missing juvenile at risk. man: life stops. man (on phone): amber leeanne dubois. man: you don't sleep. you don't eat. nothing matters anymore. narrator: a teenager disappears.

come home, please. he says amber never made it, and i knew nothing ghmatters anymore. >> a teenager disappears. >> i knew right then, someone had her. >> going over in our heads, what happened in front of the school? >> then, another gone. >> she such a good girl. she needs to come home. >> maybe she is being held captive. >> took missing girls. one man. >> did you get any sense of the personality you are dealing with? >> yes. psychotic. >> two journeys for justice. >> if a lesson can be learned from amber, then i want it out

there. there. the negotiation was finally complete. >> on the evening of february 12, 2009, and a hillside house north of san diego, california, the negotiation was finally complete. >> i made her right a one-page letter to me, but she wrote a two page letter she repeated things multiple times. >> she pestered her mother, carrie, and her mother's boyfriend at the time, dave. >> our kids have their things they are into. amber loved animals. >> she had been campaigning for it with the riegler and frequent visits with her father. >> what was she going to call it? >> then that. >> which made perfect sense for her, because of her very french surname. dubois.

amber dubois. in the morning, it was friday the 13th. it was to be her lucky day. she walked the two blocks from escondido, clutching her mother's $200 check and exchange for a lamb of all things. she was buying it as part of her school's future farmers program, and tonight, she drifted off to sleep for the last time, every good thing still seemed possible. none of it had happened, though. >> is not a single day that goes by that i don't break down and cry for hours. >> the extent of the evil hadn't occurred to the sheriff yet. >> there's a safe sillman has been taken away from you. >> the d.a. never imagined. >> this case rocked san diego county. >> but this was before all of that.

and amber was just going about the business of being 14 and slightly quirky. >> amber was a free-spirited kid. she loved reading and writing, and she didn't like normal things that most kids like. >> she liked to take her time. she's looking at the flowers, the bugs, whatever. she was never hurting ever. she wanted to see the world how she sees it, and she did. >> no interest in boys yet. no girly things, either. >> we had ordered her school clothes online because she wouldn't go shopping. that would be torture for her, to go to the mall. >> is so cliquish, you know? >> she had a click, but it was a very, very small click. she had some very close friends that were all geeky nerds like

her. >> she read the whole harry potter series in two weeks. all of them. she couldn't put a book down. i have to go in her room multiple times is a new she was under the blanket a flashlight. >> in one year she's probably read more books in my entire life. >> she made plans to take extra courses in graduate early, and she vowed never to miss one day of class. >> i might come are you sure? you never want to miss school? i would do anything to miss school. she wanted perfect attendance. >> she wanted to be an animal behavioral scientist. >> kate kept guinea pigs and birds and fish and dogs and rats. she began writing lessons at 3. by 9, she owned a horse. so when the school offered future farmers of america, horse she joined.

>> they have a huge, huge farm on the campus and they allow students to purchase and raise farm animals. >> and thus, the lamb, and the happy walk to school on friday february 13th. >> i remember laughing going, i'm going out to take care of that lamb. >> the weather was drizzly, mid- 50s. it was late in the afternoon when they noticed -- well, nothing. >> i was at the house and went, wait a minute, where is amber? she should have been here an hour ago. i called her mom. >> i called her cell phone and said have her call me. >> dave got in his car and drove to the school. >> i figured maybe she went to go play with her lamb and just lost track of time. >> then he found one of her teachers and asked if they seen amber. >> she said, she didn't show up

here today. i was very surprised she didn't show up. it was her last day to pay for her lamb. >> i said, what are you talking about? i gave her a check before she left this morning. that's when sirens went off. i called carrie, and carry, at that point, kind of went into panic mode. >> i knew right then that someone had her. i knew. something terrible has happened. >> coming up. where was amber? >> as it goes on, we get a little more worried. >> police and the nation joined the search and a new lead sends a mother on a dangerous mission across the border. >> is a great reason for them to kidnap her and hold her. >> went dateline continues. ne

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my name is oluseyi ac and some of mycks favorite moments throughout my life are watching sports with my dad. now, i work at comcast as part of the team that created our ai highlights technology, which uses ai to detect the major plays in a sports game. giving millions of fans, like my dad and me, new ways of catching up on their favorite sport. amber dubois, 14 years old, was a young woman of established habits. carrie mcgonigle: she got out of school at 2:45.

i'd give her until 3:30 to be home so she could >> amber dubois, 14 s.years old was a young woman of established habit. >> i gave her until 3:30 so she can hang out with her friend. >> dependable was amber. predictable, even. and then came friday, february 13, 2009, when she wasn't home. didn't call. the day her mother, carrie mcgonigal, found out she hadn't been to school at all. >> she had a check in her pocket for the lamb. there was no day she was missing that day of husband. >> what did her voice mike on the phone? >> complete panic. >> i started looking all around the school for the dumpsters, a backpack, anything. i probably had 15 people show up right away, and we started going door to door. >> we were out with a black and white picture -- an actual

picture of amber. i have the may color flyer and said, here, this is a much better picture of amber. >> escondido police combed the neighborhood and worked all night. >> it is now saturday morning, and will no sign of amber. very concerning to us. >> and later that day -- a break. someone had seen her near the school. >> he described her as walking hurriedly, so he thought she was late to school. >> then someone else has seen amber near this fire hydrant. >> there is amber. they noticed she was there. >> the boy was described as tall, doughy looking, and dark complected. >> who was that boy? was amber with someone? she had been missing a day when the phone company called.

her cell phone was active somewhere nearby. >> someone had tried to access voicemail, and a hit on the same cell phone tower that covers both amber's home and the school. >> so police had what amounted to a reverse 911 call. >> this is an important message from the escondido police department regarding a missing juvenile at risk. the juvenile is amber dubois. >> is a recorded message you can send out to every home in the area, which we did in a several mile radius around the cell phone tower. if you seen her, you know her, please tell us. >> as the new spread, people did call. saturday the 14th, early evening. although the surveillance cameras picked up nothing. sunday the 15th, a second classmate said he saw her walking with a boy.

