Media Links Only - NO DISCUSSIONS

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

The paper trail of her problems begins in 2002, when Melissa Lawless was single and working as a cashier at a Food 4 Less store in Tracy.
By spring 2003 she had gone on maternity leave and was earning $600 a month in disability when she filed for bankruptcy, court records show. Deep in debt from unspecified medical bills and charge cards, she owed more than $26,000 to 23 creditors. She claimed $5,200 in assets, including $3,000 in jewelry, and had just $200 in a checking account, the records show.
Among her largest debts was to Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, which sued her in 2002 for more than $10,000.
She owed another $5,000 from ambulance rides, the court records show, and more than $3,000 to J.C. Penney Co. and Sears.
Amid the financial chaos, Melissa married Johnny Huckaby on May 10, 2003, four months before giving birth to M Huckaby in San Joaquin County, according to court documents.
The pair moved south to Fontana, but the marriage quickly soured, with Melissa and her daughter moving out of their apartment by May 2004. Melissa took her daughter to mother Judy Lawless' Cypress home and separated from Johnny Huckaby in August 2004, according to the divorce file.
On Jan. 19, 2005, after almost a year living with her mother, Melissa Huckaby filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, court records show.
By May 2005, Melissa found a full-time job at Associated Therapists, a Huntington Beach firm that provides administrative assistance to Southern California mental health practitioners. Melissa — who attended Bryman College, a Southern California vocational college — made $1,430 a month working in the medical billing division, while taking in $237 in food stamps.
Huckaby struggled financially with just $200 in savings and a 1991 Chevy Blazer to her name, according to divorce papers.
On Sept. 9, 2005, an Orange County family court judge dissolved the couple's marriage, giving legal and physical custody to 24-year-old Melissa.
Her ex-husband received supervised visits once a month for a half-hour, according to court papers.
The judge ruled there was evidence that Johnny Huckaby's visits be supervised on allegations of: "abduction of child(ren)," domestic violence and alcohol abuse. The judge ordered Johnny Huckaby, who was unemployed, to pay $422 a month in child support.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12133607?source=most_viewed
 
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/huckaby-school-melissa-2368620-finn-family

19 April 2009

Huckaby grew up in La Habra and attended Brea Olinda High School from 1995 to 1999.

One of Melissa Huckaby's high school teachers also was baffled.

"It's shocking that anyone would do that, but it's very surprising that Melissa would do it," Brea Olinda's former dance director, Carole Finn, said about the murder allegations. Finn was Huckaby's high school dance instructor.
Click to expand...

Article with people that knew MH in the past. (thanks txvicki for telling us this was published in an article)
 
Public Still Skeptical Huckaby Acted Alone
Created by Brian Shields on 4/20/2009 11:38:51 AM

TRACY, Calif. (AP) - Callers have inundated the phone lines of Tracy police, saying it can't be. Veteran homicide and sex-crime researchers say they cannot recall a case quite like it. Even the investigators themselves looked at the evidence and initially said "no way."

A woman was accused not only of killing someone else's child, but of raping her

Law enforcement officials and other experts say the allegations against Melissa Huckaby in the slaying of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu are remarkably rare over decades of U.S. police work.
http://www.kron.com/News/ArticleVie...ll-Skeptical-Huckaby-Acted-Alone/Default.aspx
 
Huckaby case switched to new judge
STOCKTON — A judge previously assigned to oversee the trial of Melissa Huckaby, the 28-year-old Tracy woman charged with the murder, kidnapping and rape of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, dismissed himself from the case Monday.

Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus will now take up the case on Friday, when Huckaby’s public defender, Sam Behar, is expected to ask to remove Sandra’s remains from the Tracy Mausoleum for a second autopsy.
 
Suspect in Sandra Cantu killing linked to drugging case
Posted: 04/20/2009 09:40:44 PM PDT
Updated: 04/20/2009 10:12:58 PM PDT

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12187965

Snippets from article:

- Melissa Huckaby, charged with the rape, kidnapping and murder of Sandra Cantu, is now a suspect in an earlier case in which someone drugged a 7-year-old girl with muscle relaxers

- the judge assigned to the Huckaby case stepped down Monday and will be replaced when the case resumes Friday.

- Terrence Van Oss offered no explanation why he recused himself from the case. Van Oss, San Joaquin Superior Court's presiding judge, will be replaced by Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus.
 
Was There Another Victim Before Sandra?
Police Logs May Link Melissa Huckaby to 7-year-old Girl Who Briefly Went Missing
April 20, 2009

Family members of a 7-year-old Tracy, Calif., girl who they said was taken by woman and returned four hours later with drugs in her system described a person who appears to bear similarities to Melissa Chantel Huckaby, the woman charged with kidnapping and murdering 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, according to police logs of the incident.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7382002&page=1
 
Will the Real Melissa Huckaby Please Stand Up?
April 20 2009 at 03:13 PM

The woman on the left is from Manteca, California. That's very near Tracy, California where the woman on the right, also named Melissa Huckaby, was arrested in the maddeningly hard-to-believe rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl.

Both are single moms, and both around the same age. One key difference is that the Melissa on the left, although publicly accused of the same crime as the Melissa on the right, is the victim of mistaken identity.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/griffith/detail?entry_id=38810
 
i.b.nora said:
Huckaby case switched to new judge
STOCKTON — A judge previously assigned to oversee the trial of Melissa Huckaby, the 28-year-old Tracy woman charged with the murder, kidnapping and rape of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, dismissed himself from the case Monday.

Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus will now take up the case on Friday, when Huckaby’s public defender, Sam Behar, is expected to ask to remove Sandra’s remains from the Tracy Mausoleum for a second autopsy.
Click to expand...

A little info on the new judge:

A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge on Monday affirmed a jury's decision to send convicted serial killer William Jennings Choyce to California's crowded death row. The words condemning 54-year-old Choyce to die seemed hard for Judge Linda L. Lofthus to utter. She paused on each critical word as if struggling to maintain her composure.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081216/A_NEWS02/812160312/-1/A_SPECIAL0242

Lofthus, 50, is a certified family law specialist who has had her own law practice since 1990. From 1986 to 1990, she was an associate with the Stockton firm of Rishwain, Hakeem, Ellis, LaBeouf and Ganzer, where she handled civil litigation, personal injury, business cases, criminal defense, real estate transactions, and banking matters. Before that she was a San Joaquin deputy public defender.
http://www.metnews.com/articles/appt100703.htm
 
Was Alleged Drugging of 7-Year-old a Precursor to Sandra Cantu's Murder?
Teen Says Action After Alleged Drugging of Her Sister Could Have Prevented Sandra's Death
April 21, 2009

A teenager who believes accused killer Melissa Huckaby drugged her 7-year-old sister earlier this year said the subsequent murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantumight not have happened if detectives had taken the matter more seriously at the time.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7389801&page=1
 
Bid To Exhume Cantu's Body Dropped; Case Gag Order

TRACY (CBS 5 / AP) ― A San Joaquin County Superior Court issued a gag order Tuesday in the case against the woman accused of raping and killing an 8-year-old Tracy girl, which prohibits parties involved in the case from publicly discussing it.

Judge Linda Lofthus' order came on the same day Melissa Huckaby's attorneys dropped a request to exhume Sandra Cantu's body for a second autopsy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is DeKalb County John Doe (2022)?

Members online

... and 119 more.
Total: 3,333 (members: 120, guests: 3,213)

Online statistics

Members online
120
Guests online
3,213
Total visitors
3,333
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
602,656
Messages
18,144,514
Members
231,472
Latest member
Momo1
Back
Top