SANDRA CANTU - 8 yo (3/2009) - Tracy CA

Danny Cantu and friends form foundation
by Justin Lafferty
3 hrs 55 mins ago | 716 views |

Daniel Cantu, father of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, walks out of the San Joaquin County Superior Court in Stockton after the arraignment of Melissa Huckaby on April 14. AP Photo/The Contra Costa Times, Doug Duran

The father of murdered 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, along with some friends, is creating a foundation to help other families whose children are abducted.

Daniel Cantu, who lives in Mexico but has been in Tracy often during the last month, said he wanted to do something charitable after his daughter’s death. With the help of some local friends, he’s taken steps to organize a Fathers Against Violent Child Tragedies foundation.

Gina Schnabel, Cantu’s friend, said the organizers hope to raise awareness of child abuse and give families a support system in case something similar happens to them.

“He wanted to come forward and do something good in her name,” Schnabel said of Cantu, who grew up in Tracy. “We really wanted to raise awareness and educate children and adults as well.”

The foundation is selling T-shirts for $20 with Sandra’s picture and the words, “Justice for Sandra” on the front. On the back is the name of the foundation. The T-shirts come in black or white and run in sizes small through 5X. All proceeds go directly to the foundation.

Sherri-lyn Miller, who runs the San Leandro store, All in One Stop, has made and donated the shirts. Miller also designed shirts in memory of the Oakland police officers killed in the line of duty last month.

Miller said that this is the third shirt she has designed since Sandra's disappearance. Schnabel said that they started selling the shirts for charitable profit a few days after Sandra was reported missing and they have raised about $2000.

Schnabel said she and Cantu have talked to organizations such as the San Joaquin County Women’s Center and the McHenry House for ideas about how to raise money and serve the community.

She said she’s applied with the Secretary of State in Sacramento to form a foundation, and she’s set up a bank account for donations with Chase Bank. Schnabel said that the foundation is not a nonprofit yet, but they are working toward that. A fictitious business notice was printed in Wednesday's edition of the Tracy Press.

“This is just his way of trying to help and give back and not let his daughter’s name just go down as a murder victim, but to raise awareness and educate children,” Schnabel said.

For information about shirts: Schnabel, 605-2358. For information about donating to the account: Chase’s Brandon Diaz, 836-1491.
http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&article-Danny%20Cantu%20and%20friends%20form%20foundation%20=&id=2433858-Danny+Cantu+and+friends+form+foundation&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=&

Medical examiner in Huckaby case back in spotlight
by Marcus Wohlsen / Associated Press
2 hrs 29 mins ago | 478 views |



SAN FRANCISCO — Though Melissa Huckaby's attorneys plan to withdraw their motion to exhume Sandra Cantu's body, the prosecution and defense remain on a collision course over the forensic evidence from her autopsy.

The defense is attacking the credibility of the pathologist whose findings will be used to support charges that Melissa Huckaby raped the 8-year-old--an allegation that could bring the death penalty if the one-time Sunday school aide is convicted. Huckaby is scheduled to make her second court appearance Friday.

At the center of the conflict is San Joaquin County's chief medical examiner, Dr. Bennet Omalu, who has been in the spotlight before.

The 40-year-old neuropathologist gained national media attention for his research on the damaged brains of dead NFL players.

He is also a government witness in a federal corruption case against his former boss, celebrity pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who has earned millions of dollars investigating high-profile deaths, including those of Elvis Presley and JonBenet Ramsey.

In a phone interview with The Associated Press before a judge issued a gag order in the case, Public Defender Peter Fox questioned Omalu's objectivity.

Several attorneys in his office have complained that Omalu's opinions in other homicide cases they were defending were biased toward the prosecution, said Fox, who declined to detail specific cases where defense attorneys have questioned Omalu's work.

Omalu could not comment on Fox's claims because of the gag order, according to a San Joaquin County Sheriff's spokesman.

The coroner's office has not released its report on Sandra's autopsy or announced how she died. But Huckaby's attorneys said in their motion that medical examiners found Sandra had suffered "genital trauma" and that finding led prosecutors to accuse 28-year-old Huckaby of rape as well as murder.

"It's all based on one person's word," said Fox.

Omalu's former colleagues from his long stint in the coroner's office in Pittsburgh, Pa., described him as an highly intelligent, dedicated pathologist.

"Naturally a defense attorney's job is to attack a doctor because typically victims in homicide cases have died violent deaths," said Mark V. Tranquilli, an Allegheny County deputy district attorney. "His character is among the best."

Melissa Huckaby's attorneys argued that if the defense had no chance to examine Sandra's body, Huckaby would have no way to refute the findings on Sandra's alleged injuries. Fox announced that the motion would be withdrawn after Omalu told them he had preserved the relevant tissue samples, which defense experts could also test.

Huckaby was arrested on suspicion of Sandra's murder less than a week after farmworkers found the missing Tracy girl's body stuffed in a suitcase in an irrigation pond earlier this month.

Huckaby was charged days later with murder with three special circumstances: kidnapping, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child or rape with a foreign object. A conviction on any of the three special circumstances would make Huckaby eligible for the death penalty. She has not entered a plea.

Experts said that proving a child was raped based only on forensic evidence has advantages and disadvantages for prosecutors.

"Internal trauma can be telling, especially in a girl this age, because we can make the inference she has not had any recent sexual experience, at least not consensual," said Erin Murphy, a criminal law professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

At the same time, genital injuries in children can occur during normal childhood activities such as running and jumping, Murphy said.

Prosecutors will also try to use Sandra's DNA as evidence if they have samples from whatever object they will claim Huckaby used to rape the girl, Murphy said.

Omalu has worked as San Joaquin County's chief medical examiner since 2007.

In the eight years before coming to California, he worked for Wecht simultaneously as a pathologist in the coroner's office and for Wecht's private forensics company.

Wecht is currently facing multiple federal counts of fraud and theft. Prosecutors allege that while county coroner, he used public employees and facilities to conduct examinations for his own business.

Last year, Omalu testified that he examined brains for Wecht's private clients while at the morgue.

It was also at the coroner's office that Omalu examined the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Terry Long, who killed himself by drinking antifreeze.

Omalu found that Long suffered from chronic brain swelling, or "punch-drunk syndrome," caused by frequent blows to the head during football games. Omalu argued the syndrome led to the depression that ended with Long's suicide.

He has since studied the brains of several other former NFL players who died young and gained national attention for pushing the league to acknowledge his claim that football-related head injuries can lead to permanent mental damage.

