Suspect Was Obsessed With Slain O.C. Teen, Father Says : Shooting: Girl’s parents had forbidden her to see Anaheim man who was found wounded. He’s in custody.

Melissa Allyson Austin was a compassionate, bright and gregarious girl who loved to play soccer, got good grades at Mission Viejo High School and had “tons of friends.”

Her father, Mike Austin, said he spent the morning Sunday helping her put together a research paper on dolphins a few hours before the 16-year-old sophomore left to go to the mall.

That was the last time he saw her alive.

On Tuesday, authorities arrested 20-year-old Richard Kenneth Nunno, Melissa’s former boyfriend, whom she had been forbidden to see. Police suspect that Nunno shot Austin to death sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning, then tried to kill himself elsewhere. Her body was found inside the family car parked behind a warehouse.

Nunno, of Anaheim, is expected to survive a gunshot wound in the chest, but investigators have not yet been able to interview him, Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Olson said.

An autopsy on Tuesday revealed that Melissa Austin died from gunshot wounds in the upper body, but Olson said authorities would not release any further details until they can talk to Nunno. He declined to discuss what led to Nunno’s arrest.

Nunno, who works as a clerk at a grocery store, is being held under guard at an undisclosed hospital. He is expected to be moved from the hospital to Orange County Jail as soon as his medical condition allows. The hospital refused to reveal his condition.

His bail has been set at $250,000.

“This kid seemed obsessed with my daughter,” Mike Austin, 42, said during an interview at the family’s home Tuesday afternoon. “We didn’t want her to see him. We didn’t think the relationship was a healthy one. He was quite a bit older than her, and once we found out he wanted to date her, we refused.”

Three months ago, the Austins prohibited their daughter from seeing Nunno, whom she met at Knott’s Berry Farm about six months ago. The parents said their daughter became upset with their request. They said that as far as they knew, until Sunday, she had complied.

The Austins said they began to receive repeated telephone calls shortly after they ordered Melissa to stop seeing Nunno. Although the calling party always hung up when they answered, they believe that the calls came from Nunno. Finally, the telephone company installed a device on their line to block the calls.

Melissa Austin’s family reported her missing on Sunday night when she didn’t return home from the mall by 5 p.m. On Monday morning, a janitor found her body inside the family car, which was parked behind a warehouse in the 23000 block of Via Fabricante in Mission Viejo.

About four hours earlier, police in Laguna Beach had discovered Nunno slumped in his car with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in the chest. Police would not describe the weapon that was found in his car.

Police said Nunno had called his mother early Monday and said he was going to kill himself. Investigators would not elaborate.

Nunno’s father, Kenneth, said during an interview in the family home Tuesday: “As far as discussing the situation, I don’t want to say anything that would incriminate Richard or Melissa.”

“There are a lot of circumstances going on that I’m not at liberty to talk about,” he said. “Until (Richard) speaks, those loose ends won’t be tied.”

Kenneth Nunno, 46, said “there must have been some connection” between the two shootings.

“We don’t know what happened exactly,” he said. “You have got to think to yourself, ‘How could anyone do this?’ ” he said, referring to Melissa Austin’s death and his son’s suicide attempt.

Kenneth Nunno said his son called home about 4:30 p.m. Sunday and talked to his mother, Candace Nunno. He would not elaborate on the conversation but said: “We heard something strange, and we couldn’t figure it out.”

Kenneth Nunno said his son and Melissa Austin had been together on Saturday, but he would not offer additional details of that meeting, and he said he knew little about the relationship between his son and Melissa Austin.

Friends of Melissa Austin at Mission Viejo High said Tuesday that they also knew little about the relationship.

Jason Brimer, 16, said he had heard that she had broken up with a boyfriend named “Rich” about a month ago.

“She was a real understanding person to talk to,” said Brimer, who had a science class with her. “She seemed to do well in school. It was a shock to find out” about her death, he said.

Her death was a topic of conversation among many students Tuesday at the sprawling campus of slightly more than 1,700 students.

School officials made psychologists available Tuesday to talk with students who were upset over the teen-ager’s death. Students said fellow classmates talked informally about the incident during classes and that some went home in tears.

“It makes you just want to cry,” said senior Rebecca Dawn Wilkes, 17. With about 1 1/2 weeks left in the school year, Austin’s death “is an awful thing to go out of school with,” she said. “It’s really awful.”

Melissa Austin was thinking about pursuing a career in television production, Principal Robert Metz said. Last year, she was on the track team, and this year she played on the “frosh-soph” girl’s soccer team, students said.

“This is a shock to all of us,” Metz said. “She was a bright student. This is a sad time.”

Melissa Austin’s father said his daughter “saved my life” by dragging him out of the Colorado River last summer and recalled how she pitched in when her older brother, Brandon, was found to have diabetes.

“She was the first one to help someone if it was needed,” said her mother, Judy Austin, 41. “She was very sensitive and aware of others’ needs.”

Four years ago, when a 3-year-old neighbor was found to be terminally ill, Austin said her daughter volunteered to baby-sit for the family and to watch their house while they were at the hospital.

“It brought out the best in her,” Judy Austin said. “She was never bratty, never spoiled, never took more than her share. She was the joy of our lives.”

Judy Austin said she hopes to bury her daughter next to the young neighbor, who died three years ago.

On Tuesday morning, Mike Austin had a neighbor take his daughter’s final term paper on dolphins to school.

“I asked the teacher to read it and grade it,” he said, choking back tears. “She was really proud of that paper.”