Mourning Chelsea King
Thousands of mourners walked the sidewalks of a wide avenue in silence, holding candles and tearfully embracing.
Many were at a loss for words over the discovery of a body believed to be that of 17-year-old Chelsea King, five days after the popular, straight-A student from San Diego County disappeared and two days after a registered sex offender was booked on suspicion of rape and murder.
Chelsea King, 17, has been missing five days, her clothes have been found, and reports are coming in now that a body has been found in the search area. John Albert Gardner was arrested in connection with Chelsea King’s disappearance on Sunday, February 28th, 2010.
John Albert Gardner III faced an eleven year maximum sentence under a plea agreement arranged a decade ago; however lenient prosecutors urged only six of those and the Judge complied. Gardner plead guilty to assaulting a 13 year old girl. He served five years. A mere five years.
Prosecutor’s acknowledge in an eleven page memo that John Albert Gardner “never expressed one scintilla of remorse for his attack upon the victim.”
Severe shock and denial among King’s classmates is giving way to anger and hurt, Traci Barkerball, King’s teacher for three years at Poway High School, said Tuesday night.
“What bothers me most is the kids don’t feel safe anymore,” Barkerball said between hugs for grieving students. “Their sense of security has been taken away from them.”
Brent King, Chelsea’s father, thanked supporters on the lawn of St. Michael’s Church in Poway, northeast of San Diego. Some in the audience fought to control their sobs as he spoke.
“One of the nicknames that I’ve always called my daughter is my Angel. She’s my angel forever,” he said.
“I want to thank you. Chelsea wants to thank you,” he said.
When someone shouted, “We love you,” Brent King responded, “We love all of you.”
The body was found buried in a shallow grave on the south shore of Lake Hodges, said San Diego County Sheriff William Gore. The body has not been positively identified but Gore said there was a “strong likelihood” it was Chelsea’s.
John Albert Gardner III, 30, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in San Diego.
San Diego police say Gardner is positively linked to an assault on a 22-year-old Colorado Springs, Colo., woman who managed to fend off her attacker on Dec. 27 in Rancho Bernardo Community Park on the northern edge of San Diego, where King’s 1994 BMW was found with her belongings inside.
San Diego police Capt. Jim Collins decline to describe the evidence pinning the December assault on Gardner but said a swab taken from the victim’s elbow did not match Gardner’s DNA.
Tuesday night’s ceremony was initially planned as a vigil for King’s safe return but it took on the air of a memorial service three hours after the sheriff announced the body was recovered. Friends spoke of her quirky sense of humor and irrepressibly upbeat spirit.
“She would just breathe sunshine even if you were in a bad mood,” said Madison Chapman, a friend. “She made you feel like a little kid, like there were no problems, like nothing could go wrong.”