Omalu received his medical degree from the University of Nigeria College of Medicine in 1991, according to his California medical license. He is currently an adjunct professor of pathology at the University of California, Davis.
http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&article-Medical%20examiner%20in%20Huckaby%20case%20back%20in%20spotlight%20=&id=2434025-Medical+examiner+in+Huckaby+case+back+in+spotlight&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead_story&open=&

SANDRA CANTU CASE: SOURCES- LAWLESS RELATIVE ARRESTED ON SEX CHARGES

Posted by Blink | Brett Lawless, Brian Lawless, Connie Lawless, Kidnapping, Lane Lawless, Melissa Huckaby, Murdered, Sandra Cantu, Sexual Predators, Timothy Lawless | Friday 24 April 2009 1:34 pm
Folsom, CA– As Melissa Huckaby awaits her arraignment in court this afternoon in San Joaquin County, Blinkoncrime.com has discovered the arrest last week of Timothy John Lawless, a relative to Huckaby and the Lawless family. Folsom Police Department verified this afternoon Lawless was arrested on April 15.
Timothy Lawless was arrested on THE EXACT SAME SEX CHARGE AS Huckaby. Lawless is in custody at the Sacramento County Jail under a $1Million Bond, charged with 10 counts of lewd and lacivious acts on a child under 14.

288. (a) Any person who willfully and lewdly commits any lewd or
lascivious act, including any of the acts constituting other crimes
provided for in Part 1, upon or with the body, or any part or member
thereof, of a child who is under the age of 14 years, with the intent
of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or
sexual desires of that person or the child, is guilty of a felony and
shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for three,
six, or eight years.

Lawless is also charged with rape with a foreign instrument, but formal charges have not been formalized by the DA. Lawless’s next appearance in court is scheduled for May 14, 2009.
http://blinkoncrime.com/2009/04/24/sandra-cantu-case-sources-lawless-relative-arrested-on-sex-charges/

SANDRA CANTU CASE: FBI INVESTIGATING HUCKABY’S GRANDPA LAWLESS

Posted by Blink Thursday 23 April 2009 7:29 pm

BREAKING NEWS Tracy, Ca– Announced on Kcra this evening, the FBI was in Clarkston, WA at the First Church of God Church and spoke with it’s pastor, Bill Creutzberg:

..” They were trying to put the pieces of their puzzle together, They were asking about certain people who
might be able to lead them to other people. But I do not know exactly what they are looking for..”

A source inside the investigation has confirmed to blinkoncrime.com that they are investigating previous alleged abuse allegations within the church against Clifford Lane Lawless, Huckaby’s grandfather.




In a simultaneous development, although Pastor Lawless was seen on camera last evening at the church following an announcement that services would remain there, FBI agents were back at the Clover Baptist Church. Police have indicated they believe Sandra Cantu, 8, was murdered there.

As their is a gag order in the case, attempts to confirm that a search warrant was issued at either location were refused.

Agents were seen entering the church for approximately 20 minutes, and left with a few “tubes” in their posession. There are unverified reports that the tubes taken into evidence are projection screens. However, Blink on crime has learned that one of the items is a screen, and the others are blinds. The same source, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated that Tracy Police and the FBI are in posession of video evidence containing footage of blinds; thus the seizure. The agents were seen removing the evidence without a CSI team which may indicate they do not suspect there is physical evidence to link them to Sandra’s murder.







Melissa Huckaby is due in court tomorrow to face charges of kidnapping, rape with a foreign object, child molestation and murder charges in the death of 8 year old Sandra Cantu. Her arraingment is scheduled for 1PM PST.

Check back to blinkoncrime.com for updates.

http://blinkoncrime.com/2009/04/23/sandra-cantu-case-fbi-investigating-huckabys-grandpa-lawless/

Ok I read that this case is going to go all the way back to the 1990's to a town called Wenatchee, WA. IF it does, I have A LOT to say about this as this is where I'm from. (lived in Cashmere most of my growing up life, right next to Wenatchee) Google "witch hunt in Wenatchee" before forming any opinions!! Wouldn't it be a real tragedy if the innocent got sent to prison, and the guilty got away. sick. Also google "bob perez" or "robert perez".

cindmo wrote:Ok I read that this case is going to go all the way back to the 1990's to a town called Wenatchee, WA. IF it does, I have A LOT to say about this as this is where I'm from. (lived in Cashmere most of my growing up life, right next to Wenatchee) Google "witch hunt in Wenatchee" before forming any opinions!! Wouldn't it be a real tragedy if the innocent got sent to prison, and the guilty got away. sick. Also google "bob perez" or "robert perez".

I googled this. Very disturbing. I did not see hardly any names that were invovled. Were the Huckaby's?

cindmo wrote:Ok I read that this case is going to go all the way back to the 1990's to a town called Wenatchee, WA. IF it does, I have A LOT to say about this as this is where I'm from. (lived in Cashmere most of my growing up life, right next to Wenatchee) Google "witch hunt in Wenatchee" before forming any opinions!! Wouldn't it be a real tragedy if the innocent got sent to prison, and the guilty got away. sick. Also google "bob perez" or "robert perez".

Whoa, Cindmo, thanks for suggesting the google searches. OMG! I agree with Mimi. very disturbing!!

The man who found Sandra
by Justin Lafferty / TP staff
May 01, 2009 | 1049 views

Thousands of volunteers, Tracy police officers and FBI agents searched around the clock earlier this month for Sandra Cantu.

But it was a dairy farmworker just going about his job who led to the discovery of the 8-year-old girl’s body.

Jose Luis Franco, 40, found a suitcase in a dairy lagoon on April 6 containing what was later found to be Sandra’s body and alerted the police. Later this month, the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation will reward him with a little more than $20,000 for his discovery, according to Tracy police spokesman Sgt. Tony Sheneman.

Franco, who speaks only Spanish, said Friday night through translator Laura Flores that the reward is “like a blessing.”

He has worked for Bacchetti & Silva Dairy north of Tracy for 11 years. He plans to put most of the money in a trust fund for the education of his four children, hoping they can go to college.

Franco said the Tracy police and the foundation told him a week ago that he’d earned the reward money, but he hadn’t told anyone but his wife, Margarita Franco, and his children. He said he was waiting until he actually has the check in his hand, adding that the rest of his family and friends will surely be happy for him when he tells them.

“I thought of spending it (at first),” Margarita said jokingly, through the translator. “We’ll pay for our children’s education. It’s going to come in handy.”

