Suspect's life full of discord; Avila's sister says he's not capable of girl's murder, but still she has questions.(The Orange County Register)

SANTA ANA, Calif. _ It was a strange afternoon for Alex Avila to go "nowhere."

Monday, July 15, he had a load of chores to accomplish. His sister, Elvira, asked him to fill a couple of 5-gallon water bottles - he was the only one who could carry them back up the stairs. He told his mother he would make her a barbecue chicken dinner.

Also, to get their apartment ready for an inspection on Tuesday, he had to unscrew his speakers from the wall and move the large entertainment unit that held his stereo, television and family pictures - the one of his parents arm-in-arm, his brothers and sisters, and the panoramic shot of him and Elvira on a rocky ledge off Ortega Highway overlooking Lake Elsinore.

Elvira, 22, stopped him on his way out the door.

"Where are you going?" she said.

"Nowhere," he said.

She handed him money for the water, and sometime around 4 p.m., police say, Alex Avila walked out of the apartment and became every parent's nightmare. They say Avila sexually assaulted, killed and gruesomely discarded Samantha Runnion, a 5-year-old Stanton girl with wavy hair and a smile that pierced the collective heart of a national television audience.