01x05 - I Will k*ll

[bunniefuu]

[Carrie]
Friday, February 13th

started out, for me,
like any other day.

I got up, it was
kind of drizzling outside,

about 6:37.

I Went into my daughter,
Amber's room

and I told her that I would try
to get off work early

and we could go see a movie.

And she said, "OK."
Told her I loved her,

and told me she loved me back.

[ominous music plays]

I never worried about...
Amber walking to school.

It as never an issue.

But, as it turns out,

that was the day
that my daughter walked

to school and never came home.

[music intensifies and stops]

[spooky music plays]

[creaking]

[distant howling]

[music grows frantic]

[siren wails]

[screaming]

[Carrie] My daughter, Amber,
was 14 years old.

Her favorite subject in school
was agriculture.

She told me
about this program that they had

at Escondido High School.

She was going to raise a lamb.

And that morning was the day
that her check was due

for her lamb.

Amber was ecstatic
about this day.

[bell rings]

But, at 4:30 pm,

my boyfriend, Dave, called me
and said that there was

a message from her friend,
Jade, saying,

"Hey, Amber, where are you?

"I thought we were going
to meet up at break.

I'm looking everywhere for you."

And then there was a message
from the high school

that Amber wasn't
at school that day.

Dave was like a stepfather
to Amber.

So he said,
"I'll go ahead and go over there

and look for her."

And then I drove over
to the high school,

drove around looking for her,

called some of my friends...

and told them that Amber
was gone

and I couldn't find her
anywhere.

It's a horrible,
helpless feeling.

I Knew instantly that something
had happened to her.

She would not miss
this day of school.

She'd been waiting a year
for this day of school.

That's when the panic set in.

[Lt. Benton]
The Escondido Police Department

received a call from Dave Cave,

Amber Dubois' stepfather.

The officer
and the other officers,

and the K-9 officer

immediately went to the school

and started searching
for Amber Dubois.
-[siren wailing]

Escondido High School
is a large campus

located within a mile
of Amber's house.

As a parent myself,
I found this very concerning.

Children are top priority

when it comes
to them being missing

or victims of crimes.

Escondido is eastern part
of San Diego County.

Nestled in a valley
surrounded by mountains

on almost all sides,
except for the south,

which is bordered
by Lake Hodges

and then the City
of San Diego.

In 2009, it was
about 120,000 population.

Escondido was called
Rancho Rincon del Diablo --

the Devil's Corner.

It was called
the Devil's Corner

because the missionaries
back then

did not like the fact that it
wasn't held by the church.

And also, visually,
you had these foothills

that cast long shadows
across the land.

I was a reporter
at NBC San Diego

when the media found out

she really was missing
on Friday the 13th.

It's like an omen.

That's the night you need
to make sure you lock your doors

and keep your children safe
because...

the devil's out there.

In this community
that is so safe,

so many families
love living there,

she vanished.

And that's scary.

That sends a shockwave
through an entire community.

If you're a parent,
that is the worst case scenario.

"Where is my kid?"

"Where's Amber?
Where's Amber?

Have you seen Amber?
We have to find Amber."

[Lt. Benton] When we have
these kinds of cases --

missing teens --

typically we'll start
with the person who last saw

the missing teen
and get every detail

of what they did that day,

anything that might be
of concern.

Even the smallest detail
might crack a case open.

In this case, it was Dave Cave.

Dave's day started
with going to the gym.

He last saw Amber at the house
at 7 in the morning.

[Carrie] Well, by the time
he was coming back home,

which would be the time

that Amber would be
walking to school.

There's only two ways
to get to our house,

and he couldn't remember
which way he took.

[Lt. Benton] We thought
that was very unusual.

Why wouldn't he be able
to remember which way

he drove home?

[Carrie]
Dave came to my work that day,

Friday, February 13th,

and he brought me
chocolate-covered strawberries

and some other stuff
for Valentine's Day.

Dave and I didn't celebrate
Valentine's Day

because that was
his anniversary of his ex-wife,

so it was
kind of a sore subject.

So for him to come
to my work and bring this

was really not normal.

And he stayed at my work
for over an hour.

I had to tell him to leave.

From there,
he went to see a movie,

which is completely
out of character for Dave.

I'm questioning everything
he did because, like,

'cause his whole day
was just weird.

[Lt. Benton] So once we started
to interview the family,

we realized that there was
quite a bit of friction

between Amber and Dave Cave,
the stepfather.

