March 9, 2010
John Albert Gardner III, 30, is charged in the murder and possible rape of 17 year-old Chelsea King. Gardner appeared in court on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 for a status hearing. Gardner is linked to the crime by DNA on a piece of King’s clothing found on the shore of Lake Hodges in Rancho Bernardo Community Park where King went missing. Law enforcement arrested Gardner, a registered sex offender, on February 28 in Escondido.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 4, 2010. A gag order has also been issued in the case, which prohibits law enforcement and attorneys from releasing any information or opinions concerning the trial, or evidence related to any investigation related to Gardner.
In 2000, Gardner was charged with three counts of forcible lewd act upon a child and one count of false imprisonment by violence, menace, fraud or deceit in a case involving a 13 year-old girl. He pled guilty on two counts of forcible lewd act and one count of false imprisonment by violence. Gardner was sentenced to six years in prison, served five and was on probation until 2008.
In addition to the charges in relation to the Chelsea King case, Gardner is being charged for sexually assaulting a woman in the same Rancho Bernardo park on December 27. Investigators are also focusing on him in connection to the Amber Dubois case, a 14 year-old girl who went missing February 13, 2009, in nearby Escondido on her way to school. Amber's remains were found March 7, 2010 in Pala.
