Posted on 07/19/2002 4:14:43 AM PDT by Sunshine55
STANTON, Calif., July 18 (UPI) -- Orange County sheriff's detectives, reportedly acting on a tip, served three search warrants in Southern California Thursday night as part of the investigation into the brazen kidnapping and murder of a local five year old.
Deputies quietly moved in on a business in Temecula and two apartments in a complex in Lake Elsinore, not far from the mountain ravine where the body of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion was discovered Tuesday, Los Angeles television station KCAL said in an exclusive report.
There were no arrests reported, but KCAL said that a white sedan was towed from the Lake Elsinore complex and a large contingent of deputies and other investigators appeared ready to continue their search into the wee hours of Friday.
It was not known who lived in the apartments or what connection they might have to the kidnapper who grabbed little Samantha late Monday just 100 yards from her home in Stanton, about 50 miles to the west. Her nude body was found along Ortega Highway, the winding mountain road where the apartment complex is located.
The Orange County sheriff's office had no comment Thursday night, but a news briefing had previously been scheduled for Friday morning to update reporters on the investigation.
A task force of deputies and FBI agents has been going through a steady stream of leads provided by members of the public, many of them shaken by the audacity of the crime and warnings from the investigators that profilers believed the suspect had the psychological makeup of a serial killer who would probably strike again.
KCAL said that one of those tips apparently was solid enough for the task force to obtain the search warrants from a judge late Thursday afternoon and move into Lake Elsinore, located in neighboring Riverside County, during the night.
The public was meanwhile asked to keep a close eye on their children and be on the lookout for a light green Honda or Acura driven by a mustachioed man who is believed to be Hispanic, based on the description from Samantha's 6-year-old playmate, who also identified the man's speech as having an Hispanic accent.
"She was able to describe a Korean accent, an English accent and a Hispanic accent," Carona noted.
Young Sarah Ahn was the only eyewitness to the abduction, but the task force has received numerous tips from the public.
The sheriff's office said a number of individuals had been detained and arrested on unrelated charges, and more such arrests were likely in the future as detectives knocked on the doors of sex offenders, parolees and other shady characters.
With well over 1,000 tips as of Thursday, the task force was sorting and cataloguing them with an FBI software program called Rapid Start, which compiles detailed lists of physical evidence and information received from the public and other law enforcement agencies. The system has been used in a number of large-scale cases, including the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
"It helps insure that the investigators aren't covering the same leads two, three or four times," said FBI Special Agent Richard Garcia. "It's a tremendous tool, and what really makes it successful is the telephone tip line."
The use of technology in kidnapping cases was also brought up on the gubernatorial campaign trail Thursday. Speaking in Palo Alto, Republican Bill Simon called on Gov. Gray Davis to issue an executive order instituting the "amber alert" system in California.
Amber alert issues a statewide emergency broadcast alert to the public as soon as a kidnapping by a stranger is reported. The goal is to make members of the public aware of what is going on before the suspect can leave the area.
"We should not have to wait for the legislative process to give us an amber alert system in California," said Simon. "An effective statewide plan can and should be put in place immediately by executive order, and I would respectfully ask the governor to do so today."
There was no immediate response from the governor, who earlier in the day authorized a $50,000 contribution to the reward fund for the apprehension of Samantha's killer.
Not too hard, we don't want any dead cops - resist just enough to give them an excuse
Time to send a real clear message to these bastards that we will NOT tolerate this sort of stuff. Trial within a week, sentence, execution immediately after the trial (fair trial of course...if the perp makes it that far!)
I was just about to type the same thing - MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!
Davis only understands the acquiring of, or throwing MONEY at, type solution.
I'm sure she feels so badly that her friend was taken - what could she have done better so that didn't happen...you know the thought process...
At, at least if she feels like her help was so valuable, it might make things easier on her feelings of being helpless in that situation. Am I making sense???
P.S. Sunshine...does your screen name mean that you love the sun like I do, AND that you were perhaps born in the great year of 1955 like me??? --Just curious
I remember. It was filmed. Showed the guy in the background in a corner pretending to talk on a pay phone. AS soon as the perp came out the father walked determinedly to the perp and executed him. The father of the girl was prosecuted for manslaughter and apparently spent about 12 months in jail, unfortunately. I say it was a small price to pay and well worth putting a bad guy away. Hats Off!
And it would take him a long time to die.
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