[yelling in the background]

A lot of that friction stemmed
from her wanting to be

in her room
most of the time reading.

Dave didn't appreciate that.

He thought she should be
more part of the family.

We found that they had
continual verbal disagreements.

At one point, Dave took
the door off of Amber's room

so she couldn't hide
in her room to read.

[arguing in the background]

One of the things that we found
while interviewing Carrie

was that Dave and Amber
had just called a truce,

and Dave took her to a bookstore
to buy some more books.

And less than 12 hours later,
Amber went missing.

Statistics show
with missing person cases,

it's likely that somebody close
to the family

or a family member
has something to do with it.

When we confronted Dave Cave
about Amber's disappearance,

he denied knowing
anything about it

or being responsible
for it.

He said, despite the friction
and their verbal arguments,

he would never hurt her.

[Carrie] Dave was holding
his innocence,

telling police
he had nothing to do with it.

And then I was up in my room.

I had thought Amber was wearing
a necklace that morning.

And then all of a sudden
I found the necklace

in the headboard of my bed.

Which completely
threw me over the edge.

And I went down to the police,

and I was crying, freaking out.

I asked them,
"Please come to the house.

"You don't need
a search warrant.

Just come
to the house and search."

-[distant, indistinct yelling]
-Maybe they had an argument

and she fell down the stairs...
-[woman screaming]

...or something happened.

Carrie had actually mentioned
that to us --

"Just arrest him."

However,
in order to arrest Dave,

we would need probable cause,
which would include evidence.

And so one of the things that
we do have is a polygraph test.

Dave Cave took
three polygraph tests.

He was very nervous.

And as the polygraph test
came back and we started

to review the results,

the polygrapher came to me

and said that he had
some concerns about Dave.

There was inconsistencies
in his statement,

and his nervousness
seemed unreasonable.

And we continued
to focus more on Dave.

[Carrie] This was the first time
that I didn't feel like I knew

the person that I decided
to spend my life with.

[Tony]
It must have been absolutely
frightening for Carrie

to, A, have a missing child,

but then sleep next
to the person

who is considered by police,
a prime suspect.

[clock ticking]

[Lt. Benton] We realized how
troubling it must be for Carrie

to be under the same roof...

with somebody
that may be responsible

for her daughter's
disappearance.

And of course,
if he was capable of that,

what else could he be
capable of?

[ominous music plays]

[Lt. Benton]
Time is of the essence

in all missing person cases.

The more that
this case continued,

we realized the potential

of finding Amber Dubois
alive diminished.

[phone rings]

[Carrie] I probably called Amber
every 15 to 20 minutes,

all night long,
trying to get a hold of her.

I sat up that night
after I made my rounds

through the neighborhood
trying to find her.

I was on the computer,
just looking at how I could get

search dogs or anything really.

I remember being
like 3:30, 4:00 in the morning

and I'm still on the computer

just bawling and trying
to figure out what I do next.

We set up a search center
right near the house.

The community came out a lot

and was searching
for my daughter.

I wanted to be out there
searching for her and myself.

And every night
I would go out looking for her.

[Lt. Benton] At one
of these search briefings,

Dave Cave had introduced
himself to the searchers.

Because Dave was a potential
suspect in this case,

we told him not to be one
of the searchers

because if he were
to find something,

we didn't want him
to contaminate the location.

It gets harder every day.

The only thing that
keeps me going is...

knowing I'll find her.

[Lt. Benton]
As the investigation continued,

one of the things we had to do
was either focus on Dave

or completely eliminate him.

And what we had to do
was recreate his day,

Friday, February 13th,

and verify his whereabouts
at every part of that day.

We went to the gym.
We pulled up video.

We pulled up video
from the school

to verify which way
he did drive home.

We talked to the dealership.

We did confirm he was there.

We also talked to
and pulled video

from the movie theater.

We did confirm
he was by himself.

We were able to verify
everything that he had said

he did that day.

Based on that, we were able
to rule Dave out.

He had nothing to do
with her disappearance.

[Tony]
That's when the fear
really set in.

Is there a monster among us?

A lot of parents, especially
at Escondido High School,

were thinking,
"Well, if somebody took Amber,

who's next?"

Everybody was on guard.

Parents were driving
their kids to school.

There was certainly
a lot of fear

because they
didn't want their child

to go missing like Amber.

[Carrie] So February 13th, 2010
came around

and we had decided to do
a jog-a-thon

at the high school
to raise money

to continue searching
for Amber.

