Sandra Cantu #4 4/27/09 -

[A's Fever]

Here is a slightly different version of events:

http://www.ktvu.com/news/23892542/detail.html


Posted: 7:51 am PDT June 14, 2010
Updated: 5:30 pm PDT June 14, 2010

STOCKTON -- A Sunday school teacher who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering a neighbor girl in Northern California made a tearful apology to the victim's family Monday as she was sentenced to prison for the rest of her life.

The punishment came after Melissa Huckaby, 29, reached a plea deal with prosecutors that took the death penalty and the possibility of parole off the table in the killing of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu of Tracy, whose body was found in a suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond.

Huckaby offered no motive for the 2009 killing as she addressed the girl's mother, Maria Chavez. The victim was a playmate of Huckaby's daughter.

"I still cannot understand why I did what I did. This is a question I will struggle with for the rest of my life," Huckaby said, her voice trembling.

She said Sandra "did not suffer, and I did not sexually molest her."

"I'm asking you, Maria, for your forgiveness," Huckaby said. "I can't imagine forgiving someone who harmed my daughter. I hope someday you can forgive me."

Authorities had provided few details about the killing until Monday, when Judge Linda Lofthus lifted a gag order.

Prosecutors released a summary of their investigation that showed the cause of Sandra's death was "homicidal asphyxiation."

The summary included a pathologist's report saying she was found with a piece of bloody cloth tied around her head.

She also had injuries to her external genitalia that were consistent with a bent, bloodstained rolling pin found inside a church where Huckaby had taught, according to the report.

The blood stain matched Sandra's blood.

The victim's body also contained alprazolam, a prescription sedative commonly used to treat anxiety. Prescription bottles of alprazolam were found in Huckaby's purse and home, prosecutors said.

Prosecutor Tom Testa says he believes two other drugging cases were "practice attempts leading up to Sandra's killing." As part of a plea deal, charges for those previous cases were dropped.

Loftus later agreed to unseal search warrant affidavits and grand jury transcripts. The documents were not immediately made available, however, because the Cantu family was considering whether to appeal that ruling.

Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, had filed motions seeking to unseal the material.

Huckaby entered her surprise plea last month to first-degree murder with the special circumstance of kidnapping. All other charges, including allegations that she sexually abused the girl, were dropped as part of the plea deal.

Sandra's family asked the court to play a video depicting her short life. The footage brought many in the courtroom to tears, including Huckaby.

"She changed the lives of a lot of people. A lot of people," said Daniel Cantu, Sandra's father, who broke down as he addressed Huckaby.

"All I can say right now is, repent and think about what you've done," he said.

Sandra's aunt Angie Chavez told Judge Linda Lofthus that Huckaby robbed her family of the ability to see Sandra grow up, go to college, fall in love, get married and have children.

"No amount of explanation can make any sense of what she did or why she did it." Angie Chavez said. "The only solace we have as a family is to know that she will never do this again."

Sandra was last seen on a surveillance video walking through the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park on March 29, 2009. Prosecutors said Monday the girl can be seen looking in the direction of Huckaby's home before she goes off-camera.

Eight minutes later, the tape shows Huckaby driving her SUV from the mobile home park in the direction of her grandfather's church, where the bloody rolling pin was found.

A massive search ended April 6, 2009, when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase pulled from the pond a few miles from the community where she lived.

A couple later told authorities that they saw Huckaby and her SUV at the pond on the day of Sandra's disappearance, and the woman told the couple that she was there to urinate.

Huckaby was arrested less than a week later after telling a reporter the suitcase belonged to her but had been stolen from her driveway the day Sandra disappeared.

Huckaby showed authorities a note that she claimed she found at the mobile home park that read, "Cantu locked in stolin suitcase thrown in water onn Bacchetti Rd. & Whitehall Rd witness."

The handwriting on the note was similar to Huckaby's, prosecutors said.

Copyright 2010 by KTVU.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[JessStar]

 New Documents Give Gruesome Details on Cantu's Death
By JODI HERNANDEZ and LORI PREUITT
Updated 6:01 PM PDT, Mon, Jun 14, 2010

New and gruesome details about the death of an eight-year-old Tracy child were released on the day the girl's killer was sentenced to life in prison.

