Additional Charges in Cantu Murder Case

As reported yesterday, Melissa Huckaby, 28, was accused of murdering Sandra Cantu, 8, and that Huckaby may face rape and molestation charges. Today, those additional charges came to pass as Huckaby faces one count of murder- in violation of California Penal Code Section 187; with three special circumstances. The first alleges that Huckaby murdered little Sandra while kidnapping the little girl (violations of Sections 207 and 209); the second alleges that Huckaby committed lewd and/or lascivious acts upon Sandra (violations of Section 288, within the meaning of Section 190.2 (a) (17) (E)...); and finally that Huckaby had raped Sandra by use of instrument (violation of Section 289, within the meaning of Section 190.2 (a) (17) (E)...). All of these do have death penalty implications.

At this time, Huckaby has not entered a plea, and the case will be continued on April 24.

Somewhere, John Walsh is in shock- and he'll probably show it on this Saturday's broadcast of "America's Most Wanted". I took a look at the AMW website yesterday, and he- like many of us (myself included) believed that some male creep took away this little baby girl's life. Who would have thought that a seemingly nice Sunday School teacher from the Clover Road Church in Tracy would be a suspect? I sure as hell didn't, that's for damn sure. But it comes to show that what we think we know isn't always true.

I remember when- shortly before I moved back to Portland from New Orleans- that a serial killer was terrorizing south Louisiana. Women were being kidnapped, and in some cases sexually assaulted, before being killed. Many had believed that the killer had fit the "typical" profile- a pissed off, socially awkward white man. But what the investigators didn't mention until the actual arrest that this serial killer was African-American and quite a charming one at that. In other words, not your "typical" profile of a serial killer. Which brings me back to this: there is no such animal as "typical". As I've often times tell friends when we get into debates about the sex trade, not every woman's a prostitute, and not every man's a pimp. I know I've gotten off track a bit, but this comes back to my argument that there is no such thing as "typical". In fact, some definitions of "typical" end up being stereotypical.

Whatever verdict comes to Ms. Huckaby, perhaps justice will be served. Or maybe she's a scapecoat for the real killer. Who knows, except for the fact that I'll be following this case quite closely.

(C) 2009 by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.