Samantha Runnion
July 26, 2002 - July 15, 2002

Samantha's friend Sarah ran to her mother and told her what was
going on. It was too late, Samantha was gone and that began the
short search to find her. Sarah, who was only five years old, was able to give a detailed description of the man and his vehicle as well as his vehicle. The search would last only a day. Unfortunately, when she was found, Samantha was already dead.

On July 16, 2002, a man called and was upset at the fact that he had
found the nude body of a little girl on rural Highway 74 in Riverside
County. (read a transcript of that call - here)On July 17, 2002,
Police confirmed that the body found was indeed that of Samantha
Runnion. An autopsy was performed and it was discovered that
Samantha has been sexually assaulted, had physical trauma and was
asphyxiated. It was thought that the killed had spent a few hours with
her before killing her. Sheriff Michael Carona made a statement to
the person who killed Samantha:

On July 18, 2002, tips given by people calling in lead the Police to a
man named Alejandro Avila who was 27 years old and worked as a
supervisor on a line production in Lake Elsinore. Alejandro of course
denied any involvement in the assault and murder of Samantha and
said that he was 30 miles away on that day. Luckily, phone records
and credit card purchases proved that he was lying.

It was discovered that Alejandro had been accused before, of molesting the nine year old daughter of his girlfriend as well as another little girl. Alejandro had been to the apartment complex where Samantha lived, in 1998 and 1999, to visit his girlfriend who lived there. He was acquitted on all of the charges related to those accusations, by a jury.

On July 19, 2002, Alejandro was arrested and charged with the kidnapping, murder and two counts of forcible lewd acts on Samantha Runnion. Michael Carona said there was evidence from the two crimes scenes involved. Those scenes were outside of Samantha's home and
where her body had been found. Michael said that Alejandro messed
up a lot during his crimes:

On July 24, 2002, Samantha was given a funeral at the Crystal 
Cathedral with a crowd of over 5,500 people attending. Given to the
mourners was a program with a drawing that Samantha had done of
a girl in a red dress, a house with a heart under the blue sky and her
favorite saying "Be Brave".

One day after he daughters funeral, Erin Runnion went on the Larry
King show and expressed her feelings about what had happened to
her daughter and the fact that this man had previously been let go
for similar charges:

August of 2002 came and the D.A. was seeking the death penalty due to the murder taking place after a kidnapping and the fact that the 
crime involved lewd acts with a child. That same month, Alejandro
plead not guilty, being represented by a Public Defender named
Denise Gragg. Denise requested a delay in the arraignment, asking
for a month long delay. An Orange County judge denied that re-
quest and a hearing was scheduled for September 16th.

Erin faced her daughters killer in court and then again, went on the
Larry King show to talk about it:

In the courtroom that day was one of the girls who had been sexually
abused by Alejandro in 1999. Also, Orange County's top law 
enforcement officials, Mike Carona and Tony Rackauckas sat together
just a few rows behind Erin. Erin and Mike hugged as she silently
thanked him for all he had done.

At 4:pm, the jurors were seated and a foreman gave the binder which contained the verdicts, to a deputy. There was no visible emotion on
their faces as the verdicts were read.

Alejandro Avila, 30 years old at the time, was found guilty in April
of 2005, of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering Samantha
Runnion. The jury was in deliberations for less than nine hours before they found him guilty. While the verdicts were read, Alejandro kept
his head down, said nothing and showed no emotion at all. The
people in the court room had to be quieted down after "YES" could
be heard when the first guilty verdict was read. Erin, who was seated
in the front row a few feet from Alejandro, cried at the verdicts.

The jury again showed no emotion as they were lead from the court
room after hearing from the judge that they were not to talk about
the case. At this point, the job of the jury was not over, they would
now need to decide the fate of Alejandro. A decision needed to be
made in the penalty phase of the trial. Would Alejandro get life with 
no possibility for parole, or would he get the death penalty? The jury
would have to decide.

The defense would be calling members of Alejandro's family to the
stand to testify as for why they felt he should not get the death 
penalty. In an elevator, shortly after the verdicts were read, a woman
could be heard shouting, in reference to the jury who let him go the
first time he was accused:

A man on the escalator held up a picture of Samantha, showing it to
television crews and shouted:

After court, Erin spoke to the crowd outside. She thanked the jury for
coming to the right conclusions and finding Alejandro guilty and said
that it brought a great sense of relief. She shouted:

Erin started a foundation called The Joyful Child Foundation which
would help parents protect their children. At that time, she spoke to
anyone who might have intentions of hurting a child:

Erin also said that she hopes other families and children will be able
to get strength from the verdicts in Samantha's case:

Sheriff Mike Carona was in tears as he gave thanks that Erin had not
held it against them for their inability to bring Samantha home, alive.

Alejandro Avila was sentenced to death for what he did to Samantha
Runnion. Erin confronted him in court:

Seeming to ignore anything she was saying, Alejandro sat without
moving and looked away. Alejandro said nothing as Judge William Froeberb spoke about the verdict:

Alejandro's sentence will automatically be appealed and his defense
attorney said that she would not be surprised if the issue of
incompetent defense was the reason:

Denise added that she had advised him not to speak at all, in court.
Assistant District Attorney, David Brent, said that he was satisfied with the verdict and that justice was served, though he said:

Joyful Child Foundation The Joyful Child Foundation was established in her memory. It aims to facilitate the development of child watch programs in local communities through the U.S. through the Samantha's Pride program. In addition, it also seeks to encourage research and development into the psyche of predators and develop communication programs for parents and children.

Samantha Runnion was just shy of her sixth birthday when she was kidnapped outside her home in southern California, sexually assaulted, and murdered by a child predator. An investigation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies helped identify her killer and put him behind bars. 

On July 26—the FBI’s own birthday—Samantha would have turned 11. That day, we joined with her mother Erin Runnion in honoring Samantha and all child victims and survivors by planting a tree and dedicating a permanent memorial outside our field office in Los Angeles. 

“I am so grateful to the FBI for honoring Samantha with this beautiful ceremony and everlasting memorial,” Erin Runnion said. “I hope that those who were touched by Samantha’s death will join us commemorating her birthday and remembering the gift that she will always be. … In honor of all child victims and survivors, may this memorial remind us all to be brave, to be vigilant, to cherish our children and learn from their joy.”

Read a transcript of the 911 caller who found 
Samantha's body.
Read about Samantha's funeral.
Read news articles related to Samantha's death.
Return to Samantha's story.

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