May 11, 2010
On April 16, 2010, registered sex offender Richard Albert Gardner III, pleaded guilty to the murder of both Amber Dubois and Chelsea King, as well as an assault with the attempt to commit rape in a third case. Chelsea King went missing on February 25, 2010 while jogging in a park near her home in San Diego County, California. Amber Dubois disappeared nearly a year previous to King while walking to school in Escondido, California.
Gardner, who previously served five years in prison for beating and molesting a 13 year old girl, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The families were in agreement with San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis in accepting the plea bargain because there was insufficient evidence to independently connect Gardner to Dubois’ murder. Gardner agreed to lead police to Dubois’ body under the condition that they could not use the evidence against him at trail. The King family felt the Dubois family deserved the closure that locating their daughter’s body would bring; in addition, it would spare their son Tyler from the “destructive effect” of a trial.
The King family and California State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (D-San Diego) have proposed a new law called “Chelsea’s Law”, which would mandate a life sentence without the possibility of parole for forcible sex crimes against minors that include certain aggravating factors such as the child’s age and prior forcible sex crime convictions.
Gardner is scheduled to be sentenced on June 1, 2010.