Scott Webb, the foundation’s executive director, said Franco will get the money within the next couple of weeks. Webb said the foundation put up $5,000 initially, and the rest of the money came from donations.

“It’s very important that common people come forward and help to share information to solve the case,” Webb said, “so I’m very glad that they took the time to do that.”

Franco said he was nervous when he first found the suitcase, but after police and FBI told him he wasn’t going to be held responsible for anything, he was able to relax.

The Francos moved to Tracy in 1991 from Jalisco, Mexico, where Jose was born. Before he worked for Bacchetti & Silva, he worked for a farm in Mountain House.

While Franco will receive the reward money, a few psychics have come forward recently, saying they felt the money should be theirs.

Sheneman said that the money will go only to Franco.

“We did not review or utilize any tips or information provided to us by psychics,” he said.
http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story?article-The%20man%20who%20found%20Sandra%20=&page_label=home&id=2487077-The+man+who+found+Sandra&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead_story&open=&

Sandra Cantu: Church In Washington State Searched

Posted on May 2nd, 2009
by Stone in Op-ed, Society and Culture
Read 822 times.

Clarkston, Washington- FBI searched the First Church of God in Clarkston, Washington. It is a church that Melissa Huckaby’s grandfather Pastor Lane Lawless use to work. There isn’t much detail regarding the search or what prompted it. It is only reported to be connected to Sandra’s murder. It also states that Pastor Lawless has been questioned in the past regarding some allegations that surfaced in the 1980’s. The report is very vague only saying that they are looking into reports of child abuse that may have gone on at that church. Pastor Lawless was questioned about it, no charges were filed. The pastor of the church now went on to say that whatever it was that happened in the 1980’s has deep emotions about that incident and no one ever mentions it.
I wonder what it is that happened and who it happened to? Deep emotions that no one ever mentions. Sounds harsh to me, sad, scarred and traumatized. I do hope whatever it is the person or persons are better now. What about that incident links to Sandra’s murder. Is it more child molestations? How could it be connected to Sandra’s murder? I am riddled with anticipation to hear how this connects. Is it involving Huckaby or one of her relatives? It’s unimaginable at this point what other evil deeds could of gone on back then in regards to Huckaby. I wonder was she a member of the church in Washington? She would have been a lot younger then so I dont imagine its her they are questioning. Church’s and child sex abuse. The Lawless family questioned in both cases.
Sandra’s death has created a safety awareness in the town of Tracy, parents are fully aware of dangers that may lurk where it appears safe. It has been reported that the town is stewarding there children in knowledge and safety due to the unfortunate murder of Sandra. It’s to bad that Sandra had to give her life to open a towns eyes to the sinister danger that was preying on there children. Would Sandra be happy to know that in her death she is helping to better safe guard and educate her friends? Was her life worth that? Did it really have to take the murder of a beautiful harmless adorable child to motivate the parents of Tracy California. It gives a terrible sick feeling inside me to think that a child’s murder is what opened their eyes. I can only hope they never shut their eyes to the possiblity of the unknown dangers again. I raise my children each and everyday to understand stranger danger to utilize their minds to program them that their personal space is their own and no one can be in their personal space. They know that perverts want to hurt them and touch their privacy parts. They are fully aware that people want to touch them and possibly kill them, I save no details with this when speaking to my children.
I always have since dang near day one of their lives. I hope that the children of Tracy can grow and over come this tragedy that befell their precious friend. I hope they all absorb what they are being taught regarding safety and the people who are out to harm them. I hope the parents of Tracy never stop leading there children to create a safer town for not just them but their futures future.
Sandra was an amazing girl. Full of life and love. A singer, a cook, a gardener, Hannah Montana’s number one fan. All gone to soon, I’ve always had a way of thinking that some people are just to good for this earth. I don’t anymore I’d rather have Sandra here with her family. Though on the other hand if that were to be, would Huckaby still be out there under the radar preying, stalking, victimizing? I suppose Huckaby is off the streets now Sandra gone forever her life’s breath taken from her. Watching us all, stewarding us all in safety stranger danger, acquaintance danger, family danger, man danger, woman danger. All equally dangerous.
There is so much to this story that I don’t think we have even began to unravel. I think Huckaby and her morbid tale are going to keep me very busy around here. Sandra I look into her eyes and see so much its to bad that her life was what took a predator off the streets. Truly a sad situation, Huckaby has a long rocky road in front of her one that is destined to reveal more then she cares to remember herself I’m sure. I’m going to lace up my hiking boots and venture on behind her. I want to get to the bottom of this and climb out all dirty just to know why?
God bless you little Miss Sandra Cantu and God bless your family. I find it hard to end my articles on Sandra I just want to write and write about her I don’t know much but what I know is she is in my heart and I love her. She has been grafted into my family like the rest that I am fortunate enough to get to know. Its usually in there death none the less I love them. Please remember your children need you to steward them in safety, knowledge and awareness of all possible dangers.
http://www.bloggernews.net/120720

