SANDRA CANTU - 8 yo (3/2009) - Tracy CA

WTH, Huckabee abducted a 7 year old girl before this violation of Sandra? And the little girl was returned with diazapam (sic) in her system? I can't believe this at all!!

Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009


Bee News Services
TRACY -
The woman charged with killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu has been linked
to a report of a younger girl who went missing briefly in January,
media outlets said Monday. Melissa Chantel Huckaby is tied to a report
that someone took a 7-year-old girl to a Tracy park for four hours and
brought her back under the influence of muscle relaxants, the Tracy
Press
and several TV news stations reported.Farmworkers found Sandra's body
in a pond April 6; police arrested Huckaby four days later.Huckaby,
28, mother of one of Sandra's playmates and a Sunday school teacher at
her grandfather's nearby church, was charged with the murder, rape and
kidnapping of Sandra. She could be sentenced to death if convicted.





Melissa Huckaby, 28, center, listens in a
Stockton, Calif., courtroom to public defender Ellen Schwarzenberg,
left, during her arraignment, Tuesday, April 14, 2009. (Paul Sakuma /
The Associated Press)
A family in Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where Huckaby and Sandra
also lived, reported the other incident Jan. 17. According to the Tracy
Press, the parents of a blue-eyed, dark-haired, 45-pound girl told
police that someone took her to a park. They were gone for four hours,
returning after 5 p.m.The
woman who took the girl drove a purple Kia Sportage, the Tracy Press
cited the police report as saying. Police towed a purple Kia Sportage
registered to Huckaby on April 11.An officer said the girl might
be with a mobile home park resident's "granddaughter," the Tracy Press
said, citing the police log. Huckaby lived with her grandparents,
Clifford and Connie Lawless.When the woman returned the girl,
the family took her to the hospital, where a doctor found
benzodiazepine -- a muscle relaxant -- in the girl's bloodstream, the
Tracy Press said, again citing the police log.Although the
girl's mother called police, responding officers said they believed the
mother was under the influence of alcohol and she had some kind of drug
in her possession. The Tracy Press cited a family friend who said
police dismissed the incident because of the mother's drug and alcohol
problem.Police
would not comment on the case because of the murder
investigation.Huckaby is to return to court for a hearing Friday at
12:45 p.m. in front of Judge Franklin Stephenson.Also
this week, a decision is expected on a motion filed by deputy public
defender Samuel Behar, Huckaby's attorney, to exhume Sandra's body for
a second autopsy.The San Joaquin County coroner conducted an
autopsy on Sandra but has not released the cause of death pending the
results of toxicology tests.In his motion, Behar wrote that a
second autopsy, which would be conducted by Dr. Terri Haddix, a
forensic pathologist hired by the defense, was "extremely crucial and
material to Ms. Huckaby's defense."
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/673675.html

Susmihara wrote:WTH, Huckabee abducted a 7 year old girl before this violation of Sandra? And the little girl was returned with diazapam (sic) in her system? I can't believe this at all!!

i posted a story about this -

Huckaby questioned in previous drugging of little girl.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/30321980#30321980

http://abcnews.go.com/gma

(Scroll down in center of page - Recently on GMA)

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7388653

Direct link to video

ginybe wrote:http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7388653

Direct link to video

This is so sad, maybe if she had been investigated for this Sandra would still be alive. This whole neighborhood sounds like it is not the place to let children out without their parents. :shock:

Annabeth wrote:

ginybe wrote:http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7388653

Direct link to video

This is so sad, maybe if she had been investigated for this Sandra would still be alive. This whole neighborhood sounds like it is not the place to let children out without their parents. :shock:

Yes it is a real shame this was not looked into future, I wonder if the child was checked for abuse also. I also wonder if her daughter has been checked over by a doctor for drugs or abuse. Very sad situation.

