The search for Amber Dubois

Amber Dubois, 14, was a straight-A student with perfect attendance, who loved reading and animals. But on Feb. 13, 2009, the southern California teen left for school and was never seen again.

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Amber Dubois with her mother, Carrie McGonigle, and the man she called her stepfather, Dave Cave.

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"She's been into animals since she was still in diapers," Carrie McGonigle says of her daughter, Amber Dubois. "Her science project is to raise a baby lamb. She was all excited when I left that morning." That same day, Feb.13, 2009, the 14-year-old Southern California girl vanished while walking to school.

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Amber Dubois gets a hug from her father, Moe. "My daughter Amber is my sweetheart," Dubois told "48 Hours." "She's a little girl who always has a little smirk on her face, teases me all the time... gives me a hard time about my receding hairline. That's my kid."

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Amber Dubois is shown with her mother, Carrie McGonigle.

"She loves to read," McGonigle told "48 Hours." "She has friends at school and stuff, but she doesn't go to the mall. She hates to shop. She doesn't wear makeup... she's a bookworm."

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As soon as they heard from Escondido High School that Amber, a student with perfect attendance, didn't show up, her panicked family went into immediate search mode, retracing Amber's route to school, plastering the town with flyers and knocking on every door in the neighborhood.

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The mystery of Amber Dubois' disappearance began on the day before Valentines Day, Feb. 13, 2009. It was over a year before investigators had a break in the case.

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Almost a year to the day that Amber Dubois disappeared, her family learned that another promising teen, 17-year-old Chelsea King, of nearby Poway, Calif., is missing.

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The search for Amber Dubois produced few leads until another promising teenager, Chelsea King, 17, disappeared on Feb. 25, 2010. A body, presumed to be Chelsea's, was found five days later. The Poway, Calif., teen disappeared after going for a run near Lake Hodges at Rancho Bernardo Community Park in San Diego, a popular regional park full of trails.

DNA on Chelsea's underwear was linked to John Gardner - a convicted sex offender on parole with a criminal record dating back 10 years.

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Escondido Police Lt. Craig Carter, center, speaks to the media as a boat is put into the water in creekside area at Kit Carson Park in Escondido, Calif. Friday, March 5, 2010. Law enforcement personnel searched the park after receiving a report that children had found what looked like human hair. Police suspected the discovery was connected to the disappearance of 14-year-old Amber Dubois a year earlier in the same region where 17-year-old Chelsea King disappeared in 2010.

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Search and recovery teams search a pond area at Kit Carson Park in Escondido, Calif. Friday, March 5, 2010, after receiving a report that children had found what looked like human hair.

A day later, remains of Amber Dubois, the 14-year-old Southern California girl, who vanished on Feb. 13, 2009, while walking to school, were discovered elsewhere - in a rugged, remote area of San Diego.

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Maurice Dubois and his ex-wife, Carrie McGonigle, release a dove in honor of their daughter, Amber Dubois, during a celebration of her life ceremony at Escondido High School on March 27, 2010.

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Allison Cave reads a poem in honor of her sister, Amber Dubois, during a celebration of her life ceremony at Escondido High Scholl in Escondido, Calif. on March 27, 2010. — AP Photo/Sandy Huffaker

Allison Cave reads a poem in honor of her sister, Amber Dubois, during a celebration of her life ceremony at Escondido High School in Escondido, Calif. on Saturday, March 27, 2010. Dubois' remains were found more than a year after she vanished while walking to school.

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John Gardner, Amber Dubois, Chelsea King , murder, — AP Photo/ Pool

Sex offender John Albert Gardner pleads guilty to killing two San Diego County teenage girls of murder in San Diego Superior Court April 16, 2010. Gardner, who confessed to the murders agreed to enter the pleas in the deaths of 14-year-old Amber Dubois and 17-year-old Chelsea King. In exchange, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

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Judge Daniel Danielsen reads John Gardner's guilty pleas to both counts of murder Friday, April 16, 2010 in San Diego Superior Court. Sex offender John Albert Gardner has pleaded guilty to killing two San Diego County teenage girls. Gardner agreed Friday — Pool,AP Photo/Earnie Grafton

Judge Daniel Danielsen reads John Gardner's guilty pleas to both counts of murder Friday, April 16, 2010, in San Diego Superior Court. Gardner pleaded guilty to killing two San Diego County teenage girls. He agreed to enter the pleas in the deaths of 14-year-old Amber Dubois and 17-year-old Chelsea King. In exchange, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

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Pool,AP Photo/San Diego Union-Tribune, Nelvin C. Cepeda

Appearing in court on May 14, 2010, in San Diego, Calif., John Albert Gardner III is sentenced for the murder of Amber Dubois and Chelsea King. Gardner reacts angrily to what one of his surviving victims, Candice Moncayo, had to say. Gardener pleaded guilty for murdering Amber on Feb. 13, 2009, and Poway teenager Chelsea King on Feb. 25, 2010.

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Amber Dubois' mother, Carrie McGonigle addresses the court during the sentencing of John Albert Gardner III, on May 14, 2010, in San Diego. Gardener received two consecutive life terms without possibility of parole for murdering Chelsea King, 17, and Amber Dubois, 14, and a third life term with a 25-year minimum for the attempted rape of Candice Moncayo, a jogger who escaped by smashing him in the nose with an elbow.

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Amber Dubois' father, Moe Dubois, addresses the court during the sentencing of John Albert Gardner III, Friday, May 14, 2010 in San Diego. Gardener received two consecutive life terms without possibility of parole for murdering Chelsea King, 17, and Amber Dubois, 14, and a third life term with a 25-year minimum for the attempted rape of Candice Moncayo, a jogger who escaped by smashing him in the nose with an elbow.

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Appearing in court on May 14, 2010, in San Diego, Calif., John Albert Gardner III is sentenced for the murder of Amber Dubois and Chelsea King. Gardener pleaded guilty for murdering Amber on Feb. 13, 2009, and Poway teenager Chelsea King on Feb. 25, 2010.

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Appearing in court on May 14, 2010, in San Diego, Calif., John Albert Gardner III reacts with tears as victim's family addressed the courts. Gardener pleaded guilty for murdering Amber on Feb. 13, 2009, and Poway teenager Chelsea King on Feb. 25, 2010.

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis believes the tears Gardner shed in the courtroom were just an act. "I think he's a sociopath... I don't think any sociopath is capable of remorse," she told "48 Hours."

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Maurice Dubois, father of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, who was abducted and murdered by a registered sex offender in San Diego County in 2009, and his wife Rebecca Smith, Amber's stepmother, share a moment after announcing the introduction of four measures to find missing children more quickly and keep a closer watch on sex offenders, at a news conference in Long Beach, Calif., Tuesday, May 25, 2010.

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