SANDRA CANTU, 8, missing since 3/27/09 Tracy, CA #1 3/28/09-4/09/09

[no rose colored glasses]

It seems unusual to me, though certainly not impossible, that this  man who has a clean history would start his criminal life with such a brutal, brazen crime.  Often these types of perps engage in progressively worse crimes over time.  So far, at least, there has not been anything uncovered in the pastor's past nor any whispers from the community about this guy, at least that I have seen.  One of the comments on the church website though  did cast suspicion on a grandson, I believe.

Yes, I did see that and I'm questioning perhaps a son or grandson of the pastor.  I suppose what I'm going to say is naive on my part, but since the pastor is up there in age 77, that in itself is troubling to think he had something to do with this, but I guess he certainly could, or maybe he has a good idea who may have.

Very good point about the Pastor's age.  I also think it is odd, very odd, that the body is described as fully clothed.  For if not a sex crime, what would the motive be against a child so young?  I am thinking that LE is very carefully controlling the info that is put out there and that maybe we don't have the whole story.

I wondered about fully clothed also, and pages back there are posts about redressing the victim, if I recall this right that some perps who are very fond of the victim may dress the person after they die. I think it was Jean Cassares on HLN who even said her shoes, flip flops were on her feet.

[Kat_Gram]

The five year old is the great granddaughter of Lawless.

[Gypsy DD]

Here is one of the articles.  Also I think the article Kllassend quoted talked about the FBI being there today waiting on the search warrant

SNIP/
KTLA News

April 7, 2009

TRACY -- A search warrant has been issued for a neighborhood church that police say may hold clues in the disappearance and death of Sandra Cantu whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase.


http://www.ktla.com/landing_topstories/?Pastor-Questioned-in-Sandra-Cantu-Slayin=1&blockID=252627&feedID=1198

/SNIP

[Blink34]

Leslee-
the warrants are sealed as of this afternoon. There is an outstanding warrant on the church which has not been served unless they started searching now. "Served"means when they start processing the scene. But it is valid the second  a judge grants it.

Lt. Shenemen mentioned that several times today. IMO, they are awaiting a few results from the lab to begin, it would allow them to ammend anything they would need. OR, they just want the same team from the Sacramento Field Office of the FBI. That's what I would do.

[flossy]

Do we know anything about church employees or people who might have done any work there before?

[leslee]

It seems unusual to me, though certainly not impossible, that this  man who has a clean history would start his criminal life with such a brutal, brazen crime.  Often these types of perps engage in progressively worse crimes over time.  So far, at least, there has not been anything uncovered in the pastor's past nor any whispers from the community about this guy, at least that I have seen.  One of the comments on the church website though  did cast suspicion on a grandson, I believe.

Yes, I did see that and I'm questioning perhaps a son or grandson of the pastor.  I suppose what I'm going to say is naive on my part, but since the pastor is up there in age 77, that in itself is troubling to think he had something to do with this, but I guess he certainly could, or maybe he has a good idea who may have.

Very good point about the Pastor's age.  I also think it is odd, very odd, that the body is described as fully clothed.  For if not a sex crime, what would the motive be against a child so young?  I am thinking that LE is very carefully controlling the info that is put out there and that maybe we don't have the whole story.

I bolded....
" I can tell you that she was identified by the clothing she was wearing"
http://www.kron.com/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/961/reftab/36/t/Tracy-Police-Say-Local-Pastor-is-Not-the-Prime-Suspect-in-Sandra-Cantu-s-Murder/Default.aspx Around 2:41 into tape.
This tells me that the clothing was in the suitcase also but not necessarily on her body. I am wondering if this is not some teenage rebellious act carried out in the church to desecrate it.

[Blink34]

The five year old is the great granddaughter of Lawless.

Kassandra Diaz?
How do you know that, is there a link?

[ISpy]

Don't just teach your kids/nieces and nephews about NOT talking to strangers because odds are if something happens it will be someone they know.

Let them know that Adults do not EVER need a kids help. Not to find another child, to ask for directions or to find a lost ball/puppy/kitty, etc...
That their body is their own and if anyone ever tries to touch them, to tell another adult. Never keep it a secret.
That if any adult tries to take them or pull them into a car to scream NO, fight, bite, punch, and scream bloody murder.

ITA Good points Pinky.

