Melissa Huckaby, Suspect- thread #2

[Amster]

Maybe the thousands that she owed the hosp. was for her daughter. Make her sick...rush her the hosp.....frantic mom thing...attention...

How that fits in with murdering Sandra...I have no clue.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

I have to sign out now for family time. I'll check in later and beg you all for updates! LOL

 

[panthera]

Maybe the thousands that she owed the hosp. was for her daughter. Make her sick...rush her the hosp.....frantic mom thing...attention...

How that fits in with murdering Sandra...I have no clue.

I could see that happening with her own daughter but I'm still clueless also how murdering Sandra fits into the equation. Even if Sandra saw her doing something to her own daughter that afternoon, how could she then lure Sandra to another place to kill her? Why wouldn't Sandra have just gone home instead of walking past it? :waitasec:

 

[Reannan]

I just saw that we also have a "Theory Thread". I posted what we had been discussing over there. I am SO behind after having been gone for a few days! You guys rock, as always!

 

[gitana1]

I posted this in the arrest has been made thread. Found out last night that my roommate went to school with MH. I posted about it last night in the other thread. Here's a snap of her 1997 yearbook photo from my roommate's yearbook:

 

[Searchfortruth]

I apologize if this has been answered already, I am trying to catch up. There was an incident of this woman drugging Sandra before ? If so, did Sandra's family know about this or do we know ? TIA for the help. This all seems so bizarre.

 

[Columbo]

I agree Columbo... I need to go back to the actual presser wording again vs what was reported but iirc, Sheneman said she was IDd by the clothing she was last seen wearing by family members but I do not recall Sheneman getting into the semantics of if the clothes were actually on her body or just in the suitcase with her. He was very tightlipped about the whole thing.... (only reason I am saying that is because that question stuck out in my mind...that we did not know if the clothes were all on her body or thrown willy nilly into the case with her. God knows the perp would not be so stupid to leave them laying around for cops to find....) nurse now going back to find that presser again for personal clarification lol

Hi nursebeeme: He actually said she was wearing the clothes she was last seen in. This was at the conference where the Chief of Police gave the sad news that it was indeed Sandra's body in the suitcase, and then Sheneman took questions from the press. It's about six minutes into the conference where he says that.
Here is the link: http://www.kcra.com/video/19112774/index.html

 

[Reannan]

I apologize if this has been answered already, I am trying to catch up. There was an incident of this woman drugging Sandra before ? If so, did Sandra's family know about this or do we know ? TIA for the help. This all seems so bizarre.

I believe we have MH saying that there was an incident where she had been to the park with her own 5 year old and a "7 year old resident of the mobile home park", and that the police showed up to question her after she had dropped the 7 year old back off at the child's home. The child was apparently taken to the hospital and "narcotics" were found in the child. I have only seen speculation that this incident involved Sandra. Until I see a solid lead on this, I cannot view this as a fact. In fact, when you get right down to it, I can't view the whole drug issue as a fact until I see it from LE or a credible source - statements made by MH prior to her arrest are not credible, IMHO. Bottom line- we don't even know if there was an incident with another child being drugged - much less if it involved Sandra.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I posted this in the arrest has been made thread. Found out last night that my roommate went to school with MH. I posted about it last night in the other thread. Here's a snap of her 1997 yearbook photo from my roommate's yearbook:

Thanks, Gitana~

 

[nursebeeme]

Huckaby's uncle, John Hughes Jr. of Whittier, told The Associated Press his niece was from a good home, but had hit a rough patch in her life and had moved in with her grandparents in Tracy to get past her troubles.

"They opened their home up to her to try to get her life back on track. I think a lot of families have problems like that," Hughes said.

Huckaby grew up in Orange County and was a "pretty normal kid," he said. As the eldest of nine grandchildren, she played "mother hen" to the younger children when the family got together for the holidays.

After graduating from high school, Huckaby's path appears to have become rockier. She married, had a daughter and was divorced in a few short years. She had difficulty finding and keeping a job, partly owing to the challenges of single motherhood, Hughes said.

"She's had her struggles," he said. "But there's no way (her grandparents) or anybody would be fearful that anything this horrifying could possibly come from that."

http://www.kron4.com/News/ArticleVi...-Arrested-in-Sandra-Cantu-Murder/Default.aspx

sounds like the family is just as shocked with jaws hitting the floor. Also, quote from Sheneman from the newsconference:

"We were unable to determine why she would do something like this," police spokesman Sheneman said.

So, we may NEVER KNOW. I personally think she is mentally ill. Seriously mentally ill. While I hope the Tracy 60 are identified and arrested after this is over I do not think it had anything to do with what happened to Sandra. Melissa may not even have a good answer for why she did it... remember the kid that killed his neighbor friends and shoved her under his waterbed? She also was not sexually violated. He just killed her...and to this day he cannot say why.

I think Melissa just snapped.

 

[Reannan]

I think Melissa just snapped.

Hey Nurse!!! Happy Easter, btw!! I think she snapped also....but I think she then wallowed in it by her behavior with the media. Her ridiculous story about the suitcase, and the notes just seem to make it a mighty prolonged snap! My worst fear is that she is even now enjoying the attention she is getting in prison. We hear that she is on suicide watch - but is that just so that she has a guarantee of an audience???

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I don't buy the "snapped". I think it was premeditated and I believe she knew exactly what she was doing to Sandra.

