By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Investigators issued a chilling warning on Wednesday that the sexual predator who brazenly assaulted and murdered a 5-year-old southern California girl was on the loose and may strike again soon.
|
Samantha Runnion's nude body was found late on Tuesday dumped beside a rural road about 75 miles from her home in Stanton in Orange County.
Investigators said Samantha, who was snatched in a frightening daylight abduction outside her home on Monday, had been sexually assaulted and there was some trauma to her body.
But her killer, who lured her by claiming he had lost a puppy, was at large and investigators appealed for the public's help in tracking him down before he kills again.
"The way the body was found, the fact that it was not buried, not hidden, was almost like a calling card, a challenge, as if this person was saying 'I'm going to strike again'," FBI ( news - web sites) agent Richard Garcia told a news conference.
Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona said there was a "tremendous amount" of forensic evidence on the body and at the scene of the crime that investigators were following up.
He declined to say exactly how Samantha was killed but warned parents and children to be on the alert until the man is caught.
"We believe he is a serial rapist and a serial killer. We believe that, based on the profile of this person, he may react within the next 24 hours," Carona said.
ELIZABETH SMART AND DANIELLE VAN DAM
The kidnapper was described as a Latino man with a thin mustache between the ages of 25 and 40 with slicked-back hair, wearing a blue shirt and driving a light green Honda or Acura sedan.
The explicit warnings sent a chill through southern California, where parents were already traumatized by the daylight abduction of the angelic curly-haired Samantha.
Samantha's kidnapping followed the recent high-profile abduction of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City home, and 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, snatched from her bed in her San Diego home and later found murdered.
Smart has not yet been found.
Samantha's body was found by two men on the side of a quiet two-lane road running through the Cleveland National Forest -- a remote area used primarily by hikers and hang gliders.
The discovery came less than 24 hours after she was dragged kicking and screaming into a car outside her home, where she had been playing with a friend.
Samantha's kidnapping was witnessed by her 5-year-old friend, Sara. "A guy said: 'Did you see a little Chihuahua?' But he was lying. Then he stole my friend and drove really fast," Sara told reporters.
"She screamed, 'Help me! Tell my grandmother!"' Sara said. "I was so scared and ran back and told my mom."
Carona asked the public to look among friends and neighbors for any unusual or agitated behavior, or a person taking unusual interest in Samantha Runnion's case.
"We coming after you. The best thing you can do is to turn yourself in," Carona said, in a direct address to Samantha's killer.
"We want this individual quickly, so no one else is hurt," he added.
