For the parents of Amber Dubois, everything happened so fast.
On Thursday, they had a secret meeting with the District Attorney in a parking lot.
"It was at 2:15 in the afternoon," said Carrie McGonigle. Over the next half an hour, Carrie and Maurice Dubois would listen as the District Attorney explained what was going to happen on Friday.
Gardner had confessed, and he would plead guilty to raping and murdering Chelsea King, as well as Amber.
"24 hours, it was a lot to take in," McGonigle said.
But there was more.
For the deal to happen, Chelsea's parents, Brent and Kelly King, would have to give up their strong desire to seek the death penalty for John Gardner.
Gardner's attorneys would only agree to the deal if it meant life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brent and Kelly agreed, so Carrie and Maurice could have closure.
"I have to thank the King family for going the route they did or we wouldn't have the closure you know," said McGonigle. "It put a lot of weight on them to say, give the Dubois family some closure."
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On Friday, Carrie almost didn't go to Gardner's hearing, because she didn't want to hear the gruesome details of Amber's murder. She had already heard them from the D.A. during the secret meeting the day before.
It took every ounce of strength, but Carrie faced her daughter's killer for the first time in court. The emotions overwhelmed her.
"Rage, wanting to go up there and just kill him myself basically," McGonigle said. "It's a lot to handle… Just looking at him and seeing that kind of person hurting our girls and killing them. There's no words for it, the disgust."
Carrie spoke to NBC San Diego because she wanted to thank all the volunteers who helped search for Amber.
Since Thursday, she has been holding search and rescue classes for parents who want to learn how to protect their kids from predators.
Despite the emotional day in court, Carrie still went to the Friday evening class.
"I want to help people save kids' lives," McGonigle said.
