Monday, March 8, 2010

AMBER DUBOIS: FAMILY GRIEF, MOURNING, PUBLIC MEMORIAL

ESCONDIDO: Family, community mourn Amber Dubois
By SARAH GORDON - sgordon@nctimes.com
Posted: March 7, 2010 10:25 pm
Staff writers Teri Figueroa and Mark Walker contributed to this report.

After more than a year of rallying the public to bring 14-year-old Amber Dubois home alive, her family on Sunday retreated in grief at the news the missing girl was found dead. The community began its mourning, too.

Amber's skeletal remains were found north of the Pala Indian Reservation Saturday morning by police and sheriff's detectives following a tip, Escondido police Chief Jim Maher said Sunday at a news conference.

Amber's father Maurice Dubois and mother Carrie McGonigle learned the news Saturday evening, Maher said. They attended Sunday's press conference, but appeared too aggrieved to speak at length.

With wet eyes and a faraway look, a hunched Maurice Dubois briefly thanked volunteers who had helped search for his daughter. McGonigle stood by his side, also tearful.

Ever since Amber, a bookish freshman, disappeared without a trace on her way to school at Escondido High on Feb. 13, 2009, her parents have said they believed she was alive, most probably abducted by someone who was keeping her against her will.

Only last week, when 30-year-old registered sex offender John Albert Gardner was arrested on suspicion of killing 17-year-old Chelsea King near Lake Hodges, did they begin speaking openly about the possibility that Gardner, who lived in Escondido from 2008 until early 2010, might have killed their daughter.

READ STORY OF AMBER DUBOIS. STILL NEED TO FIND KILLER...

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_f498c3d9-201e-525d-821a-6c4a7472e43d.html

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