Samantha Bree Runnion (July 26, 1996 - July 15, 2002) was an American murder victim.
Samantha was kidnapped, sexually abused and killed by a man who lured her from her front yard by telling her he had lost his dog. Samantha, born in Massachusetts and a resident of Stanton, California, at the time of her death, was about to turn six when she died. Her battered, naked body was found the following day by two men who were hang gliding off the mountai...
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Samantha Bree Runnion (July 26, 1996 - July 15, 2002) was an American murder victim.
Samantha was kidnapped, sexually abused and killed by a man who lured her from her front yard by telling her he had lost his dog. Samantha, born in Massachusetts and a resident of Stanton, California, at the time of her death, was about to turn six when she died. Her battered, naked body was found the following day by two men who were hang gliding off the mountainside near Ortega Highway in Riverside County, California. The autopsy revealed that she died from a crushed abdomen. A sample of DNA was also found under her fingernail.
The suspect, a Lake Elsinore, California, man named Alejandro Avila, was convicted for the crime in 2005. His DNA matched the one found on Samantha's body, and a sample of her own DNA was found in his car. He was arrested three days after the abduction. Avila had previously been to the apartment complex where the Runnions lived, as his ex-girlfriend and her daughter had also...
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