Huckaby told friends she was raped by a cop

[snapdragon]

I agree, but his parents were 1)Not running around in denial.
2)His father openly admitted he KNEW his son had very serious issues since he was a young boy; his parent(s) simply did not have the knowledge on how to help him. I guess this is as good of place as any to again state, science has advanced with medical help for those who are mentally ill. Are we STILL a society which frowns upon this and people simply want to bury their heads in the sand and hope it goes away or resolves itself on it's own? Is it STILL that shameful? So sad that shame supercedes the love one would have for their own family and do whatever we could to help them. Help for the mentally ill and unstable has really come a long way in the past 30-40 or so years. Now societies thoughts on it needs to catch up as well.

jmo

Good post. Yes, science has come a long way, but not far enough.. I am a scientist myself. I can tell you that there exists no cure for personality disorder or psychosis. Yes, there are treatments. A bit better than 30yrs ago, but not much. Most of the meds have marked side effects that cause the users to stop taking the meds. Even when meds are taken properly, they can and do fail as well as cause possible worsening of symptoms. and even if a pill DID work absolutely, how could we propose to follow someone around for the next 30yrs. to make sure they were taking their meds so they didn't rape and murder children?

I think we still don't know enough about the human brain. And we have no drug or treatment to cure the compulsion sexual offenders feel. We have some treatments, like castration, that initially showed promise. Yet I have read of studies that this even doesn't always work...

Good points about Dahmer's parents, thanks!

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I would love to interview the cop.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

You raised a very valid point. We do not know enough about the human brain. The studies are still in their infancy in regards to the brain. The answer is there, but we are many decades away from finding it, imo.

 

[QNA]

What bothers me a little about the officer being "cleared" is that often the police will cover for crimes committed by their own.

...

Happens all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if he did get away with it. Anyone know the name of the officer in question?

 

[MoonFlwr]

What bothers me a little about the officer being "cleared" is that often the police will cover for crimes committed by their own.

Still, considering the source of the accusation, I tend to think the officer probably did not rape her.

Yes, I must say I found it a little suspicious.
Not much detail in that article, though.

 

[QNA]

How are you so convinced she is innocent? Do you not believe the police have worked diligently in preparing their case against her? Do you honestly think they would arrest her without having adequate proof to back it up and to risk their own careers by this move? Would you be willing to let her babysit your children right now? Are you that convinced of her innocence?!

I have no pity for people who rape and murder children. I believe LE can prove their case and I pray she doesn't walk because one person on the jury feels sorry for her in any way.

I am no more convinced of her innocence as I am convinced of her guilt. I just refuse to condemn her without seeing all the facts first.

I believe the police have done a good a job as far as they're concerned. This is not to say that their findings and conclusions are infallible. There are many instances where an investigations conclusions turned out to be not quite accurate or just plain wrong. There are special circumstances in this case that differ from your everyday, run of the mill investigation of a crime. For one, this is a very high profile, media saturated case with extensive national coverage. LE was/is under a tremendous amount of pressure to produce a perp and make it stick. The failure or success of this case could make or break some of the investigators/prosecutors who are involved. Their reputations are on the line. This would suggest an almost desperate climate for LE. Desperation breeds haste and a reduction of judgment. I'm not saying that LE has botched anything up or not used good judgment in this case, as I have not seen anything to indicate this, but the atmosphere is certainly there for this to occur. Until I see more concrete facts I have to remain as objective as possible.

Probably wouldn't let Ms. Huckaby babysit my kids in light of the allegations/charges against her but that doesn't mean that I think she's guilty. I just wouldn't risk my childrens safety with someone who could be guilty of such crimes.

That's where you and I differ... I do have pity and mercy for all human beings, regardless of what they've done or are alleged to have done.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Happens all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if he did get away with it. Anyone know the name of the officer in question?

With the personality traits we are seeing in the suspect, I believe he is innocent and she lied to play the victim card. This isn't surprising to me.

Being willing to brand the officer as a potential rapist after he has been cleared, but defending the woman who raped and killed a little defenseless girl to me is telling. I see no reason to know the officer's name as he is not part of this case, imo. Dragging more innocent victims into this is not acceptable.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

My compassion for other people doesn't extend to those who show no mercy in the torture, rape, and murder of children or others. They do not deserve my pity nor do they deserve to be given the chance to redeem themselves. The DP is too kind and LWOP isn't severe enough a punishment in my opinion.

 

[txsvicki]

What totally frightens me is these rare people who may or may not have some mental illness, but are very cunning and calculating in the way they commit crimes and set up others. If all this is true, then there is a line of M.'s victims from ex'es, the cop, the drugged child, and now news of the former housemate who believes she was set up in two fires at their home. This is just the ones who have talked. There must be others. Someone like this needs to be recognized as disordered when a child and helped if possible. But, how is this done when sociopaths seem nice, helpful, and charming. The teachers don't like the bothersome troubled kids and expect them to do wrong, not the cunning ones. These kids grow into adults and are a danger to society. They don't need sympathy then. It would do them no good.

 

[darlin gal]

What talk of fires?

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/huckaby-school-melissa-2368620-finn-family

Huckaby was considered a "person of interest," but she was not arrested, Ethell said. La Palma police officers are sharing information about the fire case with the Tracy Police Department and the investigatiors.

 

[claudicici]

...could the charges be true after all?what if she became pregnant after the rape and the baby was the baby that was adopted by her grandparents?whatever happened to this child?

 

[Silver~Bell]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/huckaby-school-melissa-2368620-finn-family

Huckaby was considered a "person of interest," but she was not arrested, Ethell said. La Palma police officers are sharing information about the fire case with the Tracy Police Department and the investigatiors.