>> it was deemed to be as reliable as could be. >> is called sent hope soaring, not for kerry. >> i like, it wasn't her. i'm telling you right now, she would not be this close to home and not come home. >> the fbi joined in, and volunteers did, too. searching out vacant buildings. search and rescue teams scoured miles of brush choked ravines, hidden places around rocky hills. >> also, this was a place where a lot of kids go to party. it's called the caves, and is consistent with a rocky mountain this area. >> but no sign of amber. >> as it goes on, we get a little more worried. >> what was it like with time

going by and no word or nothing? >> time stops. nothing matters anymore. >> you don't sleep, you don't eat. >> you go into a deep depression some days, and some days you can see some kind of light. >> volunteers came out. hundreds of them. >> i have three daughters myself, and i just cannot imagine what those parents are going through. >> someone has hurt. she's not just hiding from me or hiding from the house. someone has her. >> it kept us up at nights, going over in our heads over and over, what happening that morning in front of the school? >> if amber was alive -- and that was a big if -- where could she be? they told the amber story on america's most wanted. she was on the cover of people magazine. and what happened? suddenly sightings coast-to- coast, hundreds of them. >> there's one girl that looked

so much like amber, that she had to keep carrying her i.d. on her because law enforcement would stop her so many times. she had to show the i.d., i am not amber. >> he wrote on every tip in every state, 1200 of them. 500 interviews. >> the more we investigated, world the more we came up into dead ends. went >> carrie got in her car and drove 45 miles south across the border into tijuana, another 60 miles to mexicali, to scour the streets. >> i always let law enforcement know where i'm going. >> we advised her not to go, because if somebody down there knew that she had -- at that point, a 30 or $50,000 award, there would be great reason for them to kidnap her and hold her

down. >> we are begging you not to go. i said, i'll call you when i get back. i end up going down there maybe four or five times. >> but no amber in mexico. so at home in escondido, what did she do? >> she had a list of registered predators. she would drive by, a dozen a night. >> we got a call from me complex manager and a female was yelling at individuals in the apartment complex. when officers arrived, it was hurt yelling at a registered offender. he actually was complaining to the apartment manager and the apartment manager had asked us to ask for relief. >> the threat of arrest didn't scare her. but then the weeks became months, and giving up hope was hard to do. the volunteers, once a small army, thinned and stopped coming. >> we had days where there were hundreds and hundreds of people. it suddenly dropped down two points were -- there was weeks

where we had like, eight people show up. >> four months after amber disappeared, the volunteer search center closed. on february 13, 2010, they marked the somber anniversary. >> our biggest fear is going our entire careers, is not our lifetime, and not knowing what happened to amber dubois. the likelihood of solving this case was very limited, if at all. >> and then -- >> it happened again. coming up. another mystery. >> it was unusual. we think that maybe something would have had to have gone wrong. >> and another anguished mother. >> please just help us bring her home. she such a good girl. she needs to come home. >> went dateline continues. ne

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thursday, february 25th, 2010, just over a year since amber dubois vanished, another teenager was missing 10 miles >> thursday, february 5, 2010, just over a year since amber dubois vanished, another teenager was missing 10 miles away in a suburb of san diego. >> how can this happen almost a year -- the same month -- how can this -- you know. >> it began in a parking lot near a popular local hiking trail. >> we get calls about juveniles, girls that run away. >> two deputies responded to a call from panicked parents. this one i think made the hair stand up on his neck. >> 17-year-old chelsea king, had come to rancho bernardo park as she often did around 2:00 in the afternoon for a brisk five mile walk. a will known, well used trail

that skirted the banks of a long marching lake. but then she was late, didn't answer her cell, didn't return her parents messages. her dad called the cell phone provider who looked up the tower her signal was hitting and let her dad to her phone, which was inside her locked car in that parking lot. >> just finding her car was unusual. it was not just somebody, a teenager, out here with her boyfriend. it made me think that something would've had to have gone wrong. >> it certainly had. >> chelsea king is described as having strawberry blonde hair. >> another public nightmare began. >> anybody out there if you know anything, please just help us bring her home. she is such a good girl. she needs to get home. >> vehemently felt what they were going through. >> i wanted to go and search.

>> bonnie was the san diego county district attorney and one of the first to get the news. >> everybody began thinking of amber right from the beginning, i think. i think that's what made everybody so scared about chelsea, was knowing that this had happened with amber. >> amber, who was in some ways, so similar. >> beautiful girls. both 5'5", both like complected. >> that morning, friends fanned out around the park in the neighborhood around it. even total strangers joined in. and just along here, perhaps two miles from her car, as the cold settled in and the daylight failed. >> one of the people that are coming from the neighborhood to search him across a pair of underwear and socks that did not appear to be trampled or discarded. they were right in the center of the walking trail.

>> they could've been anyone's, of course, but how did they get here ? was there a connection? dave brown, then a sergeant, sent a detective out to the trail. >> right along this trail, just a little bit further down. the parents said, yes, it's a type that she wears. >> was very clear indication that there might be a dna? >> yes. there was a small amount of blood that was found. >> they sent the clothes to the dna lab for confirmation and deployed a virtual army. helicopters with infrared tracking, search and rescue teams, hundreds of people began walking the thousand acres of rancho bernardo parkway, and divers made their way to the lake of this underwater forest. >> you can see the shoreline over here and over there. it's very thick. the trees in the middle are

hidden underwater. so you can see a little bit of the difficulty. just here, if you take one step, you depart the brush. you take another step, you have to park the brush. that's how it was that day, that thursday night. >> night fell. still no sign of chelsea. where was she on these miles of trails of this vast park? >> there's a lot of places you can hide someone. that's our problem. there's a lot of acreage here. >> by friday, the day after chelsea's disappearance, were k9 units, trucks, four wheelers. >> we have hundreds and hundreds of folks coming from all over southern california. >> county sheriff bill gore -- >> literally a call from the fbi, we have 25 agents we can send where you want them. border patrol. and they were there.

>> the fbi canvassed some 2500 homes and police ran down 600 tips. areas were known offenders were tracked down as well. by that weekend, two days missing -- >> we are looking for a 5'5" 150 pound girl. >> thousands came to look for chelsea, ambers among them. >> the line of people was eight people wide, and around the whole building all the way out to the street. >> with this is not like the search for amber. there were no sightings of chelsea. >> we believe that she was out and went jogging at that park. the fact that she didn't come back leads you to believe there were some type of foul play right from the beginning. >> which is why the sheriff called dave brown and his team of homicide detectives. >> there were certain things about this missing person case that concerned the people investigating it, and one was the clothing found. it was found really far away, a couple of miles from where the

car was found. >> no rational explanation except foul play. and then the next day, the second discovery. it was a mile from the place for the underwear and socks were found. near a running trail, a shoe. which appear to be the very shoe chelsea was wearing in this photo. >> it looks like someone had either thrown it or dropped it right there. >> the way these things are so far apart from each other, we figured foul late. whether or not she is deceased or she is being held somewhere, we can't answer that. >> the chance to find chelsea alive was growing slim. the chance that they would find her at all is not much better. now there were two girls gone. where? >> coming up. >> more hope that they were somehow connected. >> chelsea and amber. might there be a link? police are about to get a break. a new search begins, and the

