Sandra Cantu Murder: Melissa Huckaby Arrested
Tracy, CA- At 2:59 AM PST, Melissa Huckaby, 28, was arrested on kidnapping and suspicion of murder charges for 8 year old Sandra Cantu.
Sources inside the investigation have confirmed to Blink on Crime that Huckaby had been on Tracy PD Investigators radar almost immediately. Huckaby was the last person to see Sandra alive, and claimed she frequently played with her 5 year old daughter at the home she shared for the last year with her grandparents Pastor Clifford Lane Lawless and Connie Lawless.
It would seem Huckaby raised immediate flags to police and the community when she told Investigators a black suitcase containing scrapbooking supplies for her Sunday school class had been stolen from her driveway. Huckaby is also due to be sentenced on a theft charge on April 17th, in which she claimed to be mentally incompetent to stand trial. Following a mental evaluation, the court determined she was fit and she pled guilty of the charge.
Melissa Huckaby is the daughter of Brian Lawless, who is also affilliated with a Baptist Church; NOT his dad’s.
Blink on Crime has learned that although Melissa has told police she is a Sunday School teacher at the Clover Baptist Church which her grandfather Lane Lawless is a pastor, she is not.
Huckaby is a volunteer Sunday School teacher and Church Choir member at the First Missionary Baptist Church in Bellflower, CA. Located at 9246 Rosser St, FMBC shows both Huckaby’s Father and Uncle, Brett Lawless, are assistant pastors or Bible Class educators in a church completely unaffilliated with their Fathers. Odd.
Why would this woman have access to her grandfather’s church that by all accounts has no more than 15 members and has not had actual services in years? The last confirmed continuing education classes I can track Lawless to is in 2007.
Huckaby claimed to have received a note the day after Sandra Cantu went missing saying “Cantu.. suitcase..water..” with the word suitcase mispelled and at least the word Whitehall in it. Blink on Crime has received an unverified tip the note in question was actually written by Huckaby prior to a suicide attempt which landed her in Sutter Tracy Hospital last week in the ICU. Tracy Police were stationed outside of her room in rotating shifts while Investigators continued to build their case.
By Huckaby’s own admission, she volunteered that as recently as a few months ago, she was interviewed by police regarding a 7 year old girl from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park who she had taken to a nearby park three times during that week with her five year old daughter. She stated to several reporters in telephone interviews late yesterday afternoon that at approximately 2 am, hours after she returned the young playmate, police showed up at her trailer and told her the child had narcotics in her system. Blink on Crime has attempted to corroberate this information with Sgt. Tony Sheneman of the Tracy Police Department, but Sheneman was unaware of the incident. He has requested that information from Investigators. Regarding the suitcase she claimed had been stolen, she told reporters that she did not have online access to report it, but her myspace page indicates otherwise.
Sgt. Sheneman answered a few questions from reporters last evening indicating that the information that led to Huckaby’s arrest came from her directly. When asked by a reporter if there would be more arrests he stated that he did not anticipate their would be additional arrests in this case, It is my opinion that Sgt. Sheneman chose his words very carefully for a reason. He responded: “not in this particular case ..”
I will go out on a limb on this one and interpret that response for my readers, albeit subjectively, I admit. You have a woman with a history of drug abuse, a juvenile record and current theft charges, who has been investigated for narcotics being found in a small girl, who was taken to a “park” in the evening for several hours . You have a town that is currently investigating 60 Sex Offenders, convicted of various assaults on children, and two recent high profile arrests of men within the school district accused of similar atrocities, awaiting trial. You have an 8 year old child abducted and murdered and I believe her pathology report will show drugs in her system. You have Fred Williams, a church member/caretaker with access to the church and shed who lies about a rummage sale, is seen on video dropping off the “letter to Sandra’s killer” at the memorial site , and lives in a 4,000 sq Ft. home worth over half a mill with extensive rap sheets for him and the Mrs. hanging on the fridge. Was that note to Mel to the Issa to keep quiet?
