A Sunday school teacher was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing her daughter’s 8-year-old playmate, Sandra Cantu of Tracy, Calif., after admitting to police she owned the suitcase in which Sandra’s body was found, authorities said Saturday.
Melissa Chantel Huckaby, 28, the granddaughter of a pastor, was taken into custody late Friday night, about five hours after she drove herself to a police station for questioning, said Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman.
“I couldn’t begin to even theorize what her motive is,” Sheneman said. “The outcome alone is beyond explanation.” Sandra’s mother, Maria Chavez, 41, was grief stricken and in shock, said Angie Chavez, Sandra’s aunt. “How could another mother do this to another child?” Angie said Maria had asked her.
A break in the investigation into Sandra’s death came after Huckaby gave an interview on Friday to the Tracy Press, telling the newspaper that she had owned a large, black rolling suitcase that was stolen on March 27, the same day Sandra disappeared. Huckaby’s description of her suitcase resembled the one that contained Sandra’s body, the newspaper reported.
On Monday, farmworkers found the suitcase at a dairy farm irrigation pond, about 2 1/2 miles north of the girl’s home. Inside, investigators found the dead child dressed in the same clothes she was last seen wearing — a pink “Hello Kitty” T-shirt, black leggings and “Hannah Montana” flip-flops.
Huckaby’s interview with the local newspaper was inconsistent with what she had earlier told investigators, police said Saturday. After reading the published report, police asked Huckaby to come to the station for more questioning Friday night.
“She revealed enough information to us that we had probable cause to arrest her,” Sheneman said Saturday. “She admitted yesterday and to the Tracy Press that the suitcase was hers.”
Huckaby had told the Tracy Press that she had packed the suitcase with supplies to spruce up her classroom at the church. But she left it outside on her driveway at the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park where she lives.
“There’s been a lot of speculation on the news about what happened to my suitcase,” Huckaby told the newspaper. “It’s not my granddad’s. It’s mine, and someone took it.”
Huckaby said she intended to call police and report her missing suitcase, then decided to make a report online but never got around to it, the newspaper reported. But when police started questioning neighbors in the mobile home park about Sandra’s disappearance, she told police that her suitcase had gone missing, according to the newspaper.
Prior to the Friday interview with the Tracy Press, police were not sure whether the suitcase belonged to Huckaby, Sheneman said.
As police questioned Huckaby Friday night, she was initially “calm, cool and collected,” Sheneman said. Then, she “became very emotional, then was calm again, and then became resigned to what was happening.”
Sandra was “very close friends with” Huckaby’s 5-year-old daughter, Sheneman said. The girls lived just five houses away from each other and played frequently at Huckaby’s home.
Angie Chavez, Sandra’s aunt, said in a phone interview that she felt happy that a suspect had been caught, “but then shocked and in disbelief that it was a woman.” She said the family wants to know why it happened.
According to public records, Huckaby lives with her grandfather, Clifford Lane Lawless, who is pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church. The church is just 500 yards from their home. Her marital status was unclear.
“She spent an extraordinary amount of time” at the church, Sheneman said.
Police seized evidence from the church, Sheneman said, but he declined to identify it. He said authorities had “significant details” on Huckaby’s criminal record but declined to release them.
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