Kidnapping and Murder
Samantha was kidnapped, sexually abused and strangled by a man who lured her from her front yard by telling her he had lost his dog. Her naked body was found the next day by a hiker in Cleveland National Forest, 50 miles southeast of Stanton. The autopsy revealed that she died from compression. A sample of the kidnapper's DNA was found under her fingernail.
The suspect, a Lake Elsinore, California, man named Alejandro Avila, was convicted of first degree murder with special circumstances in May 2005. His DNA was found on Samantha's body, and her DNA was found in his car. He was arrested three days after the abduction. Avila had previously been to the condominium complex where Samantha lived, because his ex-girlfriend resided there and he had been previously acquitted of molesting her daughter and niece. On May 16, 2005, the jury recommended he receive the death penalty. On July 22, 2005, Avila was formally sentenced to death. He is incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison on death row.
Read more about this topic: Murder Of Samantha Runnion
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“Give me your blessing; truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man’s son may, but in the end truth will out.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)