SANDRA CANTU - Aged 8 years - Tracy, California (USA)

Pam I PM you my message for Sandras family. They are taking the little girls death really badly and it is upsetting to read this. The card you are sending should give them some strength to carry on.
My prayers are with this family.

You Tube video for Sandra's family

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voXud6LSkhY

Thanks Smokie. I know pet, I felt I had to do something.It is so heartbreaking. Let's hope some comfort and hope that they know people care from all over the world

NB This article is tough to read

Mercury News Silicon Valley

8 April 2009

Still no suspects in the death of Sandra Cantu

When Sandra Cantu's family learned that the child's dead body had been stuffed in a suitcase, piercing screams filled the air.
"I heard screams that I'd never heard come out of human beings before," said Sandra's uncle, Joe Chavez. "Primal screams of love and fear like the worst horror movie you could ever watch."
For the first time since realizing their worst fear, Sandra's family emerged briefly from seclusion Wednesday to visit the growing memorial at the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where the 8-year-old disappeared March 27.
"It gives us comfort, and it's a testament to the heart that Sandra had and how many people she touched," said Angie Chavez, Sandra's aunt, as she surveyed the flowers, candles, and stuffed animals at the entrance of the park.
On learning of her death, Sandra's mother and grandmother had to be hospitalized.
So far, no suspects have been identified, but 15 search warrants have been served as Tracy police and FBI agents scour the area in search of Sandra's killer.
"We feel a great deal of pressure. We want to find who is responsible for this," said Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman. "We don't want to rush to judgment and we don't want people tried in the press."
Although an autopsy has been completed, results are pending. Sources say no visible signs of trauma were apparent during the initial examination. Toxicology and tissue samples were being sent to a pathologist for analysis to help
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determine the official cause of death, which could take up to eight weeks.
"It's complete innocence taken for absolutely no reason," said Chavez, who called for the death penalty for her killer or killers. "It's ridiculous, absurd and grotesque."
Sandra's body was discovered Monday morning stuffed inside a large black suitcase with rollers by farm workers draining an irrigation pond just two miles from the mobile home park where she lived with her family.
"There's a monster out there. He's got to be apprehended, he's got to be put away," said Jose Chavez, Sandra's grandfather.
Wednesday, Tracy police allowed only the residents to enter the park after spectators drove through to snap pictures of the little girl's house.
Sandra's grisly killing — the first in Tracy since October 2007 — has hit this small community hard, even affecting veteran police in the department, which has assigned all of its 25 detectives and several in its patrol division to the case.
Thus far, the department has interviewed several people, including Lane Lawless, 77, pastor of the Clover Road Baptist Church, which was searched for evidence Tuesday.
The pastor's wife, Connie Lawless, said the couple had nothing to do with Sandra's killing and that authorities were interested in them only because they lived down the street from her and she used to play with their great-grandchild.
Police said Lawless is not a suspect and no arrests are imminent.
Sheneman also said the department is not focusing on any one person.
"We are looking at a lot of people," he said. "Everyone we are talking to has been cooperative. We are working very diligently to locate and identify the killer or killers of Sandra Cantu."

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12102112?source=most_emailed

(I dont know if Im reading too much into this but I find this a story to watch, maybe its the way it has been written that has me thinking like this).

Mercurynews.com

Saturday 11th April 2009

Woman claims suitcase Sandra found in had been stolen from her

TRACY — While investigators returned Friday to a church they'd already searched, a Tracy woman said publicly that the suitcase 8-year-old Sandra Cantu was found dead inside sounds like the one that had been stolen from her the same day the girl disappeared.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, told several media outlets Friday that the suitcase disappeared from her driveway in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park on March 27, the same day Sandra Cantu was reported missing.

Huckaby failed to return repeated calls for additional comment.