So.. the question becomes.. Why would she be drugged, for what purpose? I feel strongly this is the tip of the iceberg within Orchard Estates and the Clover Baptist Church. On the comments section of my site, you will note their is a poster who claims Christian Sinclair and Huckaby are “dating.” You will also note that I received some comments from a person claiming to be Sinclair’s child. I checked them out, she is. She posted that the Isuzu Trooper impounded by the FBI had been returned last week. She was correct, but what has not yet been, is his Cadillac, pictured here next to Huckaby’s KIA in the FBI Forensic Bay:
In a 3 am Press conference, Chief of Tracy Police Department Janet Thiessen spoke briefly:
..over the course of the investigation, agents and investigators from numerous agencies, have been instrumental in identifying Melissa Huckaby as being responsible for Sandra’s death.” “We have information that Sandra, by the time she was reported missing to us, probably had already been murdered.”
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I too believe there will b many sorted details. Williams is connected and Sinclair as well. Getting Mel to the Issa off the streets is just a good start.
Thanks for the diligent and complete update B
OMG I JUST AM SO SO SAD. I CAN NOT BELIEVE WHAT HAS HAPPEN TO SANDRA..I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THIS CASE FROM THE BEGINNING, WHAT REALLY PISSES ME OFF IS THAT, I JUST KEEP ON GETTING SURPRISED BY THE THINGS I SEE AND READ IN THIS WORLD.. I DON’T UNDERSTAND PEOPLE NOR WILL I EVER TRUST NO ONE..I HAVE A REAL HARD TIME WITH TRUSTING PEOPLE..WHEN I HEAR ABOUT STORIES LIKE THIS IT JUST MAKES MATTER’S WORSE…
I think it’s great that Melissa was arrested. I hope they catch anyone else that may have been involved- if there is anyone. I can tell you though, I do not think Chris and Melissa were dating- he has a girl friend. Although he may have an extensive record, he would not hurt a child- he has them.
Well, now we finally know! Thanks for all your reporting and your updates, Char
[...] I: More details can be found at Blink on Crime regarding the arrest of Melissa Huckaby. Also some corrected facts that were initially incorrectly [...]
This drug incident with the other child is interesting. What is that exactly about??? Why give narcotics to a small child? Possibly to then take advantage of them, but that doesn’t appear to have happened in either case?
Before reading this, my theory was this:
I think motive has everything to do with Grandma & Grandpa loving Sandra so much and Sandra always being at their house. It annoyed/bothered Ms. Killerby.
I’m sure it was a deal where just due to the living situation, G&G acted as surrogate parents to her daughter, i.e. scolded her, disciplined her, etc and b/c Sandra was not their child Sandra and if she was as sweet as we all have come to know she was, she was treated like royalty there. It happens with any normal parenting situation. You will treat your child different than her playmates,
BUT here it was grandparents doing it and it killed Ms. Killerby to see her child treated that way. She grew to despise Sandra. Turned her away that day and when Sandra came back something snapped.
The weird thing is they are saying Connie (Grandma) was there that day. Whole time? These homes are not that big. How did something go down and she wasn’t aware? I’m guessing maybe Grandma came home after? And that’s when Ms. Killerby had to quickly exit.
I’m just wondering if LE has verified this statement with GrandMother?
And if True when did Grandmother get to Melissa’s place?
I also have to wonder just where her daughter was when Sandra was there?
“When she got to the church, Huckaby’s grandmother called and said she found her keys and cell phone. Huckaby said that’s when she realized she had left the $200 suitcase outside. When her family went out to get it, they said it was gone.”
Blink, hats off. You were correct, the luggage was the key.
Hi Blink – any way you can put up a link to Melissa Huckaby’s myspace page? I am floored by this news – I would never suspect a 28 year old mother..
I noticed on the form you have at the top of this article that under “Total bail” it says “Bail not allowed.” Possibly the suicide attempt plus murder and kidnapping charges all combine to forfeit a right to bail.
Any word yet on the relationship between this ditchpig and Sandra’s mom? I wonder if they were friends.
I have a question about this note Melissa supposedly found day after she murdered Sandra. She obviously wanted them to find Sandra so her family had answers, but what became of this note? Was it turned over to police that day?
If so, maybe the person in the Silverado checking out the pond before Sandra’s body was found a member of investigative team? There were only so many bodies of water in that area.
Man, this woman sounds like a real whack job…
Hey I found that myspace page – why does it show a different last login date?
