Cops: Killer Left His 'Calling Card,' Autopsy Shows Girl Was Assaulted, Asphyxiated

July 18, 2002

STANTON, Calif.  — "Don't sleep, don't eat, because we're coming after you," said the sheriff of Orange County, Calif., to the unknown killer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion at a press conference Wednesday. 


Authorities fear the little girl's murderer is a serial rapist, possibly a serial killer, and is likely to strike again. A massive manhunt continued. 

An autopsy showed Samantha was sexually assaulted and suffocated sometime Tuesday, leading authorities to believe she was alive for several hours after her abduction, Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona said. 

"Because the body was found very quickly, we have a high expectation that there will be significant forensic evidence found at the scene and significant forensic evidence found on the body of Samantha Runnion," the sheriff said. 

Carona also said Samantha may have fought against her killer and inflicted "injuries to his hands, arms and possibly face." 

Based on the account of 5-year-old Sarah Ahn, the only witness to Samantha's abduction, the suspect is a Hispanic man with slicked-back black hair and a thin, black mustache. 

FBI agent Richard Garcia said Sarah was able to identify speech patterns, leading investigators to believe the man is American rather than a foreigner. 

Authorities said there was no prime suspect, and Carona warned parents in the area to tell their children to stay away from strangers. 


AP
A police sketch shows the man suspected of kidnapping Samantha Runnion.

Samantha and Sarah were playing outside Samantha's apartment building in the town of Stanton Monday night when the suspect pulled up in a light green Honda or Acura car and asked for help finding his puppy. 

Samantha approached the car and the man grabbed her, Sarah said. Kicking and screaming, Samantha cried out "Call my mommy!" as she was forced into the vehicle. 

Two men hang-gliding on the edge of the Cleveland National Forest about 50 miles to the east in Riverside County found a nude child's body in a field near California Highway 74 Tuesday afternoon. Samantha's grandmother confirmed it was her from viewing photos. 

"The way the body was found, the fact it was not buried, not hidden and such, and how it was left is almost like a calling card, like a challenge: 'I'm here and I'm coming back again,' Garcia said. "This is the reason why we're saying this person is going to strike again." 

News of the abduction spread fear in Stanton, a city of 38,000 southeast of Los Angeles. 

Tammie Fike, 31, clutched the hand of her 6-year-old son, Anthony, as she headed to a memorial to say a prayer for Samantha. "I'm scared to let him go out," said Fike, who instructed her son to yell "fire" and to run if a stranger approached him. 

"I'm only allowed to talk to friends of my mom," Anthony said. 

Melissa Apodaca brought her three children to the memorial. She said she had made them watch newscasts about the abduction. 

"They need to know this," she said. 

Samantha's 27-year-old mother, Erin Runnion, who made an anguished plea for the return of her daughter a day earlier, remained in seclusion Wednesday. 

The abduction was at least the third high-profile disappearance of a child in the United States this year. Seven-year-old Danielle van Dam of San Diego was found dead, and a neighbor is on trial. Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart of Salt Lake City has been missing since June 5. 

Samantha's mother, a British Petroleum analyst in Long Beach, and stepfather, Ken Donnelly, who works at an investment firm, were at work at the time of the kidnapping. Her grandmother, Virginia Runnion, was at home. 

Samantha's father, Derek Jackson of Sunderland, Mass., was contacted by authorities and ruled out as a suspect, Erin Runnion said Tuesday. 

The girl would have turned 6 on July 26. She was an advanced student who had just finished first grade at a private school. 

Samantha's family said they moved from nearby Garden Grove to Stanton a year ago because they wanted a safer place for their three children where they could play outside without fear. 

Brenda van Dam, whose daughter Danielle was abducted and killed in February, said she spoke with Samantha's mother to offer consolation. 

"They were both sweet, wonderful girls who loved life and their family," van Dam said in a statement. 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58031,00.html