Huckaby Tied To SoCal Arson Case, Police Say

Woman Arrested In Homicide Of Sandra Cantu

POSTED: 3:56 pm PDT April 21, 2009
UPDATED: 7:33 pm PDT April 21, 2009

TRACY, Calif. -- Police said Melissa Huckaby, the woman charged in the homicide of 8-year-old Tracy girl Sandra Cantu, is a suspect in one or two house fires in Southern California, according to police. However, police said she would not be charged in that case.

KCRA 3 and a reporter from NBC 11 talked in San Jose with the La Palma police department in Orange County on Tuesday.

Video: Huckaby Involved In SoCal Fire Investigation

Huckaby had rented a room in a home in La Palma and arson was to blame for a minor fire and later a moderate fire in the same house.

Police confirm Huckaby is a suspect in at least one or possibly two fires that occurred in July 2007.

A week before Huckaby was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Cantu, La Palma police contacted the Tracy Police Department.

Police said Huckaby's current arrest takes priority over the fires, so the La Palma investigation will stop and she will not be charged in that case.

Huckaby, 28, was charged last week in Cantu's homicide. The girl's body was found in a suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond 10 days after she went missing.

Prosecutors added to the charge the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 andmurder in the course of a kidnapping.

Tracy Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said Tuesday that Judge Linda Lofthus ordered a gag order in the case.

"Parties and counsel" are directed not to "release information or opinions concerning this case or any issue likely involved in this case," according to the order.

http://www.kcra.com/news/19244229/detail.html

Danny Cantu and friends form foundation
by Justin Lafferty
3 hrs 55 mins ago | 716 views |

Daniel Cantu, father of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, walks out of the San Joaquin County Superior Court in Stockton after the arraignment of Melissa Huckaby on April 14. AP Photo/The Contra Costa Times, Doug Duran

The father of murdered 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, along with some friends, is creating a foundation to help other families whose children are abducted.

Daniel Cantu, who lives in Mexico but has been in Tracy often during the last month, said he wanted to do something charitable after his daughter’s death. With the help of some local friends, he’s taken steps to organize a Fathers Against Violent Child Tragedies foundation.

Gina Schnabel, Cantu’s friend, said the organizers hope to raise awareness of child abuse and give families a support system in case something similar happens to them.

“He wanted to come forward and do something good in her name,” Schnabel said of Cantu, who grew up in Tracy. “We really wanted to raise awareness and educate children and adults as well.”

The foundation is selling T-shirts for $20 with Sandra’s picture and the words, “Justice for Sandra” on the front. On the back is the name of the foundation. The T-shirts come in black or white and run in sizes small through 5X. All proceeds go directly to the foundation.

Sherri-lyn Miller, who runs the San Leandro store, All in One Stop, has made and donated the shirts. Miller also designed shirts in memory of the Oakland police officers killed in the line of duty last month.

Miller said that this is the third shirt she has designed since Sandra's disappearance. Schnabel said that they started selling the shirts for charitable profit a few days after Sandra was reported missing and they have raised about $2000.

Schnabel said she and Cantu have talked to organizations such as the San Joaquin County Women’s Center and the McHenry House for ideas about how to raise money and serve the community.

She said she’s applied with the Secretary of State in Sacramento to form a foundation, and she’s set up a bank account for donations with Chase Bank. Schnabel said that the foundation is not a nonprofit yet, but they are working toward that. A fictitious business notice was printed in Wednesday's edition of the Tracy Press.

“This is just his way of trying to help and give back and not let his daughter’s name just go down as a murder victim, but to raise awareness and educate children,” Schnabel said.

For information about shirts: Schnabel, 605-2358. For information about donating to the account: Chase’s Brandon Diaz, 836-1491.
http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&article-Danny%20Cantu%20and%20friends%20form%20foundation%20=&id=2433858-Danny+Cantu+and+friends+form+foundation&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=&

Medical examiner in Huckaby case back in spotlight
by Marcus Wohlsen / Associated Press
2 hrs 29 mins ago | 478 views |



SAN FRANCISCO — Though Melissa Huckaby's attorneys plan to withdraw their motion to exhume Sandra Cantu's body, the prosecution and defense remain on a collision course over the forensic evidence from her autopsy.