TRACY - Jose Luis Franco wasn't prepared for
what surfaced in the irrigation pond he drained the morning of April 6
at Bachetti & Silva Dairy Farms.
Franco
was enjoying the sunny day when he emptied the ditch surrounded by
miles of grassy fields just north of the Tracy Boulevard exit off
Interstate 205. Until he discovered the suitcase.
Franco,
a dairy farm worker and father of four, had been praying for Sandra
Cantu, the little girl he'd never met but whose face had become
well-known to strangers across California.
Like
many in Tracy, Franco and his family had hungered for information about
the skipping 8-year-old girl who disappeared March 27 from Orchard
Estates Mobile Home Park, about a mile south of Franco's duplex.
Franco tried pulling the suitcase out of the water, but it was too heavy.
Well
aware of the massive search effort that received nationwide attention,
Franco had a feeling about the suitcase and what it contained. He hoped
his gut was wrong.
"I felt like someone had
spilled cold water on me. A chill in my body. I thought, 'Could this be
the little girl?' " Franco said in Spanish.
"It was something terrible. The most terrible day in our lives," recalled Margarita Franco, Jose Franco's wife.
When Jose Franco couldn't lift the luggage, he notified his supervisor, who called police. Then, Jose Franco called his wife.
Margarita
Franco had concerns of her own that day. Her children have attended
Delta Island Elementary School, a campus with mostly migrant children,
and a place that parents call more than a school. It's a community
center. But the Tracy Unified School District, facing severe budget
shortfalls, had decided to close the school - among the smallest in
attendance and the most expensive per pupil to operate.
So
Margarita Franco and several other parents were on a bus, touring area
charter schools. She was focused on the needs of her children and
whether she and other parents might be able to start a charter school.
After the call from her husband, 34-year-old Margarita Franco's thoughts were scattered.
"We wanted to believe there was anything else in there but the body of a little girl," she said.
She
returned home around 3 p.m. Jose Franco returned from work just after 5
p.m. The couple watched television news coverage for updates on the
suitcase, but police had said nothing publicly throughout the day. A
fear gnawed at them.
"I was nervous, because I was thinking about the girl. I wanted to know if she was in there," Jose Franco said.
"He didn't eat that day," Margarito Franco said of her husband.
At 8:50 that night, police announced the sad news. The intense search was over, and Jose Franco's worst fears had been realized.
On
April 10, police arrested 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby, a Sunday school
teacher at a church near the mobile home park and the mother of one of
Sandra's friends.
Huckaby is being charged
with murder and three special circumstances of kidnapping, rape with an
instrument and lewd and lascivious acts on a child younger than 14.
Jose Franco has worked on the farm for 11 years, providing for his family and trying to create a better future for them.
The
Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation had offered a $21,643
reward for the tip that would lead to finding Sandra. When her body was
found, Tracy police initially said no one would receive the reward;
they'd hoped she would be found alive. But on Thursday, police said
that, after further discussion with the foundation, Jose Franco would
receive the reward.
Sgt. Tony Sheneman, a
Tracy police spokesman, told reporters that the farm worker was
reluctant at first and asked that the reward money be given to Sandra's
family. But that's not the organization's policy, so the money went to
him, said Scott Webb, director of the foundation.
Webb
said the foundation has given Sandra's family more than $8,000, which
was donated by people across the nation. Tracy Crime Stoppers also
raised $10,000 for the family.
The Tracy Police Department had called a news conference to present the farm worker with the reward money.
Jose Franco decided a half-hour before the public event to accept the money in private. He wanted to avoid media attention.
"We
gave some interviews," Margarita Franco said in Spanish while her
husband was at work on Thursday. "We thought that's when (the media
attention) would end."
The Francos are from Jalisco, Mexico, but immigrated to work in Tracy in the mid-1990s.
Margarita
Franco said she and her husband are in the process of becoming legal
residents, but their four children - Alondra, 3; Jorge, 5; Maria, 8;
and Miguel, 11 - are U.S. citizens, all having been born in Tracy.
The parents plan to use the reward money to set up college funds for their children.
They also have become more protective. "We don't even let them play outside anymore," Margarita Franco said.
As
she cooked lunch Thursday, Margarita Franco said the family is trying
to move on with normal life, but they have forever been touched by
Sandra.
"We are content because the money
will help us, but we are heartbroken because what happened is something
very depressing," Margarita Franco said.
"Do you believe a person who has found a human being dead will ever be the same?"

Sandra Cantu: Reward Given

Posted on May 10th, 2009
by Stone in All News, Op-ed, Society and Culture
Read 1,064 times.

Tracy, California- Jose Luis-Franco was given the reward money on Thursday May 7th for finding Sandra Cantu. Jose was given the reward in private at his request. He received a little over $21,000. He said that he plans to use it for his kids college fund.
Jose made the discovery on April 6th of a suitcase found at the bottom of an irrigation pool he drained while working on a farm. Knowing to call police if there was anything suspicious due to Sandra’s disappearance Jose called the police. Federal investigators and law enforcement swooped down on that suitcase like locust. Combing every bit of the area leaving no stone unturned. It took investigators at least four hours to open the case to examine its contents. Later on in the evening investigators had a press conference revealing to the world that the suitcase held the body of little Miss Sandra Cantu.
Time stood still all over silence, pain, terror, fear, sickness and heartache. Jose is a hero a modest man not boastful or out for glory. Too shy to have a public ceremony to accept his reward. I hope that he can turn the forever thoughts of being the one to find Sandra into a positive. I find it hard to find positives in such a horrid crime. The only positive I have come to accept is a predator is off the streets. There is lots of speculation that Sandra’s killer Melissa Huckaby is covering up for someone else. There is also speculation that she is a victim herself of some type of sexual abuse at the hands of a predator. None of it verified just chatter around the house. Huckaby is a predator who is where she belongs. I hope that this talk of her being a victim doesn’t create sympathy causing her to receive a lesser punishment. Don’t get me wrong I sympathize for children who are being abused or were abused. Huckaby is a full fledged adult who knows right from wrong, there is a point in our evolution, our growth where as adults we discern the difference. Huckaby has no care for the difference no value to ones right to live and breath freely, innocently to walk without the care or worry of a predator.
The man who found Sandra has to live with that forever being the one to find the case that contained her body. Huckaby has to live with her deeds forever also. I hope he can put this in front of him to create good in his life. He deserves more then the twenty one thousand they awarded him with. I hope Huckaby can find some inner peace for her own demons. Her next court date is just a couple a weeks away.
Thank you Jose Luis-Franco for bringing Sandra home. God bless Sandra Cantu and her family.
http://www.bloggernews.net/120818

Sandra Cantu Case: Reward Given To Farm Worker

Posted by Blink Sunday 10 May 2009 10:36 pm

Tracy, CA– The Dairy Worker who attempted to retrieve the remains of 8 year old Sandra Cantu, Jose Luis Franco, has been rewarded. In a last minute decision to not appear publicly, and a in a private ceremony Thursday morning, Franco was presented with $21,643 in reward money for reporting seeing a large black suitcase floating in a dairy farm irrigation ponds where he is employed, on April 6.

On Wednesday Tracy police issued a press release inviting the media to a public ceremony to honor Franco while he received his reward, but he apparently changed his mind on Thursday morning and opted for a private ceremony.

“He’s an average individual that doesn’t want the spotlight,”
said Webb. “He’s very concerned about how this could
affect him and his family.”

Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said during the press conference that “cases involving missing children are very difficult and never easy to solve.”

