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

[pink angel]

I have nothing to add, except that I am sickened and angry, just like the rest of you. I will do whatever I can to help stop these sick f*cks from hurting anymore babies or people in general. Just point me in the direction of what I need to do. I am angry like the rest of you & will join you in helping to protect our children from pedophiles. What can I do, right now this instant? I am so angry I wanna break everything in my apartment.

Run a sex offender check in the area of a child you love and share it with their parents. The pray and hang with us.
B

Thank you, I actually already have done this with my brother & sister. They have kids, but I don't. But, I did show them all the REGISTERED SO's in their area & warned them that there are more. I will stay here with you guys, but, I see everyone talking about how this has to stop & I agree & want to help. Where do I start? Writing letters to congressmen? I think I may just write everybody, including the president & his wife.

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.

[Tracygirl]

Just something to think about. A red ribbon has a certain significance in the asian culter, especially japanese.

Maybe but it just so happens I have a red yarn ribbon on one of my pieces of luggage.  Very common to try and mark your luggage that way so it's easier to see.

I was once told by a very smart person  who worked as an investigator, if you wish to catch a criminal you cannot think like a sane person. In the japanese culture a red ribbon signifies a predestined love or faith. It ties to souls together. It is ironic to me a church was a location of interest...

Maybe I am really completely off base, but it is something interesting to consider.

[pink angel]

Just something to think about. A red ribbon has a certain significance in the asian culter, especially japanese.

I don't think there was any red ribbon.



From the presser notes:
Rode was paved.
Perp KNEW of that ROAD
Sgt. has lived in Tracy 9 years and NEVER been on that road

It was first reported there was a red ribbon tied on it

It was first reported by one station only that later redacted it. Google News "red ribbon sandra cantu" the only NEWS article that pops up, still has a link to the story with that in the title but the article was updated and red ribbon was removed.

LE said at the presser there was nothing attached to the suitcase.

[Blink34]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82542&page=11

Lordy, these poor posters fumbling all over trying to post a link to blinkoncrime with post after post of smackdowns. Then discussion of the contents.. This is about a dead baby.

[pink angel]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82542&page=11

Lordy, these poor posters fumbling all over trying to post a link to blinkoncrime with post after post of smackdowns. Then discussion of the contents.. This is about a dead baby.

I think it's ridiculous that they won't let people link to your articles. We are all working towards the same goal.

[Anna]

Just something to think about. A red ribbon has a certain significance in the asian culter, especially japanese.

Maybe but it just so happens I have a red yarn ribbon on one of my pieces of luggage.  Very common to try and mark your luggage that way so it's easier to see.

I was once told by a very smart person  who worked as an investigator, if you wish to catch a criminal you cannot think like a sane person. In the japanese culture a red ribbon signifies a predestined love or faith. It ties to souls together. It is ironic to me a church was a location of interest...

Maybe I am really completely off base, but it is something interesting to consider.

I used to have a red ribbon on my suitcase handles until my BIL came out of airport with somebody else's luggage who also had one when he picked me up one time.

Now mine is turquoise.

I don't recall whose tip it was to find the luggage marking it with a ribbon now as it has been several years ago but think it might have been Martha Stewart who came up with that idea.

[no rose colored glasses]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82542&page=11

Lordy, these poor posters fumbling all over trying to post a link to blinkoncrime with post after post of smackdowns. Then discussion of the contents.. This is about a dead baby.

I think it's ridiculous that they won't let people link to your articles. We are all working towards the same goal.

I totally agree, it's nuts.

[Anna]

Unless it was brand new luggage, I would think a suitcase would be just full of fibers and trace evidence, too.  Possibly even fingerprints inside.

[Anna]

A's I agree that it likely did not take four to carry.  They gave her an honor escort.

[goodnmad]

IMO an arrest will be made very soon ...

[Anna]

BBL for the next presser. . . . . LE is even keeping us well informed in a professional manner.

I think they have a reason for being confident.  I hope and pray I am right about that and they are not just seeming to be for PR reasons.

[jaggard19]

Last night, when I signed on here to "lurk", I read the sad news and cried.  Prayers to Sandra's family.