Huckaby said she had prepared the suitcase with items to be taken to Clover Road Baptist Church for a Sunday school class she teaches and had left the bag in the driveway of the mobile home she shares with her grandparents. She apparently had forgotten her keys and cell phone, and returned inside to look for them, but gave up after a short while before grabbing a spare set and driving to the church.

When Huckaby's grandmother called her to say she had found the missing items, she remembered the suitcase was still in the driveway, she said. She asked family members to check on it. It wasn't there.

She told the Tracy Press she meant to file a police report but never did. Some television stations are reporting that Huckaby said she filed a police report.

According to logs with the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office and the Tracy Police Department, no one reported a missing suitcase from the Orchard

Park Mobile Home Estates or the Clover Road Baptist Church in the past three weeks.

Huckaby said Sandra had stopped by her house to play with her 5-year-old daughter, but she told Sandra the girl wasn't being allowed to have a friend over. She said Sandra then left to go to another friend's house.

The last images of Sandra, captured on a video surveillance camera set up by her grandparents, show the little girl skipping across the roadway toward her home before veering right and heading in another direction.

Sandra's body was found Monday, inside a large black suitcase discovered in a pond being drained, 10 days after the Jacobson Elementary School second-grader went missing.

A source close to the investigation said that at first glance there were no visible signs of trauma on the girl.

Huckaby's grandfather, Clifford Lane Lawless, who was in the media spotlight when FBI investigators searched the church earlier this week, is the pastor, but police have said he is not a suspect. The church was searched again around 4 p.m. Friday and several unidentified items were reportedly removed.

In an unrelated case, Huckaby pleaded no contest earlier this year to one count of theft with a prior conviction. She's expected to be sentenced Friday, according to court records.

It's also been reported that she was a patient at Sutter-Tracy Community Hospital earlier this week, and police reportedly were stationed there as well.

A public memorial service has been scheduled for Sandra. The service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday in the gymnasium of West High School. The family is also planning a private service.

Fry Memorial Chapel, at 550 S. Central Ave., which is handling the arrangements, will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this weekend to allow members of the public to express their sympathy and support in guest books that will later be given to the Cantu family.

The family has requested that gifts and letters no longer be left at the entrance to their mobile home park and would like to thank everyone for supporting them and honoring Sandra.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12119082

Hi smokie, that is interesting pet. Oh I feel they will get to the bottom of this case and yes ROT IN HELL comes to mind !

Examiner.com

9 April 2009

How to talk with your child about the Sandra Cantu Case

http://www.examiner.com/x-5436-Oklahoma-Child-Safety-Examiner~y2009m4d9-How-to-talk-with-your-child-about-the-Sandra-Cantu-case

Sky News

11 April 2009

Body in Suitcase Murder: Sunday School Teacher Charges in California Over Sandra Cantu Murder

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Body-In-Suitcase-Murder-Sunday-School-Teacher-Charged-In-California-Over-Sandra-Cantu-Murder/Article/200904215260265

We will have to reserve judgement but this is certainly shocking news.

CNN

11/4/09

Sunday-school teacher arrested in killing of California girl

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/11/california.girl.arrest/index.html

Sunday 12th April 2009

Family of slain girl says suspect was mother of Sandra's best friend

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12123660?source=most_emailed

Sunday 12th April 2009

Mercurynews.com

Timeline in Sandra Cantu case
Key events in the case



March 27

Sandra Cantu is seen via surveillance video at 4 p.m. skipping toward her home in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park on West Clover Road in North Tracy. She's then seen walking away in another direction. Sandra's mother, Maria Chavez, reports Sandra missing about 8 p.m.


March 28

Police announce Sandra's disappearance as a missing persons case. They say there is no evidence she was kidnapped or harmed, but a search begins.


March 29

Hundreds of volunteers and dozens of law enforcement officers comb the area all day, going door-to-door and using divers, dogs, helicopters, horses and all-terrain vehicles. Cars coming in and out of the mobile home park are searched; fliers are posted all over the Bay Area.