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dave brown: there's a lot of desperation. in the back of your mind, you're hoping that someone has her held against her will. and so the detectives don't want to go home. nobody wants to go home.

nobody wants to sleep. we have to find her. narrator: it was like some nightmarish deja vu. amber dubois vanished in san diego county. a search turned up nothing. then a year later, in a neighboring town, another teenage girl was gone. another search going nowhere. were the two connected? that's what the cop who searched for amber wondered. bob benton: it was more of a hope that they were somehow connected and would help us solve the amber case. narrator: and so he watched as search and rescue literally beat the bushes and probed the treacherous muddy water. and detectives in suits worked the neighborhoods nearby. dave brown: they find who here friends are, where she was, talking to anybody and everybody who might have been in that park that day, hoping to find something. narrator: and they were trying to make sense of evidence scattered around the park. chelsea's car was parked here, underwear with a slight stain of blood had been found on a trail here, a shoe a mile away.

dave brown: in the back of our minds, we know it's a matter of time before we're going to-- we may get the results from this dna, and that will also prove if those are actually her items of clothing and shoe. narrator: then, three days after chelsea disappeared, more clothes surfaced not far from where the first items were found. the mate to the first shoe and a sports bra here in a ditch. an area that we had searched and didn't find anything of value. what did you think when you found that stuff? there was an idea that maybe articles were being randomly thrown or scattered to throw us off of a trail, threw us off of the lead. narrator: was chelsea still in that park? was she dead or alive? and one more question. had anyone else been attacked in that park? and sure enough, a student home for the holidays, also and one more erquestion -- has anyone else been attacked in that park? and sure enough, a student, home for the holidays, also a

jogger, recorded she had been attacked while running on a trail near where those first items of clothing were found. that was december, two months before chelsea vanished. >> it happened literally within a few feet of a whole row of houses. the good news was, the young woman could provide a description of her attacker and what he tried to do. he was white, she said. stocky, muscular. brown hair, military type cuts. she was running along the path and this guy tackled her from the side and pinned her down. but she, understanding what was coming, that you will have to kill me. he said, that could be arranged. but she knew tae kwon do and she caught him in the nose with her elbow, and he reacted as she wiggled away and ran like the wind out of there. >> other witnesses offered a vague description of a man they had seen in the park the day chelsea does a weird. white male, heavyset.

do they have a serial attacker on their hands? was this part of the park their territory? it was now sunday afternoon, february 28th. chelsea had been missing for 3 days. >> i didn't have the answers for them. at one point, they asked for a tour of the various items that were found. >> they show the kings were some of the clothing was found. >> that's really found this, that's where we found that. and that's when the detective's phone rang. >> the dna came back. >> the dna confirmed it was chelsea's, but the test produced something else, too. inside that clothing was a second person's dna, and the lab got a hit. >> came back to a registry. >> chelsea's parents standing beside her. >> sergeant brown gathered his

team. >> we need to find out everything we can about this person. >> the dna match was to a convicted offender named john gardner, a man who spent five years in prison for an assault back in 2000. >> is a mixed blessing that it comes back to a sex registry ? that's not a positive note. but at least we knew who and where it was. we knew we were going to close in. >> the search for gardner began that afternoon. >> we sent undercover people to watch the houses that might be where he lives. >> the approach carefully, watch from a distance. there was a slim chance, but what if he was holding her? >> in the back of everybody's mind, she's alive, and we think maybe she is tied up somewhere. and we are going to find her. we are going to find her tonight. >> but she wasn't in any of

those houses, and neither was he. instead, they found gardner at a bar in the north side of the lake at the very parkour chelsea had been running. hernandez hideaway. and this is weird. gardeners close were wet and muddy as if he had been waiting in the lake for some reason. they sent photographs to the woman who had survived the earlier attack in the park. what had this man with the wet and muddy close done with chelsea king? did he know anything about that other missing girl, amber dubois? >> coming up. the interrogation begins, and police are in for a ride. >> he wrote back in the chair, did a full on belly laugh. laughed for an extended period of time. >> when dateline continues. ne for the things we want. oh, we want this. the all new mylowe's rewars loyalty program is her.

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he was a young, white male. at the surface cellular level. burly. short, cropped hair. matched perfectly the descriptions >> he was a young white male. burly, short cropped hair. matched perfectly the

descriptions of the suspected attacker here in rancho bernardo park. now, john gardner, 30 years old, was behind bars. >> how did he react to being arrested? >> very unhappy. he believed the accusations were false. >> detectives pat o'brien and mark palmer confronted him in an interrogation room. >> we believed we hoped that chelsea was still alive someplace, so we kept asking, where is chelsea king? >> how did he respond to that? >> he denied everything. he denied ever coming into contact with her. he basically said the only information he had was from the television. >> we were able to say, we have your dna. >> we approached him with the dna and he called us liars. >> he was all over the place. calm one minute, angry one minute, on the verge of crying the other minutes. >> we thought part of it was humorous to him and part of it was offensive.

how dare we even consider him as a suspect. he made it perfectly clear that he hated law enforcement. he said he was treated poorly while he was in the department of corrections and hated cops for that reason. >> gardner had been arrested here at a bar called hernandez hideaway, drunk and muddy. he told detectives he slipped on some mud and hopped into the lake to rinse off. >> the first thing that comes to mind is, why see in the lake? hernandez hideaway is on the north end of lake hodges. >> those bits of chelsea's clothing were found on the south end of the lake. >> has he placed chelsea somewhere on the north side of the lake is going to retrieve or see if she'll still there? >> is looking for clues he's going to give you verbally or nonverbally or whatever. >> the questioning was strictly limited to this -- where was chelsea? >> our soul purpose was to find

chelsea king alive and get her some kind of help. so we couldn't go into too much detail about why. we kept trying to keep him focused to find out, where is she at? what did you do with her ? >> the suspect wouldn't budge. they kept prodding. >> he took a photograph and contingency pushed it at him. he would glance at it, but then he would continue to deny. scott would keep talking to him. where is she ? and then he would go off on some tangent. >> did you get any sense of the sort of personality you are dealing with when you talk to him? >> yes. psychotic. he had some major anger issues. >> they left the room for a few minutes, watched him on a video monitor as gardner looked at a photo of jc. >> he looked at the photo and said, why are you ruining my

