CA - Samantha Runnion, 5, abducted & murdered, Stanton, 15 July 2002

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Originally posted by Zeff
You betcha it is a death penalty case !!! This case is local to me, so it really has my attention....

BTW..... the prosecutor in this case has a perfect record. Everytime he has gone after the death penalty, he has gotten it.
Click to expand...

It's local to me as well. I had been in e-mail contact with Erin, Samantha's mom, and have done some volunteer work for her foundation, The Joyful Child.
Misty
 
I'm curious as to what the "program" is. I lived in Maryland for several years. We played in the front yards, and went up and down the street from house to house. There were always parents looking out windows, and someone to make sure no one had wandered off. That was never the case anywhere in California. But maybe apartment complexes are different.
 
DNA Hearing Postponed Until July In Samantha Runion Trial
Judge To Decide Whether To Allow DNA Evidence

POSTED: 3:38 pm PST March 19, 2004
UPDATED: 3:49 pm PST March 19, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- A hearing on whether to allow prosecutors to introduce DNA evidence at the upcoming trial of a man accused of killing a 5-year-old Stanton girl was put off Friday until July 12.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2936657/detail.html
 
Up2theminute said:
DNA Hearing Postponed Until July In Samantha Runion Trial
Judge To Decide Whether To Allow DNA Evidence

POSTED: 3:38 pm PST March 19, 2004
UPDATED: 3:49 pm PST March 19, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- A hearing on whether to allow prosecutors to introduce DNA evidence at the upcoming trial of a man accused of killing a 5-year-old Stanton girl was put off Friday until July 12.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2936657/detail.html
Click to expand...

thanks for this!
 
Does anyone know when her alleged killer will be going on trial??? Alejandro someone. She was murdered around the same time as Danielle Van Dam and that is over and done with. Just wondering.
 
7/12 - Preliminary hearing for Alejandro Avila, for the July 2002 abduction and murder of 5-year-old Samantha
Runnion (a trial date might be scheduled)

from here...
http://crime.about.com/library/blfiles/bl-crimecalendar.htm


I didn't hear anything about it, so it was probably delayed again.

Westerfields lawyer wanted a speedy trial. He was hoping to beat evidence in.
Fortunately, he didn't. Avila's lawyer is hoping something happens, people forget or whatever to try to get his client off.

I agree, he has no chance, and deserves no chance.
 
What a beautiful little girl........ I never knew her horrific story..... my heart weeps for her family.......as for the lawyer wanting people to forget as time goes on...... NEVER! People's lives go on because they have to... but forget what this animal did to a little girl.......not for centuries to come! I hope he gets strung up and castrated....if there were stiffer penalties for rapists, it might help deter even one tragedy......sigh! God Bless you Samantha and your family........ I hope you are up in heaven playing, drawing and writing stories with the rest of the kids in God's playground, including Conner.


PS..sorry to get emotional here...the picture of Samantha in her bed just reminded me so much of my little girl, it broke my heart...and made me thankful to be able to tuck her in at night. Sigh!
 
Samantha reminded me so much of my own little girl, who will soon be 6...my daughter looks very much like her, with straight hair. Her story just broke my heart. May Alejandro Avila rot in hell. Thank you for the update, Doyle!
 
I remember this case as well. I have a daughter a year younger and this is about 25 miles from where we live. It broke my heart. What makes it worse is that another jury let this A$$ go because they did not believe the two girls he allegedly molested. I hope he dies a slow, painful, horrific death. He and Richard Allen Davis have my votes for the biggest wastes of human life to walk this planet. :furious:
 
Finally! This case has made me lose so much sleep. I saw this on TV when Samantha's mother addressed the killer and absolutely sobbed through the entire thing. How heartwrenching! Here's the article:

Alejandro Avila was sentenced to death Friday for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, moments after her mother unleashed three years of pent-up fury.

"You don't deserve a place in my family's history," Erin Runnion said, berating Avila through her tears.
I want you to disappear into the abyss of a lifetime in prison where no one will remember you, no one will pray for you and no one will care when you die."

Orange County Superior Court Judge William R. Froeberg told the courtroom that with his crimes, Avila, 30, "has forfeited his right to live."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-runnion23jul23,0,1870678.story?coll=la-home-headlines
 
A friend of mine who is a nationally know crime advocate (Keona Wright) told me about Samantha Runnion and it's an extremely heart breaking story. She designed a web site for Samantha and a few graphics. She talks about Samantha a lot, seems to me that Samantha is very close to her heart. Her web site for Samantha is www.geocities.com/mantharunnion She also devoted a site "Slain Angels" in Samantha's name. See that site at www.geocities.com/slainangels
 
Samantha Bree Runnion was born in Massachusettes on July 26, 1996. Her parents, Erin Runnion and Derek Jackson knew she was something special since day one. Samantha's parent eventually split up and Samantha and her mother moved to south California.

Samantha was playing a board game with her 5-year-old friend, when a man drove up in a light green Honda. The two children were sitting on a short wall about 150 feet from Samantha's home. The man got out of his car next to the girls and asked them for help finding his dog. Samantha and the man spoke to each other for a minute before he grabbed her and drove off in his car. She was kicking and screaming "Tell my grandma" to her friend.

I know she thought somebody would save her," Erin Runnion said, choking back tears.


EDITED BY DY DUE TO COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT
 
samcollage2.jpg

My friend designed this collage for Samantha.
 
Bless that girl's sweet, sweet heart. It's such a bizarre thing, like Elizabeth Smart, to be grabbed right off her front porch by a devil. The only silver lining here is that her murderer was stopped from doing this again, because of the smart brave friend Samantha had who was able to give key evidence to apprehend him.

Bless that little angel's heart. Through her death, she probably saved many girls from becoming victims.
 
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