Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“Five-year-old Samantha Runnion, a resident of Stanton, California, ‘had the face of an upturned blossom.’ On July 15, 2002, Alejandro Avila, claiming he was looking for a lost dog, forced the child into his car. The six foot, 200 pound Avila, 27 years old and with a history of molestation, took Samantha to a remote canyon. There he repeatedly raped her then murdered the child by strangulation and blunt force trauma. More than 4,000 people attended Samantha’s funeral. … By all indications then-Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom never spoke out on the case. Newsom was elected governor in 2018 and one of his first actions was to issue reprieves for 737 inmates on California’s death row, including Avila and ‘Grim Sleeper’ Lonnie Franklin, convicted of 10 murders.” (11/13/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/11/13/gavin-never-samantha/