{"id":388033,"date":"2010-03-04T10:05:37","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T15:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a8fa08de970b"},"modified":"2010-03-04T10:05:37","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T15:05:37","slug":"dna-match-of-semen-found-on-chelsea-kings-clothing-led-to-sex-offenders-arrest-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/388033","title":{"rendered":"DNA match of semen found on Chelsea King’s clothing led to sex offender’s arrest, officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/img> <\/div>\n

Authorities arrested John Albert Gardner III in connection with the death of Chelsea King after a state lab linked semen found on the teen’s clothes to him, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Gardner, a registered sex offender, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the killing of King, who was last seen jogging near a San Diego County lake.<\/p>\n

During a brief court hearing in San Diego, Gardner, 30, said through an attorney that he denied killing King. Handcuffed and dressed in a jail jumpsuit, Gardner himself did not address the court. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Gardner was arrested Sunday afternoon outside a restaurant near Lake Hodges. Authorities said the arrest was made after semen found on King’s clothing was run through a national DNA database and was matched to Gardner. <\/p>\n

The 230-pound Gardner, who is registered as living in Lake Elsinore, had been visiting his mother in Rancho Bernardo last week, officials said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The California Department of Justice told Fox 5 San Diego<\/a> that detectives were able to arrest Gardner two hours after the match came in.<\/p>\n

In 2000, Gardner pleaded guilty to molestation charges involving a 13-year-old girl.<\/p>\n

He served five years of a six-year prison term and wore a global-positioning system tracking device until 2008, when his parole term ended.<\/p>\n

\"Me-chelseaking-map\"<\/img><\/a> A dive team found King’s body on a tributary of Lake Hodges, in a wooded area that had been the focus of an extensive search\u00a0after a shoe was found there Saturday. A diver working his way up the tributary saw debris about 10 feet from the water. That discovery led to the grave.
<\/br>
<\/br>The site is about half a mile from the parking lot at Rancho Bernardo Community Park, where King had left her car before heading out on the trail.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>San Diego County prosecutors said Gardner could be eligible for the death penalty with the charges filed Wednesday. The prosecutors’ office will decide at a later date whether to seek a\u00a0death sentence.<\/p>\n

— Shelby Grad<\/p>\n

More coverage by Times reporters Richard Marosi and Amina Khan in San Diego: Among the gated enclaves, anger and fear over Chelsea King’s killing<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: John Albert Gardner III\u00a0in\u00a0court.\u00a0Credit: pool photo <\/em><\/p>\n

More breaking news in L.A. Now:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Villaraigosa shocked at celebration of O.J.
\nSimpson, RuPaul, Dennis Rodman at L.A. Black History Month event<\/a><\/p>\n

O.C. alert system broke down during tsunami
\nadvisory<\/a><\/p>\n

Campuses prepare for rallies against education
\n cuts<\/a><\/p>\n

Baca says early inmate releases ‘inevitable’
\nif budget crisis continues<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities arrested John Albert Gardner III in connection with the death of Chelsea King after a state lab linked semen found on the teen’s clothes to him, authorities said. Gardner, a registered sex offender, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the killing of King, who was last seen jogging near a San Diego County lake. During […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-388033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}