On Monday Melissa Huckaby, a Sunday school teacher who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering Sandra Cantu, made a tearful apology in open court.

The judge sentenced Huckaby to life in prison for her crimes.  Read more about a very emotional sentencing hearing here.

Huckaby offered no motive for the 2009 killing. "I still cannot understand why I did what I did. This is a question I will struggle with for the rest of my life," Huckaby said.

After court, the prosecutor released new documents that explained how she did what she did.  We want to warn some of the details are graphic.

The prosecution summary of the case says on March 28, 2009 Huckaby showed authorities a handwritten note she claimed she found in her trailer park that read: "Cantu locked in stolin suitcase thrown in water onn Bacchetti Rd. and Whitehall Rd witness."  The misspellings were from a direct copy of the note.

It goes on to say after finding the suitcase on April 6, police searched the church in the neighborhood where Huckaby was a member and Sunday school teacher.  They found a rolling pin with a bent handle and a bloody smudge. That blood contained Sandra Cantu's DNA. They also discovered one of the blinds was missing part of its draw cord, which and FBI expert determined to be consistent with cord used to tie shut the suitcase.

The San Joaquin County pathologist determine Sandra Cantu suffered a cut to her lower inner lip and an abrasion on her left elbow.  She also had injuries to external genitalia that were consistent with the diameter of the rolling pin handles. He listed cause of death "homicidal asphyxiation."  He found a piece of torn cloth tied around her head. It was soiled with blood and knotted into a noose.

 Toxicological analysis revealed her body contained alprazolam, which is a second generation of Benzodiazepine. A prescription bottle if Alprazolam was found in Huckaby's purse.

 "It's hard for me to believe that Sandra Cantu did not suffer," Deputy District Attorney Tom Testa said following the hearing.

District Attorney James Willett said he was satisfied with the plea deal as a way to avoid a costly trial that could drag on for years. He believes the outcome would have been the same, with a jury sentencing Huckaby to a life term.  "California's death penalty is a joke," he said.

Defense attorney Sam Behar declined comment outside court.

Prior to Monday, authorities have released few details about the March 2009 killing.

At the sentencing, Lofthus lifted a gag order that had been in place since last year.  In a separate hearing, Loftus agreed to unseal search warrant affidavits and grand jury transcripts in the case. The documents were not immediately made available, however, because the victim's family was considering whether to appeal that ruling.

Sandra was last seen on a surveillance video walking through the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park on March 29, 2009.

A massive search ended 10 days later when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase pulled from the pond a few miles from the community where she lived.


http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/New-Documents-Give-Gruesome-Details-on-Cantus-Death-96314689.html

[JessStar]

God Bless You Sandra.  You are in my heart forever. 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Sandra Cantu case archive album is updated, and will be more tomorrow.

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm166/crankycrankerson/Sandra%20Cantu%20%20-CA-/

Who would ever think this woman did this horrible crime. I never get used to it.
 Sickening.

[Gizzie]

Haven't seen the part about the alcohol soaked rag before! True monster!

Investigation Closely Linked Huckaby With Murder

Investigative Summary Against Melissa Huckaby (.pdf) [Graphic Content]

http://cbs13.com/local/evidence.melissa.huckaby.2.1751581.html

STOCKTON (CBS/AP) ―

Melissa Huckaby's tearful apology to the family of Sandra Cantu admitted responsibility for the death, but denied sexually assaulting her and said the eight-year-old girl did not suffer.

Her guilty plea to murder means authorities will never have the chance to prove otherwise in court.

Some evidence in the case was released Monday and more will be released later this week, but investigators say one key question may never be answered: Why? Even Huckaby may not have the answer.

"I still cannot understand why I did what I did. This is a question I will struggle with for the rest of my life," she said in a prepared statement Monday, struggling to keep her composure.

San Joaquin County Judge Linda Lofthus sentenced Huckaby to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the former Sunday school teacher delivered a surprise guilty plea last month.