Everyone here agrees that it is time to do something.  I strongly suggest the following for those who are serious about wanting to do something:

1.  For the children in your family (and this includes grandchildren who visit their grandparents), get an I.D. kit from the local police department.  If your child or grandchild goes missing, how long will it take you to gather vital information?  It should be ready (and hopefully never needed).  This would include a current picture, weight, height, DOb info, DNA samples, identifying birth marks, phone numbers of parents, grandparents, list of relatives, and list of babysitters, etc.  The kits are usually available from the local police department.

2.  Join the Citzens on Patrol group in your neighborhood.  They are the eyes and ears of the police department.  They cannot make an arrest, do not interfere with a crime being committed, and carry no weapons.  But, they canvas their neighborhood 24/7.  Sure, there are times when there is no one available, but the criminal never knows what the time would be.  It is a presence in the neighborhood, and sometimes that is all that is needed.  Check it out on the web, then check out your local COP units.  If need be, call your local police office to find out the closest one to you.  It may take only one hour of your time a month, but tell me what else you are doing that is more important that safeguarding your neighborhood?

I shed many tears last night for Sandra.  Prayers for her family and friends.

[Blink34]

IMO an arrest will be made very soon ...

yes. I agree

[pink angel]

In wake of tragedy, Tracy could lead nation 
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Hope of rescuing 8 year-old Sandra Cantu collapsed yesterday, when police located the child's body in Tracy, California. But there is still hope for other Tracy children--and it's in the hands of Tracy leaders.

Law enforcement officials investigating the disappearance of Sandra Cantu recently revealed that they had identified 60 area suspects trafficking in child pornography online.

These criminals don't traffic in heroin or crack cocaine. They traffic in crime scene photos and movies of the rape, torture and degredation of children. And their foul market can only be supplied one way.

Research shows that a large percentage of the Tracy 60 will have local child victims. They will be parents, teachers, coaches, neighbors, even convicted sex offenders. Anyone who thinks these criminals are simply "looking at pictures" has his head deep in the sand while a human rights tragedy unfolds all around him.

The announcement about the Tracy 60 showed rare courage for a local police force. By acknowledging the existence of these criminals in their midst, Tracy authorities admitted publicly that they know where child predators are and just haven't dedicated the resources to go get them... yet.

Now Tracy has the opportunity to fire a shot that will be heard around the world. If they continue on with their investigation, tracking down every child pornography trafficker they have evidence of, they will surely save other Tracy children. They will prove the connection between child pornography crimes and child sexual assault in the most dramatic way possible, just when the entire nation is watching. And that will raise the stakes for communities who refuse to take similar action.

This operation will surely strain Tracy's limited resources. But in the wake of the murder of Sandra Cantu, how can Tracy do anything else?

http://www.protect.org/Newswire/California/In-wake-of-tragedy-Tracy-could-lead-nation.html

[Edward]

The day 8-year-old Sandra Cantu of Tracy went missing — March 27 — so did about 2,100 other kids throughout the country.

In San Joaquin County, 3,228 children were reported missing last year, according to the Department of Justice. Annually, at least 800,000 nationwide are reported missing. Another 500,000 disappear without anyone to report it, the feds say.

Of California’s 114,000 children reported missing last year, 106,000 were found or returned on their own. Thirty-five were found dead — two of them in San Joaquin County.

That leaves 8,000 California kids who never made it home last year and whose whereabouts remain a mystery.

But some, like Sandra, get extra attention.

Larry Bonney of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said that’s because Sandra’s disappearance is unusual in several ways.

“The reason we have a particular concern with her is because there is no satisfactory or logical reason that she went missing,” he said.

The case lacks evidence to point to what kind of disappearance it is — abduction, a runaway or something else, he noted. Sandra’s family believes their daughter was kidnapped. The Jacobson Elementary School second-grader usually stayed inside the bounds of the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, her family said, so it’s unlike her to have wandered off.

Surveillance footage that records the last moments before the girl went missing shows Sandra playfully skipping past her family’s home — no signs of anything suspicious as far as police can tell. But to say someone took Sandra is conjecture until evidence proves otherwise.

Still, with every day that passes without signs of Sandra, the implication becomes more ominous, said Bonney, who worked 26 years for the FBI before joining the missing children organization.

Sandra has been gone for 10 days now and in all of the 1,000 tips received by investigators police have yet to find one strong enough to help them narrow down the search.

