Gardner Sentenced To Two Life Prison Terms

A registered sex offender who raped and murdered 17- year-old Chelsea King and 14-year-old Amber Dubois was sentenced today to two consecutive life prison terms without parole, plus an additional 33 years to life.

John Albert Gardner III, 31, pleaded guilty in April to attacking King while she was jogging behind Rancho Bernardo Community Park and taking her to a remote area, where he raped her, strangled her and buried her in a shallow grave.

He also admitted killing Dubois, who vanished while walking to Escondido High School in February 2009.

Gardner said nothing during the sentencing hearing, mostly staring straight down at the table in front of him.

Two emotional videos were played in court during the hearing — celebrating the lives of Chelsea and Amber. During the first, Gardner openly wept, his shoulders quaking as tears streamed from his eyes.

Chelsea’s father, Brent King, addressed Gardner in court, telling him he wanted him to live in fear every day of his life in prison.

“I know you think your time in prison will be hell on Earth,” he said. “I hope you’re right.”

“I want you to feel every day, every moment, the same fear Chelsea must have felt,” King said. “Unlike you, Chelsea was no coward. I can assure you she showed more courage in her final moments than you showed in your entire life.”

King described how he would interact with Chelsea as an infant and young girl.

“I loved feeding her, playing with her, changing her diapers, just being her dad,” he said.

He concluded his remarks telling Gardner, “You can go straight to hell.”

Chelsea’s mother, Kelly King, told Gardner “nothing, and no one, can save you.”

“Chelsea was a sweet, loving and innocent soul who could not have fathomed the wretched piece of evil that ended her life that day,” she said.

“… You have taken a life that was worth an infinite number of yours.”

At one point during her statement, Kelly King told Gardner, “Look at me,” and after several quiet moments during which Gardner continued to look downward, she added, “Why am I not surprised?”

Three days after Gardner, 31, was arraigned on charges he murdered King, he led authorities to Dubois’ body in Pala. To avoid the death penalty, he later agreed to plead guilty to both murders and the December assault of a woman — Candice Moncayo — in the same Rancho Bernardo Park where Chelsea died.

Moncayo tearfully asked the judge “to make us a little safer by locking him up permanently.”

Moncayo said she had deep sympathy for the Dubois and King families.

“Their sacrifices are utterly unimaginable and truly there are no words to describe the depths of despair and sorrow we have all experienced because of this man,” she said.