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

STOCKTON, Calif. -- Stockton attorney
Al Ellis is preparing a lawsuit against media outlets that identified
his client, Melissa Huckaby, by name and photo as the woman who was
arrested by Tracy police in the slaying of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.However,
in this case, there are two women named Melissa Huckaby and both share
a number of unfortunate similarities -- and not just their names.Both
are from the Tracy area, both have 5-year-old daughters, both are
divorced, both are Sunday school teachers and both are 28 years old.However,
the Melissa Huckaby who was misidentified as a suspect lives in Manteca
now, and after she was mistakenly taken for the suspected killer, she
was subjected to death threats, verbal abuse and embarrassment, the
attorney said.Her former husband, who lives on the East Coast, saw her picture with the information and called her about the situation.The
media outlets to be named in the suit were not immediately identified.
The outlets mistakenly took her image from the woman's MySpace page,
apparently thinking that she was the Melissa Huckaby that was arrested
in Tracy, the attorney said.

STOCKTON, Calif. — A Sunday school
teacher pleaded not guilty Friday to charges she kidnapped, raped and
killed an 8-year-old Northern California girl and drugged two other
people.
Melissa Huckaby's lawyer, Sam Behar, entered the plea on behalf of the
28-year-old defendant, who sat quietly beside him during a 10-minute
hearing in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
Huckaby is accused of killing Sandra Cantu, a playmate of Huckaby's young
daughter, who went missing in March. A massive search for Sandra ended
10 days later when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase
pulled from an irrigation pond a few miles from the mobile home park
where she lived.
Huckaby also pleaded not guilty to charges that she previously drugged a 7-year-old girl as well
as a 37-year-old man, whom police believe she had been dating. The girl
lives in the same mobile park where Huckaby lived just down the street
from Sandra.
The plea came after increased pressure from prosecutors, who filed a request this week asking Judge
Linda Lofthus to enter a plea for Huckaby if she refused to do so
herself. Behar had repeatedly requested more time to review hundreds of
pages of evidence in the case."I think we just needed to move things along," prosecutor Robert Himelblau said after Friday's hearing.
Huckaby is charged with murder with the special circumstances of rape,
kidnapping and lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14, which
could make her eligible for the death penalty if convicted. She also is
charged with two counts of furnishing someone a harmful substance and
one count of child endangerment in the drugging case.
The judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Huckaby to start on Sept. 24.

A Tracy woman pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that she raped and
murdered 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, asserting her innocence three days
after the prosecution urged the judge to move the case along.
Melissa Huckaby, 28, making her fourth appearance in a Stockton
courtroom since her arrest in April, entered not guilty pleas to murder
and special circumstances that make her eligible for execution if
convicted.
She also pleaded not guilty to charges of child endangerment and
furnishing a harmful substance for allegedly drugging a 7-year-old girl
and a man in the months before Sandra died.
Huckaby's preliminary hearing will begin Sept. 24 and will last at
least six days over the course of three weeks, said Judge Linda Lofthus
of San Joaquin County Superior Court.
Asked by Lofthus if she waived her right to a continuous
preliminary hearing - one that proceeds from start to finish without
the court breaking for other cases - Huckaby said, "Yes." She smiled
several times during the brief hearing as attorneys chatted and made
small talk.
Huckaby, who is the mother of one of Sandra's playmates, was
arrested April 10 and charged with murder and three special
circumstances. 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 had urged Lofthus to enter a plea for Huckaby if the
defendant did not do so herself Friday, saying the case was dragging.
They have not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.
Huckaby is being held without bail at San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp.
||||||
Posters Note: Wow! I am certain that Sandra was not smiling as she was being raped and murdered by the cretin.

The family of 8-year-old murder victim Sandra Cantu will join city
officials at a Tracy park on Wednesday to plant a tree in the girl’s
memory.

Sandra’s favorite color was pink, so Tracy police
Officer Irene Rose thought it fitting to make the memorial tree a pink
crepe myrtle.

City workers will plant the seedling at Kenner
Park , which lies right next to the school Sandra attended — Jacobsen
Elementary School — before she was kidnapped, raped and killed on March
27.

At the base of the tree will rest a brass plaque engraved
with Sandra’s birth and death dates and the inscription “In remembrance
of Sandra Cantu.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer donated the 2-foot-tall
tree and some money to help care for it for a couple years, according
to the city. Tracy sign company Sign-a-Rama donated the plaque.

Crepe
myrtles get to be about 15 to 20 feet tall, said city superintendent of
parks Don Scholl. Once it takes root, he said it should last for
decades.

The family wants Wednesdays’ dedication to stay
low-key, said Rose. A representative from Boxer’s office should show
up, as should several city park commissioners, police and other local
officials.

“The family, they wanted to keep it a local service,”
Rose said. “They wanted a quiet memorial, buy anyone from the public is
welcome to come.”

Rose said she talks to the family every day, and said they’re holding up OK, but still struggling to cope with the loss.

“I think reality is now starting to set in more,” Rose said. “But the community has been very supportive.”

