Sunday School Teacher Melissa Huckaby Arrested in Connection to Death of 8-Year-Old Sandra Cantu

Tracy (California) Police had said on several occasions that they were closing in on a suspect in the Sandra Cantu murder. It was not just a placatory assurance for the public and the Cantu family. At 11:55 p.m. Friday evening (April 10) they arrested Melissa Huckaby, a Sunday school teacher who had previously told police that she had seen 8-year-old Sandra Cantu the day she went missing.

According to the Associated Press, Tracy Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said that Melissa Huckaby had driven herself to the police station at the request of the police around 7 p.m. After five hours of questioning, the information she gave was enough to give Tracy Police probable cause for an arrest.

Sandra Cantu went missing sometime after 4 p.m. on March 27 after visiting a friend's house to play after school. She said she was going home to do homework. A surveillance video camera showed an image of her walking away from her mobile home at 4 p.m. And then... nothing.

Worried, her mother notified the Tracy Police around 8 p.m. Within hours, local and state authorities were joined by the FBI. Houses and trailers were searched. Cars entering and leaving the mobile home park where Sandra Cantu lived were stopped and searched. Parked vehicles were searched, towed, and studied. People were questioned. Tips came in. The search area spread. The investigation wore on...

Melissa Huckaby told The Tracy Press that Sandra Cantu had visited her home on the day she went missing. She said she had turned her away -- her own 5-year-old daughter had to pick up her toys -- and Sandra had went off to find another playmate. Huckaby also told the paper that she had left a piece of luggage in her driveway and that later it was missing.

Sandra Cantu was found April 6 when nearby farm workers drained an irrigation pond and found a submerged piece of luggage. The little girl's body was found inside.

Melissa Huckaby seems to have a history of mental illness. She has been sentenced to check in with a county mental health program next week in connection to a petty theft. She told The Tracy Press that someone else with the same name was facing charges for attempted theft from a Target store in November.

The question that Sandra Cantu's family is now asking is: Why? What could have been caused the 28-year-old woman to kill the little girl, stuff her in a piece of luggage, then throw her into an irrigation pond?

Of course, there will be other questions, but none more important to the family. There will be the what and how questions, some of which the family probably would just as well leave to the police and the prosecutors that will take the case to trial. What happened? What were the circumstances? How was the murder accomplished?

There will also be the where questions, also more suited toward the investigative and prosecutorial end. Where did the murder occur? Where was this person and this person?

The where questions are inevitably tied to the when questions. When did the murder occur? Tracy Police said Saturday morning that they believe that Sandra Cantu was already dead by the time they were notified. Still, when exactly was this act committed? When was that act committed? Where was the actor and the victim when a particular action occurred?

Was it at all preventable?

But the family will want to know why. Why becomes the central focus when someone dear becomes missing or has been taken from one's life. Why was the person missing? Why were they taken? Why were they killed?

And it seems that the younger the person is, the more important the why becomes. The killing of a child becomes an unfathomable. Why kill a small being that poses no real threat, cannot do any great harm, and generally shows no intention of doing so? What becomes the motivation for this act of elimination? When it is the social norm to protect the smaller, the more defenseless, and those less able to independently act in their own best interests, what causes an adult person to kill a child?

Melissa Huckaby was arrested. No others have been arrested in connection to Sandra Cantu's disappearance and killing. But an arrest does not mean that Huckaby murdered the little girl. Although suspicious, especially considering the statement about the luggage, Huckably might simply be one of several involved in Sandra Cantu's death.

Angie Chavez, Sandra Cantu's cousin, learned of the arrest Saturday morning. She told the Associated Press, "I want to know why she did it, if she did it."

Melissa Huckaby lives in the same mobile home park, Orchard Estates, as did Sandra Cantu. She shares the same mobile as her father, Pastor Clifford Lawless, who oversees the Clover Road Baptist Church. The church, which is where Melissa Huckaby is a Sunday school teacher, became part of the investigation as well. Huckaby's family has been questioned, buildings and vehicles searched.

Everyone is searching for answers.

How it is all interconnected is as yet unclear. Whether there was one or several perpetrators is as yet unknown. Still, an arrest has been made. But there is still the why of it.

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Source:

Associated Press