And the police came
to the school that day

and told me that they were
no further along on the case

than they were a year before.

Kind of sets in the whole
heartbreak and let down.

They really had no idea
what had happened to her.

[Tony] I remember doing
a story with Carrie

because it was a year later.

And the hope was never lost
with Carrie.

I'm trying to keep
things positive,

but it's really hard.

[Carrie] It takes a toll on you.

I mean,
I tried to go back to work,

and I couldn't work.

I couldn't be
in an enclosed office

without getting anxiety.

Come home, please.

We just want her home.

[Tony]
That one-year mark

was excruciating for Carrie.


no sign of your daughter.
How would that affect you?

[Lt. Benton] What we knew is
if this predator was still

on the loose,
we were on borrowed time,

and we didn't want
to have another victim.

We had to get a break
in this case.

We just didn't know how
or what that would be.

So here we are,

about 10 miles
south of Escondido.

getting ready to go on her run.

[Brent] She was
on the cross-country team.

But then she was also training
for a half-marathon

because she wanted
to accomplish that

before she left for college.

Chelsea used running
to settle herself.

A kid in high school,
especially a kid in high school

that wants to achieve
big things,

has lots of pressure on them.

And Chelsea found
ways to relieve that pressure.

We normally would have heard
from her

by about 3 in the afternoon,

and we hadn't heard
from her at all,

so we became concerned.

You almost think
it's overreactionary,

but knowing Chelsea,
it wasn't overreactionary --

something's wrong.

[dramatic string chord plays]

[screaming]

[Brent]
Well, my daughter, Chelsea,

she used to leave for school
very early in the morning,

about 6:30-ish.

She had finished
her breakfast and she said,

"Bye, Daddy,
off to school."

I said,
"OK, I love you, bye."

That was it.

I knew about Amber's story.

We knew that she was missing,

but it didn't resonate

because it
hadn't happened to us.

But that morning
that she went missing,

we spread a very broad net

in the first 30 minutes
of trying to find Chelsea.

[phone rings]

Chelsea's mom called
one of Chelsea's friends,

and that friend suggested

that we use the AT&T
reverse technology at the time,

that we could look
at where her phone was

and we could ping it.
-[high-pitched beeping]

We did that,
and we saw that it pinged

right at the Rancho Bernardo
Community Park,

and that's when I said,

"I'm gonna drive over there
and try and find her."

I need to find my little girl.

It started becoming dusk,
and I pulled up.

I found her car.

I looked inside of her car,

and I saw that her school
clothes had all been folded,

sitting on the passenger seat
with her phone.

I called Chelsea's mom
and said,

"Call the police right now.

I'm gonna go try
and find her."

And I took off running
down the trails,

calling her name.
-[echoing] Chelsea!

I received a phone call
from our supervisor to assist

with a missing
persons investigation.

When I got there, I couldn't
believe what I was seeing.

There were agents and agencies
that were already present.

Search and rescue teams,
K-9 units,

agents from the FBI,
agents from the DOJ.

There was just combined effort
of resources

all poured
into this investigation.

We had to find Chelsea King.

The Kings
were obviously worried.

They explained
that their daughter was

a model daughter,

very intelligent, very active,
very social,

and it is out of the ordinary

for her not to be
in contact with them,

to not carry her cell phone

even when she was jogging
at the park.

[Det. Palmer]
As a dad, as a parent,

the worst nightmare
is for your child to be missing,

especially under
suspicious circumstances.

You start, sort of,
taking it personal.

I thought
about Chelsea's parents,

and I felt like I, we --
we had to find her

for the sake of Chelsea,
for the sake of parents,

for the sake of the entire
San Diego community.

Our hearts sunk when we saw
another missing girl

so close to our city.

This was another girl
that had gone missing

in broad daylight,
in a public place.

Very concerning.

I was in bed, and my roommate
came in and said,

"Another girl's gone missing."

I turned on the news to see

that there was
a 17-year-old girl

missing in Poway,

which is only about
a 20-minute drive on the freeway

from where we were.

When you have two girls
within a year go missing

within 30 miles of each other,

it's kind of hard
to ignore that.

[phone rings]

And instantly,

because I had
such a great group of people,

I wanted to
reach out and help them.

My phone was ringing
off the hook,

and everyone was saying,

"We've got to help
this family find this girl."

[Brent] The morning that they
started the first search center,

I was told that there were

to go out and search
for my daughter.

I had not slept all night.

I went over there
and walked to the line,

thanking every single person.

Thank you so much
for coming out.

