AMBER DUBOIS - 15 yo (2009) - Escondido CA

The parents of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, who was
abducted and murdered last year in northern San Diego County, have
announced legislation designed to find missing children more quickly and
keep a closer watch on sex offenders.

Amber's parents, Moe Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, announced the
proposed measures Tuesday at a noon news conference in Long
Beach. Their daughter went missing on Feb. 13, 2009, after last being
seen walking to class at Escondido High School.





Assemblymen Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) and Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley)
are sponsoring the four measures.

Amber's parents spent the last year meeting with police and
sheriff's officials around the state and learned there was no single,
consistent way that police respond to a report of a
missing child.

"They believed that had there been better protocols and practices,
that
their daughter could have been found alive," Nava said of Amber's
parents.

One bill would establish a missing child rapid response team in the
state attorney general's office that would help local law enforcement
agencies search for and recover abducted children in a timely manner.





A second bill would require registered sex offenders to be issued
driver's licenses or identification cards with distinguishing marks,
such as a colored stripe, and require them to carry the cards at all
times.

The third bill would require the state to establish training courses
and a checklist for how to handle cases of missing children and require
state officials to provide local law enforcement with a list of all sex
offenders within a five-mile radius of an abduction within two hours of
it being reported.

The fourth bill would require law enforcement agencies to report
credible reports of missing adults and children to state and national
databases within two hours, up from the current law of four hours.







John Albert Gardner III, a registered sex offender, was
sentenced to life in prison this month for raping and killing Amber
and Chelsea King, 17, who also was from northern San Diego County.
King, a senior at Poway High School, went missing on Feb. 25 after going
for a run near Lake Hodges.

State parole agents missed numerous chances to send a convicted child
molester back to prison before he raped and killed two San Diego-area
teenagers, the corrections department said Wednesday.John Albert
Gardner III wore a tracking device for a year before he finished parole
in September 2008, but his parole agent did not review the data because
he was considered a low-risk sex offender, Inspector General David Shaw
said.The data from the GPS ankle bracelet showed numerous
violations by Gardner, including the apparent commission of a new felony
by going to a state prison parking lot, the report said.He
repeatedly violated other parole conditions, including getting within
100 yards of places where children gather, that also could have put him
back in prison, the report said.Better monitoring "could have
sent Gardner back to prison, making it impossible for him to murder two
young girls and commit the attempted sexual assault," Shaw said in his
report. "The department did not identify Gardner's crime and parole
violations because it did not require parole agents to review the GPS
data."In addition, the public is endangered because the
department continues to poorly track 4,500 other sex offender parolees
who are not considered high-risk, Shaw said.After Gardner was
released from parole, he raped and murdered 17-year-old Chelsea King and
14-year-old Amber Dubois in San Diego County.Gardner, 31,
pleaded guilty to those crimes and was sentenced last month to life in
prison without the possibility of parole. He also pleaded guilty to a
separate charge of attempted rape.Gardner was a registered sex
offender off parole and living in Lake Elsinore at the time of the
attacks. In 2000, he was released after serving five years of a six-year
sentence for molesting a 13-year-old girl.Matthew Cate,
secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in a
letter to Shaw that the report criticized a parole policy that no
longer existed. The department changed its policy in March to more
actively supervise even parolees considered less dangerous.Previously,
the movements of lower-risk parolees were reviewed only when they were
suspected of a new crime or misconduct. Now agents are required to
randomly review their movements for two, 48-hour period each month.Shaw's
report said the new policy, "though improved, remains deficient"
because random reviews are unlikely to reveal violations. It still
ignores 87 percent of the GPS data collected for lower-risk offenders.Gardner
told the inspector general that he drove to Richard J. Donovan State
Prison on July 12, 2008, to drop off and pick up a friend so she could
visit a prison inmate.The San Diego County District Attorney's
Office told Shaw's investigators that prosecutors would have charged
Gardner with a third strike offense for visiting the prison, potentially
sending him to prison for 25 years to life.The report found
Gardner violated at least three other conditions of his parole on a
regular basis. The offenses included living within a half-mile of a
school, renting a storage facility and leaving his home in violation of a
curfew.In hindsight, Cate said, the answer would be to review
every offender's movements every day. But he said it was unclear how
this can be done, given limitations on technology and overworked parole
agents.Steps could include setting priorities for which
suspicious movements or electronic violation alerts should be
investigated or reviewing parolees' movements in higher volume to detect
patterns.

A man serving life in prison for the murders of two California
teenagers is sharing a prison unit with cult leader Charles Manson.Prison
officials said John Albert Gardner III was transferred last week to the
Corcoran State Prison near Bakersfield, which houses the state's only
protective housing unit.Gardner has his own cell but can
socialize with other inmates in the unit including Manson and Mikhail
Markhasev, who was convicted of killing Bill Cosby's son.Gardner
pleaded guilty in April to the murders of 17-year-old Chelsea King and
14-year-old Amber Dubois.Chelsea's body was found days after she
was attacked while running in a park in February. Amber's remains were
found in March, more than a year after she disappeared while walking to
school.

The Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday rejected legislation
proposed by the father of murdered Escondido teenager Amber Dubois that
would have required a distinct identifier on driver’s licenses for
convicted sex offenders.

Senators expressed deep reservations over the bill, noting it would
brand even minor offenders and didn’t include penalties for
noncompliance.

Further, experts said there is scant evidence that public safety
would be greatly improved.

“They brought up some points that we have to recognize are valid. We
will have to rework it,” Moe Dubois conceded after testifying at the
hearing. ”We knew this would be a tough one.”

The bill was rejected on a 5-2 vote split along party lines, with Democrats
opposed. State Sen. Christine
Kehoe, D-San Diego,
voted against the measure.

Fourteen-year-old daughter Amber was raped and murdered in February
2009 by convicted child molester John Albert Gardner III. In April, he
pleaded guilty to the crime along with raping and murdering 17-year-old
Chelsea King of Poway this past February. He is serving two life
sentences without the possibility of parole.

Dubois, teaming up with a bipartisan pair of lawmakers, has proposed a
package of measures that he said would speed police response to
abductions and help recover children before they are harmed further.

Assembly Bill 589, driver’s license measure, was the most
controversial of the four bills.

“My only child was murdered by a sex offender, I have nothing I can
protect except the children of this state,” Dubois said, adding he wants
to bring the bill back next year.

The legislation also would have required a designation on
state-issued identification cards. Registered sex offenders would have
had to carry a license of identification card with them at all times
outside their homes.

Driver’s licenses with specific characteristics are not unique in California.
Drivers under 18 are issued a license with a blue stripe because of
certain limitations. Those under 21 are provided a license with a red
stripe to make it easier for merchants to spot minors trying to buy
liquor. There is also a large “donor” and pink dot on licenses of those
enrolled in an organ registry.

Supporters say that will help police quickly identify sex offenders
and assess clues as to whether the person poses a danger, such as having
a child as a passenger or simply a toy or clothing in the back seat,

A few states have imposed similar requirements. For example, Delaware
includes the letter “Y” on sex offender licenses. In Louisiana,
it’s “SEX OFFENDER” in capital orange letters.

But the California measure ran into stiff opposition from several
opponents noting that it would stigmatize many who pose no risk of
attacking again and prevent them from finding jobs or otherwise leading
law-abiding lives.

“The worst of the worst offenders will simply choose not to (have) a
driver’s license,” said Ignacio Hernandez, representing the California
Attorneys For Criminal Justice.

Hernandez pointed out that police could quickly identify sex
offenders given that law enforcement data bases already link to those on
active parole.

The Sex Offender Management Board, an advisory panel to the governor
and lawmakers, also refused to endorse the measure, saying there is no
evidence that such identification reduces recidivism.

Also, the Department
of Motor Vehicles expressed concern over mistakenly
issuing a branded license to an innocent driver. DMV officials also said
such a significant change could force them to reopen a new contract
with a private vendor to produce licenses and identification cards at
about 1.4 cents each.

Dubois is also lobbying for three other bills, all of which are
before the Senate Public Safety Committee June 22:

• Assembly Bill 1022 would establish within the Department of Justice
the “California Missing Children Rapid Response Team” to help local
police when children disappear. The team also would assist local
officials in developing abduction-related protocols, programs and
technologies.

• Assembly Bill 34 would require the state to file within two hours
information about a reported missing child under the age of 16 to the
Violent Crime Information Center and the National
Crime Information Center. Four hours is the current
maximum wait.

• Assembly Bill 33 would require the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training to establish guidelines for law enforcement
related to investigating missing children cases. That would also make it
easier for law enforcement to target sex offenders who live within five
miles of the scene of a crime.

Meanwhile, “Chelsea’s law” faces a major test before the Senate
Public Safety Committee June 29.

Chelsea’s parents, Kelly and Brent King, have been active in the
campaign to pass the law named after their daughter.

Assembly Bill 1844 includes a one-strike penalty that eliminates any
chance of parole for those guilty of a forcible sex crime against a
minor under the age of 14 if the child is physically injured in other
ways.

The legislation also would impose stiffer penalties for other sex
crimes against those under 18 and bars predators from parks without
prior permission of authorities.

Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who supports Chelsea’s Law, has not
reviewed the measures proposed by Moe Dubois and does not have a
position, said a spokeswoman.

A benefit for slain Escondido teen Amber Dubois is planned for Saturday, June 26 at Kit Carson Park. However, a sponsorship of $439 is needed for
the show to go on, as an insurance policy with the city of Escondido
still needs to be purchased.
Proceeds from the event will
be donated to the Dubois' Foundation, "No More," to assist families with
missing children. Two bills sponsored by the "No More" passed the
Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday with a unanimous vote.
The first bill, the ‘Missing
Child Notification Act,’ would reduce law enforcement’s reporting
timeframe of a missing child case into the National Crime Information
Center from 4 hours to 2 hours.
The second bill, the
‘Department of Justice Missing Person Resource Coordinator,’ would
establish a position in the Department of Justice for an individual to
coordinate all local, state, and federal resources available to law
enforcement when a child is reported missing.
A final bill, which establishes written procedures
for law enforcement to follow when a child is reported missing, will be
heard on Tuesday, June 29.
A full day of music is
planned for the event on Saturday, with over fifteen artists scheduled
to perform throughout the day. In addition, various vendors, painters,
jugglers, and balloon makers will be around to entertain people of all ages.
The event is being organized by Michelle Quintanar and Willie Tuckerson, a local couple who
stepped up to organize the first Amber Dubois benefit.
“I just love them all, they’re just so nice,” Quintanar said of her interactions with the
Dubois family. “It’s just a wonderful family. I have children and
grandchildren and I just can’t even imagine the pain they’re going
through. I don’t want Amber to ever be forgotten so we’ll do this every year for her.”
While the event is free, event organizers are still hoping to raise a good amount of money. A
dedication and opening ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. and entertainment begins at 11 a.m.
For more information or if you would like to sponsor, call event organizers Quintanar or Tuckerson
at 760-520-4135 or 760-658-2688.