Judge Loftus also ruled in favor of media outlets who had asked for the sealed records in the case to be released. Grand jury transcripts will be revealed Tuesday and the rest of the documents will be released Friday.

Photos of Sandra's remains will not be released.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said in a press conference Monday prosecutors were initially confident they would seek the death penalty against Huckaby soon after her arrest, describing the evidence against her as overwhelming.

The timeline investigators had built against Huckaby showed how closely police were able to tie the suspect to the physical evidence of the case.

On January 17, 2009, a seven-year-old girl tested positive for benzodiazepines, a muscle relaxant, after spending time with Huckaby. The girl's mother told CBS13 in May 2009 she called 911 after finding her daughter missing when she came home from work, but police couldn't prove Huckaby was responsible at the time.

On March 1, 2009, ex-boyfriend Daniel Plowman was arrested for driving under the influence and tested positive for benzodiazepines after taking "cough medicine" from Huckaby. Prosecutors would later call him a victim and a witness against Huckaby and described his drugging as a "test run" for Sandra.

At 3:54 p.m. on March 27, 2009, a security camera recorded the last images of Sandra Cantu alive as the little girl skipped along Cherry Lane in the Orchard Estates Home Park. Eight minutes later, Huckaby drove out of the park in her vehicle.

Every piece of evidence, Deputy D.A. Testa said Monday, points to Huckaby murdering Cantu at a nearby church within the next hour. An item found in the church -- where Huckaby taught Sunday school classes -- had smudges of Sandra's blood, and injuries to the young girl's body are consistent with that item.

The investigative summary described a vicious murder inside the church, leaving the young girl with wounds all over her body. Huckaby killed Sandra Cantu by smothering her with a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol, prosecutors said.

Even though investigators said Huckaby drugged the girl with benzodiazepines, the level of trauma inflicted before her death stands in sharp contrast to Huckaby's claim that the victim did not suffer.

"It's hard for me to believe that Sandra Cantu did not suffer," Testa said.

Between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on March 27, 2009, an ex-Marine and his wife spotted Huckaby and her SUV at a holding pond on Whitehall Road, a few miles away from Sandra's home.

Maria Chavez, Sandra's mother, called 911 before 8:00 p.m. that day, sparking a massive search. About half an hour later, Huckaby turned over a note she claimed to have found inside the mobile home park, rife with spelling errors: "Cantu locked in stolin suitcase thrown in water onn Bacchetti Rd. & Whitehall Rd witness."

The handwriting appeared to be disguised but bore similarities to Huckaby's handwriting, prosecutors said

On April 6, 2009, a farmer found a black Eddie Bauer suitcase floating in the holding pond on Whitehall Road after about a foot and a half of water was drained out. Police said they had searched the pond before, but the smell of waste prevented cadaver dogs from identifying any remains.

Sandra Cantu was found dead inside the suitcase. Later that day, the San Joaquin County pathologist performed an autopsy that lasted more than 10 hours to exhaustively document Sandra's injuries and evidence found in the bag.

Testa said the coroner recently shared with him how deeply the process affected him.

"He explained to me that he lifted Sandra Cantu's body out of the suitcase… he actually spoke to her and said, 'Sandra, talk to me. Tell me who killed you. Tell me who did this to you,'" Testa said.

Authorities zeroed in on Huckaby after she admitted to a reporter the black suitcase Sandra was found in was hers, claiming it had been stolen the day the victim disappeared.

Prescription bottles of the drug used to sedate Sandra were found in Huckaby's purse and home, and the cord used to tie the suitcase shut came from the missing draw cord of one of the church's blinds.

Using the physical evidence and the eyewitness report of Huckaby at the pond where Cantu's body was found, Tracy police officers brought Huckaby into the police station for a six-hour interview on April 10, 2009.

Early the next morning, Huckaby was arrested for kidnapping and murdering Sandra.

Since her arrest, Huckaby has attempted suicide multiple times in custody and her appearance has changed dramatically.

She escaped the possibility of being sentenced to death by pleading guilty last month, a deal District Attorney James Willett said was just. With the California death penalty system in indefinite limbo while facing legal challenges, Huckaby probably would have died of old age anyway, Willett said.

