Going West: True Crime - Sandra Cantu // 399

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

In March of 2009, a California girl headed out of her house to play with friends in her neighborhood, and was captured on surveillance footage skipping down the street. When she failed to return home for dinner, her family reported her missing. As the days ticked by with no sign of her, the FBI created a profile of their suspect. But this profile would prove to be completely incorrect, and the real suspect would stun the police, the community, and anyone who was following the case. This is the story of Sandra Cantu. BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Searching for Sandra: https://www.amazon.com/Searching-Sandra-Story-Behind-Disappearance-ebook/dp/B00B156DXG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= 2. Tracy Press: https://www.ttownmedia.com/tracy_press/archives/huckaby-sentenced-speaks-about-murder/article_0fc915dd-bbd2-5f85-9ff5-b1e80b5b28f7.html 3. The Sacramento Bee: https://www.newspapers.com/image/648581959/ 4. NBC: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/new-documents-give-gruesome-details-on-cantus-death/2091727/ 5. See No Evil: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22055174/ 6. The Mercury News: https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/05/24/huckabys-high-school-friend-saw-signs-of-trouble-in-accused-killer-a-decade-ago/ 7. Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35610698/sandra_renee-cantu 8. Tracy Press: https://www.ttownmedia.com/tracy_press/archives/father-gets-custody-of-melissa-huckabys-daughter/article_a26eb2d4-8ba4-5b1c-8157-4e0dee9db41b.html 9. ABC: https://abcnews.go.com/US/Media/melissa-huckaby-confessed-murderer-year-girl-sentenced-life/story?id=10910285 10. The Daily Beast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/melissa-huckaby-why-did-she-murder-sandra-cantu 11. People: https://people.com/crime/inside-story-clues-to-why-melissa-huckaby-murdered-an-8-year-old-girl/ 12. CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/22/california.slain.girl/index.html 13. The People of CA v. Melissa Huckaby: https://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/22/Amended.complaint.pdf 14. The Interrogation Room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_GOOCa43zM 15. NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna30116232 16. ABC: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7356264&page=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host Heath and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west. Hello everybody. Big thank you to Angie, Stephanie, Jessica, and Justin for recommending today's case. The oldest recommendation email for this case is back in 2021. And I cannot believe it took us this long to dive into it because wow, it is beyond unhinged and horrible. Yeah. And just the way that the investigation unravels and perfectly presents the suspect behind it all is just

equally as jaw-dropping. Yeah, we haven't been able to stop talking about it to each other because it is truly insane so let's get into it. Alright guys, this is episode 399 of Going West, so let's get into it. I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a

I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm just a little bit of a I'm California girl headed out of her house to play with friends in her neighborhood and was captured on surveillance footage skipping down the street. When she failed to return home for dinner, her family reported her missing.

As the days ticked by with no sign of her, the FBI created a profile of their suspect. But this profile would prove to be completely incorrect, and the real suspect would stun the police, the community, and anyone who was following the case. This is the story of Sandra Cantu. She grew up in Tracy, California, which is just about 60 miles or 96 kilometers inland from San Francisco, right along the I-5 and also the 205 freeway. Sandra grew up alongside three older half-siblings named Simone, Miranda, and Thomas or Tommy, and loved them all deeply.

Her principal at Jacobson Elementary right there in Tracy, where she was a second grader, remembered her as a hardworking and bright student who is eager to help her teachers and fellow students. A representative for the school district described her as, quote, A very well-known and very well-loved member of the Jacobson School family. She was happy and full of life each day. Sandra was a friendly and social girl who made friends very easily. She loved Hello Kitty and Hannah Montana,

remember this case in 2009, and enjoyed hobbies like gardening, cooking, coloring, singing, and gymnastics. Now eventually, Sandra's parents separated and her dad Daniel moved away from Tracy. So Sandra lived with her mom and her siblings in the Orchard Estates mobile home park. Her brother Tommy called the community tight knit,

said that everybody knew each other and the kids felt safe growing up there. Sandra and her siblings played outside with their friends nearly every day and there was never an issue. We're gonna describe some of the types of people in the neighborhood that will make you think twice about this a little bit,

but just to describe the community a little bit better. It's basically in the center of Tracy, right by a bunch of different businesses, as well as the 205 Freeway. Now, across the street from the community is a two-star hotel, a best Western hotel, which is also two stars, and then just a couple streets away

are things like La Plaza Market, a Wendy's, an In-N-Out, a Starbucks, a Denny's, and other similar businesses. But the community itself, this mobile home park, only has one entrance and exit at the front of the community. So it definitely has a private feel to it because of that. And the street names are like Apple, Apricot, Cherry, Peach, and Orange, hence the Orchard Estates mobile home park. And also because there's only one entrance and one exit and it does have this private kind of vibe, the Google Street View didn't even drive into the community, so that kind of tells you it's not like a through neighborhood, it's just one entrance, one exit.