The parents of a Southern California teenager who was raped and
murdered by a convicted child molester have filed damage claims against
the state, according to documents released Thursday to The Associated
Press.Maurice Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, the parents of
14-year-old Amber Dubois, alleged the state corrections department
missed chances to send John Albert Gardner III back to prison while he
was on parole. They are seeking unspecified damages of more than
$25,000.The documents, which were filed June 10, were disclosed
in response to the AP's inquiry.Gardner is serving a life
sentence after pleading guilty in April to murdering the girl after he
was off parole. He also admitted to raping and murdering 17-year-old
Chelsea King.King family spokeswoman Sara Fraunces said the
family will not comment because Thursday was their daughter's birthday.
The King family has not filed a claim, said Lynn Margherita, a
spokeswoman for the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board.Amber
Dubois was kidnapped, raped and murdered in February 2009 as she was
walking to Escondido High School in the San Diego area. Gardner led
police to her body in March 2010 after his arrest in Chelsea's death.The
DuBois family's damage claims were made public the same day state
lawmakers approved a $20 million payment to the family of Jaycee Dugard,
who was kidnapped as a girl and held captive in Northern California for
18 years by a paroled sex offender, Phillip Garrido. The state agreed
to pay the money to Dugard and her two daughters.The allegations
by Amber's parents are similar, alleging that parole agents failed to do
their job.Gardner "violated his parole at least five times while
on probation (sic) for molesting and beating a teenage girl in 2000,
and each time he was left on the street," said the claims filed by
attorney Robin Sax. "Our claim follows the meeting (of the) California
Sex Offender Management Board which questioned why John was not sent
back to prison for parole violations in 2007 and 2008. Had he been
returned to prison, he would have been evaluated for commitment to a
state mental hospital as a sexually violent predator."Margherita
said the board had not yet begun processing the claims. She said it was
unclear if they will be negotiated in the same way as the Dugard family
settlement.Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for the state
attorney general, and Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Thursday they could
not comment on pending claims.

The mother of murdered Escondido teenager Amber Dubois has launched a website in memory of her daughter.

The Team Amber Rescue site, at http://teamamberrescue.com, was put together by Carrie McGonigle to honor her daughter and to help train people in ways to search for missing children.

Amber disappeared while walking to Escondido High School the morning of Feb. 13. 2009.

According to the Web site:

“Reported missing, the police declined to issue an Amber Alert and
maintained that she was likely a runaway although possibly she could
have been abducted. Carrie knew her daughter was someone’s victim, and,
praying that she was still alive, worked with family, friends and
volunteers to find her with searches on foot, on horse, door to door,
websites, mailers, posters, media, psychics, and, even knocking on doors
of known sex offenders.

“After almost 13 month of searching, on March 6, 2010, Amber’s
remains were found because her murderer had raped and killed again. The
registered sex offender repeatedly violated his parole but was left free
to drive the quiet streets near three schools. He admitted he had
snatched, raped and stabbed her to death within 90 minutes.

“Carrie and Team Amber Rescue want to be there with immediate help
whenever a child goes missing but you need to be prepared for such an
emergency.”

John Albert Gardner III pleaded guilty in April to raping and killing
Amber and Poway teenager Chelsea King. He is currently serving two life
sentences and will never be eligible for parole.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs “Dubois” bills


Amber Dubois, a 14-year-old was kidnapped from an Escondido street in February 2009, and Amber Dubois' body was found earlier this year. Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger signed the “Dubois” bill which outlines three basic measures to bring an abducted or kidnapped child home before he or she falls prey to horrific crimes like rape or child abuse. The three measures are: · Assembly Bill 34 requires the state to report abduction to a national tracking system within two hours, instead of the current four hours. · Assembly Bill 33 requires improved law enforcement coordination across jurisdictions to improve responses to abductions. · Assembly Bill 1022 creates a position of “director of missing children operations” to oversee programs aimed at reducing abductions. Amber Dubois’s father, Moe Dubois said, “We’re ecstatic, hopefully this will help.” Moe Dubois was the one who supported this legislation to be passed in the memory of his daughter Amber Dubois so that in the future, appropriate measures are taken. He also said, “When a child is being taken from you a mile a minute, every minute counts.”