A
Southern California family in May donated a playhouse in Sandra’s
memory. The city, police and other members of the public gathered at
Jacobson Elementary late last month to see the school install the
pink-and-white house.

Also, a company called Landscape
Structures, Inc., recently donated a $46,500 playground to the school.
The company’s subcontractor, Ross Recreation, put up $4,000 to cover
the cost of shipping and delivering the playground, according to the
city. Construction is scheduled to start this summer.

Meanwhile,
donations have continued to pour in for Sandra’s family, Rose said. To
date, Tracy Crimestoppers has received nearly $40,000 in donations.
Just this week, a local car club sent in some money for Sandra’s family
raised from a recent memorial car show.

“People still want to help,” Rose said. “It’s very touching.”

TomTerrific0420 wrote:The family of 8-year-old murder victim Sandra Cantu will join city
officials at a Tracy park on Wednesday to plant a tree in the girl’s
memory.

Sandra’s favorite color was pink, so Tracy police
Officer Irene Rose thought it fitting to make the memorial tree a pink
crepe myrtle.

City workers will plant the seedling at Kenner
Park , which lies right next to the school Sandra attended — Jacobsen
Elementary School — before she was kidnapped, raped and killed on March
27.

At the base of the tree will rest a brass plaque engraved
with Sandra’s birth and death dates and the inscription “In remembrance
of Sandra Cantu.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer donated the 2-foot-tall
tree and some money to help care for it for a couple years, according
to the city. Tracy sign company Sign-a-Rama donated the plaque.

Crepe
myrtles get to be about 15 to 20 feet tall, said city superintendent of
parks Don Scholl. Once it takes root, he said it should last for
decades.

The family wants Wednesdays’ dedication to stay
low-key, said Rose. A representative from Boxer’s office should show
up, as should several city park commissioners, police and other local
officials.

“The family, they wanted to keep it a local service,”
Rose said. “They wanted a quiet memorial, buy anyone from the public is
welcome to come.”

Rose said she talks to the family every day, and said they’re holding up OK, but still struggling to cope with the loss.

“I think reality is now starting to set in more,” Rose said. “But the community has been very supportive.”

A
Southern California family in May donated a playhouse in Sandra’s
memory. The city, police and other members of the public gathered at
Jacobson Elementary late last month to see the school install the
pink-and-white house.

Also, a company called Landscape
Structures, Inc., recently donated a $46,500 playground to the school.
The company’s subcontractor, Ross Recreation, put up $4,000 to cover
the cost of shipping and delivering the playground, according to the
city. Construction is scheduled to start this summer.

Meanwhile,
donations have continued to pour in for Sandra’s family, Rose said. To
date, Tracy Crimestoppers has received nearly $40,000 in donations.
Just this week, a local car club sent in some money for Sandra’s family
raised from a recent memorial car show.

“People still want to help,” Rose said. “It’s very touching.”

The difference between this family and the A's. This family is not out asking for $$$$$ Like the A's and all this greatness is just pouring in for them How wonderful people's hearts are. Beautiful story...Thanks TomT for posting.

tears4caylee wrote:The difference between this family and the A's. This family is not out asking for $$$$$ Like the A's and all this greatness is just pouring in for them How wonderful people's hearts are. Beautiful story...Thanks TomT for posting.

Oh how wonderful! Tears you are correct, this family, as horrific as it may be for them is standing by their little precious Sandra and her memory, not out creating fraudulent foundations, on national media asking for donations. These money gifts are coming from the hearts of the public who knows this family is suffering terribly! :( It is beautiful to see how this family is being cared for by the public because the public cares about Sandra! It is also beautiful how the family is grateful and thoughtful to the public for their support! Quite a contrast to the way the A family acts with and to the public who care for Caylee. Just an example of how "normal" families usually act in the midst of grief, imo!

TRACY - A pink crape myrtle sapling now lives at
Kenner Park in remembrance of the slain 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, whom
Tracy residents have christened Tracy's Angel.
The park is adjacent to Jacobsen Elementary School, where Sandra was a second-grader.
"Everything about Sandra" is represented in the tree, said her mother, 42-year-old Maria Chavez.
It will provide shade for those who need it, she said. It will live on.
And pink was her favorite color. "It's going to have beautiful flowers
for a beautiful child," Chavez said.

"That's her," said Sandra's grandmother, Dolores Chavez, 67.
Sandra's life was taken in March, but three months later, Tracy residents
haven't forgotten. About two dozen people gathered in a Wednesday
ceremony at Kenner Park to plant the tree and dedicate it to Sandra.
"It seems like it just happened yesterday," said Nancy Soto, 54. "I didn't know the family, but I want to be here for support."
Teresa Fabre, a 41-year-old Tracy resident, said: "It would be a waste of her
precious life for us to forget her. This tree is good for the
community."
The monument also is a reminder for Tracy to be mindful and vigilant of any dangers to children, City
Manager Leon Churchill said. He said the city is taking more steps to
promote child safety with education programs and patrolling measures.
"We can't predict tragedy, but there are some things we can do," Churchill said.
The memorial tree and the funds to care for it were donated by U.S. Sen.
Barbara Boxer. City workers planted the crape myrtle Wednesday. A brass
plaque with the inscription "In remembrance of Sandra Cantu" and
Sandra's birth and death dates was placed on the base of the tree.
The tree could reach up to 20 feet and live about 30 years.
Other memorials include a hand-made pink and purple playhouse that was
donated to Jacobsen Elementary in memory of Sandra by a Southern
California couple. Recently, a $46,500 playground was donated to the
school by a landscape structure provider.
"I'm just overwhelmed by all the support," Dolores Chavez said. "It's fantastic that so many people care."

