Another Sad Ending.....

The body of 8-year old Sandra Cantu was found yesterday in a large piece of luggage that surfaced after an irrigation canal was drained, not far from where she was taken in Tracy, CA. I referred to this case in my earlier post "Crime And (Suitable) Punishment" as an example of the kind of tragedies that should trigger a nationwide policy against crime with very stiff punishment.

It's deeply saddening to know that people are capable of causing any harm to a child, let alone taking a life so early. What's even worse to think about is how these people walk among the crowds, just like anyone else. They are met with smiles and greetings as they pass by on the sidewalk, hiding the monster within. Like many others, I held on to foolish optimism as I followed the story hoping that she would turn up somewhere. In my gut, I somehow knew what was coming though, especially when the container turned up.

The only hope now in bringing justice to the family lies in the evidence collected on site. The investigation team took a lot of care to evaluate the area around the location of the bag, trying to piece together the events that led to its placement. I'm guessing that the killer wasn't expecting the bag to turn up so quickly, if at all, so perhaps some carelessness took place in handling it. It's not like real justice will ever come in a case like this anyhow, not even when the inmates carry out their own system on the inside. As strange as it is, inmates have their own "grading" system and they look down upon molesters and killers of children just like everyone else but they take it a step further with physical justice.

Being a father, I cannot imagine having my child ripped away only to be found later with the same gruesome ending. To randomly take a life is a cowardly act but to take the life of a child, to rob them of their future and life's opportunities, is not only cowardly but inhuman. Therefore, I don't think those convicted of such crimes deserve any rights because rights exist to protect humans, Americans. If you see my previous post, I outlined my version of a proper punishment system and maybe it's more foolish optimism on my part but I think we'd see tragedies like this happen a lot less if a system like mine were in place. For the sake of the family of Sandra Cantu, I truly hope that the person responsible for this is brought to the highest level of justice.