The Playtime Killer

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So when it came time for a televised news conference, Orange County sheriff Michael Carona did something unusual--he addressed his quarry directly: "Don't sleep, don't eat, because we are coming after you," he said. But it was local residents who were having trouble sleeping. Suddenly those garage doors closed, the backyards emptied and a place that had been a community became a collection of condos behind a gate.

But even as neighbors recoiled, they joined a public eager to hunt down a monster: investigators received more than 2,000 tips, which helped lead them to Avila. By the time Carona detailed the arrest, he said Samantha had become everyone's little girl. "If this were the Old West," he said, "you'd all be in the sheriff's posse." He was addressing his helpers across Southern California. But he could have been talking about all those parents who were nudging their kids inside from their yards and holding them just a little bit closer.

--With reporting by Leslie Berestein/Stanton and Lake Elsinore