Today would have been Amber Dubois' 16th birthday.
Family and friends of the Escondido teenager kidnapped and killed in February 2009 will gather Monday night to pay tribute to the milestone birthday.
It's the first birthday since Amber's parents learned the fate of their daughter.
In April, convicted sex offender John Gardner talked with Amber's mother Carrie McGonigle about the details of Amber's kidnapping and death while he awaited sentencing.
Gardner was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for Amber's murder and that of Chelsea King, a Poway teenager who was found raped and killed near Lake Hodges just a few days after her disappearance while on an afternoon jog.
A public birthday tribute will be held at 8:30 p.m. Monday at Stanley and Broadway Streets in Escondido near the site where Amber was kidnapped. According to one blogger, McGonigle has chosen 16 special friends of Amber to say a few words about her daughter.
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