Melissa Huckaby Faces Death Sentence

Melissa Huckaby, 28, accused in the death of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, will likely face the death penalty. She was indicted in July on charges of murdering her daughter's playmate and drugging two other people.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said he will seek the death penalty. He is seeking a speedy trial because younger witnesses he may call to testify will have a harder time remembering specifics about what happened.

Huckaby is charged with kidnapping and murdering Sandra, according to the indictment, along with lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and rape by instrument.

Sandra's body was found after an intensive search, in a suitcase discarded in a pond not far from where she lived.

A gag order has been placed on all parties involved in the case by Superior Court Judge Linda L. Lofthus, who has also sealed documents in the case, including the autopsy and toxicology reports and documents relating to a defense motion to exhume Sandra's body.

In addition to the murder of Sandra Cantu, Melissa Huckaby faces charges that she attempted to poison two other people: a 7-year-old girl, identified only as "Jane M. Doe" and a Daniel Plowman. She is also charged with child abuse related to the 7-year-old-girl who was "in her care and custody." She is scheduled to appear again in court of Sept. 25.

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Melissa Huckaby Charged in Sandra Cantu Death

Melissa Huckaby, 28, of Tracy, Ca., a Sunday school teacher and mother of a 5-year-old girl has been charged with murder. She is accused of the gruesome killing of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, her daughter's playmate. She made her first appearance in San Joaquin County court where the charges against her were made public.

Melissa Huckaby is charged with one count of murder with the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 and murder in the course of a kidnapping. She could be eligible for the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.

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It all began when Sandra Cantu was reported missing from her home on March 27, 2009. She was last seen heading to Huckaby's house to play with Huckaby's 5-year-old daughter, just 5 houses down the road. When she did not return home, a massive search party was organized with volunteers searching through a landfill, rivers, homes and fields all over the Tracy area where Sandra lived.

Posters of the little girl were widely distributed throughout northern California and a reward of $26,000 was offered for information leading to Sandra's whereabouts. Many people were questioned by the police including Sandra's father who lives in Mexico and a 60-year-old man who admitted he kissed Sandra on the lips two years ago.

The search for Sandra Cantu came to a tragic end on April 6, when a suitcase was found by farm workers who were draining a pond to water a field at a dairy farm about two miles away from her home. Inside the suitcase police discovered the remains of the 8-year-old little girl.

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Further investigations led the police to zero in on Melissa Huckaby. She was booked on suspicion of murder and kidnapping early Saturday morning, April 11, 2009, after a five-hour interview with Tracy police, during which she wept and indicated that she deliberately killed Sandra Cantu on March 27. Police offered no motive for the murder.

"Finding out, one, that it's a woman, and that it was a member of the community was one blow," said Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman, referring to the suspect. "But then finding out it was someone the family knew was a double blow. This case has been hard on everyone. The fact that there's been an arrest will never reverse what happened. There is no joy in this."

Melissa Huckaby lives in a mobile home with her 5-year-old daughter and grandparents, Lane and Connie Lawless. Investigators spent several days searching that home and the nearby Clover Road Baptist Church where Lane Lawless, 77, is a pastor.

Huckaby had been in trouble with the law before. She pleaded no contest in January to a burglary charge in San Joaquin County and has a 2006 theft conviction in Los Angeles County.

What is so shocking about this case is that women are rarely sexual predators - only about 5 percent to 15 percent, according to experts - and when they do molest children, they are more often accomplices.

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