STOCKTON — A secret grand jury is expected to
convene this month to decide if Tracy’s Melissa Huckaby should stand
trial in open court on charges she kidnapped, raped and murdered
8-year-old Sandra Cantu, sources said.
The grand jury is scheduled to meet for two weeks beginning July 20.
The
grand jury proceeding would take the place of Huckaby’s preliminary
hearing set for Sept. 24. It also threatens to keep from the public key
facts of the case — like Huckaby’s alleged motive and how Sandra was
killed — until the jury trial.
Huckaby, 28, is charged with kidnapping, rape with a foreign object, lewd and
lascivious acts on a child under age 14 and murder. The charges stem
from Sandra’s March 27 death.
Sandra was last
seen in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park where she and Huckaby were
neighbors. Farm workers found the girl’s body 10 days later, stuffed in
a suitcase and dumped in a dairy pond two miles north of the mobile
home park. Huckaby faces a potential death sentence.

Poster's Note: This letter to the community was sent to the Editor of the local newspaper. I felt that it was important to include it her as it, in a way, speaks to the dedication of our Blamily here.

EDITOR,

As a resident of Tracy for more than 16 years, I admit I
had no real idea what the word “community” meant until a few months
ago.

As I was entrenched in a search for my cousin, Sandra
Cantu, I learned the true meaning of the word community. From the
littlest to the biggest deeds, a community really came together. I
could feel the compassion and support. Volunteers who had never met
little Sandra came out to search and knock on doors. Young and old
placed signs. Strangers brought food and drinks and offered their
help. Merchants offered their services and donated paper, food goods
and much more. There were daily prayer vigils and hundreds of attendees
offering their love and support.

This came not just from our community but from other cities and states as well. Others shared their
personal stories to offer hope, for no one wanted to give up. It is
humbling to remember the outreach of so many. You can’t help but
question humanity during such an awful tragedy — but when you see the
love of so many, you realize that the good so outweighs the bad.

My definition of community is clear to me now. To me, it is another
extension of family, and without it, I don’t know if any of us would
have gotten through. I am thankful for our community, for it has been
the glue that has kept our family going. I have forever been touched
and inspired to give back, for I know firsthand that it does truly make
a difference.

The ex-husband of Melissa Huckaby, the accused killer of a Northern
California girl, this week was granted full custody of the couple's
daughter, according to court records.Johnny Huckaby and
grandmother Judy Lawless of Cypress settled a custody fight over
5-year-old Madison Huckaby on Monday – the same day that a court
hearing was scheduled on the matter in Orange County Superior Court in
Orange. Lawless, Melissa Huckaby's mother, is allowed visitation of her
grandmother.As part of the agreement, Lawless is forbidden from allowing Madison to have contact with her mother, court records state.Melissa
Huckaby is in San Joaquin County Jail on charges of kidnapping, raping
and murdering 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, as well as poisoning another
girl and man. Sandra was a playmate of Madison. Huckaby grew up in Brea and La Habra and lived in Cypress before moving last year to Tracy, where the crimes occurred. This
spring, Johnny Huckaby filed paperwork to get custody of his daughter,
who had been in Melissa Huckaby's care since the couple separated in
August 2004 after a little more than a year of marriage. After her
April arrest, Madison lived with Lawless, Melissa Huckaby's mother.In
court papers, Lawless stated that the father had no contact with
Madison for about four years, while Johnny Huckaby contended that he
was denied access to his daughter. Johnny Huckaby was granted temporary
custody of Madison in late April, when Madison moved to Arkansas where
he lives."(Johnny Huckaby) anticipates that (Melissa Huckaby) will likely never be released," wrote attorney Ann Thompson.Court papers state that Lawless failed to show that it would be detrimental for Madison to stay with her father."Madison is doing exceptionally well in her father's custody," Thompson said.Lawless
was given the right to a week of visitation this summer and a month in
future summers. During winter break, Lawless can see her granddaughter
for a week after Christmas.Thompson could not be reached for comment. Lawless' attorney, Kevin Qualls, declined to comment through a receptionist.The
Stockton Record recently reported that a secret grand jury is scheduled
to decide later this month if Huckaby should stand trial in open court
in the murder case.

