California Mom Finds Missing Children Using Facebook

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A Southern California mother whose two children were reported missing 15 years ago has tracked them down in Florida using Facebook.

San Bernardino Deputy District Attorney Kurt Rowley says Faustino Utrera, the father of the boy and girl, took off with them in 1995 when they were ages 2 and 3.

Rowley says recently the mother typed one of the children's names into Facebook and a listing for her daughter, now a teenager, came up.

The mom contacted authorities, who tracked the Facebook profile to Orlando, Fla.

Utrera was arrested and charged with kidnapping and violating child custody orders.

The Florida Department of Children & Families says the mom is trying to build a new relationship with the children.

Amber Dubois' Dad to John Gardner III: "He Will Burn in Hell"

SAN DIEGO (CBS/AP) Amber Dubois' father minced no words with his daughter's killer.

"He will burn in hell for the acts he's committed," Maurice Dubois said during the sentencing of John Gardner III in a California court Friday.

Gardner was sentenced to three life sentences without possibility of parole for raping and killing Amber Dubois, 14, and Chelsea King, 17.

Chelsea's mother, Kelly King, demanded the killer's attention.

"Look at me," she said before describing her beloved daughter.

"Chelsea was a sweet, loving, and innocent soul who could not have fathomed the wretched piece of evil that ended her life that day," said Kelly King.

Tears streamed down Gardner's face.

"Chelsea was everything this man was not," said her father Brent King. "She was as good as this man is evil."

One by one, each parent came to the podium to address the man that stole their daughters.

"I truly hope he suffers a hundred times the amount of pain he caused our families," Amber Dubois' father said. "I just hope that day is an agonizingly long way away, and that he will have to suffer as much as we all have."

Superior Court Judge David Danielsen sentenced Gardner, 31, to two life terms without parole for the rape and murder of both Amber Dubois and Chelsea King, and a third life term for the attempted rape of Candice Moncayo, a jogger who managed to escape Gardner's attack by elbowing him in the nose.

Chelsea King, a straight A high school student, went missing Feb. 25, 2010 while running in a San Diego park. Her body was found five days later in a shallow grave by a lake. Amber Dubois went missing one year earlier almost to the day. Her skeletal remains were found soon after Chelsea King's.

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.

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."

Suspects Named In Boy's Kidnapping

SAN BERNARDINO, California (CNN) -- Three-year-old Briant Rodriguez remained in a hospital bed fatigued and malnourished Monday, 15 days after being kidnapped at gunpoint and then dumped on the streets of Mexico.

Police don't know much about what happened to the boy, who was taken after gunmen tied his family and ransacked his California home on May 3.

They don't know why the gunmen broke into the home, why they kidnapped the bubbly 3-year-old or how he ended up wandering the streets of Mexicali with a shaved head, rather than the long hair he had sported before the kidnapping.

But police believe they do know who is responsible.

In a news conference on Monday, the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department and FBI identified the two suspect gunmen as Liberato Vega, 30, and Israel Moreno, 28.

The two men, who authorities said were illegal immigrants with criminal records, are believed to have burst into the San Bernardino home, ransacked the house, tied up 3-year-old Briant Rodriguez's family and snatched the child two weeks ago.

The boy was returned to his family Saturday in the border town of Calexico.

"It was a very emotional and unforgettable experience," said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Sgt. Doug Hubbard, who was with the boy's mother when he was returned. "Enough said there -- before I get emotional."

Officials said the boy was still in the hospital Monday and was being treated for malnourishment and fatigue.

"We're very happy that he's alive," San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops said this weekend. "A 3-year-old goes missing in this country for two weeks -- sometimes it has an unhappy ending.

"This one did not."

Now, police are trying to piece together exactly what may have happened during the 13 days the boy was missing.

Detectives from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department and Federal Bureau of Investigations agents were able to identify the alleged kidnappers based on unspecified physical evidence at the San Bernardino home and interviews with the boy's family and neighbors.

Hubbard said the family has adamantly denied knowing who may be responsible for the kidnapping or having any association with those responsible.

FBI Supervisory Special Agent Don Roberts said it was, however, "likely that this family was the target" of the kidnappers.

"But why, we don't know," Roberts said, adding that the kidnappers had clearly planned the crime.

Officials said they believe Vega and Moreno are the two men they captured on video at a home-improvement store near the Rodriguez home before the crime buying tape like the kind that was used to bind the family.

Hubbard said there are no-bail warrants issued for both men for home invasion robbery and kidnapping and Roberts said the FBI also obtained federal warrants for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution for both men.

"We will leave no stone unturned until these two are returned to San Bernardino to face justice," Roberts said. "We will not take a break until that day happens."

Authorities are hunting for both men, who have criminal records, in Mexico where they were both born. Roberts said both men have previously been deported from the United States, where they were living illegally. Their previous residences are empty, police said.

Vega, who police said they considered to be the primary suspect, has had seven encounters with authorities in San Bernardino, according to court records, including four convictions in 2005 for a variety of charges, including driving under the influence. He also has a dismissed burglary case and two open cases against him for driving under the influence, providing false information to police and driving without a license.

Police described Vega as a Hispanic male, 5 feet 9 inches weighing 130 pounds.

