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American Morning

Promising Leads in Samantha Runnion Case

Aired July 18, 2002 - 09:02   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: We're going to start off in California this morning. "Up Front," authorities there fear the killer of 5- year-old Samantha Runnion is a serial sex offender and murderer who might strike again soon.

Charles Feldman standing by live from Stanton, California with the very latest on the search for Samantha's killer.

Good morning -- Charles.

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

And you know this is such a horrible story that I feel compelled, as we did the last time, to begin with at least what may be some promising news this morning on this very disturbing case, and that is that we've been told that there are several promising leads. Potential suspects are being talked to, even as we speak this morning, and they are tracking down a lot of different people. This is based on telephone tips and other people coming forward. So a little bit of good news in this -- on this otherwise very terrible story that maybe, just maybe, they're getting closer to finding whoever committed this crime.

Now we're going to show you a sketch. This is the sketch of the suspect in this case. It is based on the eyewitness testimony of Samantha Runnion's 5-year-old friend, although law enforcement officials are careful to point out that the suspect may have changed his appearance. But this is the best they have available, the best sketch.

Also what they're telling us is that there are a lot of reasons that they feel confident that this may wrap up fairly soon. They say that he left -- the suspect left a lot of clues, a lot of evidence at the scene of the crime, made a lot of mistakes that could lead to his capture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CARONA, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF: He acted impulsively, and in doing so, he left a lot of evidence at the crime scene in Stanton where the kidnap took place. He also left a lot of physical evidence for us at the crime scene where Samantha was murdered in Riverside County. We have collected all of that working with our forensic laboratory here in Orange County and our counterparts with the FBI. We're digesting all of it, but we're very excited about what we've come across and we believe that's going to help us put the puzzle together to bring this man to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FELDMAN: Now law enforcement officials are very concerned that this is a clearly highly dangerous person, somebody who may have committed sexual crimes against children before and somebody who has now killed and therefore has crossed a very dangerous threshold.

I want to show you a picture, again, of Samantha Runnion, because that, of course, is what this story is all about. She was just days away from what would have been her sixth birthday before she was abducted right in front of her Orange County California home, sexually abused and then brutally murdered. The story is very much about her, but it is also about trying to capture the man who did this. And most importantly, law enforcement officials stress, Paula, to make sure that he doesn't do it again and doesn't do something like this soon -- Paula.

ZAHN: We pray that doesn't happen. Thanks, Charles, appreciate that live update.

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