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CNN Saturday Morning News

Avila Arrested for Murder of 5-Year-Old Samantha Runnion

Aired July 20, 2002 - 07:09   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more now on the arrest and the kidnapping of -- the kidnapping and killing of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion. The whole ordeal has traumatized the Stanton, California, community where the girl lived.

CNN's Rusty Dornin joining us from there now after a remarkable day yesterday, where we saw incredible news conference, word of the arrest, it's really been a lot of events in a short period of time, Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, you know, and Miles, there's a sense of short-term relief, you know, a suspect was arrested very quickly in this particular case. But for folks in this community, you know, there's that long-term sense of things are never going to be quite the same again, they're never going to feel quite safe enough with their children playing in their front yard after something like this has happened.

Now, this case proceeded very quickly from the time that Samantha Runnion was kidnapped from her front yard, to the time her body was discovered, to the arrest. Now, Sheriff Mike Carona says that the tremendous forensic evidence that was at the site where Samantha Runnion's body was found contributed largely to being able to link this crime to Alejandro Avila.

Now, also the fact that they received several tips, although he would not elaborate on what those tips were.

Now, apparently Avila, who is a production line supervisor, had been accused of molesting two young girls a couple of years ago, but he was acquitted. Now, his mother just says, you know, he was not guilty in that case, and she says she does not believe he is capable of such violence in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADELINA AVILA, ALEJANDRO AVILA'S MOTHER: He's, like, never violent, and he does good with the kids. And ever since his ex- girlfriend accused him of doing wrong with the girl that she has, he was found not guilty.

And ever since then when he's around little kids, he tries to be with somebody else. And I asked him one time, I go, Why (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? And he says, Mom, I'd rather be safe. I want to have someone with me in case they want to accuse me of doing something that I didn't do, because I don't want to go through that again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now, Sheriff Mike Carona says he is 100 percent certain that Avila is the culprit in this case, that he is the man who murdered Samantha Runnion. Now, I know, Miles, you're going to be speaking with him a little later, perhaps, in the show, you can press him a little bit on some of the other details of maybe perhaps the tips that came through, because he certainly would not elaborate in the press conference yesterday -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Yes, what else do you think are the gaps, as long as we're talking about potential questions? Where else do you feel like it's sketchy right now?

DORNIN: Well, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in particular, in terms of the tips, what led them to him, and of course he's also -- they're not talking about what the forensic evidence, what comprises it, you know, you can only surmise that perhaps since she was sexually assaulted, that DNA does comprise some of this forensic evidence.

But they are definitely not outlining it. You know, he cited the fact that this case was brought to conclusion very quickly and very professionally, and he feels as though, you know, to conclude it this way and to take it to prosecution in order to get a conviction that they need to be very tight-lipped about a lot of this.

So, you know, it would be very interesting to find out what some of the tips that led them to Avila would be.

O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Rusty Dornin, who's working both ends of the clock these days, thank you very much, we appreciate it. We'll check in with you in just a little bit.

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