Man Charged With Girl’s Kidnap, Assault, Murder

Bowing his head as the accusations were read, a 27-year-old Lake Elsinore man was charged Monday with kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering 5-year-old Samantha Runnion.

Alejandro Avila did not enter a plea and was held without bail until his arraignment next month. Prosecutors and his lawyers agreed that Avila shouldn’t attend the court hearing, so he participated via video from Orange County Jail.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said Monday that he will decide within two weeks whether to seek the death penalty against Avila, promising he was “not going to make any deals.”

Rackauckas said that anyone who kidnaps and murders a young child should “either die in prison of natural causes or be executed.”

Court papers filed Monday said Samantha was sexually assaulted at least twice before being strangled. Beyond that, authorities revealed no new details about the case.

“I can just tell you that the evidence that was amassed ... is very, very compelling. And we are satisfied that we have the right person,” Rackauckas said at a news conference after the five-minute hearing.

Special circumstances filed along with the charges will allow the district attorney’s office to seek the death penalty. Rackauckas said he will meet with his staff and Samantha’s family about whether to seek death and described the case as his office’s priority.

“It is almost impossible to overstate the amount of damage this type of crime does to our community and the entire nation,” he said. “Many parents and children feel more fearful and less secure because of this crime.”

Neither Samantha’s nor Avila’s family attended the hearing before Superior Court Judge Gary S. Paer in Santa Ana. Lorene L. Mies, a public defender who is temporarily serving as Avila’s attorney, would not comment on whether Avila has received death threats at the jail, where a court order bars visitors. He is also segregated from other inmates.

Despite the heavy publicity the case has received, Rackauckas said Monday that he believes Avila can receive a fair trial in Orange County.

Samantha, who would have celebrated her sixth birthday Friday, was abducted July 15, kicking and screaming. She was playing near a row of garages near her Stanton home with a 6-year-old friend when a stranger asked for help finding his lost puppy.

Her nude body was found the next day in Cleveland National Forest by a hang glider. The pursuit of Avila began after several tipsters called a law enforcement hotline and pointed investigators in his direction.

Investigators learned that one of his former girlfriend’s children, whom he was accused of molesting a year ago, lived until recently in Samantha’s condominium complex. Avila matched a physical description provided by Samantha’s playmate, and his car roughly matched her description.

In an interview with The Times hours before his arrest Friday, Avila professed his innocence, saying he was at a mall at the time of the abduction. But law enforcement authorities said that preliminary DNA evidence connects him to the crime.

Avila also told The Times that detectives examined a scratch on his leg he said he got by tripping over a child safety gate. Detectives have said they believe Samantha scratched her attacker.

Avila’s mother, Adelina, defended her son Monday on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America,” saying she doesn’t think he killed Samantha. She said that if her son is found guilty, she could forgive him.

“But it would be hard,” she said.

Orange County sheriff’s officials said they are continuing to investigate the case and want to talk to anyone who saw Avila over the past week.

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Times staff writers Tony Perry, Jack Leonard and Stuart Pfeifer contributed to this report.