Officers set up wiretaps in their investigation
of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu's death, according to a required-by-law
notification letter the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office
sent to The Record informing the newspaper that its calls were among
those monitored.
Connie Lawless, the grandmother of Melissa Huckaby, who is accused of killing Sandra, said
she and about five people she knows received a similar letter. Lawless
said it was unnerving to learn that her calls may have been recorded.
"Anything that comes to us from, like the DA's office, it automatically is
upsetting," Lawless said. "We never know what shoe's going to drop."
She said the monitoring worried her, because members of the congregation
her husband leads could have had their confidential conversations
recorded. Lane Lawless is pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church in
Tracy. Several church members confirmed that they also got the letter
about wiretapping, she said.
"We have learned
through this that at any moment any one of us can be swept up in this,"
Connie Lawless said. "It could be you, me or anyone."
She
added that investigators resorted to the phone taps because they are
"really scraping the bottom of the barrel for evidence" against her
granddaughter. Lawless said she has yet to hear of any solid evidence
in the case against Huckaby.
The investigation ultimately led to the arrest of Huckaby, a 28-year-old
neighbor of the slain girl. Huckaby now stands accused of kidnapping,
rape and murder charges that could result in a death sentence.
In the letter to The Record, Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Freitas
wrote that on April 8, San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Richard
Vlavianos signed an order allowing investigators to monitor phone
numbers.
Sandra vanished on March 27 from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park. Farm workers found her body April 6, stuffed in a suitcase thrown into a dairy's waste pond two miles north
of Tracy. Tracy police arrested Huckaby on April 10.
Telephone calls were tapped from April 8 to April 13, according to the letter.
The letter lists two phone numbers that investigators monitored. One was
Melissa Huckaby's cell phone, and the second was the Tracy home of her
grandparents. Huckaby lived with the Lawlesses.
It is unclear from the letter if the judge's order included additional telephone numbers.
"All communications ... from April 8, 2009, to April 13, 2009, from phones
registered in your name, and/or by you, were intercepted and
monitored," Freitas wrote in the undated letter prosecutors sent to The
Record.
A Record reporter reached Huckaby on her cell phone early on the day she went in for questioning with the
Tracy Police Department. She was arrested that night. Huckaby that day
declined to comment and hung up on the reporter, who also made calls to
the Lawless home.
An attachment to the prosecutor's letter says that the law requires police to give notice
when they have monitored calls. It adds that San Joaquin County
Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus' gag order prevents Freitas from
commenting.
Electronic monitoring, a tactic
local law enforcement seldom uses, is a common tool for FBI agents, who
assisted in the Tracy case, said Jeff Hislop, a retired lieutenant in
the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office who now teaches criminal
justice at San Joaquin Delta College.
Wiretapping laws are as old as telephones, yet the laws have evolved to meet the
changing technology, which now includes cell phones, beepers and
e-mail, he said.
Today, before a judge can
approve wiretaps, Hislop said investigators have to show they've
exhausted all other sources, demonstrate probable cause and show that
their target will provide evidence. They also are forbidden from
recording unrelated calls, he said.
Local police use this tool less often than the FBI, because officers
typically have community sources and contacts from which to obtain
information before the need arises to seek a judge's permission for
setting up a wiretap, Hislop said.
"It can happen anywhere," he said. "My gut feeling is that because the FBI was
so deeply involved, that's where it probably came from."

The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office said today a
40-minute phone call between the alleged killer of 8-year-old Sandra
Cantu and a Tracy Press reporter was secretly recorded during a wiretap.

The
D.A.’s office sent letters to the Stockton Record, to Connie and Lane
Lawless, members of their church and perhaps others informing them that
investigators recorded phone calls made to the Lawless home as well as
calls to the cell number of the Lawless’ granddaughter Melissa Huckaby.

Huckaby
was arrested on the night of April 10 on suspicion of killing Sandra,
just hours after the Press published a story in which Huckaby told
reporter Jennifer Wadsworth in a 40-minute phone call that the suitcase
in which Sandra’s body was found might have been the same one Huckaby
said she reported stolen when Sandra disappeared March 27.

Police said the next day there were inconsistencies in what Huckaby told Wadsworth and what she told police investigators.

But
because the Tracy Press never received a letter from the D.A.’s office
informing the paper a phone call involving a Press reporter was
recorded, it was unclear whether the interview between Huckaby and
Wadsworth was secretly taped. The wiretap allowed investigators to
record phone calls from April 8 to 13.

District Attorney
spokesman Robert Himelblau said today that phone call was recorded, and
that it was an oversight that the Tracy Press never received a letter
telling the paper so, as required by law. Himelblau said his office
also failed to notify one other person of a recorded phone call, but
did not identify who that was.

Huckaby has pleaded not guilty to
charges of kidnapping, raping and murdering Sandra and “furnishing a
harmful substance” to a 36-year-old man and a 7-year-old girl. She
remains in solitary confinement in San Joaquin County Jail in French
Camp.

Prosecutors are expected to convene a criminal grand jury,
possibly next week, in an effort to obtain an indictment against
Huckaby, 28. A gag order prevents witnesses and other involved from
discussing anything about the case.

