Littlest Angels is a blog made to remember children who have passed away. To see a list of the children click 'Our Children' and click on the name of the child you want to read about.
Tyler and Ariana were born to Jamie Hallam and Christopher Payne. Jamie and Christopher divorced in 2003. Jamie had full custody of Tyler and Ariana, and in 2003, a judge ordered that Christopher wasn't allowed to see his children.
After not seeing them for years, Christopher contacted Jamie and asked if he could see his children. Over these years, Christopher had gotten a new job, and a new girlfriend. He had even had a son with this new girlfriend. It seemed as if he were getting things back together. In January of 2006, after several supervised visits, Jamie allowed Tyler and Ariana to visit their father.
A few days after this, Christopher wanted Tyler and Ariana to have even longer visits with him. Since things seemed to be going alright, Jamie allowed this as well. Little did Jamie know that she would never see Tyler or Ariana ever again.
In March of 2006, Jamie hadn't seen her children in weeks. She took her court ordered custody agreement and contacted the police. They contacted the Child Protective Services, but they ordered the police to keep the children with their father.
In April of 2006, CPS closed the case and Tyler and Ariana were kept with their father. They didn't check Christopher's background. If they had, they would have found several assault charges. They also didn't check the background of Reina Gonzales who was living with Christopher Payne. They also failed to check on Tyler and Ariana after this.
In February of 2007, managers of an abandoned storage shed called police to report a foul-smelling tub. In the tub, police found the body of Ariana Payne. She was three years old. Ariana's body was stuffed into a plastic trash bag, a designed bag, and then sealed in a plastic tub. Shortly after this, Tyler was reported missing.
In the beginning, Reina Gonzales said that she didn't know that Ariana had died. She claimed to have believed that the children had been sent back to live with their mother. Then, in a video taped testimony, she spoke of what happened in the last months of the young children's lives.
"He told me not to worry, they were his children. After that, I started getting high on heroin more so I could block out what was happenin to the children." - Reina
Reina said that Christopher hit Tyler with a belt and 'opened his head up'. She said she knew that the wound was becoming infected. Reina claimed that she and Christopher moved out of the house, but they left Tyler and Ariana in a closet.
Reina admitted that she knew that Tyler and Ariana were locked in the closet with no way to get food or water. She also knew that Ariana had died first, and Tyler was forced to stay in the closet with his sister's dead body until he died as well. Reina said they went back to clean the closet and she put both of the children's bodies in a tub. She tells police that Christopher then put them in the trunk and took them to storage.
Although Tyler's body was never found, he is presumed dead. Police believe Tyler's body was dumped in a nearby landfill. An autopsy revealed that Ariana had suffered 12 broken ribs and a broken right shoulder. This happened before she died. The fractures were in different stages of healing. Her right ulna and left fibula were also injured. It was revealed that she had a broken back near, or at the time of her death.
Samantha Bree Runnion was born on July 26, 1996. People described Samantha as beautiful, bright, and joyful. Samantha loved to read, write stories, play her guitar, paint, draw, sing, and dance. Samantha especially loved playing games with her family and friends. Samantha was looking forward to growing up. At five years old, she had already planned to become a mommy and a teacher.
On July 15, 2002, five year old Samantha was outside her home playing with her friend, Sarah. Sarah was the same age as Samantha. A man approached the girls in a car and asked them "Have you seen my chihuahua?" Samantha was a very nice and kind little girl, and she loved animals. She spoke with the man briefly, telling him that she didn't see his dog. Before anything else could happen, the man had pulled Samantha into his car and started driving off.
Samantha fought to get free, and managed to scream out to her friend Sarah, "Help me! Tell my grandmother!" Sarah ran and told her mother about what had just happened to Samantha. The search began quickly. Sarah as only five years old, but she was able to give a very good description of the man who she saw kidnap her friend. She was also able to give details about his car.
On July 16, 2002, the day after Samantha was kidnapped, a distraught man called 911 reporting that he had found a body. He said the body was that of a little girl, and that she was nude. He found the body along rural Highway 74. Authorities soon confirmed that the body belonged to Samantha. An autopsy reported that Samantha had been sexually assaulted, suffered physical trauma, and was strangled. The murderer spent several hours with Samantha before he killed her.
Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona delivered a strong message to the
killer: "Don't sleep. Don't eat. Because we're coming after you. We will
take every resource that's available to us to bring you to justice."
Caller’s tips lead the FBI to Alejandro Avila, 27, a production line
supervisor from nearby Lake Elsinore. Avila reportedly denied any
involvement in the murder, telling the police that he was 30 miles away
on the day of the abduction. Phone and credit card records did not
support his alibi.
Avila had previously been to the apartment complex where Samantha lived
during 1998 and 1999. His ex-girlfriend’s daughter lived in the same
complex as the Runnion family. His relationship with the woman ended in
1999 and in 2000. In 2001, Avila was charged with molestation of her
nine-year-old daughter and another young girl, but was acquitted on all
charges.Avila was arrested and charged with the murder, kidnapping, and two
counts of forcible lewd acts on Samantha Runnion.
Nevaeh was born on February 3, 2004. She loved her stuffed animals, and she even named them all. One of her stuffed animals was a black lab named Tank. One of her favorite stuffed animals was a beagle dog that she named Harley. She named him Harley because she loved motorcycles.
People who knew Nevaeh said that she was shy. She was also described as 'adorable', and it was said that she liked to wear her hair in a ponytail. She had a smile that could 'melt a glacier'. On June 4, 2009, Nevaeh was playing outside when she vanished. The search began soon afterward, and people reported sightings of the little girl, although none were confirmed.
On June 4, 2009, a fisherman stumbled upon a hole with wet cement in it. When he investigated further, he found a human body inside the cement. He called the authorities immediately. Although they weren't 100% sure at that time that the body belonged to Nevaeh, the hair, weight, gender, and height matched Nevaeh's description. Later, positive identification was confirmed through DNA.
On July 14, 2009, Nevaeh's cause of death was released. It was shown that Nevaeh had died because she choked on a large amount of dirt. She may have been buried alive. Nevaeh's killer has still not been found.
Sandra Renee Cantu was born on March 8, 2001. Her neighbors and teachers described her as outgoing and friendly. Sandra's aunt said that Sandra was full of life and very loving. Sandra loved gardening, cooking, and coloring. She also loved Hannah Montana and liked to sing the song "Best of Both Worlds".
Just a short while before she died, Sandra celebrated her eighth birthday. Just nine days after her birthday on March 27, 2009, Sandra came home from school and kissed her mother and then left to go play with one of her friends who lived near her house. A surveillance video of the town shows Sandra happily skipping over to her friend's home. Sandra never returned home.
Sandra was reported missing, but her body was found on April 6, 2009. It is assumed that she was killed very soon after she was kidnapped. Sandra's body was found inside of a suitcase that had been dumped into a dairy farm. The black suitcase belonged to a woman named Melissa Huckaby. This woman was the daughter of the minister at Sandra's church. She was also the mother of a daughter. Her daughter was a bit younger than Sandra, but sometimes, she and Sandra played together.
Melissa claimed that she left the suitcase in her driveway the day Sandra was murdered. Sandra had been strangled with a torn piece of cloth. Sandra had been sexually assaulted with an object, and inside the suitcase was a rolling pin with Sandra's DNA on it. It is believed that the rolling pin was the object Sandra had been assaulted with. Sandra suffered a cut to her lip, abrasions to her elbow, and injuries to her genitals.
Melissa plead guilty to first degree murder, but said that she did not sexually assault Sandra. The sexual assault charges were dropped as part of the plea deal.
Ava Florence-Beth Rosemeyer was born on August 22, 2003. She already had two older brothers when she was born. Ava's mother really loved Ava's brothers, but she was so, so excited to finally have a daughter. Ava was a charming little girl who loved to dance and dress in a very girly way. Her favorite color to wear was pink. The only thing girly that Ava didn't like was hair clips. She would always rip them right out.
On the day Ava had her accident, Ava and her mother went to her grandfather's house. Her grandfather only lived a few meters away, and there was a fence around both Ava's home, and her grandfather's home. Ava visited with her grandfather often. It was around 10:30 in the morning when they visited Ava's grandfather. Ava sat beside her mother while her mother worked on the computer. Eventually, Ava's brother asked if he could re-arrange his bedroom.