The reward was presented on behalf of the Carrington/Sund Foundation. Scott Webb, executive of the Carrington/Sund Foundation:

“He still came forward and did not hesitate,”
said Scott Webb, executive director of the Carole Sund/Carrington
Foundation, which publicizes missing persons cases and provides support
for the families of missing people. “This signifies how a case can
change based on one person’s information — one man’s decision to make
the right choice brought closure to a grieving family.”

http://blinkoncrime.com/2009/05/10/sandra-cantu-case-reward-given-to-farm-worker/

TRACY, Calif. -- Child pornography was found inside multiple homes at the Tracy mobile home park where Sandra Cantu lived, KCRA 3 has learned.Cantu,
8, disappeared from Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in late March. Her
body was found more than a week later inside a piece of luggage
submerged in an irrigation pond.Investigators searched a number of homes at the park during their investigation into Cantu's disappearance and death."There
were other trailers in the trailer park where child pornography was
found, and it was a challenging environment," a source close to the
investigation told KCRA 3.Because of a judge's gag order, the source could not elaborate on what, if any, connection this has to Cantu's slaying.The source also would not say who or how many people are now under investigation for child pornography.Cantu's
neighbor, Melissa Huckaby, has been charged with the girl's death and
may ultimately face the death penalty if convicted.

by Lechristine9 on "tothecenter.com"

One good thing has come out of the Sandra Cantu case: Lesbian rape can be taken seriously now.

That’s probably the reason this story has become national news. It’s
not your typical rape and/or murder case. This time it’s a woman who
raped a girl.

It’s something out of the ordinary. Just like with Laci Peterson. God
knows how many men have murdered their wives. It was because Laci was
pregnant with her son that made this story more heartbreaking, and thus
headlined across the nation. (To this day, Scott Peterson still claims
he is not guilty while rotting away on Death Row).

This time, it’s lesbian rape, that has us surprised.

Discovered in a suitcase floating in an irrigation pond in Tracy,
Calif., the body 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, said to have been raped with
a foreign object. While the autopsy results are currently sealed,
Melissa Huckaby, the 28-year-old Sunday school teacher charged for the
rape and homicide, has not made a plea. She is due back in court on May
22.

A female raping a female? Not something, many people could accept as
true. It’s similar to when most of us had a double take upon hearing of
the Massachusetts priest who raped an eight-year-old boy. In our minds,
these things just don’t happen.

Yet, gay rape between males is easier to understand. On the other hand,
“How could a vagina rape another vagina?” That’s the common thought
when it comes to women assaulting women.

From She Stole My Voice: A Documentary about Lesbian Rape, consider
this “Society views male sexual organs as penetrating, destructive and
female sexual organs as receptive and nourishing, respectively. With
the right context, female sexual organs can be just as destructive, or
even more destructive, than male sexual organs,” said Justine Chang and
Armand Kaye, directors of the documentary.

I don’t know in what framework female sex organs are technically more
destructive than male organs, when it comes to assault on other
females. Nevertheless, the point is that lesbian rape is real. It is
not a sex fantasy for porn watchers to enjoy. It happens, and it
traumatizes just as much as male perpetrators.

Yet, I can understand how this reality can be hard to swallow. Although
many of us hate to admit it, we still live in a male-dominated society.
We haven’t had a female president yet. There are still men who earn
more than women for doing the same work—even though it’s been more than
40 years since the Equal Pay Act has taken effect. In addition, yes,
most rapists are men.

But people are people. You’re a person whether you are a guy, girl, or
hermaphrodite. If one sex rapes, so can the other. There’s practically
nothing humans aren’t capable of. 106 years ago, we couldn’t fly. Now
it’s practically a crime-like routine. Just look at our carbon
footprint—that’s all the evidence needed.

Thus, is the Sandra Cantu case bizarre? Not really. Is it bad? Of
course it is. Can there possibly be any good? If you look at the silver
lining, yes. Finally, America is opening its eyes to the threat of
lesbian rape.

Tracy, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) – Shocking new details about the
way 8-year-old Sandra Cantu from Tracy, California died in March
emerged on Sunday, a case that grabbed national headlines.
28-year-old Melissa Huckaby is suspected of murdering the young
girl, but has also been charged with kidnapping and rape. Her body was
found inside a suitcase in an irrigation pond but officials are no
longer releasing information on the case because of a gag order. But
new details emerged on Sunday, claiming Huckaby raped Sandra with a
screwdriver before she died, a source told BNO News. The source said
the information is not expected to be released until after the trial.
The source told BNO News that Sandra Cantu’s father, Danny Cantu,
has said the Clover Road Baptist Church, where Huckaby’s grandfather is
the pastor, is actually a cult with 13 members. Danny also said,
according to the source, that he did not kill Sandra and that he would
take a lie detector test to prove it.
Danny said he had connections “due to his past” and that the person
who killed his daughter “would be taken care of.” He further said the
pastor of the church had nothing to do with the girl’s murder and that
Sandra’s DNA was found on a cot at the church.

HUCKABY IN COURT- DANIEL PLOWMAN AND JANE DOE NEW VICTIMS -3 MORE CHARGES ADDED BY DA

Posted by Blink

Tracy, CA– Late yesterday afternoon, Prosecutors filed 3 new charges against Melissa Huckaby. On the eve of her hearing today to file her plea on the current charges for the rape, molestation and Murder of 8 year old Tracy resident Sandra Cantu.

Huckaby will now be facing additional charges of a single count of child endangerment, and 2 felony counts of furnishing a harmful substance although the substance in question is not identified.

In an earlier report on blinkoncrime.com, the Mother of the 7 year old girl, named as Jane Doe in the charges, specified that benzoiates were found in her daughters system after she was taken from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park without permission, and returned several hours later after being located by police.

In both counts of alleged poisoning, the complaint says Huckaby “did willfully and unlawfully mingle a harmful substance with food or drink with the intent that (it) be taken by a human being.”

The identity of the second victim named in the charges is Daniel Plowman. It is alleged Mr. Plowman was drugged by Huckaby in March 2009.

Blinkoncrime has learned that Plowman was arrested on March 3, 2009 for using or being under the influence of a controlled substance. It is not known if this Daniel J. Plowman is related to a Daniel Jonathan Plowman, age 62, who is listed as an absconded registered sex offender on the Megan’s Law Sex Offender Registry.



Daniel’s myspace can be found here.



It is also unknown if the new changes will affect the defense strategy for Public Defender Sam Behar during the hearing today at 1PM PST.