I saw Carrie
at the search center,

and I recognized who she was.

And I walked over to her,
and I gave her a big hug.

And he said,
"I don't know you,

"but I want to tell you
that I love you

"and that thank you so much
for helping

"with -- with my daughter

"when you're going
through the same stuff

with your daughter."

That's what bonds us together.

[uneasy music plays]

[Det. Palmer]
Rancho Bernardo Park
is very large,

and a lot of it is left
in its natural state.

The search-and-rescue team,
fantastic people, volunteers.

You give them a mission,

and they will find
the proverbial needle
in a haystack.

You don't want to miss anything

that may have been tossed
into the area.

So you're not just
on the trail searching,

but you're also fanning out
and you're moving,

looking for anything that
could be considered evidence.

[tense music plays]

[tense music intensifies]

[Det. Palmer]
Our first real break

came from a citizen locating
clothing objects on the trail.

[whistle trills]

We determined those articles
of clothing included

a pair of women's underwear.

We wanted to know
if there was any evidence

in the underwear

that would link us
to the suspect.

We showed the photographs
to the Kings,

and they stated that those items
that were recovered

were consistent
with what Chelsea would wear.

And, at that point,

Mrs. King
became extremely distraught

and she left.

[Brent] When they shared
with me the evidence,

I still believed my daughter
was able to be found.

[Det. O'Brien] I received
a phone call from our crime lab,

they stated,
from the blood found

in the underwear
at the crime scene,

they found the victim
Chelsea King's DNA on it.

And they also found
a second DNA profile

from bodily fluid recovered
from the underwear also.

[Det. Palmer] That team
was tasked with finding,

and contacting, and interviewing
anybody within that area

that were registered
sex offenders.

[Brent] Investigators asked me
to look through a book

of registered sex offenders
in San Diego County

that were within a 50-mile
geographic area.

And there were
over 40 pictures in the book.

These were all
extremely high-risk predators.

I had no idea that many of them

in our community, that close.

I was terrified.

Yes, we had somebody

in our community
that was hunting young girls.

And so there was fear,
fear all through.

Every kid that you asked
that was between the ages of 13

and 17 was very afraid.

[Det. Palmer] We started looking
for any reports

of any assaults

that may have or did take place
within that area.

We came across
an incident that took place

on December 27th, 2009.

[Tony] So it's a beautiful,
sunny San Diego day.

goes on a run

in Rancho Bernardo Park.

[tense music plays]

I noticed a man
who was walking towards me.

He waited until we were
next to each other.

[tense music intensifies]

I thought that he was trying
to r*pe me.

And then I said, "Well, you're
gonna have to k*ll me first."

And he said,

"That can be arranged."

[terrorized screaming]

[Tony]

goes on a run
in Rancho Bernardo Park,

something she's done
many, many times.

She felt the presence
of another person.

She kept running,

but that presence
didn't go away.

[screaming]

[Tony] Suddenly,
she was knocked to the ground.

She's kicking, she's screaming.

She senses what's coming.

[perpetrator grunting]

[Tony] Candace Montayo
is fighting for her life.

[both grunting]

At one point, I managed
to get one hand on the ground,

and I took my right elbow
and I bashed him in the nose.

[thwack]

And I got up and I ran faster

than I think
I've ever run in my life.

She told police her attacker
was a white male,

possibly in his 20s,
stocky, muscular,

and he had
a military-style haircut.

This is when police
were able to start putting

the pieces together.

You had Chelsea King,

who went missing
on February 25th.

Just a few months earlier,

attacked in basically
the same area.

And then on the morning
of Friday the 13th,

it was February,

Amber Dubois
goes only a few miles away.

That's when they really
understood

there could be a serial r*pist,

possibly a serial k*ller
out there.

With this information,
it becomes even more imperative

that we locate this suspect.

[soft music plays]

I was still hoping beyond hope

that somehow
she had found shelter

or was being
held against her will

and they might find her.

All I wanted to do as a dad
was get a blanket to her.

She was outside,
it was cold, it was rainy.

I just wanted to comfort her.

I wanted that for five days.

I was still
under the thought of,

oh, God, a mountain lion,

a snake bite, uh --
fell into a canyon.

I couldn't think about a sexual
predator taking my daughter.

[Det. O'Brien] Our supervisor
received a phone call.

They had recovered the remains
of a young female

in a shallow grave
just outside of Lake Hodges.

That was -- that's something
that I'll never forget.