Ava, her brothers, and her younger sister.
Halfway back to their house (which was just a few meters away from their grandfather's) Ava complained that she had left something there. Her mother told her to go get it, and then went with her sons to re-arrange the room. Ava never came back, but her mother assumed that she was with her grandfather, because she often played at her grandfather's house, and sometimes, even ate lunch there. She wasn't very worried.
Eventually, her mother went over to ask where Ava was. Her grandfather said that Ava had come over, and then said that she was going to get something from the car and go back home. Ava was found inside the car, she was still breathing, but she wasn't conscious. She had been in the car for thirty minutes while her mother believed she was with her grandfather, and her grandfather believed she was at home.
Ava was taken to the hospital and put on life support. She seemed to get better for a few days, but eventually, she suffered a heart attack that killed her. She was three years old.
Heather Michele O'Rourke was born on December 27, 1975. Her parents were Kathleen and Michael O'Rourke. She had one older sister named Tammy. When Tammy was pregnant with Heather, she felt that the pregnancy was not right. It was different than her pregnancy with her first child. The doctor confirmed that she had suffered a miscarriage. In the month that followed this, Tammy still felt as if she was pregnant. When she told the doctor, he told her that it was just a condition that would soon pass.
When the pregnancy symptoms didn't go away, Kathleen went to get an examination to make sure that she had suffered a miscarriage. The examination showed that she had, but everyone was surprised and excited to learn that she had been pregnant with twins. One was a boy, and the other was a girl. The girl survived.
Shortly before Heather was born, Kathleen O'Rourke decided to begin working a few hours a day. To do this, she had to find someone to care for Heather's older sister, Tammy. Tammy was three years old at the time of Heather's birth. Tammy was too young to attend pre-school, so Kathleen enrolled in her tap dance lessons. Tammy became quite good at dancing, so she began entering talent shows. She would often come home with honors. Heather liked to be like her older sister, so she also began developing her performing talents. When Heather was three, she won a 'Little Miss' pageant. She also performed on stage with her sister.
Tammy was encouraged by her dance instructor to pursue her dancing talent. She began acting in plays, and since Heather was so young, she often tagged along with her sister and watched the plays with her mother. It was around this time that Heather also began to seem interested in acting. The agent holding Tammy's career noticed this and offered Heather small roles. She was in commercials, and on printed advertisements.
It was by chance that Steven Spielburg discovered Heather. He was looking for a little girl who was about five years old to play a big part in his next movie. Drew Barrymore auditioned for the part, but Steven thought that she wasn't quite right for that particular role.
During the lunch break at Tammy's plays, many of the tables would quickly become filled. While Kathleen and Tammy would go pick up lunch, Heather would stay at a table to 'reserve' their seats. On the day she was discovered, Heather was just doing what she often did. She was sitting in the dining area waiting for her mother and her sister to return. She wasn't surprised when a man came to her table and introduced himself as 'Steven'. He asked if he could sit down with her. Heather, four years old, answered "I guess, but you're a stranger, so I'm not allowed to talk to you."
Steven sat with Heather and waited until Tammy and Kathleen returned. Tammy and Kathleen were quite excited to meet Steven, but Heather didn't really care. She was more interested in eating her lunch. Steven said he was looking for a little girl to be in his movie. He asked Heather if she had ever been in one, but Heather was shy, so her mother answered for her. Steven chatted with Kathleen and Tammy for a short period of time, but after learning that Heather was only four, and that she didn't have much experience, he thanked them and said he was looking for someone a bit older.
The next day, Steven found Heather again at lunch. He started to think that Heather might be right for the part after all. He left his card and they arranged a meeting where he would have to see if Heather could scream, because she would be screaming a lot in his movie. Heather screamed and screamed for Steven, she had a lot of patience for a four year old. But eventually she told him that she was done screaming and that she wanted to go home.
Since Heather had good patience, and could read her script by herself, Steven offered her the role. Listening to her mother's advice, Heather accepted it. Heather began acting in many different shows, but her most famous was the Poltergeist trilogy. She appeared in the first, second, and third Poltergeist movie. She passed away shortly before the third movie was completed.