Amber Dubois would be 16 now. The teen, who was raped and murdered by a registered sexoffender in February 2009, would be a high school junior, andfinally old enough to drive. On her birthday Monday, against a backdrop of balloons, candles,flower bouquets and a banner that read "Sweet Sixteen," about 100people gathered on Stanley Avenue, the quiet Escondido street whereshe was kidnapped 20 months ago. "I know she is here with us," Amber's little sister, Allison, 7,said. "I know she's watching all the time." The crowd laughed, and cried, as Amber's friends and familyspoke of the teenager's spunk, her piercing blue eyes and her loveof animals. Holding a votive candle, friend Hailey Kosinski called Amber "abig influence on my life." "She had a lot of hope and a lot of joy ---- just like thiscandle lights up the darkness," said Hailey, 16. Amber's mother, Carrie McGonigle, held the birthday gathering atthe same spot where Amber had been abducted as she walked toEscondido High School just before 7 a.m. Feb. 13, 2009. Amber's killer, John Albert Gardner III, is serving a lifesentence for his admission he raped and killed Amber, and thenraped and killed Poway resident Chelsea King, 17, in February. Monday marked Amber's first birthday since her killer ledauthorities to her remains, which he had buried in a remote stretchof Pala. "We all love and miss Amber lots," McGonigle told the gatheredcrowd. "It's great to see all the support. Thank you very much forhelping me get through this day." McGonigle believes Amber ended up on Stanley Avenue ---- whichis a diversion from the path she regularly walked to school ---- tomeet up with a friend to make the trek to campus together. But her friend had left a little early that day. On Monday, the friend, who asked that she only be identified asJennifer, was among the faces at the birthday party. She said she initially blamed herself for what happened toAmber. "I was going to call her to walk to school that morning,"Jennifer said. Jennifer said she and Amber had once scrawled their names in wetcement on the back patio of Jennifer's home. Last year, while the teen was still missing, Amber's familythrew a birthday party for her, complete with cake and balloons atEscondido's Dixon Lake Recreation Area under a clear sky near wheresearch and rescue operations concentrated in the early days ofAmber's disappearance. This time, the birthday party in the middle of Stanley Avenuenear Broadway marked the site of her abduction. Escondido policebriefly closed the road to traffic for the event. Corrina Douglas, 54, lives near the site and made it a point toattend Amber's birthday celebration, even though she did not knowthe girl or her family. "It haunts me to no end. That animal drove right past my house.That poor girl was in such danger, but there was no force of natureto wake us up. We didn't know that evil whooshed right past ourhouse," Douglas said. Guests at the street party, which started about 9 p.m., weretreated to cupcakes ---- a sea of them with white frostingsurrounding chocolate cupcakes that spelled out "16" ---- tales ofAmber, and a serenade by a boy who McGonigle said adored Amber. The boy, Nate Petersen, 18, hushed the crowd as he sang "I WillBe Your Friend." Afterward, he stood off to the side, in tears, as a friend ofAmber's family embraced him. "Amber is the greatest," said Kari "Junior" Moore. "She willnever be forgotten."

The Amber Dubois Story

Last updated: Sunday, November 7, 2010

(CBS) for one year and half from the time that 14-year-old Amber Dubois first went missing, “48 hours” was frightened by her extended family. You will learn how the tension of her disappearance she wore down, and for a time, tore them apart.

It has been 22 days since Amber Dubois disappeared, and the desperate search for the straight-A student is in high gear.

More than 400 volunteers are combing 200 square miles of countryside on foot.

The crisis has put together a broken family: Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle, Amber’s father, Moe Dubois, and Dave Cave, the man now lives with Carrie.

“Every morning she’d wake me up before they go to school and give me a kiss … and tell me she loved me,” says Carrie “48 Hours Mystery” correspondent Troy Roberts.

Amber lives in my house. And I come home to her every day. She’s my daughter to me. She’s my girl, “says Dave Cave.

It is the spirit of a special child that keeps hope alive.

“My daughter Amber is my baby,” Moe says Dubois. “She’s a little girl who is always a little grin on her face, teasing me all the time … give me a hard time about my receding hairline. That’s my child.”

“She loves to read,” adds Carrie. “She has friends at school and stuff, but they do not go to the mall. She hates shopping. She did not wear make-up … she’s a bookworm.”

But as the days pass without interruption in the case, the stress starts taking a toll on all three parents.

“This is Carrie’s heart from her tears,” Cave from Dave. “She’s just – I hate what it does to her.”

“It consumes you, you know,” says Carrie. “You do not know where your daughter, your child is. It just makes you whole, your whole world changes.”

“I do not want to make it to one month,” says Moe. “I want a hug tomorrow. I want a hug tonight. I want to see someone tonight call us and say, ‘We’ve got her, she’s coming home.”

The mystery of the disappearance Amber Dubois’ began on the day before Valentine’s Day, February 13, 2009.

“Amber, she had waited one year for this day. She’s in animals, because they are still in diapers,” says Carrie. “Her science project is to raise a baby lamb. She was so excited when I left that morning, she’s like, ‘Thanks, Mom, I love you so much, thank you for the lamb.” Amber was last seen about 7 hours just blocks from Escondido High School.

