Rusty Dornin: Suspect arrested quickly

CNN's Rusty Dornin

STANTON, California (CNN) -- The Orange County sheriff on Saturday repeated that he was "100 percent certain" the suspect arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing 5-year-old Samantha Runnion is the man who carried out the crime.

Alejandro Avila -- a 27-year-old production line supervisor from nearby Lake Elsinore who was once acquitted of molesting two 9-year-old girls -- was taken into custody Friday morning after authorities began focusing on him following "several tips" from the public, Sheriff Mike Carona said.

CNN Correspondent Rusty Dornin, on the scene, filed this report:

DORNIN: Police will only say -- at this point -- that it was several tips that came in to their hotlines that led them to Alejandro Avila, along with some substantial forensic evidence.

Now, it was a very quick period of time that they were looking at the suspect before they arrested him. It was overnight that they impounded Avila's cars and searched his apartment, and 12 hours later, they did arrest him.

He is a 27-year-old production line supervisor at a medical manufacturing plant. But apparently he had been accused in the last couple of years of molesting two young girls, but he was acquitted of those charges.

Now, his mother says he was definitely not guilty in that case, and she says she believes he is not guilty of murdering Samantha Runnion.

The mother -- Adelina Avila -- said her son was never violent, and that he is good with kids.

She said that ever since his alleged molestation incident, when he's around little kids, Avila tries to be with somebody else to have as a witness in case he was accused of another crime.

Now -- as for the sheriff -- he will not say why he's so absolutely certain that it was Avila in this case. However, he did say that the suspect made a number of mistakes, both when the kidnapping took place and also at the crime scene.

Now, of course, the girl was sexually assaulted, and they also did say that they expected the suspect to have scratches on his body somewhere, meaning that they may have found some kind of skin or something underneath Samantha Runnion's fingernails.

So he is expected to be arraigned early next week here in Orange County.

Meantime, the community here in Stanton is still reeling from all this. This has just happened over a five-day period. Residents have had their feelings of safety in their community completely shattered. And of course an overwhelming feeling of sadness as well.