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CNN Live Sunday

Stanton, California Comes to Terms With Runnion's Murder

Aired July 21, 2002 - 17:08   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Family members and residents in the small California community where Samantha Runnion lived are trying to come to terms with her death, and it's not easy. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez now with their plight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the First Presbyterian Church in Orange County, California...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We lift up this morning the precious life of Samantha Runnion.

GUTIERREZ: ...to St. Paul (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Catholic Church in Stanton...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all saddened by the latest tragedy. We pray for all the people.

GUTIERREZ: It was a day of spiritual healing from emotional wounds that are still raw.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has touched people very deeply at many levels, because it's such an innocent loss of life.

GUTIERREZ: It was a collective day of mourning for little Samantha Runnion, a child most had never met before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It made me afraid, frightened for the children out there. It made me afraid for my own children. It broke my heart literally because I felt like that little girl became my little girl.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just recently became a great-grandmother of twin girls, and I just wonder what the future's going to be for them.

GUTIERREZ: They say being here is a way to calm anxiety for tragedy that makes no sense.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came to church this morning to be able to ease, to alleviate some of our pain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Life goes on and it's going to be very heartbreaking for the parents and grandparents and everybody that's known her.

GUTIERREZ: In front of Samantha's home, mourners created a shrine, everyone who knew Samantha, and many more who didn't were touched by her short life. But no one more so than Samantha's own mother Erin, who was overwhelmed by the community support.

ERIN RUNNION, SAMANTHA'S MOTHER: I want you all to know each other. Watch out for your babies. Watch out for each other's babies. Take care of one another.

GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Stanton, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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