life? and in the middle of the interview, gardner surprised them. he brought up a name. the name of a girl who had disappeared more than a year earlier. >> the photo chelsea sitting in front of him, at some point, he said, in essence, you're probably going to try to finger me for that amber girl's disappearance. >> he wouldn't even pronounce her last name properly. >> at that point, gardner began laughing hysterically. >> rolled back in the chair, did a full on belly laugh. laughed for an extended period of time. >> we definitely knew walking out of there he was guilty. there's nothing we could do at that point. >> nothing but redouble the effort to find chelsea. still, chelsea's parents couldn't help but hope that the arrested gardner had brought them a step closer to finding their daughter. >> gave us hope that chelsea is

still there, we just have to find your. i'm not going to think about who he is, what he is. >> there's a certain amount of rage that boils, but now, we are focused on chelsea. >> imagine what brent king might have thought when he learned just a little more, as you will, too, about the history of mr. john gardner. >> the man was evaluated 10 years previously by a board- certified psychiatrist who found that he was a danger and a continuing danger to the public. and apparently, that warning was not listened to. >> i was shocked. >> coming up, who was john gardner, really? >> john told us what had happened. >> a sinister offender? two very different pictures come into focus. when dateline continues. ine co. t

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sunday, february 28, 2010. three days of searching, no chelsea king. but there was an arrest, and john gardner in custody >> sunday, february 28, 2010. three days of searching. no chelsea king. but there was an arrest, and john gardner in custody was at least some kind of comfort for chelsea's parents. >> i was relieved that this monster is no longer out there and able to do this to anyone else. >> who was john gardner? by the time they arrested him, police had sampled some disturbing information. this would not go down well in san diego county. >> he had been a convicted sex offender. the initial crime was serious. he was convicted for a sexual assault in 2000. >> in fact, he had served five years of that sentence for sexually assaulting and brutally beating his 13-year-

old neighbor. this is where in march, 2000, gardner became a sex offender. he was 20 then. invited a 13 over two watch videos with him. he began groping her. he intensified his attack. she resisted. he began beating her severely. the incident left are so traumatized, her family had to move to a different part of california. gardner denied it all. even blamed the beating on the victim's mother. jennifer brandt was a friend of gardeners back then. >> i remember john had come up to the mountains and told us what had happened, and that he was going to have to go to court for this. >> they went to high school together in the san bernardino mountains, 100 miles from san diego. >> she said it wasn't him. the girl had a boyfriend and the girl just didn't want to admit to her parents that she is having sex with her

boyfriend , so she was going to blame the neighbor, being john. >> she and her circle of friends all believed him. the john gardner they knew was a good friend. always help. he confided in her that he been diagnosed as bipolar. >> he did display the symptoms of it. really high highs and really low lows. and on the occasions he was in a low, he started telling me about some things that happened in his childhood, that a family member had actually molested him. >> they moved to san diego from the mountains in 1998. he was working at a sporting goods store when he was arrested in 2000. he was about to turn 21 and wanted to become a mac teacher. his arrest put an end to those plans. gardner always proclaimed his innocence, but agreed to a plea deal, telling his probation officer three attorneys warned him he would get reamed if you

went to trial. but before he was sentenced, the court ordered a forensic psychologist to evaluate gardner to help determine whether he should receive probation or how long he should be in prison. >> it's a very serious offense, even though it was the first time. this was a man who started out being violent. >> forensic psychiatrist mike k lish read the documents on this case. he was also a friend of the doctor who wrote the evaluation. that dr., matthew carroll, declined dateline's request for an interview. >> it's a rare case where the individual starts out in their first offense by assaulting the big. and so that was a warning sign to dr. carol that this was not the typical case. this was a man who was on a very, very steep trajectory for future violence. >> the psychiatrist warnings,

as noted in gardner's probation report, were dire. the defendant manifests significant predatory traits to underage females. the defendant would be a continued danger to underage girls in the community. and it would be unlikely that the defendant would be amenable to treatment. the psychiatrist recommended the maximum sentence allowed by law. >> and mike's variance, i don't think that i've ever seen a psychiatrist make a louder and clearer call. >> and the doctor who evaluated gardner was apparently so concerned about him, he followed up his report with a phone call to gardner's probation officer with yet another warning. the defendant does not suffer from a psychotic disorder, he said. he is simply a bad guy who is inordinately interested in young girls. such calls are rare, says dr. k lish. >> we pick up the phone.

>> despite those warnings, the prosecutor, probation officer and judge all decided that john gardner should get a mid-level sentence of six years, rather than 10 years, which would have been the maximum sentence under the plea deal. >> i have reviewed this case with the glasses having been a prosecutor, having been a municipal court judge, another d.a.. >> when we sat down, bonnie was the san diego county d.a.. she was not the d.a. in 2000 when the crime occurred. we asked to speak to the prosecutor in that case, we were told bonnie what answer our questions. >> this was a midrange sentence as opposed to the maximum? that was in spite of a psychiatrist report that said, this guy is really dangerous, and he always will be dangerous. why would that not of jacked it up to a full 10 year sentence? >> first of all, there were two psychiatric wards. one was saying he was a danger.

one was saying that he was treatable, and recommended inpatient treatment for 90 days and probation. >> this is a guy you see once in five years. >> he examined him just as much of the guy who saw him for an hour. >> but that report was only one factor in the sentencing decision. there were glowing character references. i know in my heart of hearts john gardner is a rare and good breed. i dated him for a year and a half. john is the one person who made me feel completely safe in the world. i believe john will become a great man, husband, father. >> he was 20 years old, no prior record, and the presumption of the law was the middle term. >> six years, out after five. and now, this. the second-guessing went on hold for a moment, because just then, there was a far bigger issue. what had john gardner done with

chelsea king? was she still alive? and if so, where? as john gardner sat at the san diego sheriff's lockup, sergeant dave brown, working the chelsea king case, took an urgent phone call. >> the investigators from escondido called us. >> investigators on the amber dubois case in the neighboring town of escondido had a question. was your guy also our guy? >> i sat in my car and had a teleconference with them. >> the rest of john gardner set office mall earthquake among the cops searching for amber. >> we are a little busy to talk about the case. >> but they kept talking. even as a ranked up the search for chelsea around rancho bernardo park, hoping that she was alive. it flickered, but held. it was tuesday, march 2nd, day five of the search for chelsea. that day, her parents work on

plans for a vigil, a sign no one was giving up. >> it's just going to be one more thing for chelsea when she comes home. she's going to see it and want to get back 1000 times over. >> is amber's parents had given up, they said, neither with a. >> the strength that they display is driving us. you know, when he looks me in the eyes and says, don't worry, we are going to find her -- that is strength. >> coming up. >> everybody's pager went off, and everybody's heart sank. >> the mystery surrounding chelsea would be solved very soon. >> probably the longest drive i have ever had in my life. >> when dateline continues. ne

