HOLLISTER
A longtime client of Cheryl Busch who had become friends with her over the past eight years described the woman accused of killing her 19-month-old daughter as being dedicated to her grooming business and loving her child, but at times also displaying signs of isolation and recently expressing frustration over the amount of work involved with raising a growing toddler.
Jeanette Langstaff, of Hollister, came to know her about eight years ago after she had been seeking a groomer for her medium border collie dog and was referred to Cheryl’s Chateau, a pet-grooming and boarding business run by Busch.
Before her arrest Nov. 19, Busch most recently had been running Cheryl’s Chateau out of the residence and outbuildings on their home in the 2300 block of Shore Road, which Langstaff noted is John Busch’s long-held family property. Before she and Busch married about two years ago, though, the business operated from her prior residence on Pan Tempo Way near Lone Tree Road, the Hollister resident said.
Langstaff said she had taken her dog to the groomer about every two and a half months since they met.
“You get to know a person,” said Langstaff, who also noted that Busch is “visually disadvantaged” and, she understands, legally blind. “We became friends because I’m a very open person. She’s very dedicated to her work, a very caring person.”
She said that whenever her daughter Donna Busch had been awake, the mother would bring her out to see their visitor.
“She loved the child,” she said.
But Langstaff also said Busch – who has pleaded not guilty to homicide – “had gone through a lot” after getting divorced and remarried while making the move to a more rural area of San Benito County.
“It’s too bad maybe that there was this isolation,” she said.
Langstaff talked about the last time she saw Busch two and a half weeks ago, when she said the mother remarked she had been having a hard time.
“The last time she was saying, here she is, 39, and Donna’s getting bigger, and it’s so much work. She made that comment.”