Actually, we were taught by local LE that instead of teaching your child to yell "NO!", you should teach them to yell loudly and clearly "THIS IS NOT MY MOTHER/FATHER!" along with "HELP!".  The y said that most people seeing a child kicking, screaming, nad yelling "NO!" would assume the child was just misbehaving/not wanting to leave the store or playground or whatever.  By teaching them to yell specifically "THIS IS NOT MY MOTHER/FATHER.", that will get a reaction from passersby.  They recommended actually practicing it at home.  We also teach how to bite someone's hand very hard if they try to cover your mouth and then yelling our phrase. 

[N2WISHN]

Leslee-
the warrants are sealed as of this afternoon. There is an outstanding warrant on the church which has not been served unless they started searching now. "Served"means when they start processing the scene. But it is valid the second  a judge grants it.

Lt. Shenemen mentioned that several times today. IMO, they are awaiting a few results from the lab to begin, it would allow them to ammend anything they would need. OR, they just want the same team from the Sacramento Field Office of the FBI. That's what I would do.

Here's an article saying the church has been searched twice already today

snipped
Early Tuesday, investigators left Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where the girl lived with her family, after collecting evidence. The nearby church was also searched, but police did not release details about what -- if anything -- they found.

Tracy police and the FBI searched the church again Tuesday afternoon. A blue tent was set up outside, and some investigators wore white suits.

http://www.ksbw.com/news/19122181/detail.html


Not sure what to believe..........

[no rose colored glasses]

The five year old is the great granddaughter of Lawless.

That would make sense a great granddaughter, thanks.

[Kat_Gram]

The five year old is the great granddaughter of Lawless.

Kassandra Diaz?
How do you know that, is there a link?

The pastor's wife, in the article Klaasend posted said GG five years, but the girl was not named.

[sleepyhead]

We don't know that his church is floundering.
There could have been some junk in the suitcase that tied it to Lawless or the church.
He could have been working with a troubled soul ???
What was going on at the church that night to make an eight year old go there ?
.....
Because this man is a man of cloth and has kept his nose clean maybe it just an association. 

There could have been a paper with info about the church on it in the suitcase. Whoever put her in the suitcase, may not have looked in it to make sure nothing was in the pockets of it. Very well could have been something in there.

[klaasend]

The five year old is the great granddaughter of Lawless.

Kassandra Diaz?
How do you know that, is there a link?

There was an article saying that is the 5yr old she was playing with that afternoon BUT, that doesn't say she is the granddaughter of Lawless.

[Kat_Gram]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/07/BA8016UFO2.DTL&tsp=1

(snipped)

Sandra's family does not attend Clover Road Baptist Church, neighbors said. The church's Web site said Lawless has headed the church since 1981 and has three grown children and nine grandchildren.

snipped
""We were very open to them taking anything they wanted to take," Connie Lawless said. "We feel that the more people they can eliminate, the quicker they'll get to the truth of the matter."

She said police were also probably interested in them because Sandra played with their 5-year-old great-granddaughter. "She was at our house quite often," Connie Lawless said. "She was the sweetest little thing. It breaks our heart to think that anyone would take such a tiny little thing, abuse her and murder her."

She said Sandra and her sister are "like children to us, our own children." "

[leslee]

Here is one of the articles.  Also I think the article Kllassend quoted talked about the FBI being there today waiting on the search warrant

SNIP/
KTLA News

April 7, 2009

TRACY -- A search warrant has been issued for a neighborhood church that police say may hold clues in the disappearance and death of Sandra Cantu whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase.


http://www.ktla.com/landing_topstories/?Pastor-Questioned-in-Sandra-Cantu-Slayin=1&blockID=252627&feedID=1198

/SNIP

Ok LOL...I read this thing three times and can not find the part you snipped:
http://www.ktla.com/landing_topstories/?Pastor-Questioned-in-Sandra-Cantu-Slayin=1&blockID=252627&feedID=1198

Church Searched, Pastor Questioned in Sandra Cantu Slaying



KTLA News

April 7, 2009

TRACY - Police are searching a neighborhood church that police say may hold clues in the disappearance and death of Sandra Cantu whose body was found Monday stuffed in a suitcase.

Clover Road Baptist Church was cordoned off just hours after the 8-year old's body was discovered by farm workers draining an irrigation ditch.

Police say the church's pastor, Lane Lawless, lives in the same mobile home park as the Cantu family and has already been interviewed twice by investigators.

