CrimeWatch

TRACY (CBS 5 / AP) ― The focus of the investigation to find the killer of an 8-year-old Tracy girl whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase has narrowed, but no arrests have been made, police said Thursday.

The hunt for Sandra Cantu's killer was headed in the right direction and the probe was "not as broad" as when it began, according to Sgt. Tony Sheneman. But he wouldn't elaborate.

Meantime, relatives of the girl said they had no idea who could have committed such a horrible crime as they planned to hold a public memorial for Sandra.
 
It was set for April 16 at 1 p.m. at Tracy's West High School. The gymnasium's bleacher seating was to be available, and the overflow of the crowd would be directed to the cafeteria.

In network television interviews Thursday, Angie Chavez praised the police response to her niece's disappearance and said the family wanted her killer caught.

"We don't have any idea who could have done something this horrible to her," Chavez told NBC's Matt Lauer on the "Today" show.

Sandra's mother, Maria Chavez, was overcome by emotion and unable to speak after telling Lauer how much she loved her daughter.

A 10-day search for Sandra ended Monday night when farmworkers found a suitcase containing her body while draining an irrigation pond. Community residents and law enforcement had spanned across the area looking for Sandra, then after her body was found erected a makeshift memorial of balloons, cards, pictures and flowers outside Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where Sandra lived.

With rain forecast, the memorial was taken down Wednesday night at the request of the family so the stuffed animals and other items could be donated to charity. Earlier Wednesday, Angie Chavez and other relatives had visited the site.

"It gives us comfort, and it's a testament to the heart that Sandra had and how many people she touched," she said then.

Police said an odd note was found Thursday morning on a tree at the former memorial site. It read: "To my killer, you've taken my life away. I forgive you. God will judge you."

Investigators believed it had no bearing on the case. They said the note was likely left by someone who apparently sympathized with Sandra and left it on her behalf at the tribute scene.

Sheneman, the police department's spokesman, said investigators had received many tips ranging from "psychic information to information that doesn't make a great deal of sense," and served more than 15 search warrants -- including seizing items from a local church and the mobile home park.

The sergeant said Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that investigators had interviewed "dozens of people" since Sandra's body was found, and the probe was headed in the right direction.

"We completely understand the urgency and the fear that the community is feeling," he said.

Sheneman again defended the department's decision not to issue an Amber Alert after Sandra went missing March 27.

Police lacked enough details on her disappearance to meet the normal requirements for an Amber Alert, he said, because they had no information on a suspect or mode of transportation connected to an abduction — though an electronic alert did go out to West Coast law enforcement agencies. 

Joseph Pollini, deputy chair of the law and police science department at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said he disagreed with that decision.

"Even if it's just some nuance of information, we still want to get that out there," said Pollini, who headed the kidnapping and cold-case homicide units during his 33 years with the New York Police Department.

With time a crucial factor in recovering an abducted child, publicizing a physical description of Sandra as broadly and quickly as possible just makes sense, Pollini said.

"It's not like it's going to cost a lot of money to put the transmission over the air," he said. "You're still dealing with a life."

Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, defended Tracy police's handling of the search for the missing girl and said they made the right call in not issuing the Amber Alert. Broadcasting an alert with only a physical description is not an appropriate use of the system, he said.

"The response of the Tracy police in this case was swift and serious. It's hard to imagine what else they could have done," said Allen, whose organization's hotline received hundred of tips regarding Sandra's disappearance.

But some Tracy residents said authorities could have done more to heighten the urgency of finding Sandra and to warn the public of the danger that could be lurking in their community.

For days after Sandra disappeared, they noted that police insisted there was no evidence the little girl had run into foul play.

Publicly police remained optimistic, seeming confident even after nearly 72 hours had passed that she was "alive and well." It was not clear that she had met with danger until Monday's discovery of Sandra's body. 

"If it would have been my daughter, I would've wanted everyone watching, everyone to be suspicious," said Ana Morales, 24, a mother of two who visited the sprawling makeshift memorial for Sandra prior to its' takedown Wednesday night.

"We always had the sense that she was going to be okay," she said. "(Police) statements were a little misleading their statements led us to believe they knew something about how she was doing."

Her brother, Luis Morales, 27, chalked it up to inexperience: "This usually happens in large cities, not in small towns like this."

Sheneman acknowledged that "we've never handled a missing persons case such as this." But officials said city police quickly asked for help, calling in the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department, other neighboring law enforcement and the FBI. Within hours after Sandra's family reported her missing, the city opened its emergency operations center, normally reserved for earthquakes and fires, according to city spokesman Matt Robinson.

Sheneman said upwards of 100 law enforcement officials had been assigned to the case.

An autopsy was completed, but results would not be available for several weeks, a coroner's spokesman said. Officials declined to discuss any preliminary findings.

Pollini, who is not involved in the investigation, said based on what has been publicly disclosed, it appears Sandra's killer fits a "disorganized" profile someone lacking in intelligence who would commit a crime close to home and dump the victim's body nearby.

Police would be searching for footprints, tire prints and broken vegetation leading to and from the pond, he said. They would also examine suspects for traces of mud or dirt from the scene.

"As long as you have the resources, tenacity and the time, every case is solvable," he said.

Robinson, the city spokesman, said he understood public frustration over the lack of answers but urged patience.

"This is a town in which we protect our own. We had an unsuccessful ending with Sandra, and that's going to eat at people," he said. "Now the next step is letting police do their jobs."

Joined by some of Sandra's relatives outside the mobile home complex, the girl's uncle Joe Chavez told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that he wanted to see whoever was responsible get the death penalty.

"It's complete innocence taken for absolutely no reason," Chavez said.

"When that word came in (the girl's body was found), I heard screams that I'd never heard come out of human beings before," he said. "Primal screams of love and fear like the worst horror movie you could ever watch."

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)