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CNN Saturday Morning News

Police Say They Captured Suspect in Runnion's Murder

Aired July 20, 2002 - 09:09   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: All right, let's take another look at the arrest in the kidnapping and killing of little Samantha Runnion in California. Police say thanks to tips, they were able to catch a suspected killer.

CNN's Rusty Dornin back with us again from Stanton, California, the city where Samantha lived, where dawn is breaking. Rusty, anything new to report at this hour? It's a little early out there, I know.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's -- they will only say at this point that it was several tips that came in to their hotlines and that sort of thing that led them to Alejandro Avila, along with some substantial forensic evidence.

Now, it was only -- it was a very quick period that they were looking at the suspect before they arrested him. It was overnight that they impounded Avila's cars and searched his apartment, and 12 hours later, they did arrest him.

Now, he is a 27-year-old production line supervisor at a medical manufacturing plant. But apparently he had been accused in the last couple of years of molesting two young girls, but he was acquitted of those charges.

Now, his mother says he was definitely not guilty in that case, and she believes, again, he is not guilty of murdering Samantha Runnion.

(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)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF MIKE CORONA, ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: I'm 100 percent convinced that Mr. Avila is the one that kidnapped and murdered Samantha Runnion, and I can tell you that we are still moving forward with investigative leads that are still coming in from the public, and we're going to make this case as -- for the prosecutor, at least from the law enforcement side of it, as airtight as we possibly can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now, the sheriff will not say why he's so absolutely certain that it was Avila in this case. However, he did say that the suspect did make a number of mistakes, both when the kidnapping took place and also at the crime scene.

Now, of course, the girl was sexually assaulted, and they also did say that they expected the suspect to have scratches on his body somewhere, meaning that they may have found some kind of skin or something underneath Samantha Runnion's fingernails.

So he is expected to be arraigned early next week here in Orange County.

Meantime, the community here in Stanton is still reeling from all this. This is just happened over a five-day period, sort of had their feelings of safety in their community completely shattered. And of course an overwhelming feeling of sadness -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Rusty Dornin in Stanton, California, thank you very much.

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