Task force: John Gardner probably has not killed others

John Albert Gardner III at his May 14 sentencing

— A few days after John Gardner was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the rape and murders of North County residents Chelsea King and Amber Dubois, authorities held a news conference to detail the investigations.

They said a task force formed after Gardner’s arrest would continue trying to determine if Gardner was responsible for other crimes. That panel became disbanded a few weeks later, and authorities feel confident Gardner is not responsible for the deaths of anyone else.

“The task force did explore the possibility of additional victims and compared missing-person reports with the M.O. of Gardner, and we did not identify any additional potential victims,” Sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos said Wednesday.

He said the task force checked Gardner’s work, cell-phone and financial records, among other things, to see if he might have been in locations where other people were reported missing.

“That proved negative,” Brugos said.

“He was very talkative and underwent numerous interviews with members of the task after sentencing and without an attorney,” Brugos said. Gardner confessed to some additional “minor crimes that didn’t develop into a murder or anything like that.”

He said Gardner also underwent an analysis by the FBI’S Behavioral Science Unit, which specializes in serial killers.

“After all the interviews with those investigators there seemed to be no suggestion there were any additional murder victims. We can’t really be certain, but we did put forth a lot of effort and it was decided that the task force had no other leads to go on.”

Gardner, 31, is an ex-con who spent five years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 2000.

He was sentenced May 14 to two sentences of life imprisonment without parole for the deaths of Chelsea, who lived in Poway, and Amber, a resident of Escondido. Gardner also received a third life sentence for an attack on a jogger.

Chelsea, 17, was abducted, raped and murdered on Feb. 25 while out for a run at Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Her body was found five days later in a shallow grave on the banks of Lake Hodges.

Amber, 14, was abducted on Feb. 13, 2009, while walking to school in Escondido. She was raped and murdered 40 miles away in a remote area near Pala. Her remains were found, also in a shallow grave, after Gardner led them to the location.