And that will eventually kind of help solve this case. Yeah, and just for the visual people like me, I'm gonna go ahead and include a map on our social so you guys can see the area and the community a little bit better. But now that you guys do have kind of a better idea of what this neighborhood looks like, let's dive into what happened that very day. On Friday, March 27th, 2009, Sandra and her siblings went to school as usual, coming home feeling very excited for the weekend. It was Friday, you know, they're finally getting the weekend.

So after arriving home, Sandra marched up the porch steps to drop off her backpack, and then she headed back outside to wait for her brother to get home. When he did, she ran across the street to greet him and the two walked back inside the house together Sandra then returned outside to meet up with some friends But before she left she changed into a new Hello Kitty t-shirt that she had just gotten for her birthday three weeks prior when she turned eight According to her mom, Sandra kissed her goodbye, promised to be home for dinner, and headed out to a friend's house in the northwest corner of the community.

When her brother Tommy returned home about three hours later, Maria, who again is Sandra's mother, asked him to round up his sisters, Simone, Miranda, and Sandra, because dinner was ready. As the sun was nearly set, he found Miranda and Simone quickly, but Sandra was nowhere to be found. So puzzled by this, Maria asked Tommy to go out and look for her again, but after 45 minutes, he still couldn't find any sign of her, especially now that the sky was becoming completely dark.

Their mom Maria began to panic as she and one of Sandra's sisters raced to the car and drove frantically around the community searching while the rest of the family waited back at home just in hopes that Sandra had simply lost track of time and would return shortly. But with no luck and night fully setting in, her family knew that something had gone wrong. So at 7.54 PM that night, Maria called the police to report her eight-year-old daughter missing.

The 911 operator asked Maria if she could hold and Maria responded, quote, "'Well, I have a missing daughter. When asked how old her daughter was, Maria replied quote, she's eight. She told me she was going over to this one girl's to play and she hasn't been home. Fear really started to creep into her voice as she explained that her daughter had been away from home for hours now. Luckily, police headed to the house to ask the family questions and begin their search immediately, but sadly, because there was no vehicle associated with the disappearance,

they opted not to issue an Amber Alert to notify the whole community to be on the lookout. Police later defended this decision by explaining that there was not yet sufficient evidence that Sandra had been abducted and that they were hoping for the best in her disappearance. And typically with cases like this, we do see that there is a description of the abductor or a description of the vehicle or possibly a license plate. But in this scenario right now now police don't have anything they don't know where this eight-year-old girl is they don't have any suspicions that anybody has abducted her yet yeah nobody has come forward and said I saw

somebody throw her into this vehicle so it makes sense that they didn't issue an amber alert but obviously later knowing what happened it would have been great for more people to know right then and there what was going on. Oh yeah, definitely. I do think that they should have done that. Yeah. Well, detectives first questioned Maria and of course Sandra's siblings asking if there was any reason that Sandra would have ventured off by herself, but her family maintained that she never would have done such a thing. And also her mom,

Maria had enforced the rule that Sandra was not allowed to leave the grounds of orchard estates by herself. And Sandra happily agreed to this because she really had no reason to leave anyway. It's not like she was going to go meet her friends at the In-N-Out. She is eight years old, you know? So police got to work that very evening, tapping the resources of the larger San Joaquin Sheriff's Department as well as the FBI for help.

The police departments teamed up and got to work canvassing for Sandra while the FBI built out a profile of who their probable suspect for the abduction could be. Scent dogs were brought in that very same night to work with items of Sandra's clothing, and one of the dogs took off out of the mobile home community in the direction of Sandra's school, while the other went in the direction of the freeway. Which was very alarming because she could have been taken out of the neighborhood in a car hours prior to the start of the search. Because like I said earlier, Tracy, California is located along two separate freeways.