Investigators found what appears to be a suitcase at the bottom of an irrigation pond on a dairy farm a couple miles away from Sandra’s home that might shed some light on the girl’s disappearance. But that’s the first solid lead since the desperate search started. FBI technicians said it might take until nightfall for them to open it up.

Otherwise, even the best tips have so far failed to lead police to Sandra.

“The more you search without finding the child, the greater the fear,” Bonney said.

The mystery surrounding Sandra’s disappearance, and the continued uncertainty of the investigation greatly fuel the media attention in the case, Bonney added.

“We have lots of missing children who get back home in a matter of hours,” he said. “When they go missing for this period of time, it raises the concern level considerably.”

In fact, the vast majority children reported missing eventually come home. And quickly.

Robert DeLeo, executive director of Petaluma-based Polly Klaas Foundation, said it’s tough to say what makes one missing child case more high profile than another.

Unusual circumstances play a part to catapult a story into the national spotlight he said.

And the age of a child could dictate the amount of attention a missing person gets, he added. Sandra’s youth implies vulnerability, Bonney and DeLeo said.

Most missing kids are younger than 10, though, according to a national registry compiled by the department of justice. And most of them were taken by family members in what are heated child custody battles, according to the state.

Only one in every 10,000 children reported missing was taken by violent or predatory kidnappers, according a state report. Of that number, the state says, 74 percent of the children end up murdered in a span of three hours after abduction.
Chances are the child ends up home again. When it begins to look like “foul play,” as the police call it, news gatherers pay extra attention.

Those are all just partial explanations, though, Bonney and DeLeo point out. What makes people curious is a broad question, affected by any number of case-by-case specifics.

“That’s a good question — ‘Why are some cases more high profile than others?’” DeLeo said. “I’m still learning that myself.”

The nonprofit foundation DeLeo directs was born out of a two-month search for a Petaluma girl, 12-year-old Polly Klaas, who was kidnapped and then murdered in 1993. Volunteers put together a “search and rescue” center that still stands to this day. Since then, the foundation has helped police state- and nationwide bring 7,100 reported missing children come home.

Though success stories are more common, the nonprofit has its share of children in the registry missing for six, seven and eight years. The group never labels them cold cases, DeLeo said.

“We always keep hope, we always keep cases going,” he said.

Ultimately, Bonney said, it’s up to the press to decide how much press a case gets.

“We don’t really have any control over the amount of press that’s involved with any particular child,” he said. “But any press, we consider to be a good thing.”

http://tracypress.com/content/view/17737/2268/

[Dolce]

I have nothing to add, except that I am sickened and angry, just like the rest of you. I will do whatever I can to help stop these sick f*cks from hurting anymore babies or people in general. Just point me in the direction of what I need to do. I am angry like the rest of you & will join you in helping to protect our children from pedophiles. What can I do, right now this instant? I am so angry I wanna break everything in my apartment.

Run a sex offender check in the area of a child you love and share it with their parents. The pray and hang with us.
B

Very good tip Blink.  My father does this on a monthly basis and shows the photos of each disgusting individual to my siblings so they know for sure.

[Dolce]

Trying to follow but I am confused.  Does the pastor live in Sandra's mobile home park?  And both his residence and his church have been identified as a crime scene?  But he was not one of the previously discussed POI's?

Correct on all the above

Nothing is shocking to me anymore.

[Dolce]

Yes, I have done that and my child was old enough for me to SHOW her their faces and warn her. I've also instructed her for many years now not to "be nice" if anyone tries anything. Nice girl goes out the damn window and you scream and kick and bite and gouge and run!

I will always remember what I heard on a talk show years ago -- advice for women's self-defense -- if they try to take you to second location fight with all you have right then and there because you are as good as dead if they succeed.

I always find acting "crazy" helps to deter potential attackers. Seriously. Scare the snit out of them.

Good post.

[Dolce]

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.

[Dolce]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82542&page=11

Lordy, these poor posters fumbling all over trying to post a link to blinkoncrime with post after post of smackdowns. Then discussion of the contents.. This is about a dead baby.

Some people just have no tact Blink, and that is why I am here at SM.  You are one of the best reporters I have ever read, you are informative, and you do your own investigations without relying on others to hold your hand.  Keep up the good work, and don't let those others get to you - they are not worth it!  (Or worth this post... )