The parents of murdered San Diego teenager Chelsea King speak about their feelings toward the sex offender who's been arrested in the case. INSIDE EDITION has the latest.
We're hearing for the first time from the family of Chelsea King's accused murderer John Gardner.
"There were plenty of clues. As a young kid he was impulsive, and prone to violent outbursts," said a relative who asked not to be named, called in to the John and Ken Show on KFI in Los Angeles.
The relative continued, "When you would meet him, he was kind of like the life of the party, you know, the silly goofball, the having fun. So he was often pleasant to be around as long as he was in a pleasant mood. Now, if he got upset, you wanted to get away from him."
Meanwhile, Chelsea's parents are ripping into their daughter's accused killer.
"The hatred and the anger and the disgust. I didn't know that such feelings could run so deep until I looked at him," said Chelsea's mother.
Dignified in their grief, Chelsea's parents Brent and Kelly King managed to control their anger as they spoke about convicted sexual predator John Gardner on Larry King Live.
Larry King asked, "What do you think of somebody like that?"
"I try not to think of that, it's beyond the point of disgust," said Brent.
On the Today Show Friday, Chelsea's mother choked up as she read a poem written by their daughter.
"I am myself and this will not change. Today is my day, my mountain is waiting and I'm on my way," reads the poem.
Gardner has pleaded not guilty to Chelsea's murder. He served just five years in jail for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 2000.
"Do you feel that the system let your daughter down?" asked the Today Show's Ann Curry.
"It let our daughter down. It let every child in this country down, terribly. There's no doubt," said Kelly King.