News out of San Diego via WGN Chicago:
A convicted sex offender charged Wednesday with murdering 17-year-old Chelsea King while raping or attempting to rape her was linked to the crime by DNA from semen found in her clothing, a state Justice Department spokeswoman said.
The break led to the weekend arrest of 30-year-old John Albert Gardner III as thousands of people still held out hope that an extensive search would find the teen alive even though she had not been seen since last Thursday.
Prosecutors declined to answer questions about the evidence against Gardner.
However, California Department of Justice spokeswoman Christine Gasparac told The Associated Press Gardner was identified after the semen from clothing found by investigators was run through a national database.
The semen had been detected by the San Diego County crime lab and forwarded to the state, where technicians ran it through the national Combined DNA Index System.
"We were able within two hours to get a match to Gardner, and they were able to make the arrest," Gasparac said.