ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- More than 1,000 mourners gathered to Monday night to remember Amber Dubois, a 14-year-old girl whose remains were found in San Diego over the weekend.
Maurice Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, Amber's parents, spoke to the crowd, calling for laws to better protect children from predators.
Maurice Dubois evoked his daughter's favorite animal, the wolf. He said wolves hunt together to catch their prey and that parents must band together to protect their children. McGonigle said she worries every time she sees a child walking alone.
Police now say convicted sex offender John Gardner is the focus of the investigation into Amber's murder.
The slain teen's skeletal remains were found Saturday in Pala, a small town in the Pala Indian Reservation, which stretches more than 12,000 acres in north San Diego County.
Authorities say an unspecified tip led them to a remote area west of Pala Temecula Road, about three miles north of the historic Pala Mission.
There is a single-lane asphalted road that leads up a steep mountain and then over a hill.
The grave appears to be out of sight over the hill.
On Monday, Escondido police Lt. Craig Carter issued a statement saying, "The Amber Dubois crime scene is still being processed and John Albert Gardner III remains a focus of the investigation."
John Gardener is charged in the rape and murder of another local teenager, 17-year-old Chelsea King.
A body presumed to be Chelsea's was found March 2nd in a shallow grave on the bank of Lake Hodges in Rancho Bernardo Community Park.
The high school senior disappeared Feb. 25 after going for a jog at the park.
Amber Dubois disappeared less than 10 miles away from the park on Feb. 13, 2009.
Amber was last seen walking to Escondido High School from her home a few blocks away.
Two witnesses said they saw her on the sidewalk just a few hundred yards from the school's main entrance, but she never made it inside.
At the time Amber disappeared, registered sex offender John Albert Gardner III, the man charged in King's murder, lived just two miles from the school in the Rock Springs East apartment complex.
Maurice Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, Amber's parents, spoke to the crowd, calling for laws to better protect children from predators.
Maurice Dubois evoked his daughter's favorite animal, the wolf. He said wolves hunt together to catch their prey and that parents must band together to protect their children. McGonigle said she worries every time she sees a child walking alone.
Police now say convicted sex offender John Gardner is the focus of the investigation into Amber's murder.
The slain teen's skeletal remains were found Saturday in Pala, a small town in the Pala Indian Reservation, which stretches more than 12,000 acres in north San Diego County.
Authorities say an unspecified tip led them to a remote area west of Pala Temecula Road, about three miles north of the historic Pala Mission.
There is a single-lane asphalted road that leads up a steep mountain and then over a hill.
The grave appears to be out of sight over the hill.
On Monday, Escondido police Lt. Craig Carter issued a statement saying, "The Amber Dubois crime scene is still being processed and John Albert Gardner III remains a focus of the investigation."
John Gardener is charged in the rape and murder of another local teenager, 17-year-old Chelsea King.
A body presumed to be Chelsea's was found March 2nd in a shallow grave on the bank of Lake Hodges in Rancho Bernardo Community Park.
The high school senior disappeared Feb. 25 after going for a jog at the park.
Amber Dubois disappeared less than 10 miles away from the park on Feb. 13, 2009.
Amber was last seen walking to Escondido High School from her home a few blocks away.
Two witnesses said they saw her on the sidewalk just a few hundred yards from the school's main entrance, but she never made it inside.
At the time Amber disappeared, registered sex offender John Albert Gardner III, the man charged in King's murder, lived just two miles from the school in the Rock Springs East apartment complex.
