INSIDE STORY: Clues to Why Melissa Huckaby Murdered an 8-Year-Old Girl

People.com(June 2010)- The day 8-year-old Sandra Cantu disappeared from a Tracy, Calif., mobile-home park, Melissa Huckaby sent a text message to the child's mother.

"Tell the police that I had something stolen today around 4 p.m.," Huckaby texted to Maria Chavez on March 27, 2009. "I don't know if that makes a difference or not."

That stolen item turned out to be an Eddie Bauer suitcase that contained Cantu’s body, the victim of a brutal sexual assault and murder.

The case horrified the Central California community, but even after Huckaby pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison, residents were at loss as to why the Sunday school teacher committed such a heinous crime against her own daughter's playmate.

Now, with thousands of pages of previously sealed documents released and the lifting of a gag order, authorities are offering a theory: The bizarre text message and Huckaby's subsequent strange behavior suggested she killed the child in an attempt to attract attention to herself.

A Theory for Motive
Such behavior has a name: Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, a form of child abuse, in which a person harms somebody else, often children, for attention. The prosecutor in the case noted that Huckaby's daughter may also have fallen victim: the child had a history of being sick and in need of hospital care way too often.

"There were 20 or so times that Melissa cut herself, set fires, or verbally or psychologically attacked someone else, such as a roommate," says Deputy District Attorney Thomas Tesla. "And there was something like that going on here (after the murder), where she wanted to be the center of attention."

The text message was just one clue. Also, the day after Sandra disappeared, Huckaby was hysterical and hyperventilating as she went to police to say she had found a note on lined notebook paper.

Newly Revealed Evidence
The misspelled message stated Sandra's body was locked in a stolen suitcase thrown in water at Bacchetti and Whitehall roads. "I wonder if she wanted to be the one who solved the case by finding the note," Tesla suggests.

Investigators thought it unusual that a woman who reported losing a suitcase "should be the one woman out of everyone in this complex who should happen to find a note that reports that the stolen suitcase was used to hide the child's body," FBI Special Agent Michael Conrad would testify in the grand jury, according to transcripts.

During an April 6 search of Huckaby's home after the suitcase was recovered, FBI agents found a notebook with "Cute but psycho. Things will even out" printed on the cover. On the pages they found indentations matching the letters from the note.

"It didn’t take an FBI expert to figure this out," Tesla says. "She has a distinctive way of writing certain letters. You can compare it to her known handwriting… and tell as a layperson that they’re written by the same person."

When confronted with the mounting evidence, court documents show, Huckaby offered a confession of sorts, saying that Cantu hid in the suitcase in Huckaby’s trailer as part of a game, but stayed inside too long and suffocated. Huckaby also offered a soft version of the events at her sentencing, saying Sandra "didn't suffer. I didn't sexually molest her."

But, Tesla contends, forensic evidence offers a grimmer version of the crime: Huckaby took Cantu to her grandfather’s nearby church, sexually molested her with a rolling pin, strangled her and stuffed her into the suitcase in a snug fetal position that Cantu couldn’t have squeezed into on her own. Huckaby then tossed the suitcase into an agricultural ditch that stunk so badly of manure that searchers couldn’t retrieve the suitcase until it eventually floated to the surface.

In the first few days of the investigation, detectives assumed the killer was a man. They trailed local sex offenders and investigated their alibis. Says Tesla: "We thought there was no way a woman would do these things."

Guilty Plea in Death of 8-Year-Old

(CNN) -- A former Sunday School teacher pleaded guilty to murder Monday in the death of an 8-year-old girl, a court official said.

Melissa Huckaby pleaded guilty in the death of Sandra Cantu, a friend of her daughter's who disappeared in Tracy, California, in March 2009.

Her body was found about 10 days later in a suitcase submerged in a pond on a dairy farm.

Prosecutors had charged Huckaby with murder, kidnapping, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, and rape by instrument. They were seeking the death penalty.

Huckaby will face a sentence of from 25 years to life in prison without parole when she is sentenced June 14, said Sharon Morris, assistant administrator for San Joaquin County Superior Court.

Sandra Cantu Case: Hearing Again Delayed for Melissa Huckaby, Suspect in Murder, Rape of 8-Year-Old Sandra Cantu

STOCKTON — A hearing to suppress evidence in the case against the woman accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu has been postponed for the second time.

Melissa Huckaby's public defender asked for more time Monday to prepare for the hearing, which was tentatively set to begin April 12.