So they're now worried that someone drove through the community, took Sandra, and then popped on the freeway going anywhere from like, you know, northern California to southern California or even Oregon or Nevada or beyond. Exactly. So officers knocked on the doors of every home in the neighborhood, offering a recent picture and a description of her in her black leggings and Hello Kitty t-shirt, asking if anyone had seen her. Well thankfully, they did have a head start because after some vandalism in the neighborhood, Sandra's mom Maria had actually put a security camera on the outside of their home, so

police combed the footage carefully and were able to retrace her movements that afternoon. Sandra can be seen clamoring down the porch stairs, skipping across the street, and then disappearing off camera. And we are gonna post this on our socials so you guys can see this footage. camera and we are going to post this on our social so you guys can see this footage then a few minutes later she's seen skipping back down the street past her house and heading off camera again and that was the last time that Sandra was seen after a preliminary search of the neighborhood conducted by both police and search dogs yielded no results, the FBI stepped in to build a profile of their abductor. Now they estimated that the offender was a Caucasian male between the ages of 25 and

40, and that he likely had a history of sexual assault or possession of child pornography. Which is a very typical description for cases like this. Oh, totally, but later on they would be proven wrong on every count. But before they knew this, as there were unfortunately several sex offenders in the neighborhood, police took extra caution looking into each of them. Now, one of the residents, a karate instructor in the neighborhood, actually already had a history of acting inappropriately with Sandra, because two summers prior, he had apparently kissed her on the lips at the community swimming pool.

Ugh, punch. Yeah, I just want to throat punch that guy. So saddled with that disgusting information, police interviewed this guy, and even conducted a search of his house. And they even swabbed a substance that they came across in his home, which they believed to be blood. But unfortunately, the search didn't turn up anything of suspicion, and the substance was not in fact blood.

They verified the alibi that the man had given as well, which was that he had been at work at the time and this alibi checked out. Also, I implore everyone, especially if you have kids, to look up and see if there are sex offenders in your neighborhood because we are fortunate enough today to have resources like the Citizen App and the National Sex Offender Registry so that you can be aware of who your neighbors are, or at least the ones who have already offended. Like, I know all the ones in our area.

Yeah, absolutely. I do too. I know where they live. Yep, I checked that shit out as soon as we moved to this neighborhood. And I'm sure that most of you guys who are interested in true crime have already done this, but if you haven't done so, it's a really good idea. Yeah, because the fact that there were multiple in Sandra's neighborhood at the time, and

this is a really small community, it's just so disturbing. So within 24 hours, a tip line was established for information for Sandra's case, and a $22,000 reward was being offered. In addition to missing posters springing up all over the city of nearly 80,000 people, police also conducted searches via ATV and helicopter. They questioned the family, including Sandra's father Daniel, wondering if possibly a familial abduction was at play. But her dad was proven to be out of town at work at the time that she disappeared, so he was definitely not involved.

After over 24 hours with no progress, an officer conducting a search at the local dump came upon a Hello Kitty t-shirt, leading investigators to entertain the possibility that she was deceased and had been buried there. But her family was able to confirm that the shirt did not belong to Sandra, so this was a different Hello Kitty t-shirt that had been thrown away in the dump. Then police came across a startling clue, a note which seemed to lead them right to Sandra's whereabouts left for investigators on the ground in Sandra's own neighborhood. Sandra's surname Cantu was scribbled on the outside of it and the note itself which included multiple spelling errors read quote I'm going to read it and I'll tell you what the spelling errors were it said Cantu locked in stolen suitcase thrown in water on

Bishadi Road and Whitehall Road witness so Stolen is misspelled. It says Stolin and then the word on is o nn and then That's it. Yeah, I think there was only two. And it's really interesting by the way that it says a stolen suitcase, like the fact that the word stolen is even in there.

Please remember that. Now the intersection in question, Busheddy Road and Whitehall Road is surrounded by green space and a few bodies of water. So you could say it's an ideal location for disposing of a body, but it was just a five minute drive directly north of the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park.

It's in Northern Tracy, and also by multiple bodies of water, I mean like multiple small rivers and creeks and canals running across this rural area. So the note was found because a neighbor of Sandra's had recovered it at a crucial time, 24 hours after her disappearance, during a candlelight vigil to pray for her safe return. It seems like very, very good timing here. Yeah. Just found this note during the vigil. Well, the woman,

her name was Melissa Huckabee, claimed that she had come across the note discarded on the ground and approached an officer to hand it over, just hoping that it would provide advancements in the investigation. The officer claimed that she had been distraught and in tears as she handed over her discovery. Again, she is claiming that she found this note on the ground. The woman, 28-year-old Melissa Huckabee and her daughter Madison, were well known to Sandra

and her family. She and her daughter lived just eight houses down from Sandra, and 5-year-old Madison would play with Sandra frequently. And a little bit more about Melissa Huckabee. So she was a Sunday school teacher at her grandparents' own church, which was the Clover Road Baptist Church, located just steps from their neighborhood. Now the discovery of the note had been the second tip that Melissa provided to the police. The first was on the day of Sandra's disappearance.

And basically, she had texted Sandra's mom, Maria, telling her that something of hers had been stolen that same afternoon. And she wondered if perhaps the two crimes were connected. On the evening of March 27th, she texted Maria, quote, Tell the police that I had something stolen today around 4pm. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. I get that she's coming across like she's trying to help but texting the mother of a missing child telling her to report a crime done unto you is

So strange and rude like this woman is dealing with so much stress. Why don't you tell the police? Yeah, I mean it's easy enough for you to do the same thing. Yeah, she's got enough on her plate Well, Melissa brought up her missing item again when speaking with police, posing the idea that the two crimes may be related, especially since her missing item was a suitcase. And what did the note that she says that she found and handed to police say? That Sandra was in a stolen suitcase in the water. Melissa also gave police a description. It was a large Eddie Bauer brand suitcase, which was black and gray in color.

Now, Melissa claims that she had left it in her driveway and that it had been stolen from the front of her house. And it was while she had been on the way to report the stolen suitcase to the office of the mobile home park that she stumbled upon the note on the ground. It's just, I mean, it's not clicking, you know? Yeah, it seems too convenient. I think the fact, again, that the note said it was stolen and that she is just will not shut up about her

stolen suitcase to everybody who will listen and then finds the note while she's walking through the neighborhood and decides to give it to police at the vigil It's too much. So after the discovery of the note, police carefully combed the vicinity of the intersection that the note had indicated But they found no sign of Sandra. By March 30th 2009, so three days after Sandra disappeared, hope was really starting to dwindle that she would be found alive. So police tried to speak with Melissa again to see if they could trace the note back to its author. But a strange development arose. Melissa had been hospitalized.

Police were informed that she had tried to take her own life by swallowing razor blades. Jeez. she had tried to take her own life by swallowing razor blades. Geez. Yeah. Though Melissa herself claimed that she had swallowed them by accident while she was sleepwalking. What a thing to claim. That is one of the strangest things I've ever heard, but that's what she's claiming happened here.

Now, while they waited to speak with her again, searches were conducted of both her home and her car, and though police had yet to find any sign of Sandra or her DNA, there were items recovered that they felt could lead police to their suspect. But on April 6th came the most horrifying development so far. While draining an irrigation pond not far from where the note had indicated, a few farm workers came upon a suitcase lodged in the sludge, which looked as if it had been placed there recently. The suitcase was exactly the one that Melissa Huckabee had described,

a black and gray Eddie Bauer brand tied tightly with white cords. The suitcase was carefully removed from the pond and examined, and inside, the worst fears of her hopeful family were confirmed. Sandra's body still clad in her leggings and her Hello Kitty t-shirt. shirt. Get ready for puck drop at BetMGM, an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Con-X Ontario at 1-866-531-2600

to speak to an advisor free of charge. Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Upon hearing the news of Sandra's death and discovery, her uncle Joe Chavez remembers sadly quote, When that word came in, I heard screams that I had never heard come out of human beings before. Primal screams of love and fear, like the worst horror movie you could ever watch. It's complete innocence taken for absolutely no reason. Police scoured the banks of the pond looking for any indication that Sandra had been there,

or clues as to who had left her there. And let's talk about this area. So on one end of the pond is actually a property owned by a former Marine and his wife. And when police asked if they had seen anything suspicious on the day that Sandra disappeared, the Marine recalled that he actually had. He claimed that he remembered seeing a small SUV parked on Whitehall Road and a woman who

