One Year Ago Today (July 1, 2023)…A Banning man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of a 15-year-old girl who succumbed to fentanyl poisoning, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced.
Deputies responded to the 12400 block of Dailey Road at about 9:20 p.m. on Jan. 14 to a report of a missing juvenile. They found a dead girl in the back seat of a vehicle, and she was identified as 15-year-old Faith Alaniz.
The Riverside County coroner’s office later determined that Alaniz died as a result of fentanyl poisoning, and the case was assumed by the Sheriff’s Office of Overdose Death Investigations and the Narcotics Unit.
The investigation went on for several months, and the suspect was eventually identified as 51-year-old Banning resident James Dailey, authorities said.
A Ramey warrant for murder was issued for Dailey, and he was located and taken into custody by Banning Police Department officers on June 4 without incident.
Dailey was booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility on suspicion of murder, where he remains held without bail.
On June 22, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office filed murder and felony child endangerment charges, with an enhancement for allegedly causing death to a juvenile, according to the sheriff’s department.
Dailey’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 7.
The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with additional information about the death was asked to contact investigator Hollingsworth at 951-955-1700.