CrimeWatch

TRACY (CBS 5 / AP) ― Authorities on Tuesday evening dug under a Tracy church after questioning neighbors of an 8-year-old girl whose body was stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a pond, as residents were left wondering who would do such a thing in this quiet, working-class community.

"I hope they catch whoever did this. I lived here my whole life. I used to feel safe, but I don't anymore," said 19-year-old Melissa Landrum, who lives in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park where Sandra Cantu was last seen alive March 27 and had known the girl since she was born.

The investigation has touched on everyone who lives in the mobile home complex, including a church pastor who became a focus on Tuesday. Investigators cordoned off Pastor Lane Lawless' home and Clover Road Baptist Church for a search after questioning him for three hours the night before.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents combed over the church property and hauled off items on Tuesday evening. Agents would not comment on what they were searching for.

Earlier in the day, Orchard Estates resident Penny Morgado said she saw several law enforcement vehicles pull up to Lawless' home. Resident Katie Wales, 31, said a caravan of investigators swept into the complex and searched the pastor's property.

Lawless was stopped by a swarm of reporters Tuesday as he drove by his church with his wife Connie. The couple said that they had been interviewed because they lived down the street from Sandra's family and their great-granddaughter often played with her.

With reporters pushing up against their sedan, Connie Lawless said the couple was fully cooperating with police. She said investigators took phones and a computer, among other items, from their home.

"We're very open to them taking whatever they want today," Connie Lawless said. "We feel the more people they can eliminate, the quicker they will be able to get to the truth."

The pastor and his wife also said they had nothing to do with the girl's disappearance. 

"She was the sweetest little thing. It breaks it our hearts to think that anyone would take such a tiny little thing and abuse her and murder her," Connie Lawless said.

Police have not named any suspects in the case, and at an afternoon news conference denied "Internet reports" that the pastor was going to be arrested. Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman called that information completely false.

"He has been interviewed as have hundreds of people," Sheneman said of Lane Lawless. "Everyone that we speak to could be considered a person of interest. We have no specific person that we are looking at at this time."

Sandra's body was discovered a few miles from her home on Monday when farmworkers draining an irrigation pond to water nearby fields found the suitcase. She was found wearing the same clothes she had on when she was last seen: a pink "Hello Kitty" T-shirt and black leggings, Tracy police Chief Janet Thiessen said Monday night.

"Our heartfelt sympathies go to Sandra's family and friends," Thiessen said. "We will determine the person or persons responsible for this reprehensible act, and we will bring them to justice."

An autopsy was being conducted Tuesday, but authorities said it was going to take some time to complete. Police said they did not expect various test results from the autopsy anytime soon.

Investigators surmised that the person who dumped the body in the pond must have known the rural area near Tracy Blvd. and Bacchetti Rd., just north of the city. "Someone would have to be familiar with that area to know to go there to place that suitcase," Sheneman said.

The sergeant noted that police have found no link between Lane Lawless and the suitcase.

Sandra's disappearance after she had last been seen on surveillance video skipping down the street near her home sparked a widespread search that included hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials, including the FBI, and drew more than 1,000 tips.

Pictures of the outgoing girl with dark brown eyes and golden hair were posted all over town, on business fronts, car windows and fire hydrants in this city of 78,000 in the Central Valley.

The tragic ending to the 10-day search was the second blow in recent months to Tracy, which had just digested the shocking news that a local Girl Scout leader and her husband were among those accused of kidnapping and torturing a 16-year-old boy in their home for more than a year. Kelly Layne Lau and two other suspects have pleaded not guilty, and husband Michael Schumacher is expected to enter his plea later this month.

"This community has been tested severely," said City Manager Leon Churchill Jr. "There's a cultural ethic here. You're expected to be a good neighbor. This is a kinder, gentler place.

"We need to grieve as a community, but eventually we will have to ask ourselves 'What are we going to do?'" he added.

Longtime residents remembered a small-town atmosphere that has given way to some big-city problems in the past decade, as Tracy began absorbing sprawl from the Bay Area.

"We have more people here and that's loosened serenity of this town," said Joe Atuna, 62, who's lived here for 25 years. "Tracy is getting bigger and scarier."

On Tuesday evening, hundreds - perhaps thousands - of people gathered for a vigil in front of a makeshift memorial outside the complex where Sandra lived. The mourners held candles as music played, shed tears and some said they would never forget the girl.

Earlier in the day, people left stuffed animals, cards and other trinkets at the memorial for a girl they said could have been one of their own.

Wendy Rios, 29, and her sister-in-law Sabrina Cason, 31, brought their two young daughters to drop off a bouquet of purple lilies.

"It's tragic. How could you do that to a little girl," said Rios, as her teary-eyed 8-year-old daughter, Monica, held onto her.

Cason said she had a hard time explaining what happened to Sandra to her three children.

"This has shaken our little town up," Cason said as she held her 5-year-old daughter, Alyssa. "We're saddened. For her to be so close to home and this to happen. I think we all had a lot of hope that she would come home safely."

A spokeswoman for the Tracy Unified School District said extra psychologists and counselors were on hand Tuesday at schools throughout the district, including Jacobson Elementary where Sandra was a second-grader. The district sent a letter to students' families with advice to parents on how to talk about Sandra's death and also share safety tips with their children.

"The entire Jacobson family knew Sandra. I think every student there knew her," said spokeswoman Jessica Cardoza. "She was vivacious, happy, and outgoing. She was a very popular student."

Katie Wales, who has lived in Sandra's mobile home complex for most of her life, said she plans to keep tighter reins on her own 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.

"They're not going outside, not alone anyway. They're not leaving my block," Wales said. "We don't know if it's our neighbor or not."

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)