The Horrible Sad Case of Sandra Cantu

With the trial of Sandra Cantu's killer now having taken place, perhaps it is time we all looked back and reflected upon the case, and our system of justice in this country. 
America is notoriously known for allowing known killers to leave our prison system after so many years. In some states, there are even laws that allow a convicted person to walk free out of prison after serving only a portion of their sentence, no matter what their crime, and no matter how serious that crime was, including murder.  A simple google search will turn up dozens of stories about this issue. 
In the case of Sandra Cantu, America was shocked when a Sunday School teacher was arrested and charged with the murder. Not only was she a Sunday School teacher, she was a mother herself. 
This excerpt is from BriansDreams.com:

Sandra Cantu, 8, disappeared March 27. Her body was found at a dairy-farm pond near her Calilfornia home.

Sandra Cantu had been missing since March 27, and her body was found Monday, stuffed into a suitcase that was raised from a pond at a dairy farm. An autopsy was being conducted Tuesday, Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman told reporters, but he said he did not know when results would be available.

"No one is currently detained. No one has been arrested," Sheneman said. "We have not closed our interest on any particular person, and we're still looking for the perpetrator of this crime."

A search warrant was served Monday night inside the mobile home park where Sandra lived with her family, Sheneman said, but he would not offer specifics.  Watch how the suitcase was found »

A church just west of the park also was cordoned off, and Sheneman said it would be searched Tuesday after evidence teams -- who worked through the night -- have a chance to rest and examine evidence from the mobile home park.

Asked whether the church search was connected to Monday night's search warrant, Sheneman said it was, but he would not elaborate.

"We have a direction, but I can't comment on what it is, and I can't comment on the strength of the leads we have at the moment," he said.

While the cause of Sandra's death has not been determined, police consider it a homicide because of the location of her body.

"A lot" of evidence was recovered in the Monday night search, Sheneman said. More than 10 search warrants have been executed as part of the investigation.

"As a parent, this is every parent's worst nightmare," Sheneman said. "As professionals, it's renewed the strength of the investigation and focused everyone's dedication to finding out who's responsible."

The day Sandra was last seen, she came home from school, kissed her mother and left to play with a friend who lives a couple of homes away. A short time later, she left to go to another friend's home, according to a family spokeswoman.

She was wearing a pink Hello Kitty T-shirt and black leggings, which police used to identify her body.

Earlier in the investigation, police released surveillance video that showed the child in the mobile home park where she lives, skipping and happily swinging her arms on the day she disappeared. They had hoped to get tips with the eight-second video.

Sheneman spoke Tuesday in front of the mobile home park, where residents had established an impromptu memorial of flowers, stuffed animals and balloons in Sandra's honor.

Police have received many calls and messages from those wishing to offer condolences, he said. Police are asking that all cards for the family be sent to police, and a liaison will make sure Sandra's family receives them.

Hundreds attended a vigil for Sandra on Monday at a community park near her family's home in Tracy, CNN television affiliate KCRA-TV reported. The crowd formed prayer circles, sang and created memorials to Sandra.

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Sandra Cantu Found in a Suitcase; Police Closing In on Suspect

Second-Grader Was Missing for 10 Days, Lived in a California Mobile Home Park

By SARAH NETTER

April 7, 2009

Police say they are closing in on a suspect in the death of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, whose body was found stuffed into a suitcase Monday, 10 days after the second-grader vanished from the mobile home park where she lived.

"It's not as big a mystery as it was," before, said Tracy, Calif., police Sgt. Tony Sheneman to ABCNews.com, "and we believe we're getting significantly closer."

"We're hopeful that we will have something in the next couple of days," he said.

The discovery of the suitcase by farmworkers brought a tragic end to a massive search that had enveloped the town. Police were aided by hundreds of volunteers, dogs, horses and the FBI.

In the end, it was a twice-yearly practice of draining a collection pond used for irrigation that led police to Sandra's body.

When the pond, about 125 to 150 yards long and about 30 yards wide, began to empty, the suitcase appeared.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had translated missing posters into Spanish to alert the largely Spanish-speaking population, many of them migrant workers, that live in the area.

"They saw the suitcase come up to the surface and thought it was odd," Sheneman said.

When the luggage was opened at the morgue, investigators found Sandra's body inside, still dressed in the pink Hello Kitty T-shirt and black leggings she was wearing March 27, the day she disappeared.

Autopsy results are expected later today.

Sandra's uncle Joe Chavez declined to comment on her death, telling ABCNews.com that "the family has no comment" right now.

An 'Innocent, Sweet Girl'

Barbara Sokoloski, the family's neighbor in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, told ABCNews.com today that everyone there is "devastated."

The following excerpt is from a site titled Thaindain News, and dated May 11, 2009:

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.

Now, pardon me if I seem a bit out of line here, but- is this type of scenario not reason enough to call upon the death penalty being served?