I am still TOTALLY stunned! It never occured to me that a woman might be the killer! Shocking! I hope she gets the death penalty. She has probably drugged other children…and who knows what else!
My heart goes out to the Cantus. I pray that God will heal their broken hearts.
Blink, thank you for staying on top of this! You are doing a fantastic job! I agree with you, this is just the “tip of the iceburg.”
Police have said several times that Melissa WAS in fact a Sunday school teacher, but you are indicating she was not. Was it that she taught Sunday school at another church and not at the Lawless’ church as she stated?
It’s in the article, Her Dad’s Baptist parish in Bellflower.
Regarding Huckaby’s court scheduled court appearance, I saw it reported here that she was to appear on theft charges, that she had claimed to be mentally unfit to stand trial and that the court found her to be fit. This morning I found this at the end of an article reported by ABC news:
“Huckaby was also scheduled to appear in court April 17 to check in with a county mental health program as part of a 3-year probation sentence for petty theft. ”
The entire article is here: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=7313938&page=1
Blink – Don’t you think you owe Fred Williams at the very least an apology for just about insinuating he was the guilty party when you said “It’s him” on the other page? In the future I would recommend you refrain from making such statements as you might open yourself to a libel suit. It’s always dangerous to ‘come to conclusions’ when you don’t have all the resources and information that the police have. It’s common to ‘connect the dots’ and think you know what happened all the while not realizing that the police just about ALWAYS have many many more ‘dots’ than you do. Speculation and arm-chair investigation is fun and even useful at times, but you don’t want to get in trouble or cause harm to others needlessly.
Magee-
Talk about dangerous conclusions?? That is NOT what I said in relation to Mr. Williams culpability and you also took it out of context altogether.
Lastly, you have no idea what resources I may or may not have, or those of anyone on here for that matter. In general I agree with you, but not in this case. Perhpaps you just new here and need to take a look around. Happy Easter.
B
I thought I heard somewhere that while a black suitcase was not reported stolen to the police, a black purse was. I think that the video of the littler girl shows her carrying something like a purse. What are the odds that Sandra took this woman’s purse and she killed her in a fit of rage?
I am too much in a state of shock to say much other than I am SO sorry that this has happened to sweet Sandra, OR any other child ever. Thank you for an interesting AND important update here. We must be SO SO SO Vigilant with our own children and other’s children as well if we see something that is “just not right” (and I don’t mean just possibly parents harming them…I mean ANYBODY harming them in ANY way!!). I am and will continue to pray for Sandra’s family. I am devastated by this needless loss and pray they can feel God’s arms around them.
Blink I just wonder where you heard or saw that Williams left the letter from Sandra to her killer?
There is video footage of him leaving it, and I have confirmation from a source.
“Comment by tracymama — April 11, 2009 @ 10:06 am
Hi Blink – any way you can put up a link to Melissa Huckaby’s myspace page? I am floored by this news – I would never suspect a 28 year old mother..”
-just search for her under the name “melissa lawless” on myspace
she has a facebook also but her account on there is under “melissa huckaby”
FYI both her myspace and facebook are private
Thanks fo answering that Nancy, yes now, they are.
response to MGP:
It was noted earlier that the “black purse or backpack” Sandra appeared to be carrying was in fact a shadow on the video.
Hi Blink,
Is there any possibility that you could post/maintain a time line of the major events and developments of every one involved?
Thanks.
*link deleted*
This message is for Lisa, I just wanted to tell you I have forwarded that information on to the Investigators of Sandra’s case. It does appear to be fraudulent so I am deleting it’s reference until it can be run down by them. I just wanted to give you kudos for the find. I will restore your comment when I am able. Good Job. You posted that at the right place ma’am..
B
hi….my thoght is then she is just try to cover the hole thing….I think she just did the dirty job for somebody else….like drog kids and be nice to them so ….somebody else did something else wwith them such as his ganfadher ir williams or this guy she was daything….I realy don’t think she didit at all ….I think she is trying to cever somebody else’s back….and is may be she came all emotional and change the version of everithing….
Coolio:
I can think of only one reason to give a child drugs. There really are people who drug children and take advantage of them. In fact, I would imagine the crimes against them are not that different from the crimes committed against adults in the same manner.