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continue to scour the brush and waterway in the park >> five days into the search for chelsea king, suspect john gardner wasn't giving up anything. search and rescue teams continue to scour the rushing waterway in the part where chelsea went missing. >> they would you shoulder to shoulder, go underwater, look, come back up, and check to make sure they were in a line. they had to do it systematically. i want to say we did the six or seven times, we searched this entire area here. >> the shoreline here have particular interest because chelsea's shoe had been found just a few feet from here. >> so the shoe was basically in this area. just laid on top of the brush. and then from here, we go north, straight to the water. >> that afternoon, downtown, the homicide team was called to a meeting with the d.a. >> once he was arrested, we knew there was one to be a

prosecution. >> by that tuesday, she had few illusions left about finding chelsea alive. >> the circumstances were such that we felt it was a murder case and a potential death penalty case. >> thus, the meeting with homicide detectives. >> we still didn't have -- we didn't have a body. >> that's when it happened. >> the detectives were presenting the case when everybody's pager went off. and everybody's heart sank. >> it was chelsea. rescue divers had found her body. >> the person i was in a boat, beached the boat literally right here. him and his partners started walking this way, and shortly thereafter noticed an area a little bit further this way, and that's when chelsea was

found. >> it was that small area which had been searched so many times, the place that she was found 15 feet from the edge of the water, a shallow grave. a little shrine was created there, a patch of decorated earth. sheriff gore delivered the news. >> that was probably the longest drive i've ever had in my life, to go to the king house. it was just me is that nobody in law enforcement ever wants to deliver. it was just heart-wrenching. >> it's the worst day of our lives, ever. there is no deeper pain that we will ever feel again. so i -- i'm in the depths of despair. it is endless right now. >> what kind of creature would

do this? >> not far away, amber dubois's mother, carrie, heard the news as well. the reaction is the most physical. >> when chelsea's body was found, i thought, i'd rather have her missing then have to bury her. it hit me really hard. >> that evening, was to have been a search vigil for chelsea became a memorial instead. thousands came. >> i want to thank you. chelsea wants to thank you. keeper spirit alive for us. >> gardner was in court the next day, charged with murdering chelsea king and committing a rape. he was also charged with an attempt to commit rape on that student last november. amber's father was at the hearing. afterwards, he worried what this meant for his daughter. >> we are kind of concerned that there is a connection.

>> and though no one had proved john gardner's guilt, around san diego, he had become infamous. public enemy number one. and if people here learn more about the 2000 case, the psychiatrist report, and gardner's failure to reveal where he was saying, the outrage boiled over. >> i think pretty much all of san diego county is completely disgusted with this. >> during the week before the attack on chelsea, gardner had been staying with his mother a few blocks from the park in which chelsea was murdered. in fact, it was the very same house in which he attacked that 13-year-old back in 2000. when police have gone around the neighborhood looking for sex offenders, they did not come to this house. no reason to. >> he was actually registered at his grandmother's house in lake elsinore, so gardner would not come up in that search because he was registered in lake elsinore.

>> and that was 50 miles away, out of the county. >> the mother never forced john to report it. he might have known the guidelines only coming down a certain amount of days, but people felt threatened not knowing that a sex registrant was living that close to them. >> once the news broke, gardner's mother tried to be hiding from media and the public anger. anger so strong, someone spray- painted these words on her house, holding her, along with her son, accountable for chelsea's death. >> if i was then i saw that, i would move out. >> with some of gardner's fence came over to paint over those words, they were driven away. >> i can see the sympathy you have for her. i can see it in your eyes. get out of this neighborhood. you don't belong here. >> in the midst of that public shock and anger, detectives in

the chelsea case again can enter those calls and emails from their fellow cops who have been looking for amber dubois. was there a connection? maybe. >> we realized that john gardner was a resident of escondido. he was one of our registered sex offenders back at the time that amber disappeared. that's when the light bulb went off. >> coming up. >> were going through all the muck, and i'm nervous, of course, while were doing this. >> the race to find amber. were detectives getting closer? and was this suspect number one? >> we are looking at all 1200 tips, see if there's anything around john gardner. >> when dateline continues. ne and tough to keep wo ndering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty

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the arrest of john gardner for the murder of chelsea king prompted some serious rethinking a few miles up the road in escondido. >> the arrest of john gardner for the murder of chelsea king prompted some serious rethinking. if you miles up the road in escondido, amber dubois's parents, for example, remembered something about that man. he was a registered sex offender in escondido at the time that amber vanished. >> this was one of the people on your crazy list of going around. >> yes. it was 148 at that time. he was one of them.

>> john gardner had been living here in this apartment complex in escondido at the time amber disappeared. >> some of my volunteers did wait outside of his apartment waiting for him, just to see what he drove or whatever, but they never made contact with him. >> after his arrest, carrie couldn't see how gardner could be connected to his daughter's disappearance. >> gardner seems to attack girls that are by themselves, and amber was last seen with two eyewitnesses in front of the school. for him to do that in front of all those kids just seemed really unlikely. >> police had also been aware of john gardner. finding evidence that he was now somehow involved in amber's disappearance was not going to be easy. yes, gardner was a known sex offender who lived two miles from the school. police here in escondido have regular contact with him, as they did with all on the sex register. >> in every one of those

contacts, mr. gardner was in compliance with his requirements. and he wasn't in the area before she went missing. he wasn't in the area where the sightings were, and he was not considered to be high risk. >> unofficially, at least. there was, as everybody would discover, much more to learn about that. gardner did have a brush with the law in the spring of 2009, after amber disappeared. a woman in a parking lot flagged down a police officer to complain gardner had been following her in his car. when a cop confronted him -- >> he asked him why he was following this female, and he had wrist wanted that this woman had cut him off in traffic. >> is a cop talked to gardner, something else caught his eye. this known sex offender had eight three-year-old in the car. >> that was of obvious concern to the officer. >> it turned out, it was his

