Sandra Cantu Murder in Tracy, California | 04/21/2009 8:45 am
Melissa Huckaby Tied to Abduction of Second Girl
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You have to wonder if Sandra Cantu would still be alive today if Melissa Huckaby had been picked up for the abduction and drugging of another young California girl in January.
The 7-year-old, who was reported missing on January 17 from the trailer park where Cantu and Huckaby both lived, was found that afternoon by the police in a park with Huckaby. The former Sunday school teacher returned the girl, no questions asked, no arrests made. According to reports, the girl was taken to the park in a purple Kia Sportage — the same type of car owned by the 28-year-old Huckaby.
A few hours after she came home the family took the girl to the hospital where a blood test showed she was on the muscle relaxer Benzodiazepines, which was reported to the police. The police declined to do anything, since they couldn’t prove the drug hadn’t been administered before she came home from the park. Plus, the Tracy Press reports that the police logs say the girl’s mother had alcohol on her breath and "carried around" some type of drug. “Police dismissed the incident because of the mother’s drug and alcohol problem," said a friend of the family.
Eight-year-old Sandra Cantu vanished from the same trailer park on March 27. Her body was found earlier this month: she had been raped and murdered, and Huckaby will soon stand trial for that death. We’re not sure who to be more angry with: Huckaby, or the police.
The 7-year-old, who was reported missing on January 17 from the trailer park where Cantu and Huckaby both lived, was found that afternoon by the police in a park with Huckaby. The former Sunday school teacher returned the girl, no questions asked, no arrests made. According to reports, the girl was taken to the park in a purple Kia Sportage — the same type of car owned by the 28-year-old Huckaby.
A few hours after she came home the family took the girl to the hospital where a blood test showed she was on the muscle relaxer Benzodiazepines, which was reported to the police. The police declined to do anything, since they couldn’t prove the drug hadn’t been administered before she came home from the park. Plus, the Tracy Press reports that the police logs say the girl’s mother had alcohol on her breath and "carried around" some type of drug. “Police dismissed the incident because of the mother’s drug and alcohol problem," said a friend of the family.
Eight-year-old Sandra Cantu vanished from the same trailer park on March 27. Her body was found earlier this month: she had been raped and murdered, and Huckaby will soon stand trial for that death. We’re not sure who to be more angry with: Huckaby, or the police.
Read more about: Abduction, California, crime, Drugging, Melissa Huckaby, Murder, News, Sandra Cantu, Tracy
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21 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
In the 80s, at all conferences on child abuse, the experts told us that very soon we’d be hearing about women who were molesting children, torturing and murdering them, because of the abuse females have suffered from for years and years - "it’s only a matter of time." Well, that time has come, and it’s far more prevalent than anyone realizes.
It is frightening.
Keep your own babies close and be a safety net for those without the support they deserve.
I can see where anyone would be angry with the police but if the Mother of the first girl didnt press charges the Police can’t press charges unless abuse was found. They had nothing to go on so they had to let Huckaby go, trust me, writing those words aren’t easy, but to blame the police for what this lady did, that is wrong.
Huckaby is the one to blame from A to Z…there is no one else to blame other than her.
In my State, if I, MYSELF, see a child that is drugged, and then I see that the mother is drunk and carrying around drugs, I am required by law, to report that to the Child Protection Services, for child abuse.
The police would have been required to remove the child from the home until an investigation could be accomplished…..AND….if the mother is an alcoholic and a drug abuser, the child would be placed in temporary-emergency foster care, and the mother in re-hab.
In this case—- I blame the police for not protecting the child……now matbe in California, they have different rules and laws…but in my opinion, it is common sense that the child was in danger from SOMEone—-and should be deemed worthy enough to be ‘protected’ .
Patty, the mother of the first little girl was not the same Mother who harmed Sandra. The first little girl was found with Huckaby and when given back to her mother, who smelled of alcohol and maybe had drugs on her. I am sure we aren’t hearing the whole story, but the police are not to blame for Huckaby killing Sandra.
Huckaby is responsible for killing her, no one else. The police could not do anything to Huckaby b/c they did not have proof she gave the first little girl the drug…
Oh I am aware of the two mothers, the two girls and the common denominator of Huckaby—-but I am also of the ilk that the police failed the first child…..by not protecting her from what they KNEW was a bad situation for the child to be in…..Did the police think that becasue the mother was drunk, and carrying around some pills, that it was OK for the child to be drugged and think nothing of it? The mother called the police to report that her child was, seeminly, drugged…if the mother had the capacity to call the police, do you not think she would she would ALSO check her own drugs to see if the child had gotten into them? That is probably why she had them in her hands—-that makes sense to me—-she had been counting her pills, discovered none were missing and called the police….NOW, IF they had taken this seriously, it is very possilbe that the child could have told them who she had been with, and where, and then Huckaby might not have been able to kill the 2nd child…
I don;t blame the police for killing the child—-I blame the police for not protecting the first child from what they perceived to be ‘just a drunk mother with pills in her hand, who has a problem that her daughter seems drugged’…is that not a dangerous situation? CPS should have taken that child away from her mother—-to protect the child—-whether or not she had been with Huckaby.
Patty I am not even sure how to respond to this…did I offend you? If you read that the police dropped the ball for this first little girl then yes that is on them, all I stated is that this article wanted us to answer if the police should be blamed for Sandra’s death, and my answer to that is NO.
Oh Thank Heavens b/c I wasnt trying to offend but there are some on here that get so upset way too easily if you say the wrong thing and then its like a mini war zone. Patty I like your posts and enjoy reading them…I truly hope the Police did their jbo to the fullest with the first little girl…my hubby being a Cop, I know how sometimes their hands get tied and they really can’t do anything even though they want too. My hubby has come home from work too many times ticked off over the law or how someone got around the law.