March 30

Police begin holding twice-daily news conferences to update the public. The case becomes a national news story. The Tracy school district sends a letter home to worried parents.


March 31

Police serve search warrants on several residences in the mobile home park and impound vehicles to search for evidence.


April 1

Police and volunteers begin combing through trash at Tracy dump. Police have received 500 tips about the case.


April 2

Searchers spend most of the day on the Delta, and police say they think they're getting closer to solving the case.


April 4

Sandra has been missing for a week. Another all-day, full-scale search takes place beginning at daylight.


Monday

San Joaquin sheriff's dispatchers receive a call around 10 a.m. from someone reporting that a suspicious item has been found in an agricultural pond at a dairy farm on Whitehall Road. Investigators and media swarm to the site, where a large black rolling suitcase is found.

About 7:30 p.m., police confirm that they believe a body found inside the suitcase is Sandra's, based on the description of the clothes she was wearing when she disappeared.

Dental records later confirm the identity, and the Cantu family is notified.

A short time later, three ambulances respond to the mobile home park. It's believed that two female patients are transported. It's later reported that one of them was Melissa Huckaby, who later told reporters she experienced internal bleeding. Police are stationed at the hospital.

Nearly 100 community members gather at night for a candlelight vigil, where they cry, pray and mourn the little girl's death.

Police and FBI serve additional search warrants at 10 p.m. at the mobile home park and at the Clover Road Baptist Church, which is roped off with yellow crime scene tape.


Tuesday

An autopsy is performed on Sandra about 9 a.m. but no cause of death is released. The number of tips received grows to 1,000. A reward fund grows to $26,000.


Wednesday

Sandra's family speaks out for the first time since her body was found, calling the killer a "monster."


Friday

Media outlets report that Huckaby says a black suitcase had been stolen from her driveway the same day Sandra disappeared. Huckaby makes conflicting statements on whether she told police about the missing suitcase. Police say no one reported a stolen suitcase from the park at that time.

At the request of Tracy police, Huckaby drives herself to the police station for further questioning. She is arrested just before midnight on suspicion of kidnapping and killing Sandra.


Saturday

The police interview with Huckaby lasts until about 1:30 a.m. She is booked into San Joaquin County jail, where she is being held without bail.

Police hold a 10 a.m. news conference announcing arrest.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12124801

Thanks Smokie & Tezza for that. I'm still hoping it's not true ! I suppose at the end of the day someone killed Sandra but a woman so close to the family would be unreal

Mercury News

11 April 2009

4.45pm: Neighbor says Huckaby kept her kids inside

* Very interesting insights in this article.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12119398?source=most_viewed

Mercury News

12 April 2009

Town rocketed by arrest of Sunday School Teacher in child death

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12126592

I have read that next Thursday will be Memorial day for Sandra. I'm sure we will all think of her and her family on that day. Hoping it gives comfort.

Oh Pam, I have just seen the photograph of the suspect.

telegraph.co.uk

Sunday 12th April 2009

Sunday School teacher arrested after girl's body found in suitcase

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5145348/Sunday-School-teacher-arrested-after-girls-body-found-in-suitcase.html

CNN

Sunday 12th April 2009

Family of slaying suspect says charges 'out of character'

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/12/california.slain.girl/

I know Smokie, all very scary. Can't begin to contemplate how hard this must be for Sandra's family.

Nation Digest

Monday 13th April 2009

Relatives Describe Suspect as 'Loving'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/12/AR2009041202682.html

Mercury News

Manday 13th April 2009

Families try to cope after arrest in Cantu death

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12131069

NB This article discusses very distressing detail. Please note if wish to continue reading.

Mercury News

14 April 2009

Huckaby arrest defies research

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12135576?source=most_viewed

Warning Warning Warning

Fox News

14 April 2009

California Sunday School Teacher Charged With Murder, Rape,kidnapping of Sandra Cantu,8

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,515675,00.html