Samantha Bree Runnion  was born in Massachusettes on July 26, 1996. Her parents, Erin Runnion and Derek Jackson knew she was something special since day one. Samantha's parent eventually split up and Samantha and her mother moved to south California.

Samantha was playing a board game with her 5-year-old friend, when a man drove up in a light green Honda.  The two children were sitting on a short wall about 150 feet from Samantha's home. The man got out of his car next to the girls and asked them for help finding his dog. Samantha and the man spoke to each other for a minute before he grabbed her and drove off in his car. She was kicking and screaming "Tell my grandma" to her friend.

Samantha's friend Sarah Ann

"I know she thought somebody would save her," Erin Runnion said, choking back tears.

No one was there to be Samantha's hero when a CRAZED maniac kidnapped her on July 15, 2002, then sexually molested and brutally murdered her, leaving her nude and posed body on the side of a road not far from Ortega Highway. After learning of her daughter's abduction, Erin Runnion said she did what she could to stay calm, but she was terrified, she said. She hoped Samantha's biological father, who was living on the East Coast, might have picked her up, because her daughter would have at least been safe. He hadn't and she became much more worried. "I just had to find her," she told jurors.

She and her husband drove around the area near their home, looking everywhere - even in trash bins - for Samantha. "The world seemed so huge trying to find this little girl," Erin Runnion said. At the Orange County Sheriff's Station the next day, she got word that her daughter's body had been found.

"I remember screaming out, 'Why do they have to kill them?'" Erin Runnion said, referring to the murder of other children who have been abducted. "All there was was pain. I just fell on the floor." About two days later, Alejandro Avila, a factory worker was arrested and charged with kidnap, sexual assault and murder.

Erin Runnion began to weep as she told jurors how her daughter, whom the mother calls "Mantha," always had a thing for courage. But she "died so humiliated," Runnion said. "It was so cruel." "She was my joy," Erin Runnion said. "She brought happiness to everything I did."

On the witness stand, her face lit up when Assistant District Attorney David Brent showed her a series of photographs of Samantha. Erin Runnion described what each one was for the jury, recalling things the photos depict, such Samantha's first birthday, her first Halloween when she wore a hand-sown fairy princess dress "as big as she was," and the final one with the little girl's cat. "That's with Maxie, her cat," Erin Runnion said with a smile as she looked longingly at the photo. "This was probably a month before Mantha died," she said. "The only time Mantha was still was when she was holding her cat." Maxie hid and howled from under Samantha's bed for about two weeks after she died, Erin Runnion said, "until she finally ran away." Virginia Runnion, Samantha's grandmother, described the little girl as "a terrific joy. She was very bright." She said she would often find notes Samantha had written in books on pages she hadn't yet read. She would write things such as:

"Hi. I love you. Samantha," Virginia Runnion told jurors. The day she found out about Samantha's murder, Virginia Runnion said, "It was like having the life sucked out of me. It was like I went dead. That was it. I just went dead." Having Samantha's enthusiasm for life so quickly snuffed out affected many people, including the little girl's siblings and other children in the neighborhood, Virginia Runnion said. "It took all the happiness," she said.

Sniffles could be heard throughout the Santa Ana courtroom and one woman on the jury used a tissue to wipe away tears as Samantha's mother and grandmother testified. Avila's family defended him explaining that Avila's earlier years and what she called "destructive acts" is how he got to this place. When he was 17, he witnessed his father shoot and kill a man. His father spent 16 years in prison and was deported back to Mexico. Avila's brother Juan, was murdered in 2001 in Rosarita, Mexico. Avila was also molested by his uncle, his relatives said.

Avila

"None of this that you will hear is an excuse," Gragg told jurors. "Not one minute of it makes (Samantha's murder) OK. There is no justification for what happened in this case." "Mr. Avila was destroyed in many ways long before he had a chance to make a single decision for himself," Gragg said. I agree with Gragg. In MY opinion, Avila's family should have been fined for going to that court room with those unfounded allegations. Wrong is wrong. Just because a person was abused as a child doesn't mean it's OK for them to kill a child the way he did Samantha. This is a case of a brutal slaughter of a small child. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES WHAT-SO-EVER. Alejandro Avila was convicted of her murder in May 2005 and was sentenced to die in July.

Collage for Samatha by me

Samantha Runnion was a beautiful, bright and joyful little girl. She loved to read for fun, write stories, paint, draw, play her guitar, sing and dance. Most of all she loved to play games with her family and friends. She approached each day as a new adventure, eager to learn and play. Samantha looked forward to growing up and being a mommy and a teacher. She was a precious gift to all who knew her.

I love Samanta and I didn't  know her until after her death. So I know she was just a teddy  bear to those who knew her. Her favorite color was purple- that's why this site  is purple.

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Email me  at  mantharunnion@yahoo.com

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