A secret grand jury began meeting today to hear
evidence in the case of Tracy’s Melissa Huckaby, the Sunday school
teacher accused in the kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.
The hearing is scheduled to last two
weeks. In the end, the grand jury will decide if Huckaby, 28, should
stand trial on the charges in open court.
San Joaquin County prosecutors have charged Huckaby with kidnapping Sandra,
who vanished on March 27. Huckaby and Sandra lived near each other in
the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park. Huckaby’s daughter and Sandra
were playmates.
Sandra’s body was found 10 days later in a dairy pond about two miles north of
Tracy. Authorities have acknowledged that they used wiretaps in their
investigation that culminated in Huckaby’s arrest following an
emotional interview with Tracy Police.
Huckaby’s case was set for a September preliminary hearing in open court. The
grand jury hearing will take the place of the preliminary hearing. It
also keeps key details of the case – Sandra’s cause of death and
Huckaby’s alleged motive – from the public.
Legal experts have suggested that prosecutors opted for a secret grand jury
to quiet the public interest in an attempt to avoid a change of venue.

An angel statue intended for the
family of slain 8-year-old Tracy resident Sandra Cantu has been stolen,
a landscape business said.

Sandra Cantu

Cantu's disappearance from a Tracy mobile home park, the discovery of her body and funeral drew nationwide media attention.Relatives
of Cantu wanted the 3-foot-tall angel to honor the memory of the girl,
so it was ordered by Eden Garden and Landscape on South Manthey Road in
Lathrop.The angel arrived at the business and a "sold" sign was placed it.But when Cantu's family arrived Thursday to pick it up, employees at the business realized someone had taken it.Another angel was also taken from the business in recent weeks.Sunday
school teacher Melissa Huckaby earlier pleaded not guilty to
kidnapping, raping and murdering Cantu, who disappeared from Orchard
Estates Mobile Home Park in March.Cantu's body was discovered a little more than a week later inside a suitcase dumped in a drainage pond north of Tracy.

A criminal grand jury concluded its deliberations Friday afternoon in the case of Melissa Huckaby, a Tracy
woman accused in the kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old Sandra
Cantu.
The grand jury's decision to indict her - or not - will remain secret unless Huckaby, 28, is brought back
to court for arraignment. The indictment would take the place of
charges San Joaquin County prosecutors filed against her after her
April 10 arrest.
Huckaby's next hearing before San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus is scheduled for Sept. 8.
For the past two weeks, witnesses have been called to testify before the
grand jury. If they return an indictment, the case will next go to a
trial in open court.
Huckaby is charged with slaying Sandra on March 27, the day the girl vanished. Huckaby and
Sandra were both residents of Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in
Tracy. Farm workers found the girl's body 10 days later in a suitcase
two miles north of town.
Huckaby's case was set for a September preliminary hearing. If the grand jury issues an
indictment, the preliminary hearing won't be held, and key details of
the case will remain out of the public's knowledge.
A judge's gag order has kept investigators and prosecutors from
explaining a possible motive for the killing and how Sandra died. Legal
experts have suggested prosecutors took it to a grand jury, where
proceedings are always secret, to quiet the public interest in an
attempt to prevent moving the trial out of San Joaquin County.

The family and classmates of 8-year-old murder victim Sandra Cantu will
gather Friday morning to dedicate a new playground in the girl’s memory.

Tracy
Unified School District Superintendent James Franco and Jacobson
Elementary principal Cindy Sasser will speak at the 10 a.m. ceremony,
which is closed to the public.

The $46,500 school playground was
donated by Landscape Structures Inc. earlier this summer and built at
Jacobson Elementary School, which Sandra attended before her March 27
disappearance.

On the play set is a sign marking it as the
“Sandra Cantu Playground.” The structure — made up of two red slides
and a tall tower — marks the third permanent memorial in Tracy to the
slain first-grader.

In late May, a Southern California couple
donated a hand-built pink-and-purple playhouse to the school in
Sandra’s memory. And in June, Sen. Barbara Boxer donated a pink crepe
myrtle, which the city planted yards away from Jacobson on West
Kavanagh Avenue. A brass plaque with Sandra’s name and birth and death
dates lies at the base of the sapling, which should grow for 20 more
years and sprout pink blossoms in the spring. Pink was Sandra’s
favorite color.

Sandra vanished from her home at Orchard Estates
Mobile Home Park in late March. Her body turned up 10 days later
stuffed inside a black suitcase. Police said one of Sandra’s neighbors,
28-year-old Melissa Chantel Huckaby, kidnapped, raped and killed the
first-grader before dumping her body into an irrigation pond north of
Tracy.

Huckaby, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was
arrested on April 10. A grand jury convened in July but no indictment
has been handed down yet.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month.

