Post by pdc1987 on Apr 12, 2009 10:30:33 GMT -5
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/12/MNJQ17163H.DTL
Suspect in Tracy slaying is churchgoing mom
Kevin Faganand Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers
Sunday, April 12, 2009
(04-12) 04:00 PDT Tracy --
She was a loving mother to her ailing child, she taught Bible study at her grandfather's church, and her 5-year-old daughter played a lot with 8-year-old Sandra Cantu and other kids on the block.
Until Saturday, that was the main impression neighbors and family had of 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby.
What they apparently never suspected was that the brown-haired single mother with the quiet smile might kill an 8-year-old girl, then stuff the body in a suitcase and hide it in a pond - but that's just what Tracy police say Huckaby did.
"She must have had a double life, because she seemed sweet and the Bible study kids love her," said Carlos Martinez, who lives in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park near Huckaby. "This is a total shock."
Huckaby's relatives said they were bewildered at the concept that the churchgoing woman they've seen get down on her knees to play with children and lead them in singing religious songs such as "Deep and Wide" would do what police say she has.
"I've never seen her truly scold her daughter," said Cynthia Browning of Manteca (San Joaquin County), Huckaby's great-aunt. "She is soft-spoken. I trust my grandchildren with her. I don't believe she could do this."
Huckaby lives with her grandparents because she suffers from severe allergies and wanted relatives' help to be able to have more time "to take better care of her daughter, who is super-thin and gets sick a lot," Browning said. She was named "class mother" of her daughter's preschool, friends said.
Along the way, however, Huckaby has had legal problems.
She was convicted in 2006 in Los Angeles County of property theft, and was due in court Friday to be sentenced for a local January felony burglary conviction, according to court records. In 2002, the Sutter Tracy Community Hospital won a $10,000 civil judgment against her for owed bills; she declared bankruptcy the next year.
"She is a good churchgoing girl, but she has had her challenges," said her great-aunt.
Neighbors said the only thing that struck them as odd about Huckaby was that instead of sending her child over to other kids' houses to play, she always insisted on playmates coming to her house. Huckaby wasn't overly chummy with everyone on the street, they said, but always cordial when approached.
The house, neighbors said, is a neat, inviting place where Huckaby and her daughter live with her grandparents, 77-year-old Lane Lawless - pastor of the nearby Clover Road Baptist Church, where Huckaby teaches - and Connie Lawless, a former elected member of the local Republican Central Committee. In this trim park of beige-toned mobile homes, nothing stuck out as unusual about the place. The family - including her parents, who live in Southern California and sing in their church choirs - is respected.
"Look, her grandfather is a preacher; there are some good influences in that family," said Dwight Porsche of Tracy. "This makes no sense at all. I mean, who would do that to a baby?"
Huckaby's only occupation was the Bible study job, relatives said. The Baptist church has a small membership, and Sandra's family said they were not involved with the church.
After Sandra disappeared March 27, Huckaby attended a community vigil to offer condolences, but evidently was not heavily involved in the 10-day search effort. After the girl's body was discovered Monday, she spent several days at the Tracy hospital in intensive care for various ailments, her great-aunt said.
"This just makes no sense at all," said neighbor Maria Ramirez, shaking her head sadly. "I'm so surprised. Such nice people, such bad things to happen."
E-mail the writers at kfagan@sfchronicle.com and jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.
Chronicle staff writer Erin Allday contributed to this report.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Suspect in Tracy slaying is churchgoing mom
Kevin Faganand Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers
Sunday, April 12, 2009
(04-12) 04:00 PDT Tracy --
She was a loving mother to her ailing child, she taught Bible study at her grandfather's church, and her 5-year-old daughter played a lot with 8-year-old Sandra Cantu and other kids on the block.
Until Saturday, that was the main impression neighbors and family had of 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby.
What they apparently never suspected was that the brown-haired single mother with the quiet smile might kill an 8-year-old girl, then stuff the body in a suitcase and hide it in a pond - but that's just what Tracy police say Huckaby did.
"She must have had a double life, because she seemed sweet and the Bible study kids love her," said Carlos Martinez, who lives in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park near Huckaby. "This is a total shock."
Huckaby's relatives said they were bewildered at the concept that the churchgoing woman they've seen get down on her knees to play with children and lead them in singing religious songs such as "Deep and Wide" would do what police say she has.
"I've never seen her truly scold her daughter," said Cynthia Browning of Manteca (San Joaquin County), Huckaby's great-aunt. "She is soft-spoken. I trust my grandchildren with her. I don't believe she could do this."
Huckaby lives with her grandparents because she suffers from severe allergies and wanted relatives' help to be able to have more time "to take better care of her daughter, who is super-thin and gets sick a lot," Browning said. She was named "class mother" of her daughter's preschool, friends said.
Along the way, however, Huckaby has had legal problems.
She was convicted in 2006 in Los Angeles County of property theft, and was due in court Friday to be sentenced for a local January felony burglary conviction, according to court records. In 2002, the Sutter Tracy Community Hospital won a $10,000 civil judgment against her for owed bills; she declared bankruptcy the next year.
"She is a good churchgoing girl, but she has had her challenges," said her great-aunt.
Neighbors said the only thing that struck them as odd about Huckaby was that instead of sending her child over to other kids' houses to play, she always insisted on playmates coming to her house. Huckaby wasn't overly chummy with everyone on the street, they said, but always cordial when approached.
The house, neighbors said, is a neat, inviting place where Huckaby and her daughter live with her grandparents, 77-year-old Lane Lawless - pastor of the nearby Clover Road Baptist Church, where Huckaby teaches - and Connie Lawless, a former elected member of the local Republican Central Committee. In this trim park of beige-toned mobile homes, nothing stuck out as unusual about the place. The family - including her parents, who live in Southern California and sing in their church choirs - is respected.
"Look, her grandfather is a preacher; there are some good influences in that family," said Dwight Porsche of Tracy. "This makes no sense at all. I mean, who would do that to a baby?"
Huckaby's only occupation was the Bible study job, relatives said. The Baptist church has a small membership, and Sandra's family said they were not involved with the church.
After Sandra disappeared March 27, Huckaby attended a community vigil to offer condolences, but evidently was not heavily involved in the 10-day search effort. After the girl's body was discovered Monday, she spent several days at the Tracy hospital in intensive care for various ailments, her great-aunt said.
"This just makes no sense at all," said neighbor Maria Ramirez, shaking her head sadly. "I'm so surprised. Such nice people, such bad things to happen."
E-mail the writers at kfagan@sfchronicle.com and jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.
Chronicle staff writer Erin Allday contributed to this report.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