San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus agreed. Parties will return to court May 10 to set a new date for the evidence hearing. That hearing is expected to last about a week.

Huckaby, 29, appeared with her public defender Sam Behar in a Stockton courtroom in a red jail jumpsuit. Her long hair had been cut into a short, curly style, and she had gained several pounds since her last court appearance in December.

This is the second time Behar asked for additional time to prepare for the suppression hearing. The original hearing was set for Feb. 16. In January, Behar asked for more time because, according to court records, he had not reviewed all the evidence and wanted to get information about an internal investigation by Tracy Police about what a detective said while getting a statement from Huckaby. Her statement was then used to prepare search warrants.

Prosecutor Thomas Testa did not object to the delay since it will not affect Huckaby's Oct. 18 trial date. Lofthus encouraged both sides to prepare to start trial that day.

The Tracy woman is accused of killing Sandra, who was last seen alive on March 27, 2009. After a 10-day search, the girl's body was found in a black suitcase in a pond not far from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where the second grader and Huckaby were neighbors.

Tracy police arrested Huckaby on April 10. A San Joaquin County grand jury indicted the mother and Sunday school teacher on murder with three enhancements — kidnapping, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and rape by instrument — in connection with Sandra's death. A second count charges Huckaby with a sex crime with a child 10 years or younger. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if she is convicted.

Huckaby has also been indicted on two counts of furnishing a harmful substance and one count of child endangerment for two unrelated cases involving another Tracy girl and a Hayward man.

She has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Judge Sets Trial Date for Huckaby

STOCKTON - Melissa Huckaby, the Tracy woman accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, is set to face trial late next year.

San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus set a trial date of Oct. 18 after a 30-minute hearing Friday at which the 28-year-old Huckaby was present.

The judge also set Feb. 16 as the day she will consider a defense motion to suppress evidence. She did not set a date to hear a separate defense request to dismiss a grand jury's indictment.

Lofthus has sealed pretrial motions and issued a gag order in the case, so details of prosecutors' case against Huckaby still are unknown to the public.

Prosecutors had been pushing to begin the trial quickly over worries that the memories of some young witnesses will fade. But San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa did not object Friday to the trial date.

Huckaby is charged with murdering Sandra, a playmate of her daughter's who was a neighbor in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in Tracy. Sandra disappeared March 27.

Days later, farm workers found Sandra's body in a black suitcase that had been dumped in a rural drainage pond a couple of miles north of Tracy. Huckaby also is accused of drugging a 7-year-old girl and a 37-year-old man.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

On Friday, attorneys hashed out plans for evidence sharing and other procedural issues but revealed few details. Testa said the defense motion to suppress evidence required him to subpoena authorities in Los Angeles. In an unrelated discussion, he mentioned he had handed over a disc of handwriting analysis to the defense.

San Francisco attorney Michael Burt, who is assisting Huckaby's lawyer, San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender Sam Behar, requested instructions that were given to the grand jury that indicted Huckaby. Burt, a star death penalty defense attorney who led or assisted in the defenses of Lyle Menendez, Charles Ng, Richard Ramirez and Cary Stayner, said part of the defense's basis for asking that the indictment be tossed is that they believe the jurors were not instructed correctly, but he did not elaborate.

The October trial date could change if there are delays in the months before. That could happen if the defense successfully moves the case out of San Joaquin County.

Behar missed Friday's hearing because of illness.

Sunday School Teacher to Face Death in Child's Killing

(CNN) -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a former California Sunday school teacher accused of killing an 8-year-old girl earlier this year.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was indicted last month in the death of Sandra Cantu, a playmate of Huckaby's daughter. Huckaby lived in the same mobile home park as Cantu and her family in Tracy, California.

Sandra's body was found April 6, stuffed into a suitcase and submerged in a pond at a dairy farm. She was last seen alive March 27 in the mobile home park.

Huckaby is charged with kidnapping and murdering Sandra, according to the indictment, along with lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and rape by instrument. She pleaded not guilty in June, but entered another not guilty plea on Thursday at a hearing, minutes of which were provided to CNN by a court spokeswoman.

Prosecutors said at the hearing Thursday they plan to seek the death penalty.

Huckaby is the granddaughter of Clifford Lane Lawless, pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church near the mobile home park, and she taught Sunday school at the church, police said.

The church was searched as part of the investigation into Sandra's disappearance and death.

Before her arrest, Huckaby acknowledged to a newspaper reporter that she owned the suitcase that contained Sandra's body, but said it had been stolen.