girlfriend's child. she verified the story. besides, he had no restrictions at all about being around all children. now after his arrest for the murder of chelsea king, they went back and reviewed everything. amber cell phone records, internet use. all those leaves during a year of searching. >> looking at all 1200 tips, seeing if there's anything in there on john gardner, and there wasn't. there was no connection at all linking him and amber dubois. >> so they look back to the day she went missing. two witnesses had seen amber in front of the school. one of them said she was with a boy. >> it must be somebody that knew her, or she knew that she felt comfortable with. and again, we are looking for a boy. >> a year later, detectives began thinking back to that

particular witness description. >> one of the witnesses had last seen amber walking with a tall, doughy, dark skinned boy. which somewhat describes john gardner. it's possible that based on it being a drizzly day, lighting is limited, a parent was just driving up and looking at a boy, maybe he appears to be younger than he actually was. >> now police reinterviewed the residence and his girlfriend. all dead ends. then a tip came in which sent the divers to a park in escondido. the children told their mother they might have seen a body in a bag around a pond. >> i was watching all the divers and they were going to all the muck, and i'm nervous, worse, as they are doing this. >> search and rescue teams drained the pond, searched through reeds and the rough surrounding it, and nothing. yet another dead end.

>> it was such a relief knowing that there's no way she could be in there, because they were all down to the bottom. >> and so a little spark of hope rose to the surface again. >> i am absolutely 100% sure she is alive. >> still, had john gardner ever run into amber? >> if we ever start to believe that gardner is connected to amber, it is basically us losing hope. we are going to deny it until we have an answer and we have the daughter home. >> out here among the searchers, moe dubois could have no idea. farther south of san diego, sergeant brown had already embarked on a very unusual errand. >> you could say it was a unique day. >> but just where he was going, he had no idea.

>> he just guided us up the street. he explained where we would probably turn off on a dirt road. and we did just that. >> coming up, a journey down a dirt road. where could it possibly lead? >> come on, the guy is in jail for murder and now he wants to go on a field trip? this might not go well. >> when dateline continues. lin and it's gentle on her skin. tide free & gentle is epa safer choice certified. it's got to be tide. breathing claritin clear is like...

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it happened, even as search and rescue teams were wading through that escondido pond, following what might be a lead in amber dubois's disappearance. >> it happened, even as search and rescue teams were waiting for that escondido pond, following what might be a lead in amber dubois's disappearance. one mile south of downtown san diego, the d.a. received a mysterious request to meet with gardner's attorney. gardner had been claiming, remember, he had nothing to do with amber's disappearance. but this morning, his lawyer offered a deal, and it was huge. gardner would lead detectives to amber, but would only do it on one condition. that they couldn't use it against him. >> if we didn't use the fact that he took us there as evidence in any court proceeding, and that his

attorney had to be present and we couldn't question him in any way. >> she took the deal, and sergeant brown's phone rang. >> we got told to go down to the jail and we were going to go on a field trip with gardner. >> and sergeant brown and his men were told the rules. >> this was not his confession, but he was going to show us where she was. >> they have 30 minutes to prepare and call the s.w.a.t. team for backup. >> why? >> in case there's an escape attempt. the guy is in jail for murder. we have his dna. now he wants to go on a field trip? a couple of detectives, he's a big guy -- this might not go well. >> off they went, gardner showing them the way. of the detectives surreptitiously sending directions to the s.w.a.t. cars around them. >> we knew where we were going to pick them up in different cars at different on ramps.

>> this is where they drove. through an indian reservation. off the dirt track to the top of a rocky hill. she's in there, somewhere. this is 20 miles from where she disappeared. >> did you have any idea where you are going? >> no, he can't really point his way and waste chains. but you notice it goes off the cliff here. to get his bearings and try to remember -- exactly. i would grab him and go, if he goes off this cliff, no one's going to believe me that he accidentally went off this cliff. he came up and he went right to hear to the edge and he says, right there. write about here. is not exactly searching. then he takes a few steps this way he changes his mind. >> what are you thinking? >> i said, how did you get there? he tries to go here and he

can't make it. he comes back and he resets, and he says, i think it's this way. honestly, we were frustrated. we still don't know if he's doing this to get out of jail for the day. >> they were still watching for any escape. and then gardner found a familiar area. >> he gets to about here, and then he remembers. he says, this is it. he was, i daresay, excited. >> detectives walked their shackled prisoner down a steep incline. >> so we were just sliding down this. >> pushing their way through the thick brush and the trees. until they got to an old rusted water tank. >> this is the tanker right there. annie's pointing here. he was right about here. he's also sure of himself. >> then he saw something.

a reminder. >> he leaned in and said there was a distinctive bark that held in the dirt, like a nice clean slice against the mountain. i know it's going to be there. that was enough for us to pull him out of there. >> what were you thinking? >> working in the homicide division, this was absolutely surreal. i know this case and i know this girl. they live in our community. i see her face and poster on every business and store i go into. here i am, and he's walking me to the grave. >> here is the spot where he claimed to bury amber dubois. in the thicket of trees in the hillside in the middle of nowhere, no houses anywhere, accessible by one dirt road. >> i don't think anybody would have ever found this site. >> and then a small army was called, still in secret, to

that lonely hill. detectives, for archaeologist, medical examiner. 12 hours, they sifted meticulously through the dirt to find -- well, what had once been a person. the captain made the next decision. >> we didn't want to notify the family not knowing whether it was truly amber. >> but the next day, saturday, the medical examiner had made a positive identification. gardner had indeed led them to amber's remains. more calls to make. >> when we received the call on saturday night, we immediately get a sinking feeling in her remic, because we have been called in many times to have talks. never on a saturday night at 8:00 p.m. at night. >> with they come to the escondido police station? >> walking in there, seeing all of our best gators there.

the minister, the sheriff's department, d.a.s office, you know what you are going to hear next. >> the medical examiner told us that her remains were found in a positively i.d. her through dental records. >> i can't say i was prepared to hear it, there's a 386 days of searching, we were ready for anything they could tell us. give us an answer. make this stop. >> what did you do after that meeting, the two of you? >> cried. for days. >> the escondido police chief made the announcement the next day. two teenagers found dead in less than a week. >> human skeletal remains have been positively identified as those of 14-year-old amber. >> but what he didn't say to amber's parents or to anyone was all of the official secrets. the fact that gardner had led them to the body.

because now investigators needed to prove gardner's guilt without using a shred of what he had shown or told them. >> we are following a leave in the case when they made this discovery. >> frankly, they were's dock. meaning gardner might never be charged with killing amber. unless -- unless someone offered an incredible gesture. >> coming up. one heartbroken family reaches out to another, paving the way for a stunning moment. when dateline continues. ine co. [ romantic music plays ] ♪♪

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there were memorials then. i wake up every morning now and i have to remember how to breathe. >> there eovewere memorials the >> i wake up every morning now and have to remember how to breathe. >> the searches were over. they tried to figure out how to go on. >> i will channel my rage and commit to spending my life to making society kier safe from an incurable evil.