Check back to blinkoncrime.com for breaking developments on this story

http://blinkoncrime.com/2009/05/22/sandra-cantu-case-huckaby-in-court-daniel-plowman-and-jane-doe-new-victims-3-more-charges-added-by-da/

The California Sunday school teacher
accused in the shocking kidnap, rape and murder of 8-year-old Sandra
Cantu now is being accused of secretly poisoning two people, including
another little girl.
The new charges allege Melissa Huckaby, 28, gave "a harmful substance" to a
7-year-old girl in January and an adult man in March, according to the
complaint.
The little girl, identified only as Jane M. Doe, has since recovered from the Jan. 17 alleged
poisoning. The man, Daniel Plowman, hasn't been located, according to
the complaint filed Thursday.
Huckaby's relationship with the two isn't clear, and the type of toxic drug used wasn't disclosed.
Huckaby was in court to enter a plea Friday in San Joaquin County Superior
Court to charges that she raped, kidnapped and murdered Sandra Cantu on
March 27. But the judge continued the matter until June 12 after public
defender Sam Behar asked for time to review the new charges and more
than 1,000 of pages of evidence recently provided by the prosecution.Sandra disappeared in March after she was last seen skipping away from her mobile home in Tracy, where she lived a few
doors down from Huckaby. The girl and Huckaby's daughter were playmates.
Her body was found stuffed in a suitcase retrieved from the bottom of an irrigation pond 10 days after she vanished. Huckaby,the daughter of a local priest, was charged last month with murder;
rape using a foreign object; and lewd or lascivious conduct with a
child under 14.
In the new complaint, Huckaby is accused of a single count of child endangerment and two
felony counts of furnishing a harmful substance.
According to the complaint, Huckaby "did willfully and unlawfully mingle a
harmful substance with food or drink with the intent that (it) be taken
by a human being," the Stockton Record reported.
Outside the courtroom Friday, Deputy District Attorney Robert Himmelblau
described Plowman as a "victim and a witness" but would not comment
further on his connection to Huckaby.When asked if the new charges related to the
Cantu case, Himmelblau said, "You can add counts that don't necessarily
relate to the main count if they are same class of crime or are
connected."
Himmelblau declined to elaborate, citing the gag order in the case.
During the brief session in a packed courtoom, Huckaby sat calmly in a red
jail jump suit and shackles. She did not speak except to answer "yes"
when the judge asked whether she understood the case was being further
delayed.

Sandra Cantu: More News On Huckaby

Posted on May 23rd, 2009
by Stone in All News, California News, Op-ed, US News
Read 203 times.

California- Seems Sandra Cantu’s murderer Melissa Huckaby is in some more trouble regarding the little girl she is suspected of poisoning back in January and now an adult male. It has been reported she poisoned an adult male back in March. What? So we have now murder, rape, lewd and lavicious acts, suspicion of arson and also suspicion of poisoning another child and an adult male. My goodness it just seems to keep coming for Huckaby doesn’t it? Amazed I am amazed at this woman and her life choices. I mean arson and well arson is the minor out of them all. She has a lot to face in her way through the California justice system, Huckaby has many demons that are going to be revealed during her time in our eye.
It brings a tear to mine to think that to reveal this monster Little Miss Sandra Cantu had to pay with her precious life, Sandra was amazing so bright and beautiful I love Sandra can’t help it she is one of my own. Huckaby is a monster, she is a predator anyone free of their own self is her prey. She doesn’t sound like she cares if it is a child or adult who she violates. I am not sure of what happened to the man she poisoned I can only imagine though. Huckaby to me is a challenge how a mother can do such things to a child, how can a woman do that to a man. I am old fashioned I guess. I’m hypnotized by her and her story, the reasons behind her actions what makes her up inside. How is she different from us, besides the obvious what is it that caused her to glitch. It’s all so interesting to me, her past her present it don’t matter all of it when did this begin? There has to be more, Melissa Huckaby is a trove of secrets I’m sure we are just seeing the tip of what lies beneath.
This new charge of the girl in January that I have previously reported on and now a man in March, Daniel Plowman is his name. Investigators said that Huckaby used a “harmful substance” to drug both the victims. I had reported previously that the girl was drugged with a muscle relaxer that the doctor who examined her at the ER told her parents that it could cause black outs. Law enforcement has stated they don’t yet have enough evidence for the man who was drugged. It’s really too bad that she feels the need to violate a human being in such a manner, to give them a drug to render them useless and have her way with them. It’s disgusting and unacceptable, it’s a violation to ones rights to live free to be safe. Even an adult male was not safe from her reach, I wouldn’t doubt that there is more to this then we know. I wonder if any of it will make it to light. Sends shivers up my spine to even fathom what she is hiding, why talk if no one knows, is the way I see it. My goodness gracious, Melissa is a work, that’s for sure. Mysterious, frightening if you ask me, poisoned a grown man? A child murdered and raped? For petes sakes is that enough? I have a feeling it’s not, there’s most likely more.
I have to shake my head at it, we are going to get good and dirty in Huckaby. What does that lady think? How could she do this to another soul? Go crush a spider if you need to feel power learn to hunt ,shoot a deer, gut it skin it, hang it, butcher it, that’s power as a human to fend for yourself to feed your own family. Learn to fish, that’s power for a human not to drug and violate. Confusion over ones self power destroys life. We are not meant to act like that, no limits creates monsters when there is a lack of empathy there is a lack of respect for life for ones right to be free of harm from predators, they don’t have the right to prey on us, on our children. It is a gross misuse of self power. Huckaby is not right, I am at a total loss for what she could be thinking, who does this? What mother acts in such a way?
There is also word that the father of her daughter is seeking legal custody of their child together. It has been reported that soon Huckaby will be in court fighting for custody, also that the father has hardly been in the child’s life. Huckaby has many trials to attend to. She is suspected of some of the most horrendous crimes I have seen a woman stand for in my lifetime. Huckaby was arraigned today she entered no plea and has another court appearance scheduled for June 12th, her attorney requested more time to go over discovery evidence and evidence regarding the silver Cadillac and evidence taken from a home computer. There are over a thousand pages of discovery to go through. It leaves such a pain in my heart this whole thing, poor Sandra taken so soon in life just after her birthday, her mother to live with the pain forever with the details of her death in her heart it must be excruciating to bare.
I see Huckaby at her original arraignment and I see her cry I wonder why now why not before she killed Sandra? Why not have a shred of care, emotion or empathy then when she was doing what she done to Sandra? Why not before the act of drugging anyone or the act of murder? It is mind boggling to say the least, no plea entered wonder what that is for? Maybe to strike a deal, wonder what kind of deal she could get, admit the crime spare your life type thing? As long as she is put away in a deep dark prison who cares? Not me, maybe she will give me an interview someday after her imprisonment? I would love to sit on the phone and talk to Melissa, not because I pity her or want to make a new friend, but because I am a mother first and for most I put nothing before my children nothing.