In addition to the charges in Sandra's death, Huckaby is charged with attempting to poison two people, including a 7-year-old girl. A complaint alleges she "did willfully and unlawfully mingle a harmful substance with food or drink" with the intent to harm the child.

The complaint identifies the child only as "Jane M. Doe." Huckaby is also charged with one count of child abuse endangerment regarding the girl, who the complaint says was in her "care and custody." The other alleged poisoning victim was identified as Daniel Plowman, but no other information was provided.

A gag order has been imposed on parties in the case. Superior Court Judge Linda L. Lofthus has also sealed documents in the case, including the autopsy and toxicology reports and documents relating to a defense motion to exhume Sandra's body.

Huckaby remains jailed without bail. A hearing was set for September 25.

Former Sunday School Teacher Indicted in Girl's Death

(CNN) -- A grand jury in northern California on Monday indicted a former Sunday school teacher on charges of kidnapping, murder and rape in the death of an 8-year-old girl.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, is accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, who disappeared on March 27 in Tracy, California. Her body was found April 6 in a suitcase in an irrigation pond near the mobile home park where her family lived. Huckaby and her daughter, who played with Sandra, also lived in the mobile home park.

San Francisco Chronicle reporter Henry Lee, who was in the courtroom in San Joaquin County on Monday as the indictment was read, told CNN:

"Melissa began weeping as the judge read the charges of murder and rape aloud. ... She was shackled and wore a red jail jumpsuit. Otherwise, she said nothing."

The grand jury heard two weeks of testimony.

In June, Huckaby pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The judge scheduled her next court appearance for September 10, giving her attorney time to review the indictment. No trial date has been set.

The rape accusations, involving special circumstances, are "grotesque to think of," Lee said.

Prosecutors will take about two more months to decide whether to seek the death penalty, because of the special circumstances.

Huckaby appeared in court with several fresh scratches on her forehead, according to Lee. She remains in the San Joaquin County Jail without bail, according to CNN affiliate KCRA.

"There were reports she tried to commit suicide in her jail cell. ... She has previously tried to commit suicide by means of swallowing razor blades," Lee added.

Huckaby Grand Jury Duties Done

STOCKTON - 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.

Wiretaps Used in Sandra Cantu Murder Investigation

Examiner- Police said that while investigating the kidnap and murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, they used telephone wiretaps to monitor calls of those who they believed were relevant to the case.

Authorities sent out letters to those who may have been recorded. The Stockton Record received a letter on Tuesday from the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office telling them that their calls were some of those wiretapped.

The two numbers that were actually being monitored were suspect Melissa Huckaby’s cell phone and the phone of her grandparents, with whom she lived.

Huckaby’s grandmother, Connie Lawless said that she and a number of members of her church, where her husband is pastor, also received letters informing them of the wiretap.

According to the letter, calls were taped form April 8, two days after Sandra’s body was found, and continued until April 13.

Huckaby is now in custody charged with the little girl’s kidnap, rape, and murder. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.

Tree in Kenner Park Lives On in Sandra Cantu's Name

Yards away from where 8-year-old Sandra Cantu used to attend school, a crepe myrtle now stands in her memory.

The family of the slain Tracy girl met at Kenner Park this morning to watch the city plant the 8-foot-tall sapling, which should sprout pink blossoms every spring for decades to come. Pink was Sandra’s favorite color.

“A tree is representative of life and strength and hope,” said Tracy police chaplain Dan Higgins before Sandra’s mother and grandmother scooped the first shovelfuls of dirt around the young tree.

Children peeked through the fence from Sandra’s old campus, Jacobson Elementary School, during the brief ceremony. Sandra’s mother, Maria Chavez, smiled. Sandra’s older brother Thomas Fortin, sister Miranda Chavez and grandparents Dolores and José Chavez held hands with Higgins and prayed.

The tree is planted by some picnic tables in the neighborhood park, a couple blocks south of where Sandra’s family lives in Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park.

The now-slender myrtle should reach about 20 feet and live for about 30 years. On the ground by the tree lies a brass plaque inscribed with the words “In remembrance of Sandra Cantu” and the girl’s birth and death dates.

A tree symbolizes new beginnings, said Tracy Unified School District trustee Walter Gouveia. He said he hopes that Sandra’s tree will offer shade for children and families who visit the park.

The tree is Sandra’s second memorial in Tracy. A third one should get built the summer in the form of a $46,500 school playground donated by Landscape Structures Inc. In late May, a Southern California couple donated a hand-built pink-and-purple playhouse to Jacobson School in Sandra’s memory.