“She was seen by two different parents walk down the street,” says Carrie Roberts. “She walked on her own for the first time … and the second time a man or a child beside her.”

When Amber did not show up at home by 4:30 that afternoon, her stepfather, Dave, looking for her.

“I went to her first class and her teacher told me that she had not shown up to class and immediately I knew something was wrong,” he says.

I do not know where Amber is “a phone call from Carrie saying it”. [They] hysterical. In tears, “recalls Moe.

Her family immediately went into panic mode, searching, checking Amber’s route to school, plastering the city with flyers and knocking on every door in the neighborhood.

Nobody in the family, Amber is ready to give up hope – even the smallest member, 7-year-old Dave and Carrie’s daughter, Allison.

“They hear people say kidnapped and she’ll freak kind of, you know.” Amber is kidnapped, “and she wants to search, so we walk with the dogs and we go looking for her sister because she wants to. She wants to participate in “said Carrie.

Amber’s father, Moe, puts his life on hold, taking a leave from his job as an electrical engineer in Los Angeles and move to a nearby hotel with his partner, Rebecca Smith.

“Most of my night ended with about two or three hours of crying,” he says. “I have to release my point … If volunteers and everyone around here are starting to see my frustration … than it is to trickle through them.” As the days pass, hope is fading, replaced by a growing suspicion that Amber could have met with foul play in her own home.

Escondido police begin to focus on a family member in particular: Amber’s stepfather, Dave Cave.

“How soon after her disappearance, did you know a person of interest?” Dave Roberts asks.

“I do not think it really mean to me for a few weeks,” he replies. “The main seeker said,” You can not be involved in the search, because you do not want the person who will be Amber. ” And I looked at them like, ‘Why not? ” And they said: ‘If the person you find something, they are going to pin on you. ”

Dave, who was the last person to see Amber, “48 hours” went by what he says happened the morning she disappeared:

“Amber and got ready to go to school on time, without warning, because she knew she got her check to get her lamb,” he says.

“Over time I had finished dressing, Amber came into my room and said, ‘Dave, you got my check on the lamb?” And I said, ‘I’ll give it to you before I go sweetie. ” So she came several times and I think it was the fourth time she asked for the check. I said, ‘Honey, I will send the check before I leave, just go down. You will have the control. I promise . Just relax. ”

“So I came down and I sat down at the table … and I wrote the check for the lamb … I went to the check down on the arm of the sofa and Amber sat on the floor … she was eat a bowl of cereal. And I said, “Honey, here’s your check for your lamb. I’ll see you later I love you.” And I turned around and walked out the door and went about my day. ”

That was the last of Dave saw Amber.
But it was what this man had not done routine was quickly made him a major suspect. Dave Cave did not show up for work that day. He says he went to the gym and then home to do his taxes.

“When I came back to the house, she was gone. So I thought she went to school, should have been in school then,” he tells Roberts.

While he was at home, Dave somehow did not get the message from the school secretary that Amber alert – the girl with the perfect attendance – failed to show up at school.

“Fairly early in the research was suspicion swirling around your partner, Dave,” comments Carrie Roberts. “But eventually, you became suspicious as well.”

“You know, Dave came to work that day and brought me some chocolate covered strawberries and roses a few days,” she says. “It was Valentine’s Day – it was the 13th addition to Dave not celebrate Valentine’s Day … And he stuck around for like 45 minutes that day and I am, I had to ask him to leave … I’m like,” Dave, what are you doing here. go. “

Another concern for researchers centers on some tension between Dave and Amber who led the family counseling.

“Amber and I do not always get along perfectly,” to Dave. “In one house there are rules. She’s a teenager. She does not follow the rules. There’s a certain amount of conflict.”

“They really do not talk for the whole month before Amber disappeared,” says Carrie. “It was a constant bickering.”

Dave claims that the night before Amber disappeared, she finally called a truce.

“I know the night before they went missing and we went shopping and went to the bookstore and stuff and we had a really good time,” he recalls.

Amber would possibly have said or done something the next morning set off with Dave?
Escondido police take a hard look at Dave and the answers he gives the police will increase Carrie’s suspicions further.

Within a few days of the disappearance Amber Dubois, “Escondido police start zeroing in on Dave Cave, the husband of the missing 14-year-old phoned her stepfather.

“When I went for the initial interview with police, they took pictures of my hands. Take off your shirt, picture arms, my back, my chest … to make sure I do not have spots on me.”

“If you ask the question directly detectives – Amber did you murder?” Troy Roberts asks.

“They never … I do not think she used the word kill. She immediately asked,” Do you know Amber’s whereabouts. Do you know anything about the disappearance of Amber’s. ” That sort of thing. And they ask the polygraph test if asked. ”

Dave has eight times the polygraph exam. “They had nothing to go” he says Roberts. “They are clearly looking for something to go.”

“But they kept coming back to you,” says Roberts.

“Statistics point to me. Statistics indicate the man of the household that the child is living in.”

“Did the police ever come to you and say:” We believe Dave may be responsible for Amber’s disappearance, “Roberts asked Carrie.

“Have they ever come right out and say that? No. Do they hint that? Absolutely,” she says.

“Well, this is someone you trust, I would assume.”

