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Police Say Way 5-Year-Old's Body Dumped Sends Warning and Taunting Challenge

Aired July 18, 2002 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, the search for Samantha Runnion's killer. Police in Southern California say that the way the 5-year-old's body was dumped along a rural road sends both a chilling warning and a taunting challenge. But the murderer may have also left behind much more than what police describe as a grizzly calling card.

CNN's Charles Feldman has been covering the case this morning. We'll go to him now with the latest.

Good morning, Charles.

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Sad story, of course. But perhaps some ray of hope here as we begin this morning. Law enforcement officials saying that they have some very promising leads that they have been tracking down throughout the night, talking through, tracking down some potential suspects, nobody in particular at the moment that comes to their mind. But a number of different people coming from telephone tips and from other means that they have at their disposal all in the efforts to track down the killer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion.

We are going to show you now a sketch , this is based on the eyewitness description of Samantha's young 5-year-old, and that's the best description that police and other law enforcement agencies have of the suspect in this case. But they do caution that he may have changed his appearance by now, this according to FBI profiles of what this person might be like and what might make him tick.

Now, you know, one of the keys to this investigation, Leon, is, as I am told, is how the body was found, how it was positioned. It wasn't just carelessly left for people to find. Law enforcement officials feel that it was left in a way that it was, in effect, a calling card; this person is challenging law enforcement officials to come and get him. Profilers say this is a person who is probably sexually molested children before, and may even have a history as a serial killer, but even if not, certainly has killed now, and that, of course, crosses a very important line, making him extremely dangerous.

Now, law enforcement officials say that they believe the suspect is still within the Southern California area. They're not saying why they believe that, but they feel confident that he is. They think he is probably the type of person who would watch media reports, maybe even this one, about what he has done, and they are appealing to the public, as they have done from the very start, to come forward with any information they may have.

And we are going to hopefully show you a picture again of Samantha Runnion, who of course is what this story is all about. She was sexually assaulted, brutally murdered, just days away from what would have been her 6th birthday, after being kidnapped right from in front of her home here in Orange County, California.

So a terrible story, one that makes parents all over the country, and especially in this community, just absolutely nervous, and appalled, and hoping that law enforcement officials can apprehend this person quickly before he may do it again -- Leon.

HARRIS: Charles Feldman, reporting live this morning.

Thank you very much, Charles.

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, investigators say the killer left behind a tremendous amount of evidence. And joining us now to discuss the forensic stage of the investigation is Don Clark, a 35-year-old veteran of the FBI. He's now retired, and he's supervised a number of high-profile cases. He's also joined us a number of times in the past to talk about these cases.

Good to see you. How are you?

DON CLARK, FMR. FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Good to see you, Leon. Good, thanks.

HARRIS: Let's get to this evidence that Charles Feldman reported that police believe was left behind here. What could possibly have been left behind the scene, noting perhaps that body itself and the way it was positioned? What about that indicates this is a person who has done this before?

CLARK: Well, the profile is probably looking at the method, maybe the tidiness, maybe even the untidiness, but there a lot of clues that they can probably figure out, that this may be a system of this guy, but we've got to keep in mind, even with the profilers, and I really weigh in heavily on their side, Leon, but we've got to know that they really don't know for sure at this point whether this person has ever killed before again -- before.

If this could very well be sloppy work on the part of this real heinous criminal that's doing this, and if it is, it will leave them with a lot of evidence, hopefully at some point to be able to compare with any information they might garner in the future.

HARRIS: How about information left behind at the scene, behind where the girl was abducted?

CLARK: I think all of that will be part of the puzzle. As we said, so many times on connecting these bits and pieces of information, whatever was left at the scene, at home, wherever that this person grabbed this little girl from in front of her house, there may be some evidence there, and certainly the amount of evidence and type of evidence that is found actually at the scene. All of this can be compared together to see if they are dealing with the same person at both places, which I suspect that they probably are.

But more importantly, it's having someone somewhere to be able to compare that evidence to, and that's the task at hand.

HARRIS: Is there any one clue you could look at? If you were the profiler in this case and you showed up at the scene, either the scene of the home or the scene where the body was found in that rural area, is there anything would you look at to profile, that would indicate whether or not this person killed before?

CLARK: Well, I don't exactly know of any one particular thing. If there had been an opportunity to another body in the same similar situation, then one could probably conclude that this may be the same person that's done that. And as we have said before, we have had several multiple killings down here in Texas, and we have been able to make a comparison and say that, in all likelihood, the same person did this killing as it did that killing. But you need that comparison so be able to do that. Just having one is extremely difficult.

HARRIS: I understand that.

Let me ask you something else. You heard Charles Feldman report moments ago that the police believe this person is still in the area. What would indicate that?

CLARK: That's a difficult call. I heard that, too. And obviously, they must have some information that we may not be privy too at this point. Most of these people may generally, however, roam around the same area, and they could be basing it on that particular bit of information. When looking at these killers, they usually kind of stay in a particular area, They know he went at least 75 miles away from where the kid was taken from, from where she was found. So based on that, I would say that's the likelihood of why they might be making that statement.

HARRIS: Considering this kind of case, would you consider that 75-mile range a large one or a small one?

CLARK: I don't consider that too large of a range for a state like California or Texas. Perhaps if you are up in the northeast, 75 miles, then you could be two states away. But in California, or Texas or some of the larger states, I don't know if that's considered significantly large distance away, because it's easy to travel that distance in no time, as you well know.

He could have thought, well, I am getting far enough away that likelihood is that I've gotten my distance from myself to the point I picked up this little girl to the point he did this very drastic deed.

HARRIS: Perhaps that's one of the reasons they believe he is still there in the area. Let me ask you one final question. This is something that occurred to me yesterday, thinking about this case. We have been covering how many of these cases this past summer. This summer alone, I think this may be the fourth case of a missing or disappearing child we have been talking about.

Does that -- I don't know, frequency of these kind of reports and the amount of coverage that they've received, does that encourage people who are tempted to or are likely to do this sort of thing get out there and do it?

CLARK: I don't think so, Leon. And I know we got a lot of play in the media, because these are spectacular and very heart-touching events that take place, but these people are not necessarily guided on, what goes on in the media around them, they are guided on this very sick and criminal habit that they have, and the numbers have been pretty consistent over the years, that there are approximately 300 or so of these stranger-type killings, and a pretty large percentage of that. I believe it's somewhere in the 70, 80 percent end up killed.

So that consistency tells me that it's the sick individual that's out there, and whether or not we talk about it here or not, is not likely to enhance or increase the numbers of people who are going to get involved in that.

HARRIS: Good. Let's hope it helps those out there trying to find information.

CLARK: It certainly does.

HARRIS: Don Clark, thanks much. We appreciate the insight once again. Take Care.

CLARK: Thank you.

HARRIS: We'll talk with you later on.

CLARK: You bet.

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