John Gardner sentenced to life for murders of Chelsea and Amber

John Gardner bows his head during his sentencing hearing Friday, May 14, 2010 in San Diego. (Photo by Steven Bartholow)

Judge David Danielsen sentenced confessed killer John Albert Gardner III to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole Friday for the rapes and murders of Amber Dubois and Chelsea King and a third life sentence, too.

Gardner pleaded guilty last month to the murders of the two girls.

Tears streamed down Gardner’s face as the girls’ families read statements. He wiped tears away with the lime-green jumpsuit he wore. He kept his head down, crying harder when Amber’s family screened a video with photos of the blue-eyed teen with friends, riding horses and playing in the rain.

Carrie McGonigle, Amber’s mother, called Amber a “bright shining star” that Gardner stole for his “sick, twisted, perverted pleasure.” She said life has been “minute-by-minute agony” since Amber’s disappearance.

“Fifteen months ago, I kissed Amber goodbye and told her I loved her, not knowing it would be the last time,” she said. “ … [Gardner has] taken my daughter, my best friend.”

David Cave, a family friend, called Gardner’s actions “savage, careless and evil.”

In the video, a friend of King’s described the teen as someone with “an overwhelming vigor of life no one else seemed like they could possess.”

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Supporters of slain teenagers Chelsea King and Amber DuBois watch admitted murderer John Gardner on a live television feed outside the Hall of Justice where the sentencing for John Gardner took place Friday May 14, 2010 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Brent King said Chelsea’s life was full of promise and purpose. He called her a diligent student, a talented writer, and a girl with a sense of humor and a “zest for life few of us have ever known.”

“Chelsea was everything this man [Gardner] is not,” he said. “She was as good as he is evil.”

King said he and his wife were in favor of the death penalty for Gardner. But, he said, the death penalty has become an “empty promise” in California.

Carrie McGonigle, Amber Dubois' mother, gives a statement during John Gardner's sentencing on Friday, May 14, 2010 in San Diego. (Photo by Steven Bartholow)

Kelly King, Chelsea’s mother, demanded Gardner look at her before she spoke.

“Chelsea’s sweet, loving, innocent soul could not have fathomed the wretched piece of evil that entered her life that day,” Kelly King said. “You’ve taken a life that was worth an infinite number of yours.”

“I cannot ever adequately articulate what you plundered from our family …” Kelly King said, addressing Gardner. “You’ve stolen from a magnificent 13-year-old boy [King’s brother Tyler] his magnificent sister and ever-present best friend.”

Kelly King said the family has been shattered; and the pain caused to Tyler is “cause enough for you to burn in hell” she said.

The Kings blasted Gardner’s mom, Catherine Osborn, for not contacting authorities when Amber went missing. They say she should have suspected her son.

Gardner was charged in March with murder with a special circumstance of rape or attempted rape in Chelsea’s death. The 17-year-old Poway girl went missing Feb. 25 at Rancho Bernardo Community Park, where she had gone for an after-school run.

Her body was found in a shallow grave on Lake Hodges on March 2. Gardner initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, but changed his plea to guilty April 6, and admitted to raping and strangling the teen.

Amber’s skeletal remains were found in Pala March 6. The 14-year-old Escondido girl went missing Feb. 13, 2009, but investigators had no solid lead in the case until King’s murder. Gardner also pleaded guilty to raping and stabbing Amber, and burying her body in a shallow grave.

Gardner was also charged with sexual assault on Candace Moncayo in the same park on Dec. 27. He pleaded guilty to that charge, too. On all charges, Gardner pleaded that each of the attacks was premeditated.

Remembering Amber:

In the statement Amber’s dad Maurice Dubois read Friday at the sentencing, he wrote that psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Carroll “was the only one who saw Gardner for what he is, a dangerous predator interested in young girls.”

Official statements from the parents: Brent King statement (PDF) | Kelly King statement (PDF)

“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 writes in his statement, released Thursday in San Diego Superior Court.

Friday, before Gardner’s sentencing, Dubois blasted the court for releasing his statement before he could face Gardner in court.

Dubois said the victim-impact statement is the one time victims get to “face their accused killer and tell them what they feel.”

“No victim who has the right to make the one victim-impact statement should have that taken away from them,” the father said.

In an April television interview with KFMB News 8, Gardner expressed remorse for the crimes.

“I hate myself,” Gardner said. “I really do. There is no — there is no taking back what I did. And if I could, yes I would. Are you kidding me? But I was out of control. If I was able to stop myself in the middle of it, I would’ve. And I could not. I was out of control.”

During the interview, Gardner said he wouldn’t survive prison.

“I’m gonna be dead within the next five years,” he said.

When asked what he meant, Gardner replied, “You don’t know how prison works, do you?”

Regarding Gardner’s claim that he wouldn’t be safe in prison, “I hope you’re right.”

“I hope you spend every waking moment looking over your shoulder for the murderer who is going to end your life,” he said. “I want you to feel every day, every month, the fear Chelsea felt when you surprised her out of breath and vulnerable during her run.”

King continued, “You can go straight to hell and I pray every day God shows you no mercy.”

City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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