“Please let her go. I need my baby."
“We will be determining the person or persons responsible
and we will bring them to justice.”
"She was just a little girl out playing.
She didn’t have a chance.
So I don’t think he deserves a chance either.”
"I need her, I miss her, and I love her so much.”
It was beautiful outside on the morning
of the 27th of March, 2009.
Birds chirped as the children of Orchard
Estates Mobile Home Park were out and about.
Amongst them, 9-year old Sandra Cantu
had permission from her mother to see a friend.
With a quick “I love you” and a kiss, she went off,
decked out in her Hello Kitty top and leggings,
innocent as could be.
Little did her mother Maria Chavez know
that this would be the last time she saw her girl.
It wasn’t until Sandra wasn’t home for dinner at 3PM
that her mother got worried. Sandra was a good little girl—
independent, yes, but something was definitely wrong.
Being acquainted with most of the residents,
Maria set out to ask if anyone had seen Sandra, but nobody did.
An hour later, with no news of her whereabouts,
Maria called Tracy County police and filed a missing persons report.
At 9pm, Officer Tim Bauer picked up the phone,
tired from his long day at work
unaware of the horrors that awaited on the other line.
The next day, the whole trailer park, including
people from outside of the community, gathered together
in solidarity to show their support for Sandra’s family.
Candles were lit as a sign of hope,
but they could only burn for so long.
A woman ran out into the crowd, up towards an FBI agent.
“I found a letter,” she exclaimed.
She claimed she found it on her front lawn.
It said “CANTU LOCKED IN STOLIN (sic) SUIT CASE
THROWN IN WATER ONN (sic) BACHCHETTI
& WHITEHALL. WITNESS.”
The misspelling and coincidence of a tip ending
up on someone’s lawn immediately alerted law enforcement.
They were confused as to why
Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby would be the
the recipient of the letter and not the Cantu family.
Officer Tim Bauer was put in charge of the search
for Sandra Cantu. He set up search parties of bloodhounds
to search throughout the trailer park, the park near
Sandra’s school, and other places she may have gone.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
did their part and passed out flyers throughout
the city with a current photo of Sandra and a description.
By March 29th, a $2,000 reward was offered by
Tracy Crime Stoppers for any information on Sandra’s
whereabouts and by the 30th, the Carole Sund/Carrington
Foundation added $5,000 more on top.
The reward eventually reached $22,000.
A surveillance video of Sandra’s last moments seen
was released to the public. In the video, she is
seen skipping from her trailer when something catches her eye.
She later disappears, walking towards another trailer.
On April 11th, a farmer named Jose Luis Franco
found a suspicious suitcase tied together with string in a
dairy farm pond he was draining, just north of the trailer park.
He alerted the authorities, who discovered the horrific sight —
Inside the suitcase was the body of Sandra Cantu.
Forensic evidence showed that Sandra had passed away
from asphyxiation and drugs were found in her bloodstream...
she was also s_______ a______ with a foreign object.
The case suddenly had a door open for a female suspect.
A couple of suspects were pointed to by residents and
the s__ offender registry was checked.
One Frank Wohler was a specific suspect—
He was reported to have k____ Sandra on the mouth
the summer before at the swimming pool.
But as he was teaching karate at the time of her disappearance,
he was quickly ruled out. Another man named Christian Sinclair
was suspected, and while the police found CP
on his computer when his house was raided, no other
evidence was found.
The focus shifted back to the woman who found the letter—
Melissa Huckaby.
Melissa Huckaby was an acquaintance of the family,
well known in the trailer park for being the local pastor’s granddaughter.
She had recently moved in with her grandparents with her
daughter and Sandra would sometimes come over to play.
Melissa had been arrested a couple times for petty
theft and had filed police claims against previous boyfriends
for physical and alcohol abuse.
But there was nothing violent on her record.
However, there was evidence that made her a prime suspect.
On the 27th, the day Sandra had disappeared,
she had reported a black suitcase missing.
Investigators took a deeper look at the handwriting on the
note and found that Melissa had attempted to forge the letter.
Searching her house for evidence a notebook
with the same amount of lines ripped out of a page was
also found. It became clear that Melissa was
at least involved in the case.
A retired marine and his wife also reported
that they saw Melissa and her SUV at the irrigation pond
where the body was found. When asked, Melissa
suspiciously said she had stopped at the pond to urinate.