I agree with you, we live in a sick world full of predators. Male or female it makes no difference; the result is the same. It would be interesting to see if any of this activity is directly related to either of the churches. We know that priests have been known for abusing our boys, what about our ministers? Hiding behind the cloth of a sacred church is a crime unto itself, imo.
Interesting information….
I wonder if the other child/drugs in that child’s system info came from police from another jurisdiction.
That might go to motive if she is drugging children and would explain why the police feel they need the tox screen results.
I use to work in a drug testing lab several years ago.I even had to due a drug test on a sample from an autopsy.
I think it was a part of a civil suit and not a criminal suit and it did show a drug present. So we had to pass that on to the authorities.
It doesn’t take that long to do unless they are going to do additional tests for weird things, poisons like arsenic and cyanide.
I hope the police have a warrant for the suspect;s prescription records to see if she had a prescription for things like hydrocode, oxycodone or oxycontin.
Another reason someone might drug a child is to incapacitate so as to make it easy to sell the child. Human traficking is a lucrative and growing problem. Don’t discount it.
B,
My first thought was that the post was probably fraudulent but it was posted on April 3rd or 4th which I believe was before the media focus was on Ms. Huckaby (?)…that made me think it might be legit.
My deepest sympathy to Sandra’s family.
Lisa, your instincts were correct, but the focus was on her in the aspect that they had already spoken to her and she alerted them to the stolen bag and note by then. Sandra was found on the 6th. I believe the pond began draining on the 3rd, which accounts for the person in the silverado onsite, and perhaps this “post.
B
She may have drugged children to photograph or videotape. The thought is extremely disgusting but they did say on JVM that child porn is a billion dollar business. SICK
What does ISSA mean? If I am to understand what you posted – Blink – then Melissa may be connected to a group involved with her grandfather’s church who may be involved in child porn or selling children for sexual favors. If doping the children is a way for them to get the child to cooperate, then maybe she doped Sandra and over-dosed her? Panicking, she had to get rid of the body. Was her boyfriends car used to transport the body? Am I interpreting this correctly?
I guess if the other story of drugging the 7 year old girl was true then maybe she was assaulted and didn’t tell?? Parents/authorities didn’t think to check? Or, possibly it didn’t happen? Was it possible they used this other 7 year old as their test run planning to do it to Sandra? Sandra had just turned 8 days before she disappeared.
Is it possible Sandra was overdosed? Guess tox tests will show.
And as far as being shocked it was a woman, I think that is one of society’s greatest secrets. Women can be monsters just as much as men…
All very tragic and sad.
Another blog is reporting that Sandra was the child drugged before, which doesn’t make sense to me. Also that a mattress was taken from the church and that the FBI were looking for hidden video cameras. Is the church where Sandra was killed, if it wasn’t at the home?
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Coolio:
Absolutely!
Narcotics have an amnesiac effect depending on the dose. In other words, drugged children are not only docile, they cannot remember what happened, they can’t tell.
LE knows this: little kids + narcotics = abuse/child porn.
Thus, take the matress and search for hidden video cameras.
They took a mattress, searched the roof.. WHILE SHE WAS BEING INTERVIEWED FOLKS..
B
Blink”
Can’t get the video out of my mind. She went from a skipping little girl crossing the street to a scared little girl right in front of our eyes. What else is on that video?
Agreed. Watching this baby beauty skipping to her death has me sleeping with the lights on and freakishly checking my kids 3x a night. The “what else” on the video is Sandra walking into her doom, unknowingly.
B
What does ISSA mean?
Sue… My daugher’s name is Melissa and we call her Issa for short.. So it is probably a nick name.
Wow, it’s all very, very sad. I keep thinking it had to be an accident or something. That she accidently killed Sandra and then covered it up (suitcase in the pond) out of fear. I just can’t wrap my mind around the thought that she intentionally murdered her?! But, one of the police chiefs used the word “murder,” but it’s just incomprehensible.
Right now, I don’t think the grandparents were involved, although maybe they did help “cover up” after finding out. I could be wrong, of course, and I’m hoping they weren’t involved. What possibly could be their motive? I think when children are abducted, child molestation is obvioulsy the first thought. I guess because it’s often a big reason why they are abducted. But it’s not always necessarily the case, and the police have said they are not arresting anyone else, which makes me think this was all Huckaby.