appeared to be rushing away from the scene. When he asked her if she was okay, she hurriedly claimed that she had to use the bathroom and couldn't wait and that she had pulled over to pee in the brush. She then quickly got into her car and drove away. And when asked to identify the woman, the man pointed out none other than 28-year-old Melissa Huckabee, whom he'd seen on the news after being connected to both the witness note and the supposedly stolen suitcase. He described her car as a small, dark-colored SUV with a spare tire on the back and claimed that she had been in the vicinity of the pond around 5.30 PM on the evening of March 27th, 2009,

the same day that Sandra disappeared. And that was about two hours before her family started looking for her and two and a half hours before she was reported missing. Very suspicious. Now out of the hospital after trying to take her life or sleepwalking, however you want to look at it, Melissa was brought in for questioning

or back in for questioning, I should say, on April 9th, so three days after the discovery of Sandra's body. Initially, police informed her that they just wanted her help. Yeah, because at this point, she's already kind of like placed herself in the middle of this investigation by handing over the notes and also the suitcase. So they're like, maybe she can help. She really is though, like she put herself

right in the middle of this investigation. So police are trying to see what they can get from her. Detectives recall her casual, easy approach dressed in a pink sweat suit, and sitting cross-legged on a chair in the interrogation room. She mentioned to the officer questioning her that she herself was actually a criminal justice major

in college, and that she took a great interest in the topic. So as the officer slowly tried to build out a profile of who Melissa was and what her role had been in Sandra's life, Melissa shared that though she thought of Sandra like a daughter, she sometimes disapproved of her behavior and saw her as commandeering and attention-seeking. Remember, this is a child she's talking about. Yeah, and also a victim. And when asked why Sandra would have been targeted, Melissa was insulting of Sandra, saying that she was often lonely, wandering around by herself or playing by herself, which the rest of the neighborhood, including Sandra's own family, said was definitely not true.

But Melissa claimed that Sandra didn't play with many other kids aside from her own daughter, five-year-old Madison. She also said that Sandra would get the girls into trouble sometimes. However, officers started sensing that there was some sort of jealousy afoot, perhaps on behalf of her daughter Madison, for not receiving as much attention as Sandra. Or maybe Melissa was even jealous of Sandra herself. So after questioning, she was released, though police felt strongly that she was holding back information from them. So 24 hours later, she was back in the

interrogation room after they asked to speak with her again. She obliged, and just as she had the day before, she strode in casually without an air of guilt or defensiveness. But this time, police planned on pushing her even harder, including revealing something that they had stumbled across in the search of her own home. The notebook in which the witness statement had been written. And they were able to confirm this not only from the type of paper that was used, but also from the imprint of the exact note left behind in the paper. Crazy!

Yeah, proving Melissa had written it in the notebook and then yanked out a single piece of paper containing this witness statement. So they questioned her again about this note, but she dragged her feet and just feigned ignorance, swearing that she had nothing to do with the composure of the note or the disappearance of the suitcase. When she was shown the picture of the suitcase before it was pulled from the irrigation pond, she confirmed that it looked like the one that was stolen from her, but maintained that she had not known its whereabouts after it had been stolen from her car on the day of Sandra's disappearance.

And just to clear this up, she had said that it was stolen from her driveway, but the whole time she was saying it was in her car, in her driveway, so this is not like a change of story here. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But even crazier, police also revealed something else that they had discovered. A post-it note with the words, Bichette Road and Whitehall Road, scribbled out in black ink, which had been stashed in her car.

So now they have found this Post-It note that matched the same place as the witness statement that she apparently found on the ground. They found this Post-It note stashed in her car. So yeah, that plus the notepad that had the, you know, this witness note written on it, like they're really catching on. So detectives snapped a picture of the Post-It and blew it up into a large poster format, pasting it on the wall of the interrogation room

to like intimidate Melissa into offering up more information. I love that they did this. I know, but by this time, the interrogating officer was really beginning to lose his patience, so he started pushing back against Melissa more and more, telling her that he didn't believe

that the suitcase had been stolen, and that it could not have been a coincidence that Sandra was found in Melissa's suitcase just days after Melissa happened upon the note from a witness that led investigators to Sandra's body. Melissa claimed that she also found it odd, but coincidental, and added that she believed a child wrote the note based on the handwriting and the misspelling.

