STOCKTON, Calif. — A Sunday school teacher pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping and murdering 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. In exchange, prosecutors took the death penalty off the table and dropped all other charges against her.
Melissa Huckaby could have faced the death penalty had a jury convicted her of killing Sandra, whose body was found April 10, 2009, in a suitcase in a Tracy, Calif., irrigation pond. Instead, Huckaby, 29, will spend the rest of her life in prison — without the possibility of parole — after she is sentenced June 14.
As part of the deal, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office dropped two enhancements to the murder charge — lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, and rape by instrument — and one count of committing a sex crime against a child 10 years or younger.
Also dismissed were charges in two unrelated cases in which Huckaby was accused of drugging a Hayward, Calif., man and another Tracy girl, a 7-year-old.
A gag order preventing parties from speaking about the case remains in place, but Judge Linda Lofthus said she would give serious thought to lifting it.
Because of the order, much about the case — including grand jury transcripts, Sandra’s autopsy report and other facts about the crime scene — has been sealed from public view.
Relatives of both Huckaby and Sandra were in the courtroom when Huckaby, clad in a red jumpsuit, entered the unexpected guilty plea. Monday’s proceeding was originally scheduled to be a routine appearance for Huckaby and her attorneys to set a date for an evidence suppression hearing.
Sandra was last seen alive on a surveillance tape in late March 2009 in the mobile home park, just five doors down from Huckaby. Sandra was a playmate of Huckaby’s daughter.
After a 10-day search, the second-grader’s body was found in a black suitcase in a pond not far from her home. Huckaby had told a reporter that suitcase was hers but had been stolen from her driveway.
Tracy police arrested Huckaby on April 10, 2009.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