Sandra went missing on March 27, prompting a massive citywide search. Ten days later, her body turned up in a black suitcase in a dairy lagoon north of Tracy. Police accused a neighbor woman — 28-year-old Melissa Chantel Huckaby — of kidnapping, raping and murdering the girl.

Huckaby is due back in court in September for a preliminary hearing after pleading not guilty last week to the charges. She remains in solitary confinement at San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp.

Sunday School Teacher Pleads not Guilty In Murder of 8-Year-Old Northern California girl

STOCKTON, Calif. -The Sunday school teacher accused of murdering an 8-year-old Northern California girl has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

The lawyer for 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby entered the plea on her behalf during a 10-minute hearing Friday.

Prosecutor Demands Plea in Child's Killing

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The woman accused of the kidnap, rape and murder of an 8-year-old California girl has yet to enter a plea in three court appearances.

So, the prosecutor wants the judge to enter a plea for her Friday if she refuses to answer to charges again.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, is charged in connection with the death of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

Sandra disappeared March 27 and her body was found April 6, stuffed in a suitcase submerged in an irrigation pond near the Northern California town of Tracy.

If the Sunday-school teacher does not enter a plea, Judge Linda Lufthus must enter a not-guilty plea for her so the case can move along, San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa told Lufthus in court papers filed Monday. He also wants the judge to set a preliminary hearing date.

At Huckaby's last court appearance on May 22, public defender Sam Behar told the judge he needed more time to review 1,000 pages of evidence he had just received from new charges filed against Huckaby a day before.

The charges of kidnapping, rape and murder include three special circumstance accusations that make Huckaby eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

In addition, she is charged with child endangerment and furnishing a harmful substance in the drugging of another 7-year-old girl and a man, both of whom survived, in the months before Sandra was murdered.

Melissa Huckaby's Tracy Church Vandalized

A Tracy church where Sandra Cantu's suspected killer taught Sunday school was vandalized over the weekend.

Vandals damaged the sign at the Clover Road Baptist church where Melissa Huckaby was a Sunday school teacher.

Sandra disappeared March 27. She was last seen on a surveillance camera skipping outside the mobile home park in Tracy where she lived just five doors down from Melissa Huckaby. Cantu's body was found ten days after her disappearance stuffed in a suitcase. Huckaby was later arrested.

Police have told CBS News they believe 8-year-old Sandra Cantu was murdered in the church where her accused killer served as a Sunday school teacher.

Huckaby's grandfather, Lane Lawless, is the pastor there and is calling for people to back off.

"The church is not the guilty party. We don't know who is. And like everyone else and like the family of the little girl our heart goes out to them. I know they are hurting and they want to know who's responsible," said Pastor Lawless.

The church has also been getting threatening phone calls. No arrests have been made in connection to the vandalism.

Disturbing Evidence Found On Melissa Huckleby's Computer

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.

Melissa Huckleby's Ex Husband Says She Swallowed Razor Blades In Suicide Attempt

This is something I already remember hearing about, the exacto-knives... But this article also mentions what's going on with custody-wise Melissa Huckleby's daughter, as well..

According to court filings, Johnny Huckaby alleges that his ex-wife, Melissa Huckaby swallowed three razor blades in a suicide attempt just prior to her arrest on Apr. 10.

Just prior to her arrest for the abduction, rape, and murder of Sandra Cantu, Melissa told the Tracy Press she was hospitalized for internal bleeding, but would not elaborate on her condition.

Johnny is currently in a battle with Melissa’s mother, Judy Lawless for the custody of their 5-year-old daughter Madison.

Johnny also indicates that Melissa forged her mother’s signature on legal documents and lied in their divorce papers when she accused Johnny of physically abusing her and using drugs.

His plea to obtain custody of his daughter also says that due to the horrific charges that sent Melissa to jail, he should be entitled to custody of his daughter.

Johnny won custody of Madison last month, however, Orange County Commissioner Walter Posey reversed the decision after Melissa’s mother begged the court to allow her to keep Madison at her home because the child is “sickly.”

Lawless claims Johnny is a deadbeat dad. “There were also issues of drugs, alcohol and possibly domestic violence in this case,” she indicated in a court declaration from April 22.

“From the time Madison was 1-year-old up to now, she has had virtually no contact with her father. I do not believe it is in our granddaughter’s best interests to be placed with somebody she does not know,” said Lawless.