"California's death penalty is a joke," he said.

[Gizzie]

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-news-huckaby-neighbor-reacts-sentencing,0,546624.story

Neighbors React To Huckaby Sentencing


Outside the neighborhood where Sandra Cantu lived, Orchard Estates in Tracy, police officers were asking the media not to go in, and neighbors were apprehensive to react on-camera to Melissa Huckaby's sentencing Monday.

Except Coleen Toon.

"Today is a day...Melissa Huckaby gets the justice done that she deserves," says Toon.

On summer days like this, Sandra Cantu isn't at the pool with her sister like it used to be. That's a memory Toon will miss.
"When I first moved here three years ago, Sandra was the first person that I met, and she would knock on my door almost everyday and wanted to know if I needed help with anything," recalls Toon.

Everybody in the neighborhood knew Sandra. Since her murder back in March 2009, Toon says people in the neighborhood have changed and grown closer. But at the church down the street where Sandra went with her family, neighbors say they don't see too many people anymore.

"It would be really nice if this was the end and there's closure. But, unfortunately, for us in here, we won't ever have any closure. It's not something that you can ever forget."

[Gizzie]

http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Breaking+News-+Court+records+unsealed+in+Sandra+Cantu+case%20&id=7930511

STOCKTON — Judge Linda Lofthus decided this afternoon to unseal most of the grand jury transcript and most of the evidence that police used to charge Melissa Huckaby in the kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Tracy girl Sandra Cantu.

The only portion of the grand jury transcripts that will remain sealed involves the identity of a minor — a 7-year-old girl who Huckaby allegedly drugged in January 2009.

Lofthus said she wants to protect the identity of the girl and her mother but unsealed the rest of the grand jury transcripts, which includes descriptions of how Huckaby kidnapped, drugged and murdered Sandra last March.

The judge also ruled that the autopsy photos remain sealed, but said the release of the autopsy results, which are not part of the grand jury documents, remains up to the county sheriff-coroner’s office.

The search warrants and affidavits specifically involving Huckaby will become public documents, along with most of the evidence from the grand jury transcripts. Most photos will be available, with the exception of the autopsy photos, which she said would remain sealed to protect the privacy and rights of Sandra’s family.

She said her ruling was a balance between the public’s right to know and the family’s right to privacy.

“None of these were easy decisions for me, but that is the job,” Lofthus said this afternoon in the Department 34 courtroom.

Sandra’s family has fought to keep the records sealed, and lawyers for the family asked to postpone making the records public so they can decide whether to appeal Loftus’ ruling.

Lofthus said the attorneys could have until 1:30 p.m. Friday, June 18, to file an appeal. If no appeal is made by then, documents will be made available for the public.

Before Loftus made her ruling, she heard arguments from the district attorney, lawyers representing the family and lawyers representing three media outlets, including The Record in Stockton.

Stewart Tabak, a lawyer from Stockton who represents Sandra’s sister, Simone, compared the media to a “spoiled child” that “just doesn’t like the word, ‘no.’”

“What is out there is already too much,” he said.

Both Tabak and Archie Bakerink, a lawyer from Tracy who represents Sandra’s mother, Maria, said that Marsy’s Law, a 2008 amendment to the state constitution, gives crime victims’ close relatives the right to privacy.

Lofthus said she addressed the concerns about photos falling into the wrong hands by sealing those taken during Sandra’s autopsy. She said details of the sealed photos are described in the grand jury transcripts, which will make the information public without making the actual images viewable.

She added that the decision to keep the photos private is best for Sandra’s siblings who are minors. Lofthus also said she wanted to keep the images from showing up on the Internet.

“Once published, it goes viral,” she said.

She said she has “confidence” that mainstream media outlets would use the information in a responsible manner, but expressed some concern about bloggers and those “on the fringe of mainstream media.”

• Contact reporter Jaclyn Hirsch at 830-4223 or jhirsch@tracypress.com.

