samantha runnion

“any person who harms children is vile, repulsive, sickening, and wretched. i can't imagine how someone can do that do a little girl, nor can i imagine the pain that family is going through. crimes like these really test my belief there shouldn't be capital punishment.

i'm concerned that chief carona is getting personally wrapped up in this crime, must be hard not to.

our problems are quite trivial.”

“When I learned last night, I thought that there are times when frontier justice seems to be called for, and this is one of them.”

“Yep, agreed jmitch. I saw this on the news last night. You can't believe the fear it strikes into my soul for my own daughter. And you should doubt your belief that there should not be capital punishment . . . the man that does something as vile as this, deserves no compassion.”

“jmitch, you hit it right on the head.....

Our problems are absolutely trivial compared to what that family feels.

I will never regret the day I gave up criminal defense.”

“This kind of thing scares the hell out of HPM and me. We will be having a little girl in Sept., and odds are very good she'll have curly brown hair. It hurts even thinking about it. All I can do is be cautious and vigilant.”

“Treebait, my two little grandchildren are attending a day camp today to learn about inappropriate touching. On one level I am happy they are getting the training. On the other, it saddens me that it has to be that way.

Unfortunately, we have to raise kids today with awareness of inappropriate behavior on the part of some ugly adults. That is the key thing, raising them to look for inappropriate behavior and what they should do if they encounter it.

Unfortunately, Samantha saw what was going down and screamed for help, but it was too late. We need to get these pedophiles off the streets and keep them off. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done.”

“Treebait, you are right. It is ( for me anyway) the hardest lesson I've learned about parenting. You have to let go sometimes, but what can happen to your precious baby at the hands of some sick individual is awful to consider. I dread the day when I will have to let her cross the street or ride her bike out of my sight. You should see what kind of a freak I am in the city. In the country I am not too worried, but in the city . . . I watch her every second and I watch all the people around us.”

“Wow, a topic on which we can all agree. Wouldn't it be nice if we could get to him ahead of the cops?

Treebait, people used to call me overprotective because I used to sit outside with my son and keep an eye on him. I called it smart. He was not allowed to go out without me unless I could see him from the window until he was 10 or 11. It's just one of the necessaries of being a parent these days.”

“i just feel sick thinking what that little girl had to experience. if this happened to my little niece, i don't know if i could overcome it.”

“there would be no living with me if this ever happened to one of my children!!!
god help anyone who would hurt one of them!
it would be me they would be fearing
not GOD!
i try not to think about it because it scares the hell out of me. living where i do makes it even harder. ill say a pray for all of your families and your little children and there family!”

“I don't know jmitch, a lawyer with a soul, you may have to disbar yourself.

Seriously, behind every brutal crime this is the issue: what the victim experienced at the hands of a barberous thug. It hurts to try to put yourself in that person's shoes in their final moments, but that's something we all need to do more of. Too often the victim's agony is lost in the trial. That is why victim's statements and statements of the survivors are necessary, to give that victim a voice.

Skully, there is a fine line between being over-protective and being responsible for your child's welfare. Unfortunately, in today's society too many parents don't stop to think about the reality that their child might encounter a situation in which they would be in over their head.

But even being protective is no guarantee. You can watch a kid like a hawk, turn your head to check on a cake in the oven, and that quickly it can happen.

The only solution is getting the scum off the streets once and for all.”

“Jmitch, I feel that same sick feeling. I think all parents make a decision at some point (conscious or unconscious) that if someone harms their child, that person will pay. For myself and Newergirl's dad, it was conscious. We openly discussed the fact that if someone ever hurt Newergirl we would not try to work past it or handle it carefully, the person would pay.”

“She looked so much like my little curly headed 5 year old. I feel so badly for her family and hope she is at peace now.”

“No way would I call you overprotective Skully, I call them irresponsable.

Here's a tidbit that bugs the hell out of me even more every time it think about it.

Treebait and I are in North Florida and I am a Scoutmaster of a Boy Scout troop (for those of you who don't know that yet.)

I and three other adults took 31 boys (most aged 11 to barely 13) to summer camp in North Georgia this July. Some 500 miles away from home.