>> a measure of the upset, the impact of the killings. >> for every single person out there who has ever shed a tear for amber, for chelsea ellipse this i beg you to please put one minute of effort, one minute of action and to helping protect our children. >> while that was going on, investigator search furiously for any evidence that would independently link john gardner to the death of amber dubois. >> what that included was finding every vehicle that he had at the time -- or had access to at the time that ever disappeared. i believe there was four different vehicles. we have to find her every one of those vehicles were and have them forensically examined. >> the investigation continued, and the days ticked for march into april. remember, they had not been told that gardner led police to amber's remains, or even that gardner was known to be the

man. we asked them if they were prepared never to know for certain who killed amber, or how police found her. >> it may be that nobody is ever charged. maybe you just have to live the rest of your lives of that knowledge. >> i am more fearful that there might be another predator out there, as opposed to more upset about not having any answer. i want to make sure that whoever did this to amber is off the street. that's what scares me the most. what if they never connect this to somebody, and the person who actually did this is still out there and they can do it again ? >> but it was a different question carrie had on her mind. what happened to amber? she wanted to know. had to know everything. >> you want to hear whoever did this tell you exactly what happened? you do? >> absolutely. i need to hear from a person's mouth -- i couldn't do it

without wanting to reach over and cause myself to be in jail for a long time. >> here on this april afternoon, more likely they would never know. strange, the difference a week can make. it was april 15th, five days after our interview. amber's parents were called to a meeting, where they learned for the first time who led authorities to their daughters remains. >> we knew it was something significant, because we had to go downtown to meet with the district attorney. >> they were informed of an offer made by john gardner's attorneys. >>'s attorneys came forward with an offer to plead guilty to all of the charges and life without possibility of parole and waving his appellate rights. >> in exchange, gardner's attorney wanted the death penalty off the table. so -- her dilemma.

should see continue to develop her strong death penalty case in the murder of chelsea king ? or would that ever happened? >> there was absolutely no link that anyone was able to find between john gardner and amber. >> and so the d.a. was faced with a choice. proceed only in the chelsea king case, or make another deal to get some kind of justice for amber. >> you could've won pretty easily a death penalty case in the chelsea king case. why not just do that and get the death penalty for that? >> the question was for the family. the family i talked to was chelsea's family, because we had no case on amber. and we talked about the fact that, the end result -- life without possibility of parole -- is that he would die in prison, and there would be no

appeals. >>'s of the kings were faced with a decision. what amber's parents ever learn what in fact happened with their daughter, and with a cedar killer pay for this crime? april 16th, the day after moe and carrie had learned about the plea deal. san diego television stations interrupted their afternoon programs. >> a hearing is scheduled in the courthouse. >> there is news. a lot of it, all at once. a stunning admission of guilt. 1st for chelsea king. >> you dragged her to a remote area where you strangled her. you then buried her in a shallow grave. you admit that? >> yes. >> you also admit that the killing was done with premeditation and deliberation? >> yes. >> the murder took place within

an hour of your initial contact with chelsea king. you omit these facts as well? >> yes. >> than the jogger in september. >> yes. >> than after 14 months, and and to the missed three of what happened to amber dubois. >> on february 13, 2009, you took amber dubois to a remote area where you stabbed her. you then buried her in a shallow grave. >> yes. >> you are also admitting that this murder took place within an hour and a half of initial contact with amber dubois? >> yes. >> in exchange for a life sentence, gardner admitted all and pled guilty. it was a deal made possible

because of a choice willingly made by one grieving family in an effort to spare more pain for another. >> the dubois family has been through unthinkable the past 14 months. we couldn't imagine the confession to amber's murder never seeing the light of day, leaving them with the maternal?. >> and amber's parents were grateful. >> living the rest of my life without knowing would have been horrible. we would have always been wondering if he was connect it, or if there were someone else out there. >> but now that she knew, now she was determined to come face- to-face with her daughter's killer -- no matter what it took. >> i want to talk to your son and find out why he murdered my daughter. >> coming up. an emotional meeting behind prison doors. when dateline continues. eline .

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judge: what is your plea?t guilty. keith morrison (voiceover): it was after john gardner stood in this san diego courtroom and pleaded guilty to the murders of chelsea king and amber dubois. >> what is your plea? >> guilty. >> it was after john gardner stood in the san diego courtroom and pled guilty to the murders of chelsea king and amber dubois. it was as he waited for the formal sentencing, life in prison that he knew was coming. from the san diego county jail cell, gardner given interview to a local tv station and said he would only talk to the families about what happened to

chelsea and amber. >> as soon as i heard those words, it was all i focused on. >> because kerry was determined to know what happened to her daughter during the last minutes she was alive. >> i think if you're a parent, you want to know what happened. if a lesson can be learned from amber, that i wanted out there. >> and so early in may, she began trying to arrange a visit. >> i went to all the correct legal challenges to meet with him after sentencing. >> she had to know now. she tried to schedule a visit and was told none was available. so carrie had a bold idea. why not ask gardner's mother to give up one of her visits with her son? and so one afternoon, she waited outside the jail as gardner's mother approached. it didn't go well. >> look, i just want to visit

your son. >> don't touch me. >> i'm not here to harass you. i'm here to talk to your son and find out why he murdered my daughter. the next day, there was a phone call from the jail. >> can you be here in a half hour? >> somehow, the time was found for her to talk with dr. gardner. >> what was it like to go in there and know that you are going to talk to the guy who killed your daughter? >> i was nervous until i got there. going in there and talking with him just didn't really have any feelings with me. i had forgiven whoever did this to amber when i got her remains back, so to me, it was just a person talking. >> he was already sitting behind a partition when she arrived. >> i think maybe i glanced at him once. >> where were you? >> just down.