Johnny said he tried to see his daughter several times over the past couple of years, but Lawless told him if he continued to try to see Madison she would take her away to Oregon and “disappear.”

He also said that Lawless told Madison she was conceived through artificial insemination, which indicated to him that she did not want his daughter to know he existed.

A custody hearing is scheduled for July 6.

To see Johnny Huckaby's "Good Morning America" interview, click here.

Charges Pile Up As Melissa Huckaby Heads to Todays Hearing

Today's hearing is set for Melissa "the rapist, child killer" to enter a plea.

There has been some speculation as to her public defender Sam Behar making a request for a speedy trial as well. California is known for having a slow forensics lab and by pushing this to trial ASAP attorneys feel Behar could eliminate some of the charges and testimoney by expert witnesses from the state.

Due to the gag order from the judge most news at this point is pure guess work and speculation, but if it was the defense's game plan to move forward quickly with the murder, rape charges Huckaby was facing against 8 year old Sandra Cantu, then the state just threw a little wrench in that plan with some additional charges.

Prosecutors on Thursday filed three additional felony counts against Melissa Huckaby, charging her with poisoning two people, including a 7-year-old girl and an adult man.

The new complaint charges Huckaby with a single count of child endangerment and two felony counts of furnishing a harmful substance, which is not identified in the document.

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."

Horrible, Graphic Details Released Concerning Sandra Cantu's Death

Warning: A bit graphic.


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 Entered No Plea

Friday a judge granted a motion by Deputy District Attorney, Thomas Testa to seal Cantu's autopsy and toxicology reports from the public.

The San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge, Linda Lofthus sealed the autopsy and toxicology reports for 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. Lofthus said releasing the details about the "heinous" crime would 'invade' the privacy of the victims family and may result in "great danger of public outrage."

The judge also said sealing the reports was crucial "to ensure a fair trial to both sides," with motioning her hand at nearby reporters chosen by lottery due to the mass media attention.

Huckaby, 28, who was recently transfered to a new public defender, Sam Behar, appeared somewhat disoriented when entering the crowded courtroom.

The accused killer's grandfather, Brian Lawless, grandmother Connie Lawless and a few other relatives were there to support Huckaby.

At the proceedings, Behar withdrew their earlier motion to exhume Sandra Cantu's body when learned that the county's chief medical examiner, Bennett Omalu had preserved tissue samples for the defense team to test.

Attorney Behar and Huckaby did not enter a plea and are scheduled to return on May 22nd.

In other news, the F.B.I. is investigating allegations of child abuse at The First Church Of God where Pastor Lane Lawless had previously been employed in Clarkston, WA.

Investigators searched the Washington church where Lawless was questioned in the 1980's when allegations surfaced but no charges were laid.

Alleged Arson Link to Melissa Huckaby

Melissa Huckaby, accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, has been linked to two house fires when she lived in Southern California in 2007.

Evelyn Lloyd, Huckaby's roommate for eight months, said in a phone interview today from Southern California that police should look more closely at Huckaby's involvement in the two fires that damaged the four-bedroom house they shared in La Palma.

Orange County Superior Court records show that Lloyd, 47, was charged with a felony count of arson on July 19, 2007. She spent 10 days in jail and was placed on suicide watch. The case against her was later dismissed.

La Palma police Capt. Jim Enright said today that Huckaby was considered a person of interest in two fires set at a home where she lived in 2007.

Citing a gag order placed on the murder case by San Joaquin County Judge Linda Lofthus, Enright declined to comment further. Huckaby is in jail and stands accused of Sandra's murder, kidnapping and rape with a foreign object.

The first fire broke out on July 19 and the other was eight days later - while Lloyd was in jail.

Lloyd said she suspected Huckaby and also their landlord, Judy Minchey.

"I was living in this lady's house for 12 years, and I knew the personality and the makeup of the people," she said. "All this stuff started happening when Melissa moved into the house."

No charges were ever filed against Huckaby or Minchey, who could not be reached for comment.

After the first fire, Lloyd said, police found a baby's bottle with gasoline, a threatening letter and newspapers stuffed in the side window of her first-story room.

"Either she (Huckaby) wanted my bedroom, or she blackmailed the landlord and it got too out of whack, because six days after I was locked up, the landlord's house was on fire," said Lloyd.

According to Lloyd, the fire that happened while she was in jail started in the living room. Authorities said the two fires caused nearly $90,000 in damages.

