Search warrants suggest Calif. killer may have eyed 11-year-old girl, other female runners

Warrants suggest Calif killer followed 11-year-old

EL CAJON, Calif. — Newly unsealed documents suggest John Albert Gardner III followed an 11-year-old girl home the day before the sex offender raped and murdered 17-year-old Chelsea King.

The search warrants unsealed Monday indicate the girl told police on Feb. 24 that a man in a black car drove slowly past her as she walked alone.

A woman then pulled up, told her the man looked suspicious, and offered to follow the girl home. The man drove away.

The records suggest two women joggers saw Gardner on Feb. 25 — the day he killed King as she went for a run in a park in San Diego County.

Gardner pleaded guilty April 16 to murdering Chelsea and 14-year-old Amber Dubois.