Read more: Tracy Press - Breaking News Court records unsealed in Sandra Cantu case

[no rose colored glasses]

Thanks Gizzie for all the updates, it just takes your breath away. They must have Melissa on some heavy duty medications, she is bloated and fat from them.

[Gizzie]

Thanks Gizzie for all the updates, it just takes your breath away. They must have Melissa on some heavy duty medications, she is bloated and fat from them.

Your welcome NoRose! It does take your breath away! She sure did gain a lot of weight in a year. I don't have an ounce of sympathy for her. Nope!

I can't get over her claiming she didn't sexually molest Sandra, yet the evidence says otherwise, and if she were truly asking for forgiveness, then she should have admitted to the truth!

I can only imagine Sandra's family's anger after that statement, as it would have left me with more questions than answers.

[Gizzie]

http://www.kcra.com/news/23904240/detail.html

I Can't Forgive Huckaby, Cantu's Mom Says
Woman Sentenced In Girl's Slaying

POSTED: 7:24 am PDT June 15, 2010
UPDATED: 7:34 am PDT June 15, 2010

TRACY, Calif. -- The mother of slain 8-year-old Tracy resident Sandra Cantu said Tuesday she cannot forgive Melissa Huckaby, who admitted killing the girl.


"I can't forgive somebody that took my little girl from me," Maria Chavez told "Today."

Huckaby was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Cantu's disappearance and death drew international media coverage last year. The girl's body was found in the luggage sunken in an irrigation pond a couple of miles north of the Tracy mobile home park where she lived.

Huckaby on Monday begged Chavez for forgiveness and apologized.

"I know in my heart that God has forgiven me," Huckaby said in court. "I know my family has forgiven me, and I'm asking you, Maria, for your forgiveness."

Huckaby said Cantu did not suffer, but court and investigative documents suggest otherwise. Prosecutors said the girl died of asphyxiation.

A gag order in the case was also lifted Monday, and a judge said she is releasing case information in a way that balances the right of Cantu's family to privacy with the public's right to know what happened.

The judge is releasing a grand jury report transcript, a pre-sentencing report and hundreds photos and exhibits. Autopsy images will not be released.

Chavez said she was glad to hear that autopsy photos will not be made public.

[AmandaReckonwith]

I have a very sickening thought and wonder...
Melissa killed Sandra in the church. Her own family's church.

I wonder if she killed her on the altar and ritualistically, and was that done to her as a child.

Yeah... sick I know, but I think these people are freaks.
I was convinced they were freaks when they preached their Easter service from that pulpit.

I hate Melissa Huckaby with a hatred I have not felt since John Couey.

[Gizzie]

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-news-pleameansnodeathpenaltyforhuckaby,0,3746530.story

Huckaby Plea: Why Prosecutors Passed On Capital Murder Trial

Ben Deci FOX40 News

June 15, 2010

Stockton, CA - Melissa Huckaby leaves the San Joaquin County Courthouse today with her life. She will spend that life in prison, but takes with her only the conviction for murdering 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. She's not, according to the record at least, a rapist.

"I should not have taken Sandra. And I want you to know that she did not suffer and I did not sexually molest your daughter," Huckaby read from a prepared statement in court.

"I found that statement strange, and I don't think a jury would have accepted it," said Thomas Testa, who prosecuted her case.

So why didn't prosecutors seek the death penalty. Why did they accept a plea that leaves out rape?


"The family and I are grateful we didn't have to go through a trial," said Angie Chavez, Sandra Cantu's aunt.

And it was in no small part because the family was so involved, so determined through a gag-order to keep the details of Sandra's death concealed. Certainly what we already know is hard enough to take: a bloody rolling pin… a forced rubbing alcohol stupor… a child's body zipped into a suitcase and dumped in a pond…

"We are satisfied with the outcome of this case. We believe justice has been served," said Chief Janet Thessen, of the Tracy Police.

But ultimate justice may just have been too costly. The State of California would have had to spend an estimated million more dollars to try for the death penalty, with no guarantee a jury would have imposed the ultimate sentence.