I could never harm a child or drug them as she has, she is well interesting to me. How? Why? Don’t you have respect for humanity for a life, ones soul, our lamplight it isn’t there to be preyed upon and violated, it our right to be free to live to walk amongst creation without any worry about who is watching us. It shouldn’t matter who is out there watching us it never should matter, oh but it does and it always will as long as people believe they have the right to push their desires onto us. It’s a sick display of power confusing ones self rights amongst humanity. Keep out of my space in other words stay away from me and my kids shoot stay away from everyone, no one has the right to do what Huckaby has done to others. It is appalling to me that she feels she has that right. Interesting, I have to know.
Huckaby has her next court appearance on June 12th. God bless Sandra Cantu’s family, with Mother’s Day just passing I hope that her mother and aunts and grandmothers and sisters were all able to hold up in light of their loss. It would have been hard for me. Please read and sign this petition it was created the day after Sandra was found it was created by love, fear and hope for a better future for our kids it needs a lot of signatures and even though children will be violated before it is passed, someday it will pass and then predators will really have to fear what is coming to them when they sexually assault our children. Be the voice your children don’t yet have the instincts to use. Stand up for them they need YOU.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/change-sex-offender-laws

http://www.bloggernews.net/120983

Man faced DUI after Huckaby allegedly poisoned him
by Jennifer Wadsworth
May 22, 2009 | 2022 views

Police on March 3 arrested a man on suspicion of driving under the influence hours after murder suspect Melissa Huckaby, 28, allegedly poisoned him.

Daniel Plowman, 36, of Hayward, pulled into the drive-through at McDonald’s, 3430 N. Tracy Blvd., to order some food, but passed out at the wheel, according to police logs.

According to an employee who called the police station at 1:30 a.m. March 3, Plowman fell asleep in the drive-through lane, awoke, paid, got his food and crashed into a wall. His car ended up under the golden arches, according to the dispatcher’s log.

Police showed up, arrested him and got a local towing company to impound Plowman’s gold Ford Tempo.

The fast food restaurant is a few minutes by car from Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where Huckaby lived with her grandparents before her April 10 arrest on charges that she kidnapped, raped and killed 8-year-old Tracy girl Sandra Cantu.

Records show that Plowman was never charged with a crime in San Joaquin County.

Prosecutors on Thursday added three charges against Huckaby: That she allegedly drugged a man and a child, and endangered a child.

A gag order prevents anyone officially involved in the case to talk about it to reporters, so the relationship between Huckaby and Plowman remains unclear.

But according to dispatch logs, Huckaby took a 7-year-old girl to a park for four hours without her mother’s permission on Jan. 17. When they got back, the girl was high on benzodiazepine, police logs show. But no arrest was made that day. Police later said that they had too little evidence to file charges.

The girl’s mother Lora Polk, 41, told the Tracy Press that the incident shook that family’s trust and that they asked Huckaby to never talk to them again. When Sandra went missing on March 27, Polk said she immediately warned police about Huckaby.

Huckaby appeared today in court, where a judge further delayed her arraignment until June 12 because the defense needs time to review new evidence, including 1,000 pages of new discovery, said San Joaquin County Public Defender Sam Behar.
http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&id=2608141-Man+faced+DUI+after+Huckaby+allegedly+poisoned+him&article-Man%20faced%20DUI%20after%20Huckaby%20allegedly%20poisoned%20him%20=&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=&

Record Staff Writer
May 24, 2009 6:00 AM

She was a teenager with a wide grin, posing for her high school yearbook,
just 10 years before she became the weary Melissa Huckaby seen
throughout the world staring sullenly into a jailhouse camera.
In the decade that transpired between those starkly different images, her
life had slowly unraveled. The pieces of the Tracy woman's past that
have emerged since her April arrest in connection with the rape and
murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu illustrate a young woman's disastrous
downward spiral.
Yet those details - the ones known publicly, at least - likely only scratch the surface of the
28-year-old single mother, who spent her years after graduating from
high school bouncing between homes and toxic relationships, battling
depression and building a small criminal record.
Huckaby's high school companion Emily Fontes still cannot comprehend how her
long-lost friend ended up accused of such inexplicable crimes.
"It's really difficult to imagine she could be capable of something like
this," Fontes said. "The second I saw her booking picture, I just lost
it. I was hysterical."
Fontes and then Melissa Lawless were inseparable during their last two years at Brea
Olinda High School in Orange County, Fontes said. They performed on the
dance squad together, wrote notebooks full of messages to each other
and fought over a boy.
"We were just normal teens. We didn't get into trouble," Fontes said.
Still, her friend struggled with dark emotions that Fontes, at the time,
chalked up to typical teenage tribulations. Huckaby argued frequently
with her mother. She felt depressed and entertained thoughts of suicide.
They graduated in 1999, and Fontes moved away for college. When she returned
one hot summer, she noticed her friend was wearing long sleeves. She
had been cutting herself, Fontes said. Huckaby declined to talk about
it.
In 2001, Fontes was engaged and asked
Huckaby to be her maid of honor. But Huckaby stopped returning her
calls and, as Fontes put it, "fell off the face of the earth."
"I just couldn't find her," Fontes said. "I didn't know if she was OK."
They would not reconnect until about four years later, when Huckaby reached out through a social networking Web site. It had been a trying period.
In 2002, she was living in Tracy with her grandparents, Lane and Connie
Lawless, in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park when she took out a
restraining order against an ex-boyfriend.
In court papers filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court, she said the
21-year-old man, who had an extensive criminal record and a restraining
order from a previous marriage, had stalked and threatened to kill her.
The same year, she was sued by the local hospital for amassing more than $10,000 in unpaid medical bills.
In 2003, she filed for federal bankruptcy protection. She was pregnant, on
leave from her grocery store job and receiving $600 a month in
disability payments.
She listed $5,200 in assets and $26,000 in debt.
Eight days later, she married her child's father, Johnny Huckaby. They moved
to Orange County and separated a little more than a year later,
divorcing in 2005.
In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" last month, Johnny Huckaby said his ex-wife
struggled with depression but that he never thought her capable of
hurting a child. In divorce papers filed in
Orange County Superior Court, Melissa Huckaby accused her estranged
husband of domestic violence, alcohol abuse and child abduction,
accusations he denies.
She won custody of their daughter, Madison, and stayed in Southern California, at one
point moving back in with her parents, Brian and Judy Lawless,
according to court papers.
That was about the time she contacted Fontes. Her old high school friend was thrilled.
Huckaby had returned to school, received a vocational degree and was
working. "I was just so relieved that she was
OK," Fontes said. "I was happy for her, even though it sounded like she
had had some difficulties."
If there was any break from the chaos, it was short-lived.
In 2006, Huckaby was convicted of petty theft in Los Angeles County and
served a short jail sentence. The next year, she was investigated in
connection with two small arson fires in a home she rented in La Palma
but was not arrested, police said.
Huckaby and her daughter moved back in with her grandparents in Tracy by summer 2008, according to court documents.
Connie Lawless, who said she is convinced her granddaughter is innocent, said Huckaby returned to help her grandparents.
"Our health hasn't been so good," she said. "We've always enjoyed our
granddaughter and her little girl. ... I think she's a great mom."
Some mobile home park neighbors would say they knew little about Huckaby and
rarely saw Madison, who became one of Sandra's playmates. Huckaby
started teaching Sunday school at her grandparent's small Baptist
church down the road.
Huckaby was arrested again in late 2008, this time charged with stealing from a Target
store. A judge ordered two doctors to evaluate Huckaby, and they agreed
she was competent to stand trial but that there was evidence of mental
illness, although court records do not indicate a diagnosis.
Prosecutors agreed to drop the petty theft count from her record if she completed a
yearlong mental health program, court papers say.
Huckaby was still enrolled when, in January, a woman in the trailer park
accused Huckaby of taking her 7-year-old daughter and drugging her.
Tracy police said they investigated and had no evidence to make an arrest at
the time, but Huckaby has since been charged in that incident as well.
On March 6, her last appearance in mental health court, Huckaby's counselor said she was making progress.
Three weeks later, Sandra disappeared from the mobile home park. Her body was
found April 6 stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a nearby dairy lagoon.
In the meantime, Huckaby had missed her scheduled court hearing three days earlier.
Police arrested Huckaby on April 10 on charges she murdered Sandra. Police
called her in for questioning that day after she granted an interview
to a local newspaper and, police said, provided statements inconsistent
with those made previously to investigators.
At the San Joaquin County Jail, Huckaby was put on suicide watch. In
recent court papers, her ex-husband said she had swallowed razor blades.
Police have released few details about Sandra's alleged murder, and anyone
involved with the case is now prohibited from speaking about it because
of a judge's gag order.
As she tries to make sense of the allegations, Fontes, Huckaby's high school confidant,
recalls their e-mail exchanges four years ago, now a bittersweet memory.
"She sounded great," Fontes said. "She sounded like she really had everything together."
Fontes has written Huckaby a letter and sent it to the jail. She has not heard back.

