Arrest Made in Girl's Kidnap-Killing

July 19 -- A man previously accused of molesting two girls is going to be charged in connection with the abduction, sexual abuse and killing of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, police announced tonight.

"I am 100 percent that Mr. [Alejandro] Avila is the man who kidnapped andmurdered Samantha Runnion," Orange County Sheriff Michael Caronasaid during a news conference tonight. Earlier today, Carona announced Avila's arrest but avoided characterizing the possible case against him.

Carona would not say what the charges would be against Avila as those will be decided by the district attorney. "We have arrested him under the suspicion of the kidnapping and murder of Samantha Runnion," Carona said.

Samantha was dragged kicking and screaming from her frontyard into a man's green car in broad daylight Monday as her horrified playmate looked on, police said. Police say Samantha's abductor tried to lure her into his vehicle by trying to persuade her to help him look for his lost chihuahua.

Her body was found Tuesday along rural Highway 74 in neighboring Riverside County and identified Wednesday. An autopsy found that she had been sexually assaulted, suffered physical trauma, and she was asphyxiated sometime Tuesday.

Avila, 27, closely resembled the composite sketch handed out by police based of the 5-year-old witness Sarah Ahn's description. Carona described him as 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Investigators initially described Samantha's kidnapper as Hispanic, 25 to 40 years old, with slicked-back brown hair and a mustache, wearing a powder-blue button-down shirt when he grabbed Samantha.

Previous Molestation Charge

Avila's arrest came after a night during which police executed a number of search warrants at an apartment complex not far from where Runnion's body was discovered. He has reportedly denied any involvement in the crime, telling police, according to The Los Angeles Times before his arrest that he was at a mall when the girl was abducted Monday.