( CNN ) -- Chelsea King , 17 , was a straight-A student , a high school track star and she loved to volunteer . Now , she 's been killed , the latest victim of what you could call `` junk justice . '' When Chelsea went running in a San Diego , California , park , it 's doubtful she had any idea that another young female runner had been attacked in that very same park just a couple of months before . That first victim said she feared her attacker was going to rape her . She managed to get away by elbowing the large man in the nose . If there were falling rocks in that park , a warning sign would be up . If a hungry coyote had been spotted scrounging for food , a warning sign would tell you . But there was no warning at all that a human predator , on the hunt for young women , might be in the park . If there had been a sketch of this suspect , or a warning posted , Chelsea might not have gone running alone there . Police said DNA on Chelsea 's underwear led them to 30-year-old John Gardner III . They showed his picture to the first runner and she said , `` He 's the same guy . '' Now he 's been charged with Chelsea 's rape and murder . The suspect was a registered sex offender . In 2000 , he lured a 13-year-old girl into his home on the pretext of watching the movie `` Patch Adams . '' Once he got her inside , he molested her and beat her to a pulp before she escaped . Before Gardner was sentenced , a psychiatrist warned that he showed no remorse and would likely attack a young girl again . He recommended `` the maximum sentence allowed by law . '' The courts sentenced Gardner to six years ; he got out after five . Five years for pummeling a 13-year-old girl in the face and fondling her . That is `` junk justice . '' If Gardner had been prosecuted to the full extent of the law then , he would have been behind bars when Chelsea went for a run on February 25 . Her grieving mom spoke directly to this point to Larry King Thursday night ... '' I mean how many times do our daughters need to be raped before we put these monsters behind bars forever ? I just do n't -- I do n't get it . Change has to be made . And I know that there are people out there that are -- that are trying to , you know , get this change in place . And Brent and I are committed for the rest of our lives to be a part of that . '' We need to switch our focus from punishment to prevention . Our system only kicks into high gear after the fact . In this case , a warning sign , something that simple , would have cost a fraction of the millions it might take to prosecute and house the killer . A warning sign that a woman had been attacked in the park could have possibly saved Chelsea 's life . In California , for every one parole officer there are 70 criminals . Companies like Google , FedEx , and eBay use high-tech systems to track packages and information . We already have the technology in the form of ankle bracelets to track the sex predators so why not use it ? Think about this . We can carefully track the delivery of a package across the country but do n't keep track of a sex offender who weighs more than 200 pounds . It 's time that we demand the most basic freedom of all , and that is freedom from fear . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jane Velez-Mitchell .
Chelsea Velez - Mitchell : Chelsea King , 17 , was straight - A student , track star , volunteer . Velez - Mitchell : Chelsea killed in a park where a young man had been attacked earlier . She thinks suspect , a sex offender , might have been in jail longer for crime . She writes : If he had been in jail , if a guard warned of earlier attack , he might be alive .