In their first interview since their daughter's killer was sentenced, Brent and Kelly King talked about the moment they faced John Gardner in court Friday and what they hope to gain from a trip to Washington, D.C.
In a dramatic moment during Friday’s sentencing, Kelly King demanded that Gardner look at her. In an interview on NBC’s Today Show, Kelly King said she wanted him to be able to look and see all the pain and the anguish.
She said there was no way to prepare for her victim’s impact statement.
“The minute he walked into that courtroom there was a complete and total wave of disgust,” she said. “There’s an element of shock to be that close to someone who has done what he’s done to our daughter and our family.”
“There was no preparation. There was just a lot of anger and disgust and that seemed to carry it,” she said.
The Kings are in Washington, D.C. this week meeting with lawmakers and White House representatives to gain support for Chelsea’s Law.
“One strike is enough. It shouldn’t take two children to go through a terrible violent act before we lock someone away,” said Brent King.
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”We also want to bring them a vision and a picture of who Chelsea is and how much we lost as not just parents but as a community,” he said.
Gardner received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the rape and murder of both Escondido teenager Amber Dubois and Poway teenager Chelsea King as well as the sexual assault of Candice Moncayo.
Amber,14, was reported missing in Feb. 13 2009. She was killed by Gardner about an hour and a half after the two met.
Her body wasn't found until Gardner was arrested for the rape and murder of Chelsea King, the Poway High School student who disappeared during a run around Lake Hodges in February 2010.
Gardner admitted dragging Chelsea to a remote area where he raped, strangled and buried her.
After Gardner's arrest, Candice Moncayo identified him as the man who jumped her while she was jogging around Lake Hodges on Dec. 27, 2009.
Moncayo talked about the experience on cable television and described how she managed to escape from Gardner with a punch in the nose.
Prior to entering Gardner's guilty plea on April 16, his attorneys negotiated a deal with prosecutors for a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
