The accused killer of 8-year old Sandra Cantu was arraigned in San Joaquin County Superior Court in Stockton this afternoon. As expected, 28-year old Melissa Huckaby was charged with murder, but the special circumstance charges give horrible insight into what actually happened to Sandra.
The San Joaquin County District Attorney added charges of murder during the commission of a kidnapping, lewd or lascivious act on a child, and rape with a foreign object.
Sandra was found on April 6 in Melissa Huckaby’s suitcase floating in an irrigation pond. Police believe Sandra was dead before her mother knew she was missing.
Lead into a packed courtroom, Huckaby was shackled at the waist and ankles, and cried through most of the arraignment. She did not enter a plea and was assigned a public defender.
No decision has been made regarding the death penalty at this time. Huckaby's next court appearance will be on April 24.
There is very little academic information regarding female rapists/killers who kill children that are not their own. Melissa Huckaby may become one of the most studied child killers in modern history.
Video of court appearance
Link to PDF Document of the Complaint
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12 comments:
As a woman, this story sickens me beyond comprehension. I am afraid to hear the details on the story of what happened to this little girl.
I just cannot get my mind around the question "why"?
Unless Melissa Huckaby was similarly sexually abused as a child, and for very sick reasons resented pretty and happy little Sandra her normalcy and joy.
This case, from initial appearances, is very much about the “why,” and consequently the penalty to be imposed: Death, or life without the possibility of parole.
She looks like a normal citizen. A mom....someone who would fit in any neighborhood. My goodness I don't understand this. How could this have happened. Were there ANY warning signs this lady was ready to explode? This crime is the worst thing I have ever heard. This lady is being accused of not only killing a child but rape with a foreign object. Dear Lord she needs help. I wanna puke
This case is so sickening and horrifying, I feel sorry for anyone having to be polluted with the details.
I so want to understand why she did this--this normal looking mom and Sunday school teacher, but then again, with each new detail, I just feel sicker and sicker to my stomach.
It always amazes me that criminals are so short-sighted that they never seem to realize they are destroying their own future, too. Are a few minutes of sickening depravity and inflicting pain on someone else worth spending the rest of their life in prison or getting the death penalty? Huckaby has also punished her own family and her little girl and for what? So many lives destroyed! I'll never get it.
Although the signs seem to point to Ms. Huckaby' guilt (apparent lies about the suitcase, etc.) there is definitely a part of me thinking "innocent until proven guilty." It would be hard to comprehend a mother and Sunday school teacher killing her child's friend, but to imagine rape with a foreign object?
If she truely did commit this crime, I, too, want to understand (as much as a non-sociopath can).
I suspect Ms Huckaby may have been a victim of child abuse herself. This is not an excuse, but is a typical profile of child abusers/killers. I'm sure it will all come out during the trial and that her own daughter may be a victim as well. So sad.
All I keep asking as I hear more details about this case is How could she do something like that?
How about her daughter, did she have any other children? Are they now been inspected and interrogated to see if they too were molested by her?
Thanks for the update!
I read somewhere in my wanderings that LE is looking for other children that might have had contact with her.
I hope and pray there are none, but if any come forward, it would be a great help for her prosecution.
There is so much we have yet to learn, and I am also very, very afraid to find out what it will be.
It's difficult to comprehend the betrayal that the little girl was subject to. Such evil. :(
After reading about a prior incident she was involved with I think that what might have happened is she might have drugged Sandra in order to molest her, and, in doing so, the little girl died. This seems to make sense.
This case makes me ill. I can't understand how a mother herself, could do this to someone else's child.
She needs to be studied, and then she needs to be executed! JMO
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