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Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2009

On Easter, a community mourns - and asks why

TRACY – Residents of this beleaguered city came together for Easter services Sunday, brought together by grief and the need to understand how such a tragedy – the killing of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu and the arrest of a neighbor – could have happened.

At Clover Baptist Church, where Melissa Huckaby – arrested in connection with Sandra's slaying – taught Sunday school, worshippers in the 20-member congregation were somber. They sang hymns and prayed, asking God to comfort their community.

"People think we're going on business as usual," said Huckaby's uncle Brett Lawless, who delivered the sermon about overcoming adversity.

"Nothing will be usual after the events of the last 10 days," he said. "Not for the community, not for the church, not for our immediate family and certainly not for the family of Sandra Cantu."

Lawless' voice cracked as he spoke and several church members wiped away tears. Huckaby's family, speaking publicly for the first time, said they were shocked by the arrest.

"Melissa is a quiet, nice person, very peaceful," said Huckaby's grandmother Connie Lawless after the noon service. She called her granddaughter a loving mother. "This is completely out of character."

The small church, which had a "Missing Sandra Cantu" flier posted near the entrance until shortly before the worship service, is down the street from Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park where Huckaby was arrested Friday night. Huckaby lives about 75 yards from the Cantu family.

Huckaby is being held without bail at the San Joaquin County jail. She is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on charges that she kidnapped and murdered Sandra Cantu, before stuffing her body into a suitcase and dumping it into a dairy drainage pond.

The Cantu family was not available for comment.

The second-grader with the long brown hair disappeared March 27 and was last seen on a video skipping in the street in front of her home.

The town was paralyzed for two weeks while authorities searched for her.

On Sunday, Sandra was remembered in Easter worship services and memorials across Tracy, a city of 80,000 about 70 miles south of Sacramento.

All day, people from throughout Northern California dropped off stuffed bunnies and Easter cards outside the entrance to the mobile home park.

"I think we could have been friends," said Arianna Rodriguez, 6, whose family drove 20 miles from their home in Brentwood so she could drop off a letter she had written to Sandra.

"When I get to heaven we will play," part of it read.

At Victory Outreach, the Rev. Manual Aguilar told churchgoers, "Our hearts in the community are heavy this week."

Later, he said he had to mention Sandra Cantu in his Easter sermon because "that's all that people have been talking about. This is something that has really hit a lot of people hard, especially parents of young children."

And at Fry Memorial Chapel on South Central Avenue, visitors left stuffed animals, notes and pictures in front of a picture of Sandra while a slide show of the smiling 8-year-old played overhead.

Rebecca Wheeler, who teaches second grade, brought her two daughters to the chapel to sign a guest book for the Cantu family.

"This just doesn't happen here in Tracy," Wheeler said. "This is a lot for everyone, especially for the children, to handle."

Many said they found it hard to believe that a mother of a playmate – and a Sunday school teacher – had been arrested.

Worshippers at Clover Baptist said they would pray for Sandra Cantu and Huckaby. Elizabeth Edwards, a longtime member asked the congregation to pray for "sister Melissa."

"Please God, cleanse her soul," Edwards said.

After the service, family members faced the dozens of media who packed onto the church property.

Huckaby's family said they had not been allowed to see Huckaby, who moved to Tracy from Southern California last summer.

Huckaby's 5-year-old daughter, a playmate of Sandra's, has been on a long-planned vacation and is staying with relatives, Connie Lawless said.

The church, where Huckaby's grandfather is pastor, has been searched by police. At a family press conference before Easter service, a woman who would identify herself only as Melissa's aunt said she was distressed such a tragedy could have happened.

A public memorial service for Sandra is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday at Merrill F. West High School, 1775 W. Lowell Ave., Tracy.