So now it's like she's trying to say, wait, yeah, so this is misspelled and the handwriting is kind of scribbly. So obviously this was a child and it's like, okay, now we know your intentions when you wrote it. Yeah. When we get deeper into this, there's just levels of insanity here. Can we also talk about the fact that if a, why would a child that is young enough to have kind of scribbly letters and not know how to spell stolen and on that they know to write write a note with two street names on it and say that they're a witness like kids don't know about that also it would be so hard for like you're saying if a child was writing scribbly like that

how did they spell basheddy road right so Whitehall Road. So true. Even though they are generally in the area, five minutes away, it's still like, it's not giving child, it's giving adults trying to be a child. Yeah, not adding up at all. Well, when they revealed to Melissa that they had the notebook that the note was written in found in her home, she changed her tune, as they do.

She was beginning to crack under the pressure, so she said, okay, I need to tell you something. Melissa first alleged that after she had handed the note over to the officers, she wanted to play detective herself, jotting down the street names that she remembered from the witness tip before going looking for the body at the pond. So that's why she's saying this note is in her car. She wrote it down so that she could drive to the spot herself and try to find Sandra's body.

I guess kind of would make sense, but a little weird. Just let the police do it. Like they're gonna do it anyway. But when the interrogating officer continued to poke holes in her story, Melissa broke down in sobs saying, quote, Anyway, but when the interrogating officer continued to poke holes in her story, Melissa broke down in sobs saying, quote, I can't live with myself. I deserve to just die. But the story she told next was still only a version of the truth. According to Melissa, Sandra loved to play hide and seek. And on the afternoon of Friday, March 27th, again 2009, Melissa says that she flagged her down while playing in the street and spoke with

her for a moment. Melissa claims she then went inside her home to retrieve a few items before she needed to run an errand at the church. While she was inside, she accuses Sandra of crawling in the empty suitcase in the back of her car, unbeknownst to Melissa. Melissa then returned to the car and drove to her church with the suitcase containing Sandra in the backseat, and went inside the church to take care of an obligation for Sunday school that was coming up in two days.

Then hours later, when she tried to remove the suitcase, Melissa says that she noticed how heavy it was, opened it up to find, to her horror, that Sandra was inside. But by then, Sandra had asphyxiated. So Melissa says that she attempted to perform CPR, and that it was too late, so she panicked and disposed of the body. The report written by the officer regarding this interrogation read quote, her head was spinning out of control and she was not thinking straight. So that gives you kind of an idea of how she was acting while she was telling her truth.

Exactly. And though police listened to her proclamations, they knew based on the autopsy alone that Melissa's story was bullshit. Sandra's cause of death was ultimately asphyxiation, but before her death, she had been given drugs. In Sandra's liver, the medical examiner discovered alprazolam, commonly used to treat anxiety and panic attacks, also known as the generic for Xanax. Not only did Melissa Huckabee possess an active prescription for alprazolam, but prescription bottles for the drug were found in her purse, so obviously she gave it to Sandra or forced her to take it. When asked how to account

for the fact that Sandra had ingested drugs prior to her murder, Melissa explained that when she realized Sandra had died by accident, she popped all the pills in her purse and tried to take her own life. Recoiling at the taste of them, she apparently spit them back out all over Sandra's body, which she claimed was the reason that her toxicology report contained alprazolam. That's not how that works. Yeah, what in the hell is she talking about? But the thing is, Sandra hadn't died from suffocation. She had died from being strangled, which police knew due to the presence

of a blood-soaked cloth that was tied around her neck, which was found in the suitcase with her. In addition to abrasions on her lower lip and elbow, she had been sexually assaulted with an object. Which just goes to show how intentional and unthinkable this entire crime was. And police theorize that Melissa had done this to mimic the appearance of having been assaulted by a man, which would cast suspicion away from her, kind of like scribbling that note to make it look like a child. She's just trying to point the blame into multiple different directions.