 

[nursebeeme]

Hey Nurse!!! Happy Easter, btw!! I think she snapped also....but I think she then wallowed in it by her behavior with the media. Her ridiculous story about the suitcase, and the notes just seem to make it a mighty prolonged snap! My worst fear is that she is even now enjoying the attention she is getting in prison. We hear that she is on suicide watch - but is that just so that she has a guarantee of an audience???

Hey REEEEE! Long time no see and happy Easter to you too! I think she snapped and something happened the first time Sandra came by to trigger her rage. It may have been something little to the normal person... but I seriously don't think this woman has the mental equipment (the more we are learning about her) to deal with anything in a normal way.

 

[cachluv]

...I think of it this way, I am bearing witness for these children. I am watching. By watching, it shows that I care about these lost children. Think of it that way, and take a break when you must. They need us.

---How beautifully said. And I believe this wholeheartedly.

I don't buy the "snapped". I think it was premeditated and I believe she knew exactly what she was doing to Sandra.

---I don't know when she formed the plan, it seems like she carried it out pretty smoothly so if she can think that fast and make all this up on the fly then hey, maybe she's smarter than I think. Probably not.

One thing I am sure of: she indeed knew what she was doing. If the church or shed at the church is indeed the murder scene then she didn't snap at her own house. She took Sandra there. I can't say for sure how long she planned but I feel with certainty she was cognisant of what she was doing AND that she was doing it. This was not a one-step crime. It had many different and convoluted steps, many factors involved in carrying it out and she was lucid enough afterwards to start inventing and distributing red herrings.

She'll get life, maybe w/ no parole. She won't go to Death Row. I feel it, I could be wrong....

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I am hopeful she will save Sandra's family the trauma of a trial and take a deal of LWOP. However, once a public defender steps in...we could see an Insanity defense emerge very quickly (which I expect). I don't think it will fly in this case for the reasons you stated above. She made clear choices in her actions and lied to protect herself.

 

[nursebeeme]

http://cbs5.com/local/sandra.cantu.arrest.2.982515.html
watch the team coverage video

Now we know why the rest of the interview with Melissa was cut off..... the reporters phone died! We may never know the rest of what she would have said about that incident...

 

[cachluv]

http://cbs5.com/local/sandra.cantu.arrest.2.982515.html
watch the team coverage video

Now we know why the rest of the interview with Melissa was cut off..... the reporters phone died! We may never know the rest of what she would have said about that incident...

---To me this says she was meant to be caught. She said enough. Looks like she said plenty. If she had gone on she may have said something else to rectify discrepancies, etc. Things happen the way they are meant to happen. IMO, that is.

 

[daisy.faithfull]

I hope I will be forgiven for seeming to perpetuate cultural stereotypes, but I feel that her background of a religious and likely fundamentalist family structure suggests (in my mind at least) that there is a great possibility that these problems have been suppressed and minimized for years. Regardless of the cause, suppression equals exacerbation. Her illness has been fermenting over these years.

I agree with you. I believe that I've read that her father is a pastor as well, so I wonder if there was pressure on the family to look the part of the perfect example. While I think the MBP is a possibility, due to MH's attention seeking behavior, I was wondering if her daughter's thin appearance can be somewhat related to this. Is it possible that MH's daughter is experiencing mental health issues of her own? Is MH trying to "treat" her and the treatment has resulted in her wasted appearance? The daughter is five, MH described suicidal ideation of her own occurring at age six.

So I question whether or not she can be considered a KC "clone". Sociopathy is a label that is tossed around with great abandon, and misused nearly as much. Most fundamentally it is a condition describing people who, in their ability to empathize with and consider the needs and welfare of others 'are not like us'. It is not necessarily a criminal or even socially debilitating condition. It has already begun to be applied to MH. I don't believe (yet) that this is appropriate.

I have mostly thought of KC as an example of a sociopath whose inability to constrain herself to socially acceptable behavior led to her downfall and the utterly pointless death of a beautiful child. At this time I see this final tragic ending as the only similarity between the two women. Perhaps I will change my beliefs as our knowledge of the facts progresses, but I think that it is premature to go beyond that now.

I have heard that sociopathy is over/misused as well and agree that not enough is known about MH to make that determination. Its hard not to considering the horrific nature of her crime. If some of the issues talked about concerning her mental illness and cultural background are at play, is is possible that shame is a motivator for MH? And if so, can a sociopath feel shame? I don't know how unusual it is for suspects to decline all visitors as MH has done. I believe that KC has done so because she is frustrated that she cannot control others as she once did. With MH I was wondering if it is an indication of shame, which would be absolutely appropriate in light of what she has done, I just wonder how/if toxic shame/guilt has affected her pathology.

 

[Reannan]

I think MH is refusing visitors because she knows she has lost control of the situation and she has lost her confidence at manipulating people. At the presser, it was stated that she 'drove herself' down to LE, and walked in talking! At first, she was very talkative, and calm. She then became very emotional (probably when her story wasn't reading, and LE wasn't buying it). She then became calm again (one last effort to "control"), and finally she was "resigned". I think she is probably experiencing an emotion she has never, ever, felt before - a total lack of control, combined with attention that is beyond her wildest imaginings. Powerful stuff....

 

[daisy.faithfull]

I am hopeful she will save Sandra's family the trauma of a trial and take a deal of LWOP. However, once a public defender steps in...we could see an Insanity defense emerge very quickly (which I expect). I don't think it will fly in this case for the reasons you stated above. She made clear choices in her actions and lied to protect herself.

I agree with LWOP. If the case does go to trial do you think that it would be a public attorney? It certainly seems that the family doesn't have the means to afford something better, but KC has her own team! :waitasec: