Remains of California teen Amber DuBois found

[dan9999]

Remains of California teen Amber DuBois found
March 7, 2010 8:34 p.m. EST

Amber DuBois, of the San Diego, California, area, was last seen walking to school in February 2009.

(CNN) -- The remains of Amber DuBois, a 14-year-old San Diego, California-area girl who was missing for more than a year, have been found, police said Sunday.

Human skeletal remains found early Saturday in Pala -- a rural, rugged area in northern San Diego County, California -- have been positively identified as those of DuBois, Police Chief Jim Maher of Escondido, California, said at a news conference.

DuBois was last seen walking alone to school on February 13, 2009. Her family lives in Escondido, a suburb of San Diego.

Maher did not take questions at the brief news conference, saying the investigation of DuBois' death is ongoing. "Any detail, no matter how slight, would be inappropriate at this time," he said.

The investigation is being handled by Escondido police, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, and the FBI.

Amber DuBois' parents, who police said were notified of their daughter's found remains Saturday, attended the press conference. "We'd like to thank everybody involved in the search for Amber... and above all, our huge volunteer corps," her father, Moe DuBois, said. "They are the most dedicated people you can ever imagine."

"Without them we cannot have done anything," he said.

Authorities said last week they were investigating John Albert Gardner III, who pleaded not guilty Wednesday to raping and murdering Chelsea King -- another San Diego-area teen -- to determine whether he was connected to Amber DuBois' disappearance.

"We have been working closely with San Diego Sheriff's Office, and our investigators are working with theirs in case there is a connection," Lt. Robert Benton with the Escondido Police Department said last week. "We are involved in the daily briefings on the King investigation."

Amber DuBois' father attended Gardner's arraignment on Wednesday.

Maher did not mention any suspects during his brief news conference Sunday.

[dan9999]

Bones of Missing California Girl Found Year Later
Monday, March 08, 2010
AP

ESCONDIDO, Calif. — When 17-year-old Chelsea King went missing last month San Diego, Maurice Dubois had a sinking feeling that his 14-year-old daughter had fallen victim to the same killer.

Amber Dubois vanished walking to school on Feb. 13, 2009, about 10 miles from where Chelsea was last seen in running clothes at a park. Amber's father noted their similar builds — 5-foot-5, thin, blue-eyed.

"We're hoping they're two separate isolated incidents," he said last week. "In the back of our minds we know the possibility is so strong there is a connection."

Authorities found Amber's skeletal remains early Saturday in a remote, rugged area of Pala, a small town in the Pala Indian Reservation, which stretches more than 12,000 acres in north San Diego County, said Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher. The county medical examiner's office confirmed the remains were Amber's through dental records, he said.

Police did not say if the discovery was linked to Chelsea's accused killer, John Albert Gardner III. Maher did not answer questions during a brief news conference Sunday.

"This is an ongoing murder investigation and any details, no matter how slight, would be inappropriate to reveal at this point in time," he said.

Amber's parents, Maurice Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, appeared distraught at his side. Maurice Dubois briefly thanked everyone who searched for Amber, particularly volunteers.

"They were the most dedicated people you could ever imagine," he said. "Without them, we couldn't have done anything."

Gardner, 30, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murdering Chelsea and raping or attempting to rape her and attempting to rape another woman in December, a potential death penalty case.

A spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney's office, Paul Levikow, declined to comment Sunday on the investigation into Amber's death.

Gardner was registered as a sex offender in Escondido, a north San Diego suburb, from January 2008 to January 2010, with some gaps, police say.

He served five years of a six-year prison term for molesting a 13-year-old neighbor in San Diego in 2000; he saw her at a bus stop and lured her to his home to watch movies. He completed parole in September 2008.

Amber was last seen walking with a man about 200 yards from Escondido High School by a woman who used to drive her to middle school, according to her father. Another neighbor reported seeing her about 300 yards from school. She never appeared on school surveillance cameras.

Amber, who was active in Future Farmers of America, left home with a $200 check to buy a lamb. It was never cashed.

There was no physical evidence recovered, hindering early search efforts, her father said. Calls reporting sightings of the girl came in, but none panned out.

In contrast, physical evidence was quickly recovered when Chelsea went missing, sparking a massive, round-the-clock search. Gardner was arrested three days after the disappearance outside a Mexican restaurant in Escondido.

Gardner is being represented by Michael Popkins, a public defender who declined to speak with reporters after Wednesday's arraignment. No one answered the phone at the public defender's office Sunday night.

Chelsea's death sparked outrage in her hometown of Poway, a wealthy suburb near Escondido.

A court-appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Matthew Carroll, recommended the maximum sentence allowed under law for Gardner in 2000, calling him an "extremely poor candidate" for treatment and a "continued danger to underage girls in the community."

He faced a maximum sentence of nearly 11 years in prison under a plea agreement, but prosecutors urged six years.