“Hmmm. I trust,”

“You loved him?”

“Uh-huh. He is the father of my child.”

“But you also believe he was capable of murder?”

“I had doubts.”

“Did you ever ask Carrie to the question:” Were you responsible for her disappearance? ” Dave Roberts asks.

“Oh, absolutely,” he replies.

“She asked you – this is the woman you’re in love with him and she suspected that you might as well.?”

Dave nods yes. He admits he does not know where their relationship is headed.

Six weeks after Amber disappeared, Carrie makes a heartbreaking decision. She picks up and moves out, with Allison, the daughter she shares with Dave.

Asked why they decided to move, Carrie says, “I had to … Because I could not lie in the same bed with the man I thought might have done something with my daughter. Do I honestly believe that this is premeditated Dave, that he might have? No. Do I think that maybe Amber overheard him five or six times over the control, as she did and there was perhaps a confrontation, maybe she fell down the stairs … I do not know . I can not tell you what went through my head. But did I think that Dave planned to kill Amber? Absolutely not. Do I think an accident would have happened? Yes. And he hid Yes. ”

“I feel like I’m 100 years old. It’s taken a tremendous toll on everyone. It’s just destroyed everyone’s life,” says Dave, who neglects his scaffolding business, which begins to crumble. “I was the driving force in my business and I stopped driving … and we pay the price … I do not think we make it through.”

Amber’s father, Moe Dubois, loses his job and his savings financing the search. No leads in the case, the whole family lives in a constant state of paranoia.

Dave says he is afraid that something might happen to Allison.

“My daughter is not pretty much out of my eyes as they with me,” he says. “She does not go to the playground … without anyone sitting in the front yard … I just, I have lost faith in people.”

In August, six months after Amber disappeared, Carrie’s mother hires a team of live scent search and recovery dogs Amber’s steps to return to the last day she was seen.

'I will kill, I know I will... I am an animal': The chilling TV warning from the man who murdered Chelsea King and Amber Dubois

8th November 2010

A man convicted of raping and murdering two teenage girls said he is an 'animal' and warned he would kill again if he were freed.
In a chilling TV confession, John Gardner said: 'I never want to be let out. I will kill. I know I will.

'I am the type that needs to be locked up forever. I am an animal.'


'I will kill again': John Gardner makes his chilling confession on CBS's 48 hours




Amber DuBois was just 14 when Gardner abducted her, raped her and murdered her

Gardner, 31, was jailed for life last year after admitting killing 17-year-old Chelsea King and 14-year-old Amber Dubois in separate abductions in California.
A guilty plea spared the convicted sex offender from being sentenced to death.

He also pleaded guilty to attempting to rape another woman who was jogging in San Diego.
Candice Moncayo spoke at his sentencing. She managed to fight Gardner off by punching him in the nose.
Through tears, she said she had come to the sentencing to 'ask him how his nose is'.


True face of a murder: Gardner reacts during the trial to the testimony of Candice Moncayo, whom he attempted to rape but who escaped after punching him in the nose. A tearful Candice said she wanted to ask him 'how his nose was'. The fury on Gardner's face is palpable as he protests to his lawyer






Trying to move on: Amber's mother Carrie McGonigle said she is trying to cope for the sake of her seven-year-old daughter

The fury on Gardner's face was palpable.

Gardner, who was jailed for life without parole, said he will die in prison - either by killing himself or at the hands of other prisoners so disgusted by his crimes.
'Eventually someone will come and get to me,' Gardner says.
'That will be a release for me,' he told the CBS show 48 Hours Mystery on the weekend.
'It's either going to be that or I end up killing myself, one of the two. I can't stand to be confined.
'I'm like an animal. Just like they said. I'm an animal.'
Gardner abducted Chelsea, a talented student and cross country runner, while she was jogging in the city of San Diego on February 25.

He raped and strangled her before dumping her body in a shallow grave by a lake.

The convicted sex offender was arrested within days and soon after led authorities to Amber's body who had been missing since February last year.

Gardner admitted kidnapping, raping and stabbing her.
At the time of his arrest, Gardner was a convicted sex offender on parole with a 10-year criminal record.
He had recently spent six years in prison for beating and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.


FBI agents searching for the body of Amber DuBois

Gardner said he had been violent since he was a child and has taken countless medicines.

'I was on about 16 to 20 different medications throughout my life,' he said. 'Lithium, Tagretol, Melarel.'

These are drugs usually prescribed to control severe psychiatric disorders, but Gardner says nothing has helped him control his rage.
'I've done things to my family members, I've hurt them, I've hit people, I've beaten people, I've done a lot of things that I regret in my life and I wish I could take back. But I still do the same things over and over again,' he said.

'I'm on meds right now and you can see the anger in my eyes just trying to talk. I get angry, I blow up, I explode.

'I don't know how to describe it. I feel like I'm out of control with myself at times and I go and I do things that I regret for the rest of my life.'

Amber Dubois' parents also took part in the TV show and admitted they have struggled to cope.

Her mother said she is trying to concentrate on raising her seven-year-old daughter.

'I'll never forget, you know,' said Carrie McGonigle. 'I'm taking things slow.'

