3.07.2010

RAIN AND TEARS

On February 13, 2009, 14 year old Amber Dubois walked to her high school in Escondido, California. She was excited about the lamb she was purchasing for her FFA project. She was bringing a check for $200 to buy her lamb. It was 7:10 a.m. when she was last seen walking toward her Escondido High. She never made it. She was never seen again.

Despite a wide search over several weeks by law enforcement and volunteers, no clues led to bringing Amber home to her family. Amber was a good student, a quiet pretty girl with blue eyes and brown hair who liked to read. She had not run away.

A year passed with no leads. But her family never gave up hope in finding her alive and bringing her home.

Escondido is a city about 20 minutes north of Poway, where Chelsea King vanished. Amber's parents both came out to show their support for Brent and Kelly King and help search for Chelsea. After Chelsea's body was discovered and similarities between Amber's and Chelsea's disappearance and that registered sex offender , John Albert Gardner, III, who was living near both of them when they went missing began to surface, everyone wondered if there could be a connection.

Then came the call from a parent who reported their three daughters reported finding a "bag of hair" at a local park in May 2009. On Saturday, March 6th, the police went to the Kit Carson Park and drained a pond and searched for the bag of hair. They found part of a bag that the girls identified and some items "of interest" around the pond, but they said there was nothing found that led them closer to finding Amber.

As the rain fell from the heavy dark clouds that covered the county today, the Escondido Police and San Diego County Sheriff's departments called a press conference in the afternoon. With resignation and heavy hearts they announced that the skeletal remains of Amber Dubois had been discovered on the Pala Reservation (north of Escondido) after a tip led them to the remote area of Pala.

It was a day of great sadness and long awaited closure for the Dubois. Their angel Amber had been brought home at last. But it not the way any of us wanted it to end.

It is believed that the same animal that raped and murdered Chelsea may have also murdered Amber, but the police spokesman said that the investigation is ongoing, so we wait. And we pray for Amber's loved ones who mourn tonight.

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