It was shortly before the pre-production of Poltergeist III that Heather began to feel ill. She had been sick a little bit before this, but it didn't seem like anything unusual, just the common flu. Heather wasn't recovering from her illness, and one day she came home from school with swelling to her feet and lower legs. Heather's mother then decided that it was time to take her to the doctor. The doctor informed them that this was only another symptom of the flu. They were told to monitor the illness and bring her back if they needed to.
When Heather didn't improve, her mother took her back. This time, the doctors suggested that maybe Heather's illness was a reaction to a spider bite. Her mother wasn't convinced, and took Heather back yet again when the medication she had been taking wasn't helping her. They did tests and found that Heather's intestinal tract was infected with an organism called Giardia lamblia. This was common in the area where Heather lived, and usually found it's way into someone's body if they drank untreated water.
This puzzled the doctors though, because Heather drank the same water as her family, and none of them were infected. Heather was given medication to treat this, and her condition seemed to improve. Her mother took Heather for many check-ups, and she seemed to be getting better. This medication puffed up her cheeks, which can be seen in the third Poltergeist movie. Gradually, Heather was weaned off this medication, and her appearance returned to normal.
Near the end of January, 1988, Heather began to feel ill again. Heather didn't complain about very much, but she did casually mention to her sister that she didn't feel like going to P.E. at school that day. She didn't ever say why though. She went to her classes, and the next day, she stayed at home most of the day. She did go out to eat with her family and seemed to be feeling alright. The next day, however, it was obvious that Heather was not feeling well at all.
Heather's mother and stepfather woke up to hear Heather being sick in the bathroom. Her mother called out to her and Heather slept with her mother and stepfather for the rest of the morning. She spent to rest of the day resting on the couch. Her mother gave her fluids because her symptoms were, again, flu-like.
On February 1, Heather woke up to go to school. It was Monday, and she had been sick the day before, but she still joined her mother in the kitchen. Kathleen was preparing breakfast. Kathleen asked Heather how she felt, and Heather said she felt "Okay.". She also informed her mother that she wanted to go to school. Kathleen gave Heather a piece of toast while she tried to decide if she was going to keep her home that day to be sure that she was feeling okay. A few minutes later, Kathleen noticed that Heather was having a difficult time eating her toast. Kathleen asked Heather how she was feeling. This time, Heather answered "Mom, I can't swallow." Kathleen now noticed that Heather's face was very pale, and her hands were cold. Her fingers had a blueish tint to them and it seemed like Heather's breathing was shallow. Kathleen called the hospital who told her to bring Heather in right away. She told Heather to get dressed, but when Heather got out of her chair, she slumped to the floor, holding her stomach.
Heather's stepfather now called 9-1-1. While they waited for the ambulance to arrive, Heather remained on the floor. She was still coherent. When the paramedics arrived, they started treating Heather instantly. They fitted her with an oxygen mask and she protested. She told them that she didn't need it. When the paramedics asked how she was feeling, all she said is that she felt 'a little sick', but that she was 'alright'.
Heather was loaded into the ambulance and driven to the emergency room. She was still alert during most of the trip, and she was able to speak as well. Despite this, shortly before arriving at the hospital, she lapsed into unconsciousness. The paramedics tried to revive her. Eventually they restored her vital signs. She was stabilized enough to be transported by helicopter to another hospital. Her mother was informed of this.
It was realized that Heather had went into shock. They also noticed that her stomach was swollen, which was a sign of a bowel obstruction. They suspected the obstruction had already burst, spreading the infection across Heather's body. When Heather arrived at the other hospital, she was stable, but in a critical condition. She remained unconscious and unresponsive while they prepared her for possible surgery. Her stepfather and mother were told that she may have already suffered permanent brain damage. It was found that her small intestine had indeed already burst and spread infection.
They performed surgery, but Heather was in horrible condition even before the surgery began, so her family was informed that she may not survive. The operation was completed, but afterwards, Heather showed no signs of improvement. She never regained consciousness, and her brain showed no activity. She stayed alive until around 2:00 p.m. when her condition worsened, and she slowly stopped breathing. It was discovered that Heather had intestinal stenosis, a condition of intestinal narrowing. This made Heather more likely to have a bowel obstruction. Heather could have had this condition her whole life. The remaining of the third Poltergeist movie had to be done with a stunt double, only showing the back of Heather's character's head.