Some of these kids parents I have never met, seen or even spoken to over the phone. Yet they are willing to let me, a total stranger that they have made no attempt to meet take their children 500 miles away from home for a week.

I am humbled that I have that solid a reputation to be entrusted so, but frankly I think that the fact that they don't know me from Adam's housecat borders, hell, is the same as gross negligence on the part of those parents.

My God, when (or if) our little girl gets involved in Scouting (or anything else for that matter) the adult leadership won't be able to get rid of me if they wanted to. One of us will be there every last second that our girl is.”

“Your point about parents learning something about the scout leaders is right on target. Too often perverts find their way into scouting leadership positions. I know the number is miniscule compared to the responsible scout leaders, but even one case is too many, and there have been many in recent years.

That issue comes down to parents abdicating their responsibility.”

“Y'all don't get me started!!

Child abductions really tick me off.”

“There's a reason why I became an assistant scoutmaster when my son joined scouts ¦ ) .”

“when my son joined the cubscouts i went to every meeting. I still do!!
i am now going to be co leader with my husband for the next season.”

“I know what you mean HPM. Our older daughter has had friends stay over night at our house and the parent just dropped them off out front, never having met us. They had no idea what was going on inside our house or what we were like.”

“Don't have the words to express my pain, outrage, anger, hatred...and fear.

I have fantasies of being a vigilante. Let the cops get there first and prove who did it...then let it be MY turn.

But...what price could that beast possibly pay, to leave any of us feeling that justice was done? There cannot be justice. The best we can do is make damm sure that the animal has no opportunity to hurt anyone ever again.

Cried again this morning. I hurt so bad for that girl's family and friends.”

“I can't get over how many people expect to just pull in my driveway and have their kid come to the door to invite my son to come to their house right now. I don't know these people from jack. Why would I let my son get into a car with a stranger just because he knows their son from school?”

“i think he got the little girl to help him by saying he needed help finding his dog. i taught my children to watch out for that trick and alot of others. but its hard to think like these sick people nowadays.”

“Good point HPM! I will know the leadership of and be very involved with every activity Newergirl chooses for herself. Right now she is in daycare w/ my mom (who runs a daycare), but should I ever move not only will I find out the full deal on the people working in the new center, but I will only choose a center w/ cameras. I've run across people who think I am weird for that . . . I say, that I want to know what is happening w/ my child.”

“I would like to point out that the BSA has EXTENSIVE youth protection pocedures in place to protect kids from predators.

A few rules:

The smallest number of people allowed at any scout function is three and scouts must always have a buddy with them.

Youth may NEVER share a tent or any other sleeping accomodations with a adult.

Youth may NEVER work one-on-one with adults. There must always be at least one other youth or adult present.

Adults may NEVER enter a latrine or shower facility while there are youth inside. Adults may only enter when the youth have left the facility.

ect. ect.

They are so serious about this that if they find out that any part of Youth Protection is violated you will be permanently removed from scouting.

This has become so ingrained in me that I follow those procedures everywhere.

Many of those predators that used scouting a vehicle for access to kids did so by building a rapport and then asulting the child OUTDSIDE of a scouting environment.

I just feel it's necessary to say that your kids ARE SAFE in scouting. For them to not be safe would require all of the adults to not follow the rules.”

“Oh yeah,

I ment permanently removed and PROSECUTED if possible.”

“thats why i get involved with everything they do!!
i guess you can call me there little shadow”

“Interesting, HPM, but it also made me think back to my days in scouting when adult leaders would take us aside to work on merit badges one on one without other kids taking up time, and those were some of the finest moments I ever had in scouting, because I felt that my progress must be important if this adult was taking time to work with me alone. Nothing inappropriate ever happened, of course.

So that's why the bottom line that has been reached, needing another kid or another adult to be present, while a necessary precaution, is a sad commentary. Perhaps having two adults work with one scout would serve the same purpose, I don't know. All I know was that I have great memories that some adult cared enough to help me, and that should be the essence of mentoring kids.

Yet we have to do what is necessary to protect our kids. I see great comments from parents here: get involved in the child's activities, warn them about inappropriate behavior, watch over them. Those are all elements of responsible parenting.