A law enforcement task force that formed after the arrest ofJohn Gardner, the registered sex offender who raped and murderedtwo North County girls, concluded he probably didn't kill anyoneelse, although officials say he admitted to trying to kidnapothers. But Riverside County prosecutors said last week that they arestill reviewing whether Gardner, 31, who is serving three lifeterms in prison without the possibility of parole, should becharged for allegedly attempting to force a Lake Elsinore girl intohis car at gunpoint. That crime happened some eight months after Gardner abducted14-year-old Amber Dubois as she walked to school in Escondido inFebruary 2009, and four months before he killed Chelsea King, 17,along a Lake Hodges running trail Feb. 25. The John Gardner Task Force formed shortly after Gardner's Feb.28 arrest for King's rape and murder. It included 30 investigators from nine agencies, including thesheriff's departments in San Diego and Riverside counties, theEscondido Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigationsand the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It quietly disbanded a few months later. Within days of his arrest, Gardner had agreed to lead detectivesto Amber Dubois' remains in a remote area of Pala. She had been missing for more than a year, and her disappearancewas a mystery until Gardner's arrest. Because Gardner had lived in Escondido, Vista, Rancho Bernardoand Lake Elsinore for years, authorities were concerned that thepredator might have killed or hurt others. So detectives from around the region met for several weeks toreview Gardner's activities since his release from prison in2005. He served a five-year sentence for sexually assaulting andbeating a 13-year-old neighbor girl at his mother's house in RanchoBernardo. "We looked at girls between the ages of 12 and 25 reportedmissing from San Diego County and Riverside County, and we tried todetermine whether he was in the area when they disappeared," saidLt. Dennis Brugos, who heads the San Diego County Sheriff'sHomicide Unit and was a member of the task force. Gardner spoke openly with investigators after his May 14sentencing, Brugos said. He talked about other abduction attempts and minor crimes, suchas assaults on drugs dealers, but he said he did not rape or murderother victims. "Everybody seems to get the feeling he was pretty forthright inwhat he was saying, because he did mention some other things andbecause he did mention some possible attempts," Brugos said. Investigators reviewed cell phone and financial records andglobal positioning system data from the electronic monitoringdevice Gardner wore his last year of parole, between September 2007and September 2008. They are satisfied Gardner is not linked to any missing girls oryoung women, Brugos said. The FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, which specializes in serialkillers, also analyzed Gardner. Its conclusions have not been released. While it's possible Gardner found a victim whom no one knew wasin the area, such as a runaway from another state, the task forceexhausted leads on missing girls from this region and disbandedfeeling confident Gardner did not claim any of them, Brugossaid. The lieutenant said Gardner admitted in interviews that he hadmade some ineffective attempts to snatch other victims. But Brugos couldn't recall if he confessed to showing a gun to aLake Elsinore girl on Oct. 28, 2009, demanding she get in hiscar. The girl ran away unhurt; a sketch released of her assailantlooked uncannily like Gardner, and the description of theabductor's car matched his gold 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix seizedafter his arrest. In May, Riverside County sheriff's authorities said they wouldask the district attorney's office there to charge Gardner with thecrime. The case is still under review, and prosecutors are awaitingadditional information from San Diego County before ruling whetherGardner was responsible, Riverside County District Attorney'sspokesman John Hall said Thursday. If Gardner did try to abduct the Lake Elsinore girl, thenprosecutors must decide whether to file charges against a man whowon't face more prison time, even if he's found guilty, Hallsaid. In Escondido, after Gardner's arrest, detectives were mostconcerned with linking him to Amber Dubois' disappearance, Lt.Craig Carter said. They essentially knew Gardner killed her ---- he led authoritiesto the missing teen's body in exchange for a promise thatprosecutors would not use it against him ---- but Escondidodetectives weren't able to build other evidence to prove heabducted or murdered the girl. In reviewing phone records, interviewing Gardner's close tiesand acquaintances, scouring for witnesses, searching his cars andresidences, nothing established what the Escondido killer had done,Carter said. Ultimately, the case resolved with Gardner admitting to Amber'skilling and pleading guilty to her murder and King's, as well as anassault on a Rancho Bernardo jogger who escaped, in exchange for asentence of life in prison, not execution. Like other members of the Gardner Task Force, Escondidodetectives also wanted to know whether he was responsible for anymissing women or suspicious deaths in the city, Carter said. Police concluded he wasn't. "No stone was unturned when it came to missing people orunsolved homicides," Carter said. Gardner was nowhere near Sheila Lopez's Emerald Heights homewhen the 71-year-old Alzheimer's patient wandered away from home inAugust 2008, Carter said. She hasn't been seen since, despite extensive terrain searchesand numerous fliers posted about her disappearance. Nor was Gardner linked to the still-unsolved death of43-year-old Martha Lopez Perez, Carter said. The Escondido mother of two was last seen on surveillance tapeleaving an AMVETS hall on East Valley Parkway in December 2007. A bicyclist discovered her skeletal remains almost three monthslater in a remote, brushy area of Jesmond Dene Park in northernEscondido. Her cause of death was unclear. Although investigators suspectsomeone killed her, there was never enough evidence to classify thedeath as a homicide, suicide or accident, according to a medicalexaminer's report. Escondido police worked with state parole officials to reviewGardner's whereabouts at the time the women disappeared, Cartersaid. Gardner was monitored by GPS when both women went missing; theelectronic records, which show Gardner's track on a map for anygiven day, showed neither Lopes nor Perez could have been hisvictims, he said.

