Sonora, Calif. ? Her story has entered the lore of this Gold Rush town: More than a decade ago, Ellie Nesler took the law into her own hands, stepping into a courtroom to gun down the man facing trial for allegedly molesting her 11-year-old son.

Now the son finds himself accused of murder and is on the run. Willie Nesler grew into a powerful, hulking young man, his formative years clouded by the nationwide notoriety of his mother’s case.

His troubles worsened last week. Law-enforcement officers say Nesler, now 23, inflicted a deadly beating on David Davis, who lived on the family’s junk-strewn acre north of Sonora.

The attack came July 25, just an hour after Nesler was released from jail. He had been serving time for assaulting Davis a month earlier. Davis, 45, died Monday of massive head injuries.

Willie Nesler disappeared after the assault, and the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department has launched a manhunt through the Sierra Nevada foothills, putting every available deputy on the case.

A mother’s anger

Willie Nesler allegedly was molested as a boy at a Christian summer camp. The suspect, Daniel Driver, was at 35 a twice-convicted child molester.

On April 2, 1993, as Driver faced trial on charges of molesting Willie Nesler and a half-dozen other children, Ellie Nesler walked into the courtroom in nearby Jamestown and fired five bullets into his head.

She later told police, “Maybe I’m not God, but I’ll tell you what: I’m the closest damn thing to it for all the other little boys.” Her case won national attention, with Ellie Nesler praised by some as an avenging parent, condemned by others for brushing aside the legal system to kill.

She was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison. A made-for-TV movie was made about the case, and her family received more than $250,000 from its producers.

After three years behind bars, Ellie Nesler won an appeal based on juror misconduct and was released. But it did not end her problems with the criminal justice system. In July 2002, she was convicted of buying 10,000 pseudoephedrine tablets, which can be used to make methamphetamine, and was sent to prison for six years.

When Ellie Nesler was released from prison, Willie Nesler returned to live with her and his grandmother in a home on the 1-acre property the family owned on Shaws Flat Road.

In recent years, Willie Nesler was the only family member living there, which became a notorious eyesore. Piles of junk and abandoned cars crowd the edges of the parcel, surrounding battered trailers. The site became so bad that Tuolumne County code-enforcement officials cited the parcel as an eyesore and ordered it cleaned up.

That brought Davis to the property.

Deadly quarreling

Nesler allowed Davis to live in a small cinder block outbuilding in exchange for cleaning up the debris. But the relationship quickly soured. In mid-June, Davis called the sheriff and accused Willie Nesler of trying to steal some of his tools.

In front of three deputies who had arrived, Willie Nesler lunged at Davis, hitting and punching him. Charged with felony assault, Nesler pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery, receiving a 60-day jail sentence.

At 4 a.m. July 25, after 32 days in jail, authorities released Willie Nesler early for good behavior and work credit.

At 5:08 a.m. an anonymous man called 911, saying, “Willie Nesler just assaulted a man who is lying on the ground,” according to the investigator’s report. When deputies arrived, they found Davis unconscious, with blood pouring from his fractured skull.

Medics rushed him to a Modesto hospital. Investigators assigned an officer to his room around the clock, in case Davis woke up and could tell them what had happened.

But he died Monday afternoon, and the next day a warrant was issued for Willie Nesler.