill Gore has ordered the County Medical Examiner’s report including sealed until the hearing, including identification of a body found at Lake Hodges and believed to be King’s.
San Diego News Network reports that a man fitting Gardner’s description in a black sedan similar to a vehicle parked at his mother’s home was reported stalking a 13-year-old walking to Bernardo Heights Middle School on the day before Chelsea King went missing. In addition, Gardner bears a “striking description” to a man wanted for the attempted abduction of a girl in Lake Elsinore last October, according to SDNN.
He is also under investigation in the case of missing teen Amber Dubois, who disappeared while walking to school in Escondido within two miles of where Gardner was living at the time. http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-03-04/local-county-news/john-gardner-m.... In addition, his DNA has been linked to a woman jogger who was attacked in December in the same park where King, a Poway High School honor student, vanished while running.
A public memorial service for King will be held at Poway High School stadium on March 13 at 2 p.m.
Chelsea’s parents are asking for new assistance from the thousands of volunteers who assisted in the search for their daughter, the Union-Tribune reported.
“Now we ask they help us keep what she would want us to do now — which is doing everything and anything we can to keep this from happening again,” vowed Chelsea’s mother, Kelly King. “We hope the energy that was devoted to her search can be redirected toward helping to fix this thing. That’s what Chelsea would want and we’re just her vessel for spreading her words.”