MELISSA HUCKABY BOMBSHELL HUCKABY HAS TODDLER SON

Posted by Blink

Excerpt:

BREAKING NEWS
Tracy, CA– In a case that has baffled some of the most prestigious clinical minds and profiling experts in the country, blinkoncrime.com has uncovered the latest bombshell in the background of Melissa Huckaby.

Huckaby’s five year old daughter, currently the subject of a brutal child custody dispute between her Father, Johnny Huckaby, and her maternal grandmother, Judy Lawless, is NOT an only child.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tracy PD found a very interesting search on Huckaby’s computer.
Video report here: http://cbs5.com/video/?id=50519@kpix.dayport.com

Read more here: http://blinkoncrime.com/2009/05/26/sandra-cantu-case-melissa-huckaby-bombshell-huckaby-has-toddler-son/

Investigators have found disturbing information on the computer of Melissa Huckaby, the Sunday school teacher accused of the abduction, rape, and murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. According to authorities, Huckaby’s hard drive contained multiple Internet searches about a murdered child in Israel. The child, 4-year-old Rose Pisam
disappeared about a year ago and was missing for months. Later, the
girl’s grandfather was arrested and confessed to stuffing Rose’s body
in a suitcase, which he dumped in a local river.The similarities between the Sandra Cantu murder and the Rose Pisam case are startling:

• Huckaby lived with her grandparents
  in the same mobile home park as the Cantu family—Rose’s mother, Marie
  Pisam, 23, was living with Ronnie Ron, 45, the girl’s grandfather.
  
• Huckaby’s grandfather was the pastor at a church in Washington State during the 1980s where allegations of abuse
  were raised—Rose’s grandfather and mother were in a romantic
  relationship (Rose’s mother was married to Ron’s son Benjamin at the
  time).
  
• Sandra’s body was found inside a suitcase in a drained irrigation ditch—Rose’s body was stuffed inside a suitcase placed in a river.
  

Huckaby has not yet entered a plea in the case and is scheduled for another court hearing June 12.

STOCKTON, CA (AP) - The prosecutor in the Sandra Cantu murder case
wants a judge to enter a plea for defendant Melissa Huckaby if the
Tracy Sunday school teacher refuses.
Huckaby will be in San Joaquin County Superior Court on Friday for arraignment on murder, rape and kidnapping charges.
She was arrested in April for the death of the 8-year-old Tracy
girl, whose body was stuffed into a suitcase and tossed into a canal.
Friday will be Huckaby's fourth court appearance.

The woman accused of raping and murdering 8-year-old Sandra Cantu of
Tracy has repeatedly failed to enter a plea, so a judge must do so on
her behalf if she refuses again this week, a prosecutor wrote in court
papers.
When Melissa Huckaby, 28, returns to San Joaquin County Superior
Court in Stockton on Friday, she will be making her fourth appearance
since being charged in Sandra's slaying. Each time, she has declined to
enter a plea.
If Huckaby declines to enter a standard not-guilty plea Friday,
then a judge should do it for her because the case needs to move along,
Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa wrote in court papers filed
Tuesday.
The prosecutor also asked that a date be set for Huckaby's
preliminary hearing, signaling that he does not intend to bring the
case to a grand jury, in which testimony is heard behind closed doors.
"I think the public is growing impatient with the lack of a plea,
and the prosecutor is seeking a vehicle to move this case forward,"
Steve Clark, a defense attorney in Santa Clara County and former
prosecutor, said Wednesday.
At Huckaby's last court appearance on May 22, her attorney, Deputy
Public Defender Sam Behar, told Judge Linda Lofthus that he needed more
time to review 1,000 pages of evidence that he had recently received.
A day before that hearing, Testa filed new charges of child
endangerment and furnishing a harmful substance, accusing Huckaby of
drugging a 7-year-old girl and a man in the months before Sandra died.
Huckaby, who is the mother of one of Sandra's playmates, was
arrested April 10 and charged with murder and three special
circumstances that make her eligible for execution if convicted. Those
allege that the killing was committed during a kidnapping, involved a
lewd or lascivious act on a child, and involved rape with a foreign
object.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.
Huckaby is being held without bail at San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp.