Amber Dubois's Mother Speaks to Daughter's Murderer

"I want to talk to your son and find out why he murdered my daughter," Carrie Dubois said to the mother of John Gardner.

It was a bitter confrontation between the mother of a murdered teenager and the mother of the man who killed her.

Carrie is the mother of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, who was raped and strangled by John Gardner. Gardner was sentenced to two life terms without parole for Amber's murder and the murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King.

Cameras were rolling as Carrie confronted Gardner's mother and sister outside a San Diego jail. She said she wanted to see the killer in jail and ask why he murdered Amber.

Gardner's sister shoved Amber's mom after Carrie said, "Look, I just want to visit your son."

"I'm not here to harass you. I just want to talk to your son and find out why he murdered my daughter," said Carrie.

More angry words were exchanged.

As Gardner's mother Catherine left the jail with her daughter Serena, she covered her face with a coat.

Incredibly, Amber's mom got her wish. She visited with the killer for 30 minutes. She is keeping what was said secret, for now.

"I met with Gardner, yes. We talked. I got my answers. I got my closure that I needed," she told reporters.

Now Judge DeeAnn Salcido is coming forward to say both Amber and Chelsea would be alive today if Gardner had not been given a plea bargain in a sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl in 2000.

"As soon as he got off parole he committed these murders within a year," she told INSIDE EDITION.

Gardner was freed in just five years, despite warnings from psychiatrists he would offend again.

Judge Salcido says the system is broken, enabling sexual predators like Gardner get plea deals that she says are far too lenient, putting the public at risk.

"Families are suffering every day," she said.

"Do you think that judge let the community down?" INSIDE EDITION's Jim Moret asked her.

"Absolutely, there's no other way around it," said Judge Salcido.