Moreno was convicted in 2008 for driving under the influence and has another similar case open against him. Police described Moreno as a Hispanic male, 5 feet 6 inches weighing 150 pounds.

Police have said they are also looking for 21-year-old Claudia Acosta, Vega's girlfriend, who may be traveling with him. They aren't sure how she's related to the kidnapping.

ANOTHER Happy Ending To Report, Yes!!

Abducted California boy, 3, found in Mexico

Briant Rodriguez was found wandering the streets of Mexicali, Mexico, by a police officer late Thursday, said San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops.

After clearing paperwork with Mexican officials, California authorities reunited the boy with his mother Saturday in the border town of Calexico, Hoops said.

"We're very happy that he's alive," Hoops said. "A 3-year-old goes missing in this country for two weeks -- sometimes it has an unhappy ending.
"This one did not."

The boy had been missing since May 3, when two men armed with handguns burst into his family's home and tied him up -- along with his mother and four siblings.

The men ransacked the home before leaving with Briant, a small amount of cash and some personal property, San Bernardino sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said.

Authorities had not caught the suspects as of Saturday evening. Hoops said authorities have information about at least two suspects -- who were captured on video at a home-improvement store near the Rodriguez home buying tape like the kind that was used to bind the family.

He said the names of the suspects, and what authorities believe was a motive, are not being released because they could jeopardize the investigation.

He also declined to say what relationship the suspects may have had with the family or whether the kidnapping is linked with drug crime that has run rampant in Mexican border towns in recent months.

Members of drug cartels in the border region have been known to use kidnapping as a means of quick cash.

"If you take a look at the case, I'll let you do your own homework on it," Hoops told reporters.

Authorities from San Bernardino flew to Mexico late Friday to get Briant. Hoops said he appears to be in good health. His hair, which is shoulder-length in photographs that authorities had released, had apparently been shaved, Hoops said.

Hoops said Briant's mother is "a Mexican citizen living here in the United States," but that he is unsure of her immigration status. He said Briant was born in the United States.

Sgt. Doug Hubbard, who was in Calexico when Briant and his mother were reunited, called the meeting emotional.

"Tears even came to Briant's eyes," he said. "It was a beautiful thing."

Cops: Kidnappers Shown On Camera

(CNN) -- Police in San Bernardino, California, released pictures of two suspects in the abduction of a 3-year-old boy who was taken at gunpoint from his home last weekend.

Briant Rodriguez has been missing since May 3, when two Hispanic males armed with handguns burst into the home, tied him up, along with his mother and four siblings. They ransacked the home before leaving with Briant, a small amount of cash and some personal property, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Cindy Beavers said.

A motive for the abduction is still unclear, and the authorities have not received a demand for ransom, Beavers said.

Investigators traced samples of the tape used to tie up the family to a home improvement store where they believe the suspects purchased the tape the Friday before the abduction.

The unidentified store's surveillance camera captured two men who matched the description of the kidnappers given by Briant's mother, purchasing tape believed to have been used in the abduction, Beavers said.

The home improvement store's exterior surveillance cameras also caught a green Ford Bronco believed to have been used in the abduction, Beavers said. The same car was later seen driving past a convenience store near Briant's home about three minutes after his mother called police on Sunday to report the abduction, Beavers said.

Authorities distributed screen grabs of the footage on Friday showing the suspects and the vehicle in an effort to draw more tips, which have been coming in steadily since an Amber Alert was issued earlier this week.

"You've got two men that resemble the description given by Briant's mother, they're buying tape that matches the tape used to tie them up, then they leave the store in this green Bronco and then on Sunday, just a few minutes before the emergency call for help, the same vehicle is seen leaving the victims' neighborhood," she said.

"Detectives put these two incidents together, and they're confident that these are the suspects and that was the vehicle used," she said.

Both suspected kidnappers are Hispanic males -- one 5-feet, 5 inches tall, between the ages of 18 and 20 with a thin build, unknown hair and eye color, last seen wearing a black baseball hat, blue jeans and green T-shirt. The other is 5-foot-10, around age 24 with a thin build, black boots, a black shirt and a bandanna.

Neighboring law enforcement agencies are on alert, and the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol are assisting in the investigation.

The FBI and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department have both put up $25,000 rewards for Briant's return. The FBI has also established a Facebook page with the latest information in the case.

"We became involved in the beginning and that's customary in kidnapping cases because of the potential for cases to go out of state or out of the country," FBI Spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Despite early speculation that the abduction was related to Mexican cartel violence, both spokeswomen said they were unaware of specific evidence suggesting the family had ties to the drug trade.

"We've seen an escalation nationwide in south-of-the-border-related kidnappings, whether it be drug cartels exacting revenge or carrying out violence in exchange for drug debts, or in another type of scenario, Americans who do business in Mexico being targeted for ransom," Eimiller said.

"Of course that's being looked at as a scenario here, but we have no conclusive evidence suggesting that's the case just yet."

Briant is described in the Amber Alert as a Hispanic male who was last seen wearing a yellow shirt with blue sleeves and blue-striped shorts with two different colors of blue. The boy's hair is longer than shoulder length.