Melissa Huckaby

- Age: 28 years old in 2009CBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
- Sunday school teacher in Tracy, California
- Granddaughter of pastor Lane Lawless at the Clover Road Baptist ChurchCBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
- Huckaby lived in the same mobile home park where the Cantu family livedCBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
- Sandra Cantu disappeared on March 27, 2009CBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
- Huckaby left the mobile home park for about an hour on March 27, 2009, telling her grandmother she was going to the churchKTVU:
- Death Penalty A Possiblity In Cantu Murder Case
- Was dating Chris Sinclair, who is not currently implicated in the case but was part of the early investigationKTVU:
- Death Penalty A Possiblity In Cantu Murder Case
- Cantu's body was found on April 6, 2009, in a suitcase that was dumped in a pondCNN: Sunday-school teacher arrested in killing of California girl (April 11, 2009)
- Suitcase was linked to HuckabyCBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
- In an interview with CBS News before the arrest, Huckaby said she left a suitcase in the driveway where she lives and it was stolenCBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
- Arrested for the murder of eight-year-old Sandra CantuCNN: Sunday-school teacher arrested in killing of California girl (April 11, 2009)
- Investigators determined that Cantu had also been raped before she was murderedCNN: Police: Child found in submerged luggage may have been raped (April 14, 2009)
- Charged with petty theft in the past; claimed she was not mentally competent to stand trialCBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
- Was determined to be sane and eventually pleaded guilty to the petty theftCBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
- Convicted in another petty theft case in November 2006CBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)

Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby of Tracy, California, was arrested on the morning of April 11, 2009, and charged with murder and kidnapping of eight-year-old Sandra Cantu.CNN: Police: Child found in submerged luggage may have been raped (April 14, 2009) Huckaby is a neighbor of the victim's family—her five-year-old daughter was Cantu's friend.Salon.com: Private funeral for Calif. girl found in suitcase (April 15, 2009)
Huckaby has also been charged with lewd and lascivious acts on a child and rape with a foreign object. On June 12, 2009, Huckaby pleaded not guilty to the charges. The preliminary hearings will begin on September 24, 2009. Monterey County The Herald: Melissa Huckaby pleads not guilty to charges in Sandra Cantu murder case (June 12, 2009)
Capable of Murder?

Since Huckaby's arrest, hundreds of people have called the Tracy police department to say that Huckaby couldn't have killed eight-year-old Sandra Cantