What do you tell your kids?

I haven’t written about the Sandra Cantu case on this blog, but I’ve written plenty at Trials & Tribulations.

It’s so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that the person arrested for this crime is a woman, who was known to Sandra (one of her best friends’ mom) and that Sandra was raped with a foreign object. Notice I did not say I have a hard time accepting the fact that Melissa Huckaby’s father and grandfather are Baptist ministers.

Mind you, I’m not calling out Baptists. I guess I’m calling out anyone who believes that a person of God is not capable of executing a sexual crime that leads to murder. Huckaby’s behavior at her first court appearance leads me to believe that sometime in her life, Melissa Huckaby was a victim, too. Watch the video that is available here, and pay attention to the way Huckaby’s lower lip quivers:

Huckaby in court


The quivering lower lip like Huckaby does is a very juvenile behavior, like a kid caught with her hands in the cookie jar who says “I didn’t do it!” but does not remove his or her hand from the jar. Yes, her demeanor shows a consciousness of guilt, but I can’t help but wonder just what is in Melissa Huckaby’s head. What is the “mental illness” she’s being treated for? She was already in the judicial mental health system, and was declared mentally fit to stand trial when she plead “no contest” to a theft charge back in January.

I don’t believe she’s criminally insane, but why was she living in Tracy, in a fairly small semi-rural county with no doubt limited mental health services? What was she hiding from? What was her family hiding her from? Who else living in her household knew Sandra was there that day? Did they not see abnormal behavior in Huckaby, or did they choose to ignore the signs? What has been done to check Huckaby's own 5-year old daughter Madison—what has happened to Madison thus far?

So much we do not know, and so much that will come out in the trial. This is a special circumstances case, and Melissa Huckaby could face the death penalty.

What do parents tell their kids? It's bad enough they have to be taught to fear strangers. It's bad enough you can't even smile at a kid who crosses your path at the grocery store. Sandra lived in a family-oriented mobile home park, where everyone looked out for everyone else. Now what? No more play dates, no sleepovers, no accepting cookies from your neighbor because they might be laced with something?

I'm glad I don't have a young child to try to explain this to.

Continued strength to Sandra’s family, because things are going to get ugly. No doubt the claims of “blame the victim” will soon pop up.