Sunglasses resting on her forehead, a pink and
white scarf around her neck and brown hair blowing in the breeze,
11-year-old Miranda Chavez zipped down the slide again and again Friday
morning, laughing and smiling.
Her mother, Maria Chavez, stood to the side taking it all in.
"Happy,"
Chavez said later when asked how she had felt at that moment. "She
enjoys it. She likes it. All the other kids are going to love it."
Nothing will make the pain go away for Chavez, whose 8-year-old daughter,
Sandra Cantu, was abducted, raped and murdered in late March in a
heart-wrenching case that continues to draw national attention.
But
Friday marked a small step toward healing as a new playground named
after Sandra was dedicated during a brief ceremony at Jacobson
Elementary, where she was a second-grader at the time of the tragedy.
"It's been over four months since Sandra left us, but she is definitely in
our hearts," Jacobson Principal Cindy Sasser told a gathering that
included family members and friends who sat in folding chairs next to
the new playground. "I know I think about her every day."
The equipment, valued at nearly $50,000, was donated by Minnesota-based
Landscape Structures. Other companies donated shipping, installation
and inspection of the gear, which includes two 12-foot slides.
Tim Barrett, a sales manager with Landscape Structures, happened to be in
California at the time of Sandra's disappearance and was deeply moved
by the story.
Barrett did not attend Friday's dedication but, according to Sasser, he told her, "Sandra's youthful
vitality and spirit is what drove us to contribute this play equipment.
... Sandra's spirit for adventure and her happy, skippy disposition
will never be forgotten."
At the end of the ceremony, Sandra's 15-year-old brother Thomas Fortin and Miranda were
the first to climb to the top and to scoot down the slides. Then, a
dozen other children who attended the ceremony joined them on the
Sandra Cantu Playground, whose sign includes a smiling jaguar,
Jacobson's mascot.
"She always used to play on the bars with me," recalled 8-year-old Nikita Bhukhan, who had been
friends with Sandra since kindergarten.
Earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., planted a tree in
Sandra's memory at a park near Jacobson, and a Central Coast couple
donated a playhouse to the school. Sandra's grandfather, Jose Chavez,
said the playground is another fitting tribute.
"This is nice, beautiful," said Chavez, who wore a T-shirt bearing a
photograph of Sandra flashing her familiar gap-toothed grin. "The kids
will enjoy it for a long time. I hope they remember Sandra. That little
girl brought a lot of happiness to us."

The Tracy woman accused of killing and raping her 8-year-old neighbor will
return to court Monday, a month earlier than scheduled.Melissa
Huckaby, 28, was supposed to return to court in September, but the San
Joaquin County Superior Court announced she will be in court 1 p.m.
Aug. 17 for further proceedings. A court spokeswoman said she
was not at liberty to discuss the nature of those proceedings. A
representative from the District Attorney's Office said they cannot
comment on Monday's hearing. A gag order is in place in the case,
preventing involved parties from discussing the case with the media.Huckaby
is accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, her neighbor and her
daughter's playmate. Sandra was last seen at the Orchard Estates Mobile
Home Park on March 27. Her body was found April 6 inside a black
suitcase dumped in a dairy pond off Whitehall Road in Tracy.Huckaby,
who told a Tracy newspaper she had a suitcase similar to the one in
which Sandra's body was found, but that it was taken from her home, was
arrested April 10. She faces a murder charge with three special
circumstances — kidnapping, lewd and lascivious acts on a child and
rape with a foreign object. In another case, Huckaby has been charged
with two counts of furnishing a harmful substance and one count of
child endangerment in what police say is the drugging of another child
and a Hayward man. Huckaby has entered not-guilty pleasto all charges and is in custody at San Joaquin County Jail. A
criminal grand jury was believed to have convened last month to hear
evidence in the case. The proceedings are kept secret unless an
indictment is made. If the grand jury met and they did issue an
indictment, it would replace Huckaby's public preliminary hearing, in
which a judge determines if there is enough evidence to try her on the
charges. That hearing was scheduled to begin Sept. 24.

Another hearing has been scheduled for next week in the case against the Tracy woman accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

A judge originally ordered Melissa Huckaby back in court in
mid-September. A secret two-week-long grand jury hearing recently
ended, and prosecutors moved up the date to 1 p.m. on Monday in
Department 35 of the San Joaquin County Superior Court in Stockton.

A gag order prevents anyone associated with the case from talking about
it to reporters or anyone else. The Stockton Record in July reported
that a grand jury convened over a couple weeks last month. An
indictment has yet to be handed down.

Huckaby, 28, was arrested on April 10, four days after Sandra’s body was found stuffed in a
suitcase and dumped into a dairy pond north of Tracy. Sandra was last
seen alive on March 27 and her body was found by a farm worker on April
6.

Huckaby was charged with murder with special circumstances of
lewd and lascivious acts on a child, rape by instrument and kidnapping.
She pleaded not guilty the charges and enhancements.

Because of the intense public interest in the case, the court has limited seating
at past hearings and will allow few reporters into the courtroom next
week. Members of the public who want to grab a seat in the courtroom
during the hearing will have to check in at 11:45 a.m. Monday in the
clerk’s office, Room 303 at the Stockton courthouse, to get a lottery
ticket.

A drawing will take place at 12:15 p.m. in the same room. The public can enter the courtroom after journalists have been seated.