Lawless told a local TV station that he and his wife spent last night talking to police and said they were questioned because they know Sandra and her family and were "close friends with her."

His wife, Connie, said their great granddaughter often played with Sandra.

Connie Lawless said the couple was fully cooperating with police. She said investigators took phones and a computer, among other items, from their home.

"We're very open to them taking whatever they want," she said.

"We feel the more people they can eliminate, the quicker they will be able to get to the truth."

Connie Lawless said they had nothing to do with the girl's abduction.

"She was the sweetest little thing. It breaks it our hearts to think that anyone would take such a tiny little thing and abuse her and murder her," she said.

Police are stressing that the pastor has not been arrested and is not the prime suspect in the murder of Sandra Cantu.

Meantime, officials say results of the autopsy conducted today on the 8-year old will not be available for four to six weeks.

The second-grader disappeared on March 27 from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Community.

According to family members, Sandra came home from school, kissed her mother, and left to play with a friend who lived a couple of houses down.

Surveillance camera footage released this weekend shows the girl skipping down the street.

"We just know that she had gone to the first house, and played for just a very short time.

And then she was on her way to another friend's house," said Lisa Encarnacion, the spokeswoman for Sandra's family.

"And we don't know, we can't confirm that she was there or she was not."
Her mother reported her missing about 8:00 that night.

Police have not identified any suspects in the girl's disappearance, but they have searched several homes.

[klaasend]

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090331/A_NEWS02/903310332

(snipped)

When she got home, Sandra left to play with a little girl named Kassandra in a home across the trailer park.

The girls played on a wooden swing tied to a tree in front of the house. They sat on the stoop and scribbled with crayons. They went inside and watched some of the movie "Flubber."

Then Kassandra told her mother, Maria Diaz, that Sandra had to go home to do homework, the 36-year-old mother told The Record.

(snipped)

IMO, nothing indicating that these people are related to the Lawless family.

[Kat_Gram]

Sorry. I be mixed up. Ms. Lawless didn't say Sandra was there that day, just that she was there often to play with 5 year old GG, no name for GG.

[leslee]

Leslee-
the warrants are sealed as of this afternoon. There is an outstanding warrant on the church which has not been served unless they started searching now. "Served"means when they start processing the scene. But it is valid the second  a judge grants it.

Lt. Shenemen mentioned that several times today. IMO, they are awaiting a few results from the lab to begin, it would allow them to ammend anything they would need. OR, they just want the same team from the Sacramento Field Office of the FBI. That's what I would do.

Here's an article saying the church has been searched twice already today

snipped
Early Tuesday, investigators left Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where the girl lived with her family, after collecting evidence. The nearby church was also searched, but police did not release details about what -- if anything -- they found.

Tracy police and the FBI searched the church again Tuesday afternoon. A blue tent was set up outside, and some investigators wore white suits.

http://www.ksbw.com/news/19122181/detail.html


Not sure what to believe..........

Ok at least this article mentions a WARRANT thank you N2Wishin 

[klaasend]

http://www.ksbw.com/news/19122181/detail.html

FBI Serves Search Warrant At Tracy Church
Sandra Cantu's Body Found Monday

POSTED: 5:57 pm PDT April 7, 2009
UPDATED: 7:23 pm PDT April 7, 2009



The FBI and Tracy police served a search warrant at Clover Road Baptist Church in connection with the death of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.
 


TRACY, Calif. -- The FBI served a search warrant at Clover Road Baptist Church on Tuesday afternoon in connection with the homicide of Sandra Cantu.

Cantu, 8, disappeared March 27, resulting in an intense hunt by police and community volunteers. No arrests have been made in connection with her death, considered a homicide.



FBI teams take evidence from Clover Road Baptist Church in Tracy.
 

Early Tuesday, investigators left Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where the girl lived with her family, after collecting evidence. The nearby church was also searched, but police did not release details about what -- if anything -- they found.

Tracy police and the FBI searched the church again Tuesday afternoon. A blue tent was set up outside, and some investigators wore white suits.

(snipped)

[Kat_Gram]

Ok, glad we straightened that one up.
Sandra and her sister  were know to the Lawless people.
I am tired, but perhaps now that this has happened, the sister has come forward with some stuff that led them to someone related to / around the Pastor.
..
Houshold hint. Do not grab the pancake syrup instead of the diswashing liquid.
Wear glasses in kitchen from now on.