Yeah, definitely. But late that evening, while still in the interrogation room, Melissa Huckabee was arrested for the abduction, assault, and first degree murder of eight-year-old Sandra Cantu. While Melissa staunchly denied having committed the crime purposefully and refused to admit to having beaten and assaulted Sandra, police were broadening their efforts

and conducted a search of the church where Melissa taught Sunday school. Inside they found more indications as to what actually happened to Sandra, evidence that went against Melissa's flimsy cover story. In the kitchen of the church they found a rolling pin with a bent handle and a red substance that resembled blood. And this was carefully removed and tested, and the blood was found to belong to Sandra. They also discovered a bottle of isopropyl alcohol,

and they found as well that it was in Sandra's toxicology report alongside the alprazolam, leading investigators to believe that Sandra was force-fed a liquid mixture of the alcohol and pills before being assaulted and killed. Regarding the slick white cord that was found to be securing the suitcase closed, was a match for the cords that controlled the blinds in the Sunday school classroom that Melissa worked

in. And one of the windows was found to have had its cords ripped off. So with this information, police began to believe that Sandra's murder and assault took place inside Melissa's own church, and that she then placed the suitcase in the backseat of her car before driving out to the pond and leaving Sandra's body there. Upon forensically processing her computer, they also found articles that Melissa had saved,

saved, detailing other cases where children had been molested, murdered, and placed into suitcases. Unreal. The fact that she saved them, it's like are you getting inspiration? Like that is such a disturbing part of this. So this led police to conclude that this was no accident. This had been premeditated murder. Now contrary to what Melissa had alleged, police believed that Sandra had gotten into the car willingly with Melissa, trusting her as both her neighbor and her friend's mom.

And thankfully, the security camera on the outside of Sandra's house captured a few of Melissa's movements on the afternoon of Sandra's murder, giving police more context and more of a timeline to work with. At 3.42pm, Melissa can be seen walking past Sandra's house. She then got into her car off camera and drove past the house in the opposite direction of which she was walking, heading towards the exit of the mobile home community. Sandra is believed to have been in the backseat of the car by that time, headed to the church. Now at 5.26pm, the car was again seen leaving the park, this time likely headed to the irrigation pond to drop off the suitcase.

Securing a lawyer and likely realizing the severity of the charges mounting against her, Melissa opted to take a plea deal rather than go to trial. A case as evil and unprovoked as this would likely see the state of California seeking the death penalty, so Melissa entered a guilty plea in order to avoid being sentenced to death. From what investigators were able to surmise, Melissa lured Sandra into her car, telling her that they were going to decorate the Sunday school room. The charges of sexual assault were dropped

per the term of the deal, though Melissa continues to deny assaulting Sandra to this day, but we obviously really can't trust anything she says because she's a piece of shit. Now before the court sentenced Melissa, they revealed a surprising new detail. That they were adding charges for poisoning two other people, including one minor. One of the victims was listed as Daniel Plowman, who is believed to be an ex-boyfriend of Melissa's. And the other was a seven-year-old girl, simply referred to as Jane Jane Doe to protect her identity as a minor. The Jane Doe's connection to Melissa was unclear, but both victims survived, and it seemed as

if Melissa had been plotting a murder for years. And the police guessed that her motive behind all of this was because she just simply wanted to play detective, given her background in criminology, wherein she enjoyed being the center of attention, as she knew that she was the key to solving the case. Given her statement about Sandra's relationship with her daughter, it also seems that she harbored resentment for Sandra, and how beloved she was around the neighborhood. She may have been jealous on behalf of her daughter, which again was Madison, or just

jealous on behalf of herself. In June of 2010, so 15 months after Sandra's murder, Melissa was sentenced in court. Sandra's family and friends packed the courtroom, reading victim impact statements and lamenting on the senseless loss of a young life. When asked by the court for her defense, Melissa simply said quote, From the day Sandra has died, I have lived with the consequences of what I've done. I owe you an explanation. I still cannot understand why I did what I did. This is a question that I'll struggle with for the rest of my life.

Addressing Maria directly, Melissa said, quote, she did not suffer and I did not sexually molest her. I'm asking you, Maria, for your forgiveness. I can't imagine forgiving someone who harmed my daughter. I hope someday you can forgive me. Prosecutor Thomas Testa argued, quote, it's hard for me to believe that Sandra Cantu did not suffer. Melissa also hand wrote a letter to be given to Maria, expressing her sincere regrets for her actions, though Maria has not revealed what it said.