"And frankly, right now California's death penalty is a complete joke. We don't even have a lethal injection protocol. There's a great likelihood, if a jury had returned a death verdict, Melissa Huckaby would have died of old age in jail. And that's exactly where we are today," said James Willett, San Joaquin County District Attorney.

Exactly where we are today: with Melissa Huckaby found guilty- yes. But with justice for Sandra Cantu? The depends on how you define justice.

[Gizzie]

NoRose ~ You were correct in that she is taking medications!

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100615/A_NEWS/6150311

Sad story's final chapter
Melissa Huckaby sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder of Sandra Cantu

STOCKTON - In a tearful courtroom scene Monday, Melissa Huckaby admitted she still didn't grasp what drove her to kill 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

"I still cannot understand why I did what I did," she said. "This is a question I will struggle with for the rest of my life."

Those words came just moments before a judge sentenced Huckaby, 30, to spend the rest of her natural life in state prison. Huckaby pleaded guilty last month to kidnapping and murder rather than face a death sentence at trial.

Huckaby also accepted guilt and said she regretted what she did.

"It is not enough that I said I'm sorry," she said. "But it's all I can do."

At times unable to speak, Huckaby read from a prepared statement. She said she acted alone and apologized for causing pain to her own family, the Tracy community and, most of all, to Maria Chavez, Sandra's mother.

"I loved Sandra a great deal," Huckaby said. "She was a sweet, innocent girl who did not deserve to have such a short life."

She asked Chavez, who sat nearby in a relative's embrace, to forgive her one day.

Huckaby drew audible sobs from Sandra's family when she denied one of the initial charges in the crime. Prosecutors had accused Huckaby of rape.

"I want you to know that she did not suffer, and I did not sexually molest your daughter," Huckaby said.

Outside court, Tracy police Detective Tim Bauer, who led the investigation, rebuffed Huckaby's denial and pointed to forensic evidence indicating sexual assault.

Sandra vanished March 27, 2009, from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where she lived doors from Huckaby, a former Sunday school teacher. Sandra was a playmate of Huckaby's daughter.

Farm workers discovered Sandra's body 10 days later crammed inside a black suitcase, which eventually was linked to Huckaby.

Huckaby walked into court shackled and in jail clothes. More than 100 people crowded into the courtroom for Huckaby's sentencing. They included San Joaquin County District Attorney James Willett and Tracy Police Chief Janet Thiessen. Nine bailiffs kept watch over Huckaby and the crowd.

Sandra's mother didn't say anything Monday, but her aunt, Angie Chavez, stood to speak for the grieving family. She first played a multimedia slide show of Sandra throughout her life - including pictures of her as a baby and as a toddler.

The final image came from a surveillance camera in the Orchard Estates park. It showed Sandra, carefree, skipping down the street near her home. That was the last image of Sandra alive.

Huckaby covered her eyes. Many in the courtroom, including members of Huckaby's family, cried at some of the pictures.

"Seeing these images of Sandra are bittersweet," Angie Chavez said. "They're the last images of her we will ever see."

Chavez said she and her family will never see Sandra grow into a woman, learn to drive, go to the prom, get married or have her own family.

Sandra had told her aunt that she dreamed one day of becoming a nurse.

"We will never understand why she took our sweet angel from us," Chavez said.

Sandra's father, Daniel Cantu, also spoke. At first a suspect in his daughter's disappearance, he spoke Monday as a grieving father. He said he is often overcome by emotion.

He struggled with conflicting feelings of hatred for Huckaby and a belief he should also forgive. Huckaby took the life of an innocent child who was not old enough to decide for herself when it was OK to eat ice cream, he said.

"All I can say right now is for her to repent and think about what she's done," Cantu said of Huckaby.

Huckaby's mother, Judy Lawless, said she grieves and prays for Sandra's family every day, and that will never end. Lawless said she understands their anger toward Huckaby, adding that she would feel the same way.

"From mother to mother, I am so sorry," Lawless said, looking straight at Sandra's mother.

In the end, San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus said the sentence she imposed was no mystery. The law mandates a term of life in prison for anybody convicted of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of kidnapping, she said.