I don’t think she’s covering up for the grandparents either. She seems to mentally imbalanced and selfish to do that. Her past record and even the fact she is currently living with her grandparents, etc… well, she doesn’t appear to be a highly functioning, healthy person.
Well, my heart goes out to the Cantus and the friends, family, and community. What a shockingly horrible case.
P.S. It seems to me that the police actually probably know a lot, but not saying much right now. The autopsy I’m sure has shown the cause of death, and they’ve spent hours talking to the girl and her grandparents and searching the church. I think if the grandfather was involved, they’d be arresting him also. Even accomplices to crimes get arrested.
It kinda bothers me the way people automatically assume that a pastor being questioned must be guilty of sexual abuse, porn, etc. It’s just like everyone assumed a sexual offender must’ve been behind Sandra’s disappearance. These things aren’t always the case, and not all pastors are perverted or sex offenders. In fact, the majority of them are not. It’s the minority in every group who end up getting the rest of the group stereotyped (like teachers who molest students or policemen who abuse their power, etc).
Again, super job of sleuthing, Blink! Have you thought of connecting with a Bellflower newspaper reporter regarding the connection you made?
I did a google search to find their community newspaper and it appears to be part of the Long Beach newspaper. There is a contact person for Bellflower if you want to persue this. If I attended her father’s church and my children were in that monster’s class, I’d want to know ASAP. You could be doing that community a favor.
http://www.presstelegram.com/newsroominfo
Lucky, great job and thanks. I forwarded this info through the proper channels prior to posting this article and I trust their efforts. I agree that the parents of every child that has ever spent time with this woman should be interviewed by LE. I am NOT an alarmist and I do not own a Tin Hat, there is more here.
B
I keep thinking how to she move that bag around with poor little Sandra in there? Wheels or not that’s got to be about 60+ lbs. Don’t thikn those luggage wheels move very well over dirt and grass. Sadly I think this is just the beginning.
In addition to dddeerma’s comments, I wanted to asses the fact that Melissa was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murder. Now I am no professional, but if she had murdered Sandra at the trailer park, she would have been just charged with murder. But if she took her to another location while still alive, such as the church, and murdered her there, it seems to me it would be considered kidnap and murder. Does that make sense to anyone else?
I’m shocked at everything…but especially the throngs of garbage for neighbors and friends this little girl had to endure. Gah…I’m just speechless.
Hi Blink – I’m just wondering what is your opinion of this- I’ve been reading another site where they have suspicions of some sort of child porn ring and it may be having to do with the Church, even suggesting that they were making films in the church. I live in Tracy and I am not worried about this – should I be? – What is going on with the “Tracy 60″ – do you know where I can find more info about that?- and do you think the Tracy PD will be persuing the Tracy 60 after this case is over?…
Tracymama- Respectfully, I think my opinion is pretty clear in this article and my response to it’s comments. Regarding the Tracy 60, as their are approximately 80 SO’s in Tracy, I would say no convicted SO is off limits, imo.
B
Oh ya- just wanted to agree with the previous comments- my first inclination was that MH was obviously a meth addict and that she had lost her temper with Sandra, and it went too far. But with the kidnapping charge I guess that would be out of the question.
Jaelin; I just had the same thought. It makes sense that if a person went voluntarily to a neighbor’s house and is killed there, that’s murder. The victim has to have been abducted in order for it to be kidnapping. It appears that Sandra was not abducted into the Lawless home; it was her habit to visit there. I think it can be concluded that LE believe the murder took place elswhere; the church grounds or building.
I was just wondering what prompted Sandra’s grandfather to install the security camera in the first place, facing the park? Was this in response to a child being found with drugs in her system from a visit to the park with Melissa?
If so, who gave him the information on the specific camera and helped him install it? Could they be linked to the potential porn ring? Who else would know a lot about cameras? Also, if Sandra was lured over in that camera footage, notice how whomever lured her stayed out of camera shot? Did Melissa know about the camera?
60 known sex offenders walking around, and that young boy that had to escape from bondage in Tracy? They need their own SUV unit.