The defense is attacking the credibility of the pathologist whose findings will be used to support charges that Melissa Huckaby raped the 8-year-old--an allegation that could bring the death penalty if the one-time Sunday school aide is convicted. Huckaby is scheduled to make her second court appearance Friday.

At the center of the conflict is San Joaquin County's chief medical examiner, Dr. Bennet Omalu, who has been in the spotlight before.

The 40-year-old neuropathologist gained national media attention for his research on the damaged brains of dead NFL players.

He is also a government witness in a federal corruption case against his former boss, celebrity pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who has earned millions of dollars investigating high-profile deaths, including those of Elvis Presley and JonBenet Ramsey.

In a phone interview with The Associated Press before a judge issued a gag order in the case, Public Defender Peter Fox questioned Omalu's objectivity.

Several attorneys in his office have complained that Omalu's opinions in other homicide cases they were defending were biased toward the prosecution, said Fox, who declined to detail specific cases where defense attorneys have questioned Omalu's work.

Omalu could not comment on Fox's claims because of the gag order, according to a San Joaquin County Sheriff's spokesman.

The coroner's office has not released its report on Sandra's autopsy or announced how she died. But Huckaby's attorneys said in their motion that medical examiners found Sandra had suffered "genital trauma" and that finding led prosecutors to accuse 28-year-old Huckaby of rape as well as murder.

"It's all based on one person's word," said Fox.

Omalu's former colleagues from his long stint in the coroner's office in Pittsburgh, Pa., described him as an highly intelligent, dedicated pathologist.

"Naturally a defense attorney's job is to attack a doctor because typically victims in homicide cases have died violent deaths," said Mark V. Tranquilli, an Allegheny County deputy district attorney. "His character is among the best."

Melissa Huckaby's attorneys argued that if the defense had no chance to examine Sandra's body, Huckaby would have no way to refute the findings on Sandra's alleged injuries. Fox announced that the motion would be withdrawn after Omalu told them he had preserved the relevant tissue samples, which defense experts could also test.

Huckaby was arrested on suspicion of Sandra's murder less than a week after farmworkers found the missing Tracy girl's body stuffed in a suitcase in an irrigation pond earlier this month.

Huckaby was charged days later with murder with three special circumstances: kidnapping, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child or rape with a foreign object. A conviction on any of the three special circumstances would make Huckaby eligible for the death penalty. She has not entered a plea.

Experts said that proving a child was raped based only on forensic evidence has advantages and disadvantages for prosecutors.

"Internal trauma can be telling, especially in a girl this age, because we can make the inference she has not had any recent sexual experience, at least not consensual," said Erin Murphy, a criminal law professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

At the same time, genital injuries in children can occur during normal childhood activities such as running and jumping, Murphy said.

Prosecutors will also try to use Sandra's DNA as evidence if they have samples from whatever object they will claim Huckaby used to rape the girl, Murphy said.

Omalu has worked as San Joaquin County's chief medical examiner since 2007.

In the eight years before coming to California, he worked for Wecht simultaneously as a pathologist in the coroner's office and for Wecht's private forensics company.

Wecht is currently facing multiple federal counts of fraud and theft. Prosecutors allege that while county coroner, he used public employees and facilities to conduct examinations for his own business.

Last year, Omalu testified that he examined brains for Wecht's private clients while at the morgue.

It was also at the coroner's office that Omalu examined the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Terry Long, who killed himself by drinking antifreeze.

Omalu found that Long suffered from chronic brain swelling, or "punch-drunk syndrome," caused by frequent blows to the head during football games. Omalu argued the syndrome led to the depression that ended with Long's suicide.

