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Is Amber Dubois' Murder Related to Chelsea King's Murder?

Amber Dubois (Credit: Family Photo) Family Photo

ESCONDIDO, Calif. (CBS/AP) Amber Dubois' parents have been hoping against hope that they would find their daughter alive. But those hopes were dashed when skeletal remains found in a remote rugged park north of San Diego early Saturday were positively identified as belonging to their daughter.

Far from providing closure to the grieving parents, the discovery brings more questions about the circumstances of Amber's disappearance and death, and whether it is connected to the recent disappearance and death of Chelsea King.

Amber was last seen walking with a man about 300 yards from her school in Escondido, Calif. Feb. 13, 2009. A massive search was launched, but the investigation was hampered by the lack of physical evidence at the scene.

Over a year later Chelsea, 17, was reported missing Feb. 25, after she didn't return from a jog in Lake Hodges, a park just outside of Escondido, Calif. about seven miles from where Amber went missing. 

 John Gardner, a registered sex offender, lived near where both girls disappeared. He has been linked to Chelsea's case, reportedly by DNA evidence found at the scene of her disappearance. He has since pleaded not guilty.

While the similarities between the disappearances, along with physical similarities noted by Amber's father  - they were both blue-eyed, teenage beauties - seem to link the two, there are also differences between the crimes.

One seems to have been careless: a body presumed to be Chelsea King's body was found relatively quickly near where she was last seen; whereas, Amber's case stumped investigators, and her body was found approximately 30 miles from her last known location nearly 13 months later.

Another woman has identified Gardner as the man who tried to attack her Dec. 27, 2009 while she was jogging in the same general vicinity where both Chelsea and Amber vanished. The woman in that attack managed to escape.

MEDIA:
PICTURES: Chelsea King Missing
PICTURES: Chelsea King Vigil

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