Can't say how many times I go shopping somewhere and somebody's kids come crashing into me while Mom and Dad are totally oblivious to their kids. Or they leave a kid in a shopping cart in one aisle while they check out another aisle. That is irresponsibility in action!

As is telling a kid to go out and play and never checking on them, or finding out whose house they're going to.

It's not being over-protective, it's being responsible for a child's welfare because they are too young to take care of themselves, and because they can too easily get into situations over their head.

Predators take advantage of kids' readiness to be helpful, and that is what happened to Samantha. Bless her heart, she was only trying to help find a lost dog and it cost her her life. There's a lesson there, painful though it may be.”

“Just to share a personal experience (and not that it is anywhere near to what that little girl went through): When I was 11 I was staying in Billings (bigger city to the south of me) w/ friends of the family. Myself and the oldest girl went for a bike ride around the parking lot of a building only a block away. After awhile she decided to leave, but I wanted to ride around the lot one more time (poor country girls never get to ride on a smooth surface, lol). All the sudden I noticed a car following me around the lot. I decided to high tail it out of there, I hit a curb though and fell off the bike. This guy (who was probably about as old as I am now, but seemed much older at the time) pulls up and asks me if I am okay. I calmed down a little and said yes. He then asked me if I wanted to see his genitals. It was at that point that I saw what he was doing inside the vehicle w/ himself. My father taught me so well, suddenly I was not afraid at all, I felt a gigantic adrelin (sp?) rush. I thought, "My dad told me that no one can ever, ever do something like this to me. It is not okay." I began to scream like crazy, I cursed at him like a sailor, ended by saying he was a "sick f@#$" and he just looked at me for a second. I think he was totally shocked that this little 11 yr. old girl just took a stand to him and did not exihibit any fear, and was not going to be his victim. He took off and I rode my bike like hell to the house. When I got there my dad was there to pick me up. He and the father of the other family drove off to find the bastard. We called the cops at the house and gave a full report. It turned out that guy had been going around doing that all over town. A few days later they caught him.”

“Yours is a success story. Good job!”

“your parents raised a very street smart girl!! good for them!!]
when my daughter was about 7 she was in summer camp (not sleep away) she came home and told me that tehy were playing simon says. and the male coun. said "who ever has a #&%!$ take a step forward"
i filp out when i heard that. i pulled her out of camp and i didnt get my money back but it didnt matter. thats not the place for that kind of crap!! it really upset me and it was a long time before she went back to camp.”

“Geo, youth protetion guidelines were put in place in the 80's.

If I were to do that kind of one-on-one instruction (and I do, I feel it's very important to keep that aspect of mentoring alive) it has to be done in the same room as the rest of the troop and in plain view.

Part of the problem is that little kids equate pretty with good and ugly with bad. They don't expect someone who doesn't LOOK bad to be bad. If a predator looks good then from a childs view they must be a good person.”

“I never let my kids (boy 6, girl 3) out of my sight in public but I do let them play in the back yard unsupervised. Something to think about.”

“If I ever got ahold of that guy who did it.. wild boars wouldn't be the only thing hanging from meat hooks.

I can't imagine the terror that family is going through, my heart and thoughts go out to them.”

“True HPM, and predators know the ways to gain a kid's trust. The sorry fact is, most cases of child sexual abuse are initiated by people who have some relationship to the child, family member or somebody in a position of trust. The precautions are a necessary fact of life, regardless of whether they make it more difficult to mentor kids. Ultimately, I suspect, good leaders will find ways to give the kids the help and attention they need regardless of what obstacles might seem to be in the way. Trust me, whenever you help a kid, the kid will remember it, and you. I can remember each and every adult who helped me in any way while I was growing up, and that was a long time ago. Keep doing good. It counts. Maybe that is the only thing any of us can do for kids, just what we can to help them. Maybe in the final analysis it will end up defeating the predators.”

“I remember them all too. That's part of why I volunteer.

Scouting gave me alot as a boy, I'm giving it back as an adult.”

“That is the good part about the community I live in. I'm not saying that bad stuff only happens to kids who live in the city, but there is an air of ease and trust in my little town. I know pretty much everyone and definitely all the people w/ kids. I grew up w/ those people or had some sort of connection w/ them (babysat their for them or got babysat by them, etc.). In the little area where I live in the country, I know every single one of my neighbors, talk to them daily, and know that they are watching out for my child, the way I watch out for their children. It is a relief and I dread the day when I might have to move for better work.”