He has since studied the brains of several other former NFL players who died young and gained national attention for pushing the league to acknowledge his claim that football-related head injuries can lead to permanent mental damage.

Omalu received his medical degree from the University of Nigeria College of Medicine in 1991, according to his California medical license. He is currently an adjunct professor of pathology at the University of California, Davis.
http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&article-Medical%20examiner%20in%20Huckaby%20case%20back%20in%20spotlight%20=&id=2434025-Medical+examiner+in+Huckaby+case+back+in+spotlight&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead_story&open=&

SANDRA CANTU CASE: SOURCES- LAWLESS RELATIVE ARRESTED ON SEX CHARGES

Posted by Blink | Brett Lawless, Brian Lawless, Connie Lawless, Kidnapping, Lane Lawless, Melissa Huckaby, Murdered, Sandra Cantu, Sexual Predators, Timothy Lawless | Friday 24 April 2009 1:34 pm

Folsom, CA– As Melissa Huckaby awaits her arraignment in court this afternoon in San Joaquin County, Blinkoncrime.com has discovered the arrest last week of Timothy John Lawless, a relative to Huckaby and the Lawless family. Folsom Police Department verified this afternoon Lawless was arrested on April 15.

Timothy Lawless was arrested on THE EXACT SAME SEX CHARGE AS Huckaby. Lawless is in custody at the Sacramento County Jail under a $1Million Bond, charged with 10 counts of lewd and lacivious acts on a child under 14.

288. (a) Any person who willfully and lewdly commits any lewd or
lascivious act, including any of the acts constituting other crimes
provided for in Part 1, upon or with the body, or any part or member
thereof, of a child who is under the age of 14 years, with the intent
of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or
sexual desires of that person or the child, is guilty of a felony and
shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for three,
six, or eight years.

Lawless is also charged with rape with a foreign instrument, but formal charges have not been formalized by the DA. Lawless’s next appearance in court is scheduled for May 14, 2009.
http://blinkoncrime.com/2009/04/24/sandra-cantu-case-sources-lawless-relative-arrested-on-sex-charges/

SANDRA CANTU CASE: FBI INVESTIGATING HUCKABY’S GRANDPA LAWLESS

Posted by Blink Thursday 23 April 2009 7:29 pm

BREAKING NEWS Tracy, Ca– Announced on Kcra this evening, the FBI was in Clarkston, WA at the First Church of God Church and spoke with it’s pastor, Bill Creutzberg:

..” They were trying to put the pieces of their puzzle together, They were asking about certain people who
might be able to lead them to other people. But I do not know exactly what they are looking for..”

A source inside the investigation has confirmed to blinkoncrime.com that they are investigating previous alleged abuse allegations within the church against Clifford Lane Lawless, Huckaby’s grandfather.




In a simultaneous development, although Pastor Lawless was seen on camera last evening at the church following an announcement that services would remain there, FBI agents were back at the Clover Baptist Church. Police have indicated they believe Sandra Cantu, 8, was murdered there.

As their is a gag order in the case, attempts to confirm that a search warrant was issued at either location were refused.

Agents were seen entering the church for approximately 20 minutes, and left with a few “tubes” in their posession. There are unverified reports that the tubes taken into evidence are projection screens. However, Blink on crime has learned that one of the items is a screen, and the others are blinds. The same source, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated that Tracy Police and the FBI are in posession of video evidence containing footage of blinds; thus the seizure. The agents were seen removing the evidence without a CSI team which may indicate they do not suspect there is physical evidence to link them to Sandra’s murder.







Melissa Huckaby is due in court tomorrow to face charges of kidnapping, rape with a foreign object, child molestation and murder charges in the death of 8 year old Sandra Cantu. Her arraingment is scheduled for 1PM PST.

Check back to blinkoncrime.com for updates.

http://blinkoncrime.com/2009/04/23/sandra-cantu-case-fbi-investigating-huckabys-grandpa-lawless/