Everybody was on the lookout for "the monster, the madman who would do this,"

[Liberal_in_LA]

They were looking for the Mexican, illegal alien, unattached male, poor person, drifter, someone on the margins of society. Well, now that you have determined the killer, why isn't she considered to be a "monster".

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/65938.html

* Posted on Sunday, April 12, 2009

Arrest of woman for killing 8-year-old stuns California town

By Andy Furillo, Chelsea Phua and Bill Lindelof | Sacramento Bee

TRACY, Calif. — Everybody was on the lookout for "the monster, the madman who would do this," the police spokesman said.

Instead, investigators said it was a neighbor — the mother of one of her best friends — who kidnapped and murdered 8-year-old wisp Sandra Cantu, then stuffed her little body in a suitcase and dumped it into a dairy drainage pond.

On Saturday, the day before Easter, Tracy police announced they had arrested and booked Melissa Chantel Huckaby, 28. As a Sunday school teacher, she ministers to the youngest of her pastor grandfather's flock at the city's Clover Road Baptist Church.

"Finding out it's a woman responsible for Sandra's kidnapping and murder, and finding out it's a member of the community is another blow, and finding out it was someone Sandra's family knew is a double blow," Tracy Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman told reporters Saturday.

[LisaL]

1. Having a woman suspect in something like this is extremely

unusual. I am not surprised everybody was looking for a monster. Hell, half of DU seemed to have been convinced it will turn out to be a convicted pedophile.

[Orrex]

3. Not just DU

Most of the media reports that I heard included breathless speculation about which registered sex offender near her home would turn out to be the killer.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. and some old guy had kissed her a few years ago. Folks seemed to have him tried and convicted

in the forums.

[LisaL]

9. In most cases they would be correct. When hear hoofbeats,

think of horses, not zebras. Well this one turned out to be a zebra.

[Nay]

13. Yes, they would usually be correct--so correct, in fact, that the FBI

said it didn't even have a category number to classify this particular murder. So when ppl on this board say that men are unfairly thought suspected first, they aren't being honest with themselves.

[Orrex]

15. It would be wrong to say that men shouldn't considered as the likely perpetrators, but...

Some here on DU were ready to convict people--including the accused's grandfather--for any reason no matter how dubious, simply because it was more likely that a man committed the crime. Let the males be suspected, but let's not convict anyone until we have all the facts.

when ppl on this board say that men are unfairly thought suspected first, they aren't being honest with themselves.

That is, incidentally, pretty much the exact justification given for racial profiling.

[Orrex]

16. When you hear hoofbeats, and a capital crime has been committed, seek additional evidence

[ecstatic]

2. for the first time, I'm interested in this story

Why did she do it? Thanks for the link

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. I don't think they have announced a motive yet.

[mitchtv]

4. and Granny recntly lost election to local

republican central committee or some such minor puke office

[Orrex]

7. The double-standard is similar to that applied to male vs. female teachers who sleep with minors

Thanks to such highbrow journalism as To Catch a Predator, we see the male suspects dragged out and pinned on the ground. But when they (and by "they" I mean Matt Laeur) get a suspected (or even convicted) female predator, she's interviewed on camera in a cozy room with soft lighting and professionally-applied studio makeup.

Granted, a male is statistically more likely to commit such a crime, but once the crime is committed and the suspect apprehended, the treatment should be the same.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. MAJOR double standard!

[katanalori]

8. it is mind-boggling

I am thinking (hoping?) that it was an accident and she panicked. But I am a pollyanna - I kept hoping the same scenario re kasey anthony and now that looks unlikely.

[blogslut]

11. There is a societal prejudice when it comes to women

The misguided belief that we are somehow the gentler sex. The assumption that because we carry babies, that renders us incapable of killing them.

Women kill children. Men kill children. Children kill children. People kill.

[TahitiNut]

12. Exactly right. Furthermore ...

... that attitude is part and parcel of the attitude that subordinates women. It's akin to the myth of "feminine intuition" - a way of explaining how a woman might arrive at some correct answer when they're so 'clearly' less capable of rational thought. Yup. It must be "feminine intuition." (I groan internally whenever some woman claims this, not comprehending the historical roots of such a claim.)

[Orrex]

17. You're never going to learn your place if you keep talking like that

:hide:

[mitchum]

14. Sounds like time to start profiling SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS