Source: DNA Links Man (Avila) to Calif. Girl (Samantha)

Yahoo News ^ | 07/20/02 | CHELSEA J. CARTER

[Libloather]

Source: DNA Links Man to Calif. Girl
Sat Jul 20, 6:43 PM ET
By CHELSEA J. CARTER, Associated Press Writer

STANTON, Calif. (AP) - DNA evidence found on the body of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion matches that of the man arrested in her killing, The Associated Press learned Saturday.

A source close to the investigation, who declined to be identified, confirmed a report in the Los Angeles Times Saturday that DNA discovered on the girl's body matched that of Alejandro Avila. The source would not elaborate on the type of genetic material used for the match.

Spokesman Jim Amormino, of the Orange County Sheriff's Department, would not confirm or deny the report, but said authorities were "100 percent sure we have the right man."

Avila, 27, was arrested Friday for investigation of kidnapping and killing the girl. He has denied the charges and says he was at a shopping mall Monday when the girl was abducted. The district attorney was expected to file formal charges by Tuesday.

Samantha was playing with a 5-year-old friend just yards from her home when a man, using the ruse of looking for a lost puppy, lured her close enough to grab her and carry her away kicking and screaming.

Her body was found Tuesday about 10 miles from Avila's home. The suspect was put under surveillance Wednesday after police got a tip.

Hushed mourners gathered Saturday at an impromptu memorial in the courtyard of the townhome complex where Samantha lived. Tables overflowed with flowers, balloons, cards and stuffed animals.

Some of the visitors to the memorial expressed fear. "If there's one, there will be another," said Kathleen Siliuta, 30, who brought her 6-year-old daughter, Alexis, to see the memorial.

Juan Rivera, 36, also brought his daughter, Arias, 7. "I wanted to bring her to see you've got to be careful," he said.

"I have to scream and run" if attacked, the girl said.

[Libloather]

Get a rope...

[Libloather]

Breaking News is now limited to what's going on at the Vegas get-together?

[Libloather]

Bump...

[Libloather]

Ah, bump...

[Grut]

Avila was arrested two days ago; isn't it kind of soon for a DNA analysis to come back?

[AngrySpud]

"Get a rope"

Tie knots in it, stuff it up his arse and pull it out through his throat (sorry)

[Plato]

Perhaps they took DNA from him the first time he was arrested, when he was accused of molesting the two girls of his girlfriend.Just a thought.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I'm no scientist, but I'd imagine that DNA testing is more slowed down by procedural matters than technical. People have been 'running with it'. This could be the speediest US execution this millenia.

[null and void]

Fry. Him.

[null and void]

Avila was arrested two days ago; isn't it kind of soon for a DNA analysis to come back?

Yup, unless he was required to give a sample at his last trial, then his DNA profile was in the can, ready to be compaired to the evidence recovered from that poor girl.

[Truth'sBabyGirl]

bump

[uncitizen]

wonder if maybe they had the goods on Avila way back on Wednesday but didn't release the info until Friday because Friday is the day to release news that you don't want talked about much. And not only did they release it on Fri but Friday at 6pm ET.

There is one question that i find very obvious that they obviously don't want asked. That is whether or not Avila is an illegal alien or an otherwise non-US citizen status.

[IamZman]

I think whoever killed that girl should be killed. But it was my understanding ive heard many times that it takes longer then a couple of days to do whatever it is that they do to process the dna evidence.

[D-fendr]

Born in L.A.

[Libloather]

I think whoever killed that girl should be killed.

And that's ANOTHER thing. Does Cally have the death penalty?

[Libloather]

Hello?

[SoCar]

Yes California has the death penalty. Not being from there I'm not sure how much it's used. I'm originally from NJ where the death penalty is on the books but no one has been executed in many years. I hope CA isn't as bad.

On another note, after Chandra, JonBenet, and Elizabeth Smart it is nice to see a competent police department do its job.

[Palladin]

New methods have sped up the process of identifying DNA. There is a wealth of other evidence, including fibers. There were fibers of his clothing beneath little Samantha's fingernails. Also, judging from the scratches on his legs, there would be skin and even blood samples under her nails. Not to mention that he left other residue on her body. Also, the creep's mother said police took a serape from her easy chair. She said it was full of cat hair. No doubt the creep had cat hair on his clothes which were transferred to Samantha. They took 2 pairs of his shoes--he must've left footprints all over the place where he dumped her. Also tire tracks. So we're talking 6 or 7 different kinds of physical evidence.

Barring the indiscriminate vagaries of California juries, this guy will be dispatched to hell pretty quickly after his trial.

[cherry]

I heard yesterday on the news that the local media had choppers above the dump site and had pics ..but refused to run with them because they were so horrendous..

does anybody have any idea about this...did this monster mutilate this little baby as well?.....was it more than just a quick asphyxiation?....