For 13 months they lived the hell of not knowing what happened to their daughter, Amber Dubois.

“Every day of not knowing is devastating,” Moe Dubois said. “Every day of not knowing is equal to a month of knowing.”

“It’s 100 times worse,” said Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle. “Your
mind plays such games with you. I never lost my faith that she was still
alive, but then all my thoughts would go from there: What’s happening
to her? How much is she suffering?

“Knowing that she didn’t suffer that long and knowing that she was safe all that time was such a deep relief.”

Two years ago today, Feb. 13, a rainy Friday morning, 14-year-old Amber never made it to classes at Escondido High School.

Within 90 minutes after being abducted from along a side road, about a
half-mile north of the school, she had been raped and stabbed to death
by John Albert Gardner III, a previously convicted rapist who a year
later would kill Chelsea King of Poway and finally be caught.

The “craziness” that had consumed McGonigle while Amber’s fate was
unknown, and during the months later as the drama of Chelsea and Amber
unfolded publicly in court and in the media, finally calmed in June.

One day, she said, everything came crashing down and for two weeks
she couldn’t get out of bed. It was just as a psychologist had told her
it would be: The grieving would truly begin and reality would set in.

“For 15 months I’d done nothing but run around crazy,” she said. “Then, suddenly, it was like this is what life is about.”

She never returned to work at a printing company in San Marcos and
now collects disability as she pursues her new passion — forming a
private search-and-rescue team to help find girls like Amber and
Chelsea.

Moe Dubois, who lives in Orange County with his partner, Rebecca
Smith, interacts little with Carrie these days. Moe and Rebecca are
trying to move on, but it’s been difficult.

“The past two years have thrown us into financial ruin,” he said.
“Going back to work was very, very difficult for me.” He’s working part
time for the same company he has for more than a decade as an estimator
of computer and fiber optic communication systems.

He and Rebecca established the More Kids organization, and Dubois is
now devoted to lobbying for legislation to protect children. Last year,
three state laws were created with Dubois’ backing. One requires the
state to report an abduction to a national tracking system within two
hours instead of four; another requires better law enforcement
coordination to improve abduction response times, training and
procedures; and a third creates the position of “director of missing children operations” to oversee programs.

“With all my heart I want to pursue legislation,” he said. “The only
problem is legislation doesn’t pay. Not a penny. And it costs a lot.”

Both Dubois and McGonigle spoke with Gardner before he was sent to
prison, where he will remain until he dies after pleading guilty in
April to raping and killing Amber and Chelsea. Neither ever wants to
speak with him again, and both were sickened when CBS’ “48 Hours” aired a
piece in November about the case that included an interview with
Gardner.

McGonigle wanted answers from Gardner and got them. She felt it gave
her closure. She finally knew how Amber was abducted and what her last
minutes alive were like. She said she believed most of what he told her.

Gardner couldn’t look McGonigle in the eyes while they spoke.

He told her he thought he was seeing a ghost when he first saw
McGonigle in the courtroom a few weeks earlier when he pleaded guilty.
She looked so much like Amber, he said.

“When I left (the jail), he was curled up in a full sweat, crying. He
was a wreck, and I was perfectly happy with that,” she said.

During the year and a month of not knowing what happened to Amber,
McGonigle, Dubois and a small army of volunteers plastered much of
Southern California
and beyond with more than 300,000 missing posters. For months they
seemed to be in every convenience store window, every gas station.

McGonigle said Gardner told her everywhere he went he saw Amber’s
face, that it haunted him daily. But he didn’t want to return to prison
so he kept silent. And then killed again.

McGonigle has formed a group called Team Amber Rescue, which is
training to become auxiliary searchers for when a child or adult goes
missing. Later this week about eight members of Team Amber are scheduled
to travel to Texas to help with the search for 13-year-old Hailey Dunn,
who has been missing since Dec. 27.

McGonigle has also become a confidant to other mothers whose children
are gone. She’s there to comfort them and to hug them and to let them
know they are not alone. Just recently she went to Riverside to comfort a
woman whose daughter had been abducted a few days earlier. “She was
hugging me and thanking me,” McGonigle said. “She said she had been lost
before I showed up.”

Amber’s parents say they have no ill will toward Escondido police and
their search. Some conflicts arose during the year of Amber’s
disappearance, but they said they now realize the police did what they
could given what little information they had. Indeed, the few leads,
based on eyewitnesses who thought they saw Amber walking along Broadway
just north of the school that morning, turned out to be wrong.

They also said they have no problem with Gardner’s sentence.

“There is no death penalty in California,” Dubois said. “He’ll die
faster in general population than he will by a needle. He’s off the
streets. He can’t do it again. What more can you ask? I mean, sure, I’d
like to have a week with him, but that’s never going to happen.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/13/amber-dubois-parents-search-solace/