Search spreads for Calif. teen; sex offender held

[March 01, 2010]  SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Authorities and volunteers are widening a search for a 17-year-old missing in San Diego County after a registered sex offender was arrested in connection with her disappearance.

Some 1,400 volunteer searchers and more than 100 law enforcement officers failed to find Chelsea King on Sunday, but evidence was found that led to the arrest of 30-year-old John Albert Gardner of Lake Elsinore, Calif. some 75 miles to the north, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore told the Associated Press in an interview.

King disappeared on Thursday after going for a run near Lake Hodges at Rancho Bernardo Community Park in San Diego, a popular regional park full of running trails. Her car, with her cell phone and iPod inside, were found later that night.

Gore said investigators discovered physical evidence linking Gardner to the case. Gore would not elaborate on the nature of the evidence. He said they were holding out hope that she would be found.

Gardner was taken into custody at a restaurant in Escondido shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday and was being questioned Sunday night.

"This investigation is ongoing and specific criminal charges are still being determined," Gore said at a news conference.

Investigators also suspect Gardner could be tied to a Dec. 27 assault on a female jogger from Colorado Springs, Gore said.

Gardner's Riverside County residence was also searched Sunday, Gore said.

He was required to register as a sex offender because of a conviction for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14, the Megan's Law Web site said.

It was not immediately clear whether Gardner has hired an attorney.

King's parents continued pleas for her return and said the arrest offered them no relief.

"Nothing will change for us until our beautiful daughter, Chelsea King, comes home," Brent and Kelly King said in a statment released through a family spokeswoman Sunday night. "We will continue searching for her, and we ask that all of you do the same until she's back with us."

Gore said the search for King and for further evidence would continue throught the night and expand beyond the park.

"There are several searches going on around the county," Gore said. "We are going to refocus some of our search efforts."

Chelsea King's BMW was found in the park after she failed to return to her home in suburban Poway, Calif. on Thursday, sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.

The search for the straight-A senior at Poway High School also took to the Internet, where a Facebook page generated more than 24,000 fans. A Web site was created at findchelsea.com.

[Associated Press; By ELLIOT SPAGAT]

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