We literally used paintbrushes

to remove the sand
and the dirt from her body.

It was tough to deal with.

I'm thinking about the parents,

I'm thinking about
what Chelsea went through.

How she must have
been thinking,

"Dad, Mom..." you know,

"...please, come get me."

You know, "Somebody find me.
Get me away from here.

Bring me home."

When you get told
that your child is dead

and, um...

every part of you empties,

you're outside of yourself.
You don't feel.

You just go,
I hope there's no deeper pain

than you can experience
than that.

I don't want to experience
anything worse.

[phone rings]

[Det. O'Brien]
I got the phone call

that they had a positive match
on a suspect.

The DNA hit came back

to a 30-year-old
sexual registrant

named John Gardner.

John Gardner's bodily fluid
was found

on victim
Chelsea King's underwear.

[Tony] I actually heard the name
John Gardner for the first time

from a law enforcement source.

In 2000, he attacked
and r*ped a 13-year-old girl.

He actually spent time
in prison.

He got 10 years,
but he only served about five.

And he was out there,

and he had violated
his probation many, many times,

but seemed to always find a way
to get out of jail...

and just wander the streets.

[Det. Palmer] Once we knew
he was a sexual predator,

it's a different ballgame now.

[Tony] When I found out
his history,

I had no doubt in my mind

he was the man who's been
committing these crimes.

He was the monster.

[ominous music plays]

Once we had positively
identified John Gardner,

we did what we called,
you know, make him famous.

We put his picture out
for the media,

and a call was received

that someone had identified
who they believed

was John Gardner.

[Det. O'Brien] The Fugitive Task
Force tracked his cell phone

in the area of a restaurant
called Hernandez Hide-a-way,

which is actually
on the north end of Lake Hodges,

just outside Rancho Bernardo
Community Park.

They surrounded him,
-[siren wailing]

they took John Gardner down
at gunpoint,

handcuffed him,
and arrested him.

[cell door buzzes]

Gardner is wet.

He's intoxicated.

You could smell
the alcohol on him.

We immediately went towards,

"Hey, we know
you have something to do

with the disappearance
of Chelsea King."

In the state of mind he was in,

being intoxicated
and belligerent,

he basically said,
"Hey,

"I don't know
what you're talking about.

I want an attorney."

Part of the processing

was to take
his clothing as evidence.

Once he was disrobed,

we could see obvious abrasions
on his arms, on his legs.

You know, he had some abrasions
or bruise on his face.

It was incredibly important
for detectives

to have Candace Moncayo
identify John Gardner.

[Det. Palmer]
There was no doubt whatsoever,

no hesitation.

She was able to positively
identify John Gardner

as the person that attacked her.

[phone rings]

[Det. Palmer] March 5th,
we're in our office,

and we get a call
from the sheriff, Sheriff Gore,

and we are to meet him
in his office, like, right now.

[Det. O'Brien]
To our surprise,

we were to pick up John Gardner,

and he would be taking us
to a location.

We had no idea
what was going on.

It was really odd,
the way he was acting.

To our surprise,
he said something

that was kind of red-flagged.

John Gardner said
something quite unusual,

quite unexpected --

he's going
to show us where he deposited

the body of another victim.

The district attorney asked us
to come down to their office

to let us know
that they got a confession

out of John Gardner
about Chelsea,

and they think

he's also responsible
for another girl.

[Det. O'Brien] Part
of John Gardner's deal would be

they would take
the death penalty
off the table for him

if he agreed to take us
to where Amber Dubois' remains

could be found.

[Brent] For me,
it was a very hard decision,

personally, to say,
"I'm OK with him

not having the death penalty
on him,"

but emotionally,

there's no way I couldn't give
that to Amber's family.

They've been through so much,

and her and I
share that bond, so...

there's no way
I couldn't agree to the terms.

I couldn't live with myself.

[cell door buzzes]

[Det. Palmer] So March 5th,

we went down
to the San Diego County Jail

where John Gardner
was being held...

and we picked him up.

[Det. O'Brien]
He's between Palmer and I

in the back seat of a sedan

being followed
by heavily armed swat officers

in front and back of us.

[Det. Palmer]
We had been briefed

that we should be
uber conscious

of any movement
or any attempts by John Gardner

to escape or to do anything.

And that if we got the sense

that something was
gonna go amiss,

that we should neutralize
any threat that he may present.

I'm sitting next to a m*rder*r.

So we're trying not to be
so hard,

perhaps make him
less amenable

to showing us
where the body was.

