By ELLIOT SPAGAT
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 2, 2010; 11:32 PM
SAN DIEGO -- A body found in a shallow grave Tuesday is believed to be that of 17-year-old Chelsea King, whose disappearance led to the arrest of a registered sex offender, authorities said.
The remains were found buried in a park about 10 feet from the shoreline of Lake Hodges, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said.
"Although positive identification has not been made, there is (a) strong likelihood that we have found Chelsea," he told reporters.
Gore said he had informed the teen's parents.
"Obviously they are devastated and I ask that you respect their privacy during this extremely difficult time," he said.
Hours later, several thousand people holding candles and tearfully embracing joined the teen's parents, Brent and Kelly King, in a vigil outside St. Michael Catholic Church in suburban Poway.
Brent King spoke briefly, thanking everyone for their efforts to find his daughter.
"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."
Police, meanwhile, said the registered sex offender suspected in King's disappearance likely assaulted a jogger in December in the same park.
The 22-year-old Colorado woman 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, police Capt. Jim Collins said.
Police said evidence has linked 30-year-old John Albert Gardner III to both cases but further details have not been released.
Collins, however, said a swab taken from the elbow of the Colorado woman did not match Gardner's DNA.
Gardner is now in custody without bail for investigation of murder and rape in the King case.
Gardner of Lake Elsinore pleaded guilty in May 2000 to molesting a 13-year-old female neighbor. Prosecutors said he lured the victim to his home with an offer to watch "Patch Adams," a 1998 movie starring Robin Williams
The girl was beaten before escaping and running to a neighbor.
2010-03-03