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American Morning

Young Girl's Body Found Matching Kidnapping Victim

Aired July 17, 2002 - 07:02   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning, though, relatives of Samantha Runnion are hoping and praying a body that has been found is not that of their missing 5-year-old. She was abducted Monday in front of her home when she was playing with a friend. A man coming there saying he needed help in looking for a puppy. Authorities are now saying the body has similarities to Samantha.

Thelma Gutierrez joins us now live from Stanton, California, the Runnion home place -- good morning. Thelma, what have you learned?

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, you're right. The body of a young girl between the ages of 4 and 7 was discovered off of a rural area in Riverside County, which is about 75 miles from the girl's home, which is the area where she was abducted on Monday evening.

Now, yesterday afternoon, two men spotted the girl's body in plain view off of the side of a road, which leads to a popular hang- gliding facility. Authorities say that it is premature at this point to say that it is the body of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, but they say that the body does match Samantha's description.

Deputies from Orange County went to the crime scene. They were there all night long, meticulously processing the area for evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE CARONA, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF: I can tell you that we have a crime scene, that we have a young girl out there between the ages of 4 and 6. It would meet the description of Samantha, but we have not confirmed that, and it will be a while. You have to recognize that it's a crime scene, and we are trying to get as much information, because assuming that it is Samantha, we want to make sure that we grab as much evidence as possible, because we are going to bring the suspect to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTIERREZ: Now, officially, authorities maintain that the search for Samantha Runnion is still active. She will turn six 10 days from now. She was abducted from her home on Monday evening. And the child's body that was removed from Riverside County was finally taken away by the Orange County Coroner's Office, and they say they will have a positive identification later on this morning -- Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: All right. Thank you, Thelma Gutierrez -- appreciate your joining us at this hour of the morning. And we will keep all of you posted on the latest developments in this case.

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