not at him. i had really no desire to look at him. i didn't want to get angry or upset. i just wanted to stay focused. for me to stay focused, i just looked down and doodle on paper. i really wanted to's date in the mind-set where i wouldn't start crying or get upset. >> what did you ask him? >> walk me through her day. >> and now carrie would finally learn what happened to amber in the last hours of her life. >> in the morning, him and his girlfriend got in a fight. >> so we took off in a car to blow off steam, he said. >> he happened to drive by where amber was taken. >> it was not the way amber usually went to school. >> my guess was she was going by her girlfriend's house who lives right around the corner. >> he snatched her here, gardner told kerry. >> he saw amber walking by

herself, he cut her off and told her, if you don't give in this car, i have a gun and things will and real bad for you. she got in the car. he didn't have a gun, but i don't know if he showed her the knife or not. but he said she knew by the look in my eyes that i was serious. there was no questions about it. and honestly, i think that she would have tried to run and he might've just killed her right there on this thought. >> did you ask him for more than that? >> he told me which way he drove. he was very detailed about which streets he went on. >> he stopped the conversation repeatedly, said carrie. >> he said, if you want me to continue. he got really upset every time i told him to continue. you've already taken my daughter. continue. when he got to the rape part of it, he -- you know, pretty

much begged me -- please can i stop? and i was like, continue. by the time i left there, he was pretty much curled over, sweating. just completely crying. he was a mess. >> so he did have some feelings. >> or he's a very good actor. >> so once you've gotten the answers you knew you could get from him, did you say anything else to him? >> no, he said, are you going to tell me you hate me? i'm ready to hear that. i said, nope. i hung up the phone and left. >> did you walk out a different person? >> i walked out of that place very happy. just kind of getting in on, oh, my god. i can breathe. it's just such a relief. it was a great feeling. >> unexpected reaction, perhaps. so how could anyone know how it

feels to be carrie mcgonigal, or to be the parents of chelsea king here in court on sentencing day? >> look at me. >> coming up. >> we found over 100 violations of parole that had been previously discovered by the department. >> one last haunting question. >> are you saying the deaths of these two roles could have been prevented? >> a look into the soul of a killer. when dateline continues. eline . hey dave, don't knock it 'til you smell it. new gain relax flings.

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ask your eczema specialist john gardner was guilty, no doubt about it. he was a predator and a murderer. all that was left to do was sentence him. >> john gardner was guilty. no doubt about it. he was a predator and a murderer. all that was left he was sentencing. so, case closed. not really. for 3 months, a steady drip of music seemed to ask over and over, how did they miss him? gardner spent five years in prison for sexually molesting and beating a 13-year-old girl back in 2000. he was paroled in 2005. >> everything that led up to his being free on the street, allowing him to stock our children. >> because there had been fair

warning, a psychiatrist a decade early warned that he was very dangerous and should receive the max on 10 year sentence under his plea deal. had that advice been taken, gardner might have still been in prison back in 2010. >> there is numerous, numerous times that he fell through the cracks. >> like for example, his parole violations once released. the cops found marijuana in his car. for a time, he lived too close to children. but the judgment of the bureau was not -- they discovered that gardner ward a gps monitor his last year on parole, which ended in 2008, just four months before amber disappeared. but no one was watching. >> we found over 100 violations of parole that hadn't previously been discovered by the department. we missed some opportunities to remove him from society.

>> dave shaw was the inspector general for the california department of corrections, which after-the-fact looked into the gardner case. >> he spent time adjacent to day care centers, to schools, to parks, to playgrounds, to the beach. all places that he shouldn't be act. we didn't catch it because we were not looking. >> nor was anyone watching when gardner drove into the parking lot of ace date prison. gardner said it was to drop off a friend, but it against the law for an ex-con to enter prison guards, and that, we were told, was a felony that would have locked him up for a very long time. >> we would've filed a three strikes case, because his 2000's case was two strikes, and he would be facing 25 years to life. >> are you saying the deaths of these two girls could've been prevented? >> had he been incarcerated, it would've been impossible for him to commit these particular

crimes. were ample opportunities to revoke his parole or prosecute him. >> but no one at the time was monitoring gardner's gps. >> did you find fault with somebody or some systems? >> we think it was a system at fault. we didn't find any particular fault of the parole agent. they weren't looking at it because they weren't required to. >> they weren't expected to track the modern or because of the way standardized assessment used at the time classified gardner's risk potential as medium low risk. >> for the lower risk offenders, it was used only as a crime solving tool. >> matthew kane was ahead of the california department of corrections. >> if a crime is reported, then we go back and look at the tracks to see if we can place the offender at the scene of the crime. >> gardner, a lower risk offender. again, it was the assessment method it self and its limitations that failed to spot

gardner's potential to be dangerous. but when gardner was paroled -- >> this was the most accurate tool in the world. and so we used it. i wish we had known then what we know now, but the department just didn't have anything else to use at the time. >> it was based on factors such as age, number of offense is, type of crime. >> i think the public wants us to be able to predict who exactly is going to do what. we will never be able to do that. low risk doesn't mean no risk. >> improvements have been made. there is were required tracking and treatment for those parolees. the treatment includes the use of polygraph test in an effort to keep track of them to see if they are at danger of reoffending. >> we move into the victim impact statements. >> there's an emotional structure now. wrenching, often deeply angry. >> i pray every night that god

shows you no mercy. >> this is how it was with john gardner, listening sometimes attentively, sometimes not, to chelsea's parents. >> you dismantle a family life that was built on love, trust, and faith. that you did not destroy it. look at me. why am i not surprised? >> and to ambers. >> no one can appreciate the horror that is my life until they can appreciate the joy that was my amber. >> watch what happens when that earlier survivor of a gardner attack -- >> everything i lace up my shoes and relive the moments of terror. the other conviction that i was going to die. >> watch what happens when she reminds him how she elbowed his nose to his tape. >> and finally, to ask him how his nose is.

>> was a rage he was expressing as he turned to his attorney and seemed to say, she didn't hit me. and even adds, she is saying it for publicity. >> i saw that look of rage, and i just said, you do show the whole world would amber and chelsea's before you kill them. >> but all of this was formality. already, the people that must live with the deaths had struggled with what to do after. amber's mother became involved in search and rest you. >> her legacy is going to be the search and rescue team. >> and chelsea's parents took on a system. >> if our laws were smarter and bolder, chelsea might still be here. they pushed for a new law named for chelsea and signed by the governor in 2010, imposing stiffer sentences for sex offenders , and improved monitoring and assessment.

>> governor schwarzenegger, i think you for your support and commitment. you have helped us fulfill our dream of doing everything in our power to prevent this tragedy from ever happening to another family again. >> chelsea could've been a college graduate now, and amber, a college future farmer. instead, all their parents could do was watch authorities leave the killer away to a life in prison. and try, as they could, to help stop the next one out there somewhere. >> hello. i am craig melvin, and this is dateline.