Michael Burt, one of Huckaby's two attorneys, urged the judge to send a recent psychological profile with Huckaby to state prison. He wanted to make sure she stayed on her prescription medicine.

Burt also asked that prosecutors deliver a handwritten letter from Huckaby to Maria Chavez. The prosecutor read the letter and said he would deliver it.

[no rose colored glasses]

I have seen that bloated fat look from medications and that is what I figured, thanks for that article.  Living in CA I totally believe this was the right sentence, the Death Penalty in this state is nothing but a joke. I don't blame Sandra's mother for not forgiving Melissa, I couldn't either, no way.

[Gizzie]

I have a very sickening thought and wonder...
Melissa killed Sandra in the church. Her own family's church.

I wonder if she killed her on the altar and ritualistically, and was that done to her as a child.

Yeah... sick I know, but I think these people are freaks.
I was convinced they were freaks when they preached their Easter service from that pulpit.

I hate Melissa Huckaby with a hatred I have not felt since John Couey.

I don't know the answer but it honestly would not surprise me one bit.

These people are freaks and I hope, if there's more to this story, that it's revealed one day. I'd hate for anyone else involved to get away with this and be able to hurt another child!

And I agree, Huckaby and Couey are equally disgusting and I hate them both as well!

[Gizzie]

I have seen that bloated fat look from medications and that is what I figured, thanks for that article.  Living in CA I totally believe this was the right sentence, the Death Penalty in this state is nothing but a joke. I don't blame Sandra's mother for not forgiving Melissa, I couldn't either, no way.

I think so too about the sentence. I prefer life anyway, especially when they're thrown in gen. pop. That's where she needs to be for the rest of her pathetic life!

[no rose colored glasses]

I have a very sickening thought and wonder...
Melissa killed Sandra in the church. Her own family's church.

I wonder if she killed her on the altar and ritualistically, and was that done to her as a child.

Yeah... sick I know, but I think these people are freaks.
I was convinced they were freaks when they preached their Easter service from that pulpit.

I hate Melissa Huckaby with a hatred I have not felt since John Couey.

I don't know the answer but it honestly would not surprise me one bit.

These people are freaks and I hope, if there's more to this story, that it's revealed one day. I'd hate for anyone else involved to get away with this and be able to hurt another child!

And I agree, Huckaby and Couey are equally disgusting and I hate them both as well!

I unfortunately had thought that also. Can't shake the feeling that Melissa was not the only person involved, and if she wasn't I pray that the person/people who maybe involved get their due as well.

[no rose colored glasses]

The smothering with a cloth with rubbing alcohol on it, that is just sick and baffling to me. Why rubbing alcohol, and what was the purpose of that? When I read the one article posted, I sure wasn't expecting to see what she had all done to little Sandra, what a monster.

[Tracygirl]

Such a sad story. Many believe that church will be burned down by an angry mob. I have to say, I think they should tear it down. Now that it is known to them for a fact she killed Sandra there, they need to bring the church down out of respect.

[Wyks]

Debated long whether or not to post this.  Scroll on by if you'd rather not read my thoughts at this time.

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My sincerest apologies to those deciding to read, am using a few of the LEAST graphic terms I can think of.  Please protect your senses.

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I don't believe that Melissa herself was the main perp.  She brought Sandra there, perhaps helped to prep Sandra for ritual - using the cloth dipped in rubbing alcohol (a cleansing 'purifier') - using a utensil to .. well.. Sandra was a virgin and the perp needed her prepped for what HE then likely did next - same cloth used to then kill her.  Very likely all done on/near the altar.  (the idea of religious ritual/sexual abuse are not new thoughts, read these threads from wayyyyyy back).  I believe Melissa spoke the truth in what SHE didn't do.  She helped to some extent yes.  (attendant at altar).  She also is covering and taking the full brunt for what someone else did to Sandra.  And yes, very likely much of the same was done to Melissa herself, while very young.  I can only hope and pray that Sandra was heavily drugged thruout and knew/felt nothing, until her spirit was released to God.  And yes, that building needs to come down. One way or another.  IMO. 

My only question at this point......... where was Gpa pastor??