Seats have been reserved for five television stations, six local newspapers,
a radio station and a sketch artist. Thirteen more seats are reserved
for media, and available by lottery.

The story of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu is what inspired Thurmont MD resident Charline Zalewski into activism.
Cantu was raped and murdered before being stuffed into a suitcase
and thrown in a pond in her hometown of Tracy, Calif., earlier this
year.
A stranger is not accused in her death. The suspect is her next-door neighbor and the mother of one of her friends.
"That kind of did it for me," Zalewski said. "No one wants to talk about it, but we need to."
Tired of stories like Sandra's, Zalewski has started a program
called STOP -- Speak up and Tell On Predators, which teaches awareness,
prevention education and empowerment to parents and children.
While children are taught to watch out for strangers, 90 percent of
sexually abused children know or are related to their attackers,
according to Childhelp.org.
Zalewski is among that 90 percent. A relative abused her as a child, she said.
"Too often many parents ignore the statistics, believing it could
not happen to their child," she said. "Unfortunately it can and will
happen to anyone, anywhere."
Now with a husband and two boys, she wants to help stop abuse and make sure no one goes through what she did.
Zalewski approached the Thurmont Police Department in May about helping to implement the program in the town.
"We were honored that she wanted to work with us," Chief Greg Eyler said. "It is going to benefit everybody."
Zalewski put together separate pamphlets for parents and children.
They include numbers for places that can help, such as Heartly House.
The pamphlets also include promises children can make, including not
keeping secrets from their parents.
"It is really important to get this information out there," Eyler said.
Zalewski has paid for the program out of her own pocket. She has two events planned for the STOP program in September.

A San
Joaquin County grand jury has returned a five-count indictment against
Melissa Huckaby, accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 8-year-old
Sandra Cantu, of Tracy.The indictment, which will send the case
to trial, was handed down July 31 but read in court for the first time
Monday afternoon. Huckaby, in shackles and with several fresh scratches
on her forehead, appeared with her attorney.Huckaby, 28, was
indicted on charges of murder with three special circumstances:
kidnapping, lewd and lascivious acts on a child and rape with an
instrument. The grand jury also added a charge of having sex with a
child under 10 years old. They also indicted the 28-year-old
Tracy woman on one count of furnishing a harmful substance in the case
of Daniel Plowman, of Hayward, and one count of furnishing a harmful
substance and child abuse/endangerment in the case of another unnamed
7-year-old girl. Those counts are unrelated to Sandra's death.Sandra's
body was found April 6 in a black suitcase in an irrigation pond near
the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where the Huckaby and Cantu
families live.Huckaby was arrested April 10, four days after an
intense search led to Sandra's body. Sandra was last seen March 27 at
the mobile home park.Judge Linda Lofthus ordered that Huckaby remain at San Joaquin County without bailDeputy district attorney Thomas Testa asked for a jury trial date to be set, but Huckaby's Attorney Sam Behar said it was too early."We're not in any position to set a date," Behar said, adding that his client has not yet entered a plea.Lofthus
set the next court date for Sept. 10, giving Behar time to look at
grand jury transcripts, which were described as voluminous. Lofthus
also temporarily sealed the transcripts at Testa's request. Testa
told the judge Huckaby needed to be present at every hearing. He said
he did not want Huckaby doing "something in the jail," he said. "Like
she did this morning." Testa said he was not at liberty to tell what had occurred — there is a judicial gag order in place on the case. Lofthus said Huckaby will attend all her court appearances.The
case, for now, is being treated as a death penalty case, Testa said,
but District Attorney James Willett will make a final decision in a
month or two.Huckaby was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in
September, where a judge would have listened to testimony and decided
if there was enough evidence for trial. Instead, the grand jury, which
met in secret, heard that testimony

