WTF?! Arrest made in Sandra Cantu kidnapping and murder

http://www.kcra.com/news/19155177/detail.html

Pastor's Granddaughter Arrested In Cantu's Death
Huckaby Arrested On Suspicion Of Murder, Kidnapping

http://www.kcra.com/news/19155177/detail.html#


TRACY, Calif. -- The granddaughter of a Tracy pastor was arrested late Friday in the slaying of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

Melissa Huckaby was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on suspicion of kidnapping and murder.

Police spokesman Sgt. Tony Sheneman couldn't comment on why or how Cantu was killed. No other details were released at a 3 a.m. news conference.

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I don't know why this should shock me. It did catch me off guard. I was expecting a serial child molester.

I don't know where he heard it or read it but he said the woman had a prior incident that had to do with a child but he didn't know what it was.

I just asked him and he said he thinks he was watching MSNBC.

A little more info here, nothing about the prior incident though.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30159623/

no record of violence.

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

Very sad case. I guess this is just one more case of you just never know who you can trust.

This is not a slam on you, warrior1, for posting it here, but rather the sensationalist media for making a national story out of what is purely local news.

It's actually kind of exploitative of them.

to stay.

Kidnappings/murders do tend to stay local unless the victim is young, female, white and blonde. But when the victim is young, female, white and blonde (at least part of the time) and the suspect is female...Katy bar the door.

are feeding something more base, dressed up with a socially acceptable persona.

And the Media, of course, makes lots and lots of money off of it.

It is usually (not always) when the victim is white... when a 15 yr white girl (a known drug addict who was to go into rehab) died over mixture of drugs in a wealthy suburb here - it was all over the news for weeks on end, sadness and trying to get some action how to stop. When a 15 yr inner city minority girl or boy dies of same cause, it hardly even makes local news!

They pick and choose what story gives them the recogntion and exclusivity for people to "tune in"!

It's not a race thing. They're looking for anything sensational.

What a horrible story.

A female without any sex offender record is arrested, and you say it highlights the limitation of a sex offender registry. WTF?

As soon as the girl disappeared, we had reports of just how many sex offenders lived within a certain radius of her house. There was no indication that any of them were involved or even that they were remotely relevant to the case, but the news still had to trot them out to maximize the horror and sensationalism.

Then we find out that a young mother and Sunday school teacher is the prime suspect, and, as you point out, she had no "sex offender record."

Therefore the limitations of such a registry--already criticized elsewhere for being non-specific, non-standardized, and not subject to appeal--are shown pretty plainly, I think. Society's favorite bogeymen are a great way to generate sympathy and interest, even when they have nothing to do with the case at hand.

that the suspect is a serial child molester.

you may be right.


Butch350

Yes. That is the typical suspect. But, really what got me was she is the grand daughter of a pastor.

:crazy:

Murderers come in all sizes and colors and ages

And searched the church. Not saying she didn't do it, but it would be very, very unusual.

http://tracypress.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&article-Breaking%20news-%20ARREST%20=&id=2300718-Breaking+news-+ARREST&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead_story&open=&

Apparently her mental competency has been called into question before. She has a 5 yr old daughter too.

video with reporter and cell phone/audio of interview

also explains other incident with a child.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/04/11/BANH1713V5.DTL&o=4

accused of her previous crimes to be checked for competency. Maybe she attempted to use it as a defense and that's why she was evaluated.

and was evaluated but found to be mentally competent.

I mean, it IS possible that she's the killer, but completely off the charts.

Still, you and I could be wrong...

Just because she's a woman and a pastor's granddaughter? That doesn't mean dipshit. You never, ever really know with people, no matter who they are. I don't find it improbable at all. Or maybe I've just been working in the legal system too long and have seen too much, but I do know that you can never be sure of people. It drives me crazy when people don't think someone's capable of something, just due to their status or profession or religion or whatever, because those things don't mean shit in the end.

I was merely making the point that, anecdotally, I've never heard of a case like this. It's usually a mother and her children, or a spurned lover, or someone like Eileen Wournos. It's just that the players don't add up (but, what do I know? I'm not in law or law enforcement.) So, does your reply pertain to post #11 as well (LostinVA seems to have doubts as well.)

I love your avatar, btw!

As I play an Irish harp (actually, a neo-celtic harp), I have several shirts that color with the gold harp thereon.

should be protected from bad (preferably black or hispanic, if not white thrash) males who are all after them. This does not fit the "be very afraid" meme we are supposed to believe in.

girls are men.

Just asking.

Anyone who is now or has ever been part of a family must be registered and catalogued.

While we're at it, we should step up our efforts at racial profiling, too. Just to be on the safe side...

Lacy Peterson was, too.

The autopsy results on the child have yet to be made public. The public is quick to make assumptions before trial. In the meantime, a family's precious little girl is gone forever.

that she was apparently killed almost immediately. The police have said that she was gone very quickly.

And then she panicked and covered it up. Strange case, I'm curious to what the motive was.

then she tried to hide all the evidence so she wouldn't get caught. It's a terrible tragedy, poor little girl.