Maria, who was understandably too emotional to take the stand, sat with the support of her family, while Sandra's father Daniel and Aunt Angie made speeches addressing the court. Sandra's father Daniel said through Sobs, quote, she was not even old enough to decide to eat ice cream yet. Supporting Melissa were her parents, Judy and Brian Lawless. And Melissa's mom Judy was actually permitted to make a speech addressing Maria as her daughter had done.

Tearfully, she said, quote, There hasn't been a day that's gone by that we haven't grieved for your family. If I could give you justice, the justice that you deserve, that would be to have your baby girl in your arms. From mother to mother, I'm so sorry." Melissa, who was just 28 years old at the time she murdered Sandra, was apparently notorious for this type of behavior. Prosecuting attorney Thomas Testa, pushing for the harshest sentence, told the court, quote, there were 20 or so times that Melissa cut herself, set fires, or verbally or psychologically attacked someone else, such as a roommate.

And there was something like that going on here, where she wanted to be the center of attention. Thomas posed the possibility that Melissa was so desperate for recognition that she had developed Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome through Sandra, hungry for all the attention that she could get from the police and the community for helping solve a crime that she committed. Melissa's ex-husband, who she had her daughter Madison with, recalled a history of dramatic behavior and depressive episodes. He said, quote, I do believe the emotional issues came into play

quite often in her lifetime. She did suffer from depression. She did have issues with her self-persona, I do believe the emotional issues came into play quite often in her lifetime. She did suffer from depression. She did have issues with her self-persona, who she saw herself as. He and Melissa split up after two years of marriage, and since then, Melissa had two boyfriends in a row that she allegedly vilified, claiming they were manipulative and abusive. She even sought a protective order against one of them.

When asked if his ex-wife was capable of what she was being accused of, he remarked, quote, "...my initial reaction was shock and complete disbelief. It's not something you want to think anyone is possible of doing, let alone somebody that you knew. And that's the mother of your child. I wouldn't wish this on anybody, especially on the family members of the victim, but mainly for my daughter. I mean, I don't want my daughter growing up with that type of legacy to look forward to." After Melissa's arrest, he sought full custody of their daughter Madison and was awarded as such.

She moved across the country to join him with his wife and children and he claims that he kept her completely away from the media and the spotlight just sheltering her from what her mother had done. But he claimed that he did allow Melissa's parents Judy and Brian to maintain contact with their granddaughter. On June 14 14, 2010, Melissa Huckabee was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the kidnapping, assault, and murder of Sandra Cantu. She has periodically been placed on suicide watch by the Women's Correctional Facility where she is being held in Corona, California. She is currently 43 years old.

Sandra's family, however, hope that she's remembered not for how she's left this world, but how she lived in it. At the trial for her murder, a lengthy slideshow of dozens of pictures and videos celebrating her eight short years played for the court. Sandra's aunt Angie wrote a poem about her beloved niece that she recited at her memorial, writing that they will always remember, quote, her precious face so tender, so pure. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening. This one just completely caught me off guard because as we mentioned before, you know, the suspect seemed to be your regular run-of-the-mill predator, white

male between 25 and 40, and it ended up just like throwing everyone for a loop here. Yeah, nobody would have expected that. I mean, especially, I can't imagine living in that neighborhood being Sandra's family and knowing that she had done this. Like you would just never, ever expect such a thing to occur. So it's such a horrible story. Our hearts really go out to Sandra's family and of course Melissa's daughter and yeah we're just so glad that at least justice was served here. I

mean crazy crazy horrible story. Absolutely and again we are gonna post those videos and photos from this episode on our socials so make sure you go check those out. We're on Instagram at going West podcast, and we're also on Facebook. Yes. And again, thank you to Angie, Stephanie, Jessica, and Justin for recommending this case. If anybody out there has a case they want to recommend, the only way that we're going to see it is if you email us going west podcast at gmail.com. Like I said,

the oldest recommendation for Sandra's case was back in 2021. So sometimes it takes us a while to look into them because we have a list of hundreds, but please send it in anyway. And thank you everybody for tuning in. Also, one last thing I want to say before we let you guys go,

if you do enjoy going west and you're loving the show, you love Daphne and I, if you feel like leaving us a review that would really help Out our show we would love that and appreciate it so much. Oh, yeah Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world. Don't be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man Thanks for watching!