Suspect Arrested in Case of Missing San Diego County Girl

A registered sex offender was behind bars today on suspicion of murder and rape in connection with the disappearance last week of a 17-year-old Poway High senior, who has yet to be found.

Chelsea King has been missing since Thursday, when she did not return home from a run at Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

John Albert Gardner III, 30, of Lake Elsinore, was taken into custody Sunday afternoon near a restaurant bar in south Escondido, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said.

Physical evidence led authorities to Gardner, who was questioned by homicide detectives, Gore said. The evidence has not been described by law enforcement but Chelsea’s mother told news stations this morning that her daughter’s underwear was found in the Lake Hodges area.

Gore declined to discuss specific criminal charges, but according to the sheriff’s Web site, Gardner was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of rape by force and first-degree murder. Nonetheless, Gore told Good Morning America that law enforcement and volunteers would search for Chelsea today, hoping to find her alive.

Gardner is a registered sex offender listed on the Megan’s law Web site, which indicates he lives in Lake Elsinore and committed lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years old. Gore said investigators searched Gardner’s Lake Elsinore home and other addresses prior to arresting him.

One of those addresses searched was a townhouse on Matinal Road near West Bernardo Drive, where Gardner was staying with his parents, according to NBC 7/39. The townhouse is about a mile from the park where Chelsea likes to run.

Gore said there was “a strong possibility” Gardner may be connected to an attack on a female jogger at the same park on Dec. 27, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

He said authorities were also investigating whether Gardner was connected to the disappearance of Amber Dubois, who went missing while walking to Escondido High School just over a year ago. Dubois, who was 14 at the time, has not been found.

The search for Chelsea was expected to expand today beyond the Rancho Bernardo park and nearby Lake Hodges, where search teams have been looking since she disappeared Thursday.

“There are several searches going on around the county,” Gore said. “We are going to refocus some of our search efforts.”

Chelsea’s parents, Brent and Kelly King, reported her missing Thursday evening when she did not come home from a run at the park. Brent King found her car in the parking lot at the park.

Hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement personnel have been searching for her since then. Several agencies pitched in, searching the Lake Hodges area by foot, air and boat.

Investigators looked for clues on Chelsea’s cell phone, which was found in her car, and her home computer.

The Poway High School senior is a straight-A student and a member of the San Diego Youth Symphony.