But then again, in my mind,
I'm thinking,

"You son of a b*tch, you --
you m*rder*r."

It was a difficult ride.

It lasted over an hour.

We finally got to a location,
a remote area

up in North County
known as Pala.

We opened up the back doors,
got Mr. Gardner out.

He had waist chains on.

He liked being
the center of attention,

you know,
he is very arrogant.

You know,
he's out of custody temporarily.

You know, he's the king
for the day out there.

[indistinct police
radio chatter]

Pointing out all this stuff,

telling us where to check.

It's a very steep hillside.

As he shuffled over
to the edge of the cliff,

he pointed down the cliff
a short distance.

[Det. Palmer] We were able
to sift through that area,

ultimately found a human bone.

And then, you know,
some minutes later,

we discovered a skull.

[Det. O'Brien] By this time,
it's getting dark,

it's getting foggy,

and we spent the night
with lights

and flashlights,
exhuming Amber

from the side
of the mountain.

We had been searching
for Amber for over a year.

I was on the one side so elated
that we finally found Amber.

We were going to be able
to provide closure,

but then obviously,
how tragic that was.

She was only 14 years old.

And I could not imagine
what that poor girl

had to go through.

It was devastating to hear
that her remains were found,

but it was also a relief.

We went to court and he pled
guilty to k*lling Amber.

-What is your plea?
-Guilty.

But then,
in a final calculated move,

he refused to give any details
about Amber's m*rder.

[Carrie]
I reached out to his attorneys,

telling them
that I just want answers,

that I wanted to know
what happened to Amber.

He said,
"If you want to know anything

"about Amber or Chelsea,

I'm only gonna tell
her parents."

[door buzzes]

And at that point,
that's all I had to hear,

and I was going
to get the answers I wanted.

I was allowed to go
to the San Diego County Jail

and meet with Gardner

about what he did
to my daughter.

[suspenseful music plays]

I Was on a mission to find out
what happened.

-[jail door buzzes]
-I wanted closure.

It's something out
of "Silence of the Lambs,"

like he's Hannibal Lecter.

This big, strong monster
wanted to control the situation,

to dominate women.

That was his pattern.

Because he's a psychopath.

He's sitting there with Carrie.

They have a glass partition
between them.

And he basically
tells her

everything
that she had dreaded...

but needed to know...

about her daughter.

[Gardner] I passed her driving
down the street,

and that's the first time
that I saw her.

I pulled up next to her.

With the windows down
in the car.

I had the knife out
and visible

and told her
that I also had a g*n

and to get in the car

or it was gonna be
a lot worse.

She actually looked at me

in kind of shock and disbelief.

She asked me why I was doing it,
what was wrong.

When we got up
to the Paula area,

it's a little plateau,
dirt area

that was just off
of that road.

[grunts]

And that's where everything,
the rest of it took place.

[Amber screams]

[Carrie]
This remote area,

he r*ped her,

and that's
when he stabbed her.

[dramatic music plays]

[Amber screams]

[Carrie]
He didn't have remorse.

After telling me
the horrific way

that he k*lled
my daughter, he said,

"I'm ready
for you to tell me
how you feel about me."

I just hung up the phone
and walked out.

And I have to tell you,

it was the best thing
I ever did.

And I left with closure.

[Det. O'Brien]
On April 16, 2010,

I attended the sentencing
of John Gardner in San Diego.

For the crime of m*rder
in the first degree,

Chelsea King
under special circumstances --

life without the possibility
of parole.

For the crime of m*rder
in the first degree

of Amber Dubois
under special circumstances --

life in prison without
the possibility of parole.

[Lt. Benton] One of the most
satisfying things

about being
in law enforcement

is to take evil
off the streets

and being able to take
John Gardner off the streets

was one of our greatest
accomplishments.

[Det. O'Brien]
John Gardner was obviously

someone that had
no respect for women,

and he definitely
had an anger issue.

If he wasn't caught,
he would definitely continue

preying on young girls.

[Gardner]
I'm on meds right now.

You can see
the anger in my eyes

just of trying to talk.

I get angry,
I blow up, I explode.

I will k*ll.
I know I will.

I'm the most dangerous type
of sexual predator.

I am the type that needs
to be locked up...

forever.

[woman screams]

Putting people in
the ground is one thing,

but digging them back up
is a lot different.

The fingernails,
they'd been ripped off.

That's t*rture.

Whoever did do this...
they're still out there.

On this Friday the 13th
the past refused to stay buried.