BOY OH BOY if she set those fires, that would SURE be a super red flag -- arson is often coupled with later murders...

 

[JoeFromLB]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/huckaby-school-melissa-2368620-finn-family

Huckaby was considered a "person of interest," but she was not arrested, Ethell said. La Palma police officers are sharing information about the fire case with the Tracy Police Department and the investigatiors.

Great find! I did not know about the fires.
The article you linked has some good background on MH's life in Southern Calif.

 

[daisy.faithfull]

You may be right about her having humanity. Maybe she just wasn't in touch with it when she was raping Sandra with a foriegn object. If I had pity right now, it would be directed for the Cantu family. MOO. I feel so bad for them.

In a way it is kinda better that she has humanity, because to me that means she can feel. And I think sitting in a little cell for the rest of her like feeling the guilt, anguish, remorse, isolation, worthlessness, helplessness and everything else is a more fitting punishment than feeling nothing.

 

[KoldKase]

If Huckaby is a sociopath, she may feel sorrow and anxiety--for herself, but she won't feel guilt or remorse. But she may be something else...I can't put my finger on it. The cutting and suicide attempts, acting out--she obviously wanted attention. What she seems to have done is engaged in extreme "payback" when she felt rejected or didn't get what she wanted or didn't like someone for some reason. I'm just speculating, of course, but something is going on with her, an undercurrent now showing up in her patterns. I've known people who are control freaks to the point of planning how to hurt others in some way to manipulate a situation, etc. It's not uncontrollable anger, it's more insidious than that, I feel.

I'm starting to wonder if her child is "sickly" for reasons other than natural causes.

This woman is giving me a major case of the creeps. There have been female killers in history who have had long runs of committing abuse crimes against others, including children, even their own. I'm sure you all know of this. Reading the emerging history of Huckaby is making the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

BOY OH BOY if she set those fires, that would SURE be a super red flag -- arson is often coupled with later murders...

It sure is........so strange that two fires were in the very same home where she lived.

It seems as this woman goes here and yon.....strange things happen.

 

[Kat]

I finally found the thread where the fires are being discussed

I remember reading a post from someone here on another case and they were talking about a type of personality disorder and what caught my eye was this person said "when we have this type "PD" on the ward, you can always tell...because half of the staff will think the patient is worthy of defense and is very nice, and the other half will see them for who they are...." something along those lines...that the staff will be divided in opinion of the patient...

Then we see reports of MH prior to her current arrest, some depict her as sweet, unassuming, and that they can't fathom how she could be involved. The we see reports such as the landlady who called her "secretive" and pretty much said that MH could have been responsible for arson.

Any armchair psychologist recognize what type(s) of PD this might fall under? I know we can't diagnose her, but it would help me to evaluate what she might have been capable of in the past.

I haven't seen any indication that she's mentally ill other than a previous diagnoses of depression. She may very well be PD though, and with a slew of co-morbidity factors too.

 

[KoldKase]

You know, this whole subject is really freaking me out right now. I am going to have to take a break pretty soon here. What happened to Sandra as well as the serious evil and imbalance of a person like MH is giving me a bit of a panicky feeling and I'm usually good at viewing these cases clinically.

This is exactly what I mean when I say Huckaby is starting to give me the creeps.

It's like that guy who was the prototype for the modern serial killer, at least in America: Ed Gein. If you ever read about him and his life, he's one of those people so twisted, once his true pathology was revealed, you learn something you find you don't want to know, really: the landscape of his mind was the stuff of real horror, but it existed in complete secrecy in a small community somehow, for decades.

That's what Huckaby's roommate said, wasn't it? Huckaby had "no story", she was very secretive.

There it is again. That shiver....

 

[KoldKase]

I finally found the thread where the fires are being discussed

I remember reading a post from someone here on another case and they were talking about a type of personality disorder and what caught my eye was this person said "when we have this type "PD" on the ward, you can always tell...because half of the staff will think the patient is worthy of defense and is very nice, and the other half will see them for who they are...." something along those lines...that the staff will be divided in opinion of the patient...

Then we see reports of MH prior to her current arrest, some depict her as sweet, unassuming, and that they can't fathom how she could be involved. The we see reports such as the landlady who called her "secretive" and pretty much said that MH could have been responsible for arson.

Any armchair psychologist recognize what type(s) of PD this might fall under? I know we can't diagnose her, but it would help me to evaluate what she might have been capable of in the past.

I haven't seen any indication that she's mentally ill other than a previous diagnoses of depression. She may very well be PD though, and with a slew of co-morbidity factors too.

We don't know what kind of psych diagnosis Huckaby has, but something flagged her in her last theft arrest. That may come out and it would be interesting to see what those who examined her found out.

But some psychopaths can be very deceptive, as you point out. Not saying this is what Huckaby is, but just wondering about how a person takes the huge leap from the petty theft crimes on her record to the rape and murder of a child. As Gitano brings up, this isn't an out of control, anger issue, but a very calculated act of depravity.

That's what has me creeped out, too, txsvicki, I think: I wonder what we don't know about.

 

[KoldKase]

Tori,

...

You speak of forgiveness. I believe forgiveness is a sense of accepting and moving on. It does not free the responsible party from anything, nor does it mean we have to forget. It is a letting go so one can go on with their lives in a positive manner.

...

I once heard a family member of a victim say it wasn't up to him to forgive the killer, that would be up to the victim who was murdered.

I agree with that.

Letting go of anger is part of the process of learning to live with the reality of such a devastating loss in such a violent manner, IMO. Some can, some can't. If it were easy, it wouldn't matter.

We--the citizens of our national community--are angry, but the loss to us is not comparable to what Sandra and her family lost. It is up to them to decide whether then can, should, or want to forgive, not me.

I just want to make sure this woman never does this again.