A San Joaquin County grand jury has indicted a Sunday school teacher
on charges she kidnapped, raped and killed an 8-year-old girl and
drugged two other people.Melissa Huckaby broke down in tears
Monday as Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus read the indictment
against her. The reading came after prosecutors convened a grand jury
last month to determine whether Huckaby would stand trial.Lofthus said the grand jury transcript would remain sealed. No trial date has been set.Huckaby,
28, is accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, a playmate of
Huckaby's young daughter. Sandra went missing in March in Tracy, her
hometown in Northern California. A massive search for her ended 10 days
later when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase pulled from
an irrigation pond a few miles from the mobile home park where she
lived.Defense attorney Sam Behar asked Lofthus to delay setting
a trial date, saying he has not read the indictment or lengthy
transcript because he's in the middle of another trial.But
Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said he delivered a copy of the
indictment to Behar's office earlier this month. "He's had a lot of
time to read this indictment," Testa told Lofthus.The judge then
proceeded to read the indictment charges to a weeping Huckaby, who
appeared in court with two fresh scratches above her right eyebrow.
Neither Behar nor Testa would comment on the nature of Huckaby's
injuries after Monday's hearing. A gag order barring attorneys,
investigators and potential witnesses from commenting on the case
remains in effect.Huckaby in June pleaded not guilty to killing
Sandra as well as to charges that she previously had drugged a
7-year-old girl and a 37-year-old man, whom police believe she had been
dating. The girl and Huckaby lived in the same mobile park.Huckaby
is charged with two counts of furnishing someone a harmful substance
and one count of child endangerment in the drugging cases.In the
case involving Sandra Cantu, Huckaby is charged with murder with the
special circumstances of rape, kidnapping and lewd or lascivious
conduct with a child under 14, which could make her eligible for the
death penalty if convicted. Sandra was last seen on a surveillance
camera skipping near her home just five doors down from the defendant.On
Monday, Huckaby entered the courtroom smiling, but her demeanor became
tearful and somber as the indictment was read and debate on her next
court appearance ensued.Testa said the district attorney's
office is treating the case as if it will be a death penalty case, but
no decision is expected for at least two months.Prosecutors
convened a grand jury instead of holding a preliminary hearing in the
case to ensure a speedy trial and avoid a possible change of venue.
Testa also told Lofthus he wants a speedy trial because the case
involves minors and should be made a priority.Lofthus countered
that it would be premature to set a trial within 30 days because Behar
had not seen the indictment or the voluminous grand jury testimony."We need to do the case one time, and we need to have the case done right," the judge said. "The defense needs time to prepare."Lofthus
then scheduled a Sept. 10 hearing to discuss possible trial dates.
Huckaby remains in the San Joaquin County Jail without bail.

A PLAYGROUND in
memory of Sandra Cantu has been erected at Jacobson School in Tracy,
where the 8-year-old was a student until her disappearance in March.
After an intense search, her body was found April 6 in a black suitcase in a dairy pond just outside Tracy.Now Jacobson students have a place where they can at once play and remember their classmate.The playground was constructed and inspected at no cost to the school, Jacobson Principal Cindy Sasser said."We
were recently approached by a Minnesota-based company that also has an
office in Modesto," she said. "After hearing the story, they offered to
donate the playground in Sandra's memory. It wasn't long after that
other companies stepped up and offered to help as well." The result is a multilevel structure with a number of slides, poles and a climbing wall."And
the kids are just thrilled," Sasser added. "It's so popular that my
husband said we should treat it like Disneyland and start offering
'fast passes' to cut down the line."Cantu's death marked the end
of the last school year, and Sasser said the Jacobson community has not
forgotten the tragedy as the new year gets under way."Sandra is
still in our hearts and is mentioned on campus often," she said. "She
will always be a part of this community and this school."Tracy resident Melissa Huckaby was arrested a few days after Cantu was found, and is currently awaiting trial.

When 9-year-old Sandra Cantu
disappeared in March, Boni Driskill's voice cut through the fog of pain
that surrounded the girl's family.Driskill contacted Sandra's
family shortly after the girl disappeared from her Tracy mobile home
park. Driskill lost her daughter, Lacy Ferguson, in 2003, an innocent
bystander in what authorities believe was a gang-related shooting at a
south Modesto convenience store. Her killer has not been found.Sandra's
body was found in a suitcase in April. Melissa Huckaby, a neighbor of
Sandra and her family, has been charged and is awaiting trial.
"Somebody understood, somebody knew what we were feeling," said
Sandra's grandfather, Joe Chavez. Others wanted to help, he said, but
they hadn't experienced the same soul-crushing grief."(Boni) gave us comfort," said Sandra's mother, Maria Chavez. "She was there to support us."On
Monday evening, in a shady corner of Paradise Park in west Modesto, the
Chavezes joined Driskill and other crime victims for a candlelight
vigil to mark the sixth anniversary of Ferguson's death.Joe
Chavez said he and his family attended to show support for other crime
victims' families. Some at the vigil still don't know who killed their
loved ones.Chavez said he couldn't talk about Sandra's case. But
the Chavezes spoke freely about Driskill and the bond they've formed
with her and other members of Wings of Protection. Susan Levy, mother
of 2001 murder victim Chandra Levy, helped start the support group.
Driskill joined a few years ago.Joe Chavez said Driskill offered
something that other people couldn't: true understanding. "It's all
about experiencing the death and grief that never ends," he said.Now
Driskill is a friend of the Chavez family, calling regularly to check
in and going on family outings, said Sandra's 21-year-old sister,
Simone Chavez.At Monday's vigil, family members of murder
victims stood up one by one to say aloud the names of their loved ones.
A gallery of loss stood nearby. A poster-sized photo of Sandra Cantu
was propped next to framed collages of Ferguson. The family of murder
victim Nancy Arellano added a photo as well.Cindy Arriola, whose nephew Chris Sisk was murdered in 2007, pressed reward fliers into hands.A
heart-shaped "Happy Birthday" balloon bobbed in one corner. It was for
Ferguson's daughter, Haleigh, who turned 3 the day her mother was
murdered.The Chavezes did not stand up to say Sandra's name; a friend spoke on the family's behalf."It's
hard for us to say anything because we're still too much involved in
this loss, but we wanted to be here to support the other victims," Joe
Chavez said after the vigil. "It's a club nobody wants to belong to."