“I think that's an important point, HPM. Kids do need to be taught that even nice looking people can do bad things.

arky -
If you want to let your kids play in the back yard unsupervised, do what I do. Insist that they only go out with their very protective 85 lb dog. Nobody is getting past that thing!”

“That's how my parents handled it. Worked like a charm.”

“I think the justice system is too lax...those sickos are getting bolder. They're breaking into homes to kidnap kids (the Smart girl) and grabbing kids off the street in broad daylight.”

“Some say there's no such thing as evil. "It's all relative."

What that man did was evil. Indefensible behavior. The gravity of his error should cost him his life.”

“Sadly, I have been renewing all my conversations with my girls over what to do in various situations relating to kidnapping and victimizing. I hate scaring them but they need to be prepared. I feel terrible for the Runnion family.”

“stanlee -

I don't know if the psychopaths are getting bolder or not. It may be that people are reporting things more freely now (I don't mean abduction but abuse) and the development of a national media brings these stories to our attention.

About 40 years ago, my brother was walking to school in our suburban neighborhood when a man stopped and asked him if he wanted a ride. When he declined, the man turned around and drove the other way. I can still remember being confused as to why the police were at our door. If my brother hadn't been warned not to accept rides from strangers, things would have turned out differently, I'm sure.

It's hard to find the balance between scaring the #&%!$ out of or kids and adequately protecting them. When we discus these events with our teenage daughter, she displays the classic teenage feeling of invincibility: "but nothing will happen to me".”

“When my mother was a child (over 50 years ago) our town had a program that they called Helping Hands. Volunteers who had been checked out and stayed home during the day had a blue hand decal or sticker in their front window. All the school children who walked to and from school were instructed to run to these houses and get help if strangers approached them, offered them a ride, etc.. She had to take advantage of that service twice.

I don't really believe this is a problem that's getting worse. I just think we hear about it more often. It's a trick of perception that makes it seem like a new problem.”

“It was a small rural town with less than 10,000 residents.”

“I plan on spending time with both of my children this weekend discussing the "darker" side of life. I guess all in all, my worst fear in life is that something like this might happen.”

“I almost got picked up by a carful of hippies when I was about 6. I was playing policeman in the middle of my street, and they stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride. My mom had told me plenty of times not to get into a car with strangers (or anybody, unless it was family, for that matter) and they seemed pretty weird to me. When they wouldn't take no for an answer and move on, I ran inside the house. I've already talked to my kids about stuff like that. My daughter understands, she's 7, but my son I worry about, because he's only 4. So when they're outside playing, we're almost always out there with them.”

“Chili, I think it is every parent't worst fear. I really and truly feel for anyone who has to experience this nightmare.”

“Parent't = parent's”

“That's probably the hardest thing to get through older kids minds. That it CAN and probably will happen to them. It almost happened to me twice as a kid. I have no illusions about it.

I tend to think that the reason we have a perception that this is happening more often is that people are more aware of it and it gets reported more often. In the past when someone would offer a kid a ride or some other sort of unwanted advance lots of times the kid would just say no and think nothing of it. Now kids are made aware at an early age that there are predators out there and that advances need to be reported to adults.”

“Man arrested in Samantha case
July 19, 2002 Posted: 3:36 PM EDT (1936 GMT)

Alejandro Avila, who was arrested Friday in connection with the Samantha Runnion case.

SANTA ANA, California (CNN) -- A 27-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and killing of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in California, the sheriff in charge of the case said Friday.

"At 9:55 this morning members of the investigative team arrested Alejandro Avila," said Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona, who described Avila as 6 feet tall and 200 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

He declined to say what possible charges, if any, Avila might face or to reveal any other details, but said he would offer more information later Friday at another news conference.

Avila apparently was the subject of several overnight searches at a Lake Elsinore apartment complex not far from where Samantha's body was found.



OK, here's my suggestion as to what we do with him....

No, wait, there's no way I can print that. Let's just say it involves a lot of pain, razor blades & blood dripping from a part of his anatomy until he no longer breathes.”