Ten days earlier, Lloyd said she was served with an eviction notice because Minchey felt her attitude was unacceptable. That day, Lloyd said she found that all of her electrical cords were cut. The next day, she said her clothes were bleached. That Wednesday, Lloyd said she found written in big, blue letters on her bedroom door, "Get out of here, n----r!"

After this happened, she said La Palma police only questioned Minchey, not Huckaby.

Lloyd said police pointed to her attitude, military experience and the fact that she had sent her 13-year-old daughter to live with a babysitter in Los Angeles 10 days earlier as evidence that she had committed the arson. Her landlord also implicated her, she said.

"(Minchey) said I walked in the house, I lit the curtains, ran into the burning house, closed my door and waited for the police to come rescue me," Lloyd said. "They said that I looked like I set it up the whole week and did all that stuff to myself."

Lloyd estimated that 25 or 30 women lived in the house at different times but were driven out by Minchey's odd rules and strict attitude.

One day, Lloyd said, she and Huckaby talked about how the landlord insisted clothes had to be washed in Tide detergent. She said she's sure Minchey overheard her suggest that Huckaby could buy cheaper soap and pour it into a Tide bottle.

Like Lloyd, Huckaby had a daughter living in the home. The two initially bonded as Lloyd showed her how to survive in what she described a "toxic" environment.

"When Melissa moved in, I befriended her," Lloyd said. "I told her the landlord only has one motive (to make money). So I became a mother hen to her. I felt like I had to wrap my arms around her and protect her."

Lloyd said this whole ordeal has turned her life upside down. Before this, she considered herself a good role model, a medical courier who was a veteran of Desert Storm. Now she said her reputation has been damaged.

"I want justification; I want to be vindicated on all levels," Lloyd said. "I'm so numb about it because my life is finally getting back on track." (source)

Cantu Family Braces For Emotionally Packed Hearing

STOCKTON, Calif. -- The family of an 8-year-old Tracy girl allegedly kidnapped, raped and murdered by a Sunday school teacher braced Friday for an emotional day in a Stockton courtroom.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was scheduled to enter a plea to murder and kidnap charges with three special circumstances allegations -- rape with a foreign object, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 and murder in the course of a kidnapping in the death of Sandra Cantu.

A conviction on any of the special circumstances would make her eligible for the death penalty.

Augie Chavez, Cantu’s aunt, will be among the family members attending the hearing.

“We all are planning on being there,” she told KTVU. “I think it’s important to represent Sandra and show we do care about what happened.”

Chavez said the family has had a difficult time dealing with the murder.

“(We’re ) holding up the best we can,” she said. “We have our good days and bad days-- more bad days than good days, unfortunately.”

“It’s everything all wrapped together,” she continued. “You have sadness. You have anger. You have moments of happiness remembering Sandra and the funny things she used to do. It’s just difficult.”

When asked what she would say to Huckaby, Chavez said: “I would just want to ask why. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why. It is just why. That is what I would say to her.”

At her initial court appearance last week, Huckaby broke down and cried as the special circumstances enhancements were read at her arraignment. In the ensuing days, a gag order has been issued surrounding the case.

Cantu disappeared March 27, and was last seen on a surveillance camera skipping outside the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park where she lived just five doors down from Huckaby.

An intense 10-day search ended on April 6, when farmworkers draining an irrigation pond a few miles away from the mobile home complex found the suitcase that was later determined to contain Sandra's body.

Police have said Sandra was found wearing the same clothes she had on when she was last seen: a pink "Hello Kitty" T-shirt and black leggings.

Huckaby was arrested hours after she told a Tracy Press reporter that the suitcase was hers but it had been stolen the day Sandra went missing.

In the days after Sandra's body was found, police searched Clover Road Baptist Church, interviewed Huckaby's grandfather, Pastor Clifford Lawless, and took items from the family's home. Huckaby lived with her grandparents.

Melissa Huckaby Linked To Missing Child Report

The accused in the murder of Sandra Cantu is linked to the abduction of another child. In January, Tracy police found a missing 7-year-old girl at a park with Huckaby.

On January 17th, a family in Orchard Estate Mobile Home park, where Huckaby and Cantu lived, reported their child missing.

The mother called Tracy police when the girl did not return home. The child's whereabouts are unknown from around 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The police found the child with Huckaby who returned the girl to her mother.

A couple hours later, the family suspected the child was high and took the girl to a nearby hospital where a blood test confirmed the child was under the influence of a muscle relaxant named Benzodiazepines.

Huckaby was not arrested or charged.