Alejandro Avila

Passions

American homicide, a 27-year old factory worker from Lake Elsinore, in Southern CA. In picking up the nearly-six-year old, he had appealed to her by saying that he needed help in finding his lost dog. He then snatched her, kicking and screaming, and carried her away, 7/15/2002. The child's naked and bruised body was left posed in a provocative way not far from the highway, strangled and assaulted. Everyone connected with the case was affected by the loss of the sweet, pretty little girl with sparkling eyes and a face raised like a flower. Parents everywhere held their children a little closer. Within three days of the crime, police arrested Alejandro Avila. He was living part-time with his mother in an apartment in Lake Ellsinore, just ten miles from where Samantha's body was found. In January 2000, Avila was charged with molesting two nine-year-old girls. He admitted to kissing and "tickling" them in a nonsexual way and he was acquitted by a jury. Avila had no criminal record, though his dad served eight years for the murder of a neighbor. The state of California has some 95,000 sex offenders on file. Cross-referencing Avila's case, he was under surveillance by the evening of July 17th and was arrested the following morning.