Next was to check the classroom where she worked.
A piece of drawstring was missing from the blinds.
They thought back to the string that was used to tie the
suitcase shut. Most horrifying of all was the rolling pin
that was found. Bent, with a brown substance on it.
Forensic evidence showed Sandra’s DNA.
There was also previous instances where Melissa allegedly drugged people.
Melissa had been in the hospital since April 8th
because she had ingested r____ b____,
but police were still determined to find more evidence to arrest her.
Both her cellphone and home phone were wiretapped on
April 8th and text messages were able to be retrieved.
What was found was horrifying.
On the day the suitcase was discovered,
Melissa had sent a text message to her grandmother, Connie.
“They are having a 8:15PM news briefing on the suitcase.
That was fast. I hope they didn’t find anything.”
Another text was sent at 8:42 “it’s her.”
before it was revealed at the press conference at 9:15
that it was Sandra. Even more chilling was the
next text message at 10:10PM:
“I hope she wasn’t s________ a______.”
information that wasn’t released publically until April 13th.
On April 10th, the police had a scare.
While listening in, Melissa called Maria to ask if Sandra’s
sister, Miranda, could come over to play.
Police immediately rushed to Melissa’s house to see
a teenage girl walk up to the door.
Luckily it was just a neighbour.
To avoid spooking her, they decided this was the time to question Melissa.
Melissa Huckaby was brought into the Tracy police station for
questioning, lured under the guise of showing her photos of the suitcase.
When asked why she thought someone would target Sandra,
Melissa explained that Sandra would be an easy target because
she was independent and her parents seldom looked after her.
One on one, she recounted her story to Tim Bauer.
She had last seen Sandra around 3PM on the 27th
when the girl had knocked on her door and asked to play with
her daughter Madison. Melissa was busy and refused—
she had to decorate the church.
She finished packing items into her car around 4PM
when she noticed that her suitcase was missing.
After alerting the trailer park manager, Melissa
hopped into her car and drove to the church.
Around 6:20PM she drove home where she spent the rest of the night.
Tim Bauer contradicted her story, mentioning
the surveillance footage. Just before Sandra went
missing, she appeared to see something by Melissa’s trailer
and was last seen walking towards it. Eight minutes later,
Melissa was seen driving out of the mobile home park in the direction
of Clover Road Baptist Church. Thirty minutes later,
she was seen driving back from the church. He asked her to try again.
Melissa broke into tears. She admitted that she
saw Sandra that day who had come over to play with her daughter.
They decided to play hide and seek and Melissa helped
Sandra hide inside a suitcase to scare her daughter.
She had forgotten about Sandra, and a few hours later
went to help the girl out. But Sandra was unconscious.
After attempting CPR, Melissa had panicked and dumped the body.
But a toxicology test found alprazolam in Sandra’s body,
which Melissa used to treat her anxiety.
Also, the suitcase was way too small for Sandra
to crawl into by herself—someone must have
shoved her in there. Tim asked once more for her to try again.
Melissa insisted that Sandra must have gotten into
her medicine cabinet, but none of this added up.
There were clear signs of struggle and s_______ a_______.
Melissa vehemently denied the latter,
but the facts were all there to prove her twisted act.
Melissa Huckaby pleaded guilty to first degree murder
and kidnapping with enhancements in order to
avoid the death penalty. With a life sentence
without parole, she still claims that she did not assault
Sandra despite evidence to the contrary.
Sandra Cantu was a sweet child, who loved to colour,
garden, and sing Hannah Montana.
Janet Anderson, Sandra’s cousin, began an annual event
on Sandra’s birthday called Tracy Celebrates Children
where the community works together to teach children the
dangers of society. Hundreds of local children have been
fingerprinted and photographed in order to help investigators
track them down in the case of another kidnapping.
A tree and a new playground was also erected in Sandra Cantu’s name.
Not only have the parents of Tracy County become more cautious
as a result of this devastating case, but so have the rest
of the United States. In fact, the very man who found
the suitcase said that he doesn’t allow his children
to play outside on the lawn anymore,
afraid they will also become a statistic of missing children.
Everyone talks about stranger danger,
but nobody watches out for the mother next door.
Those who cause the most pain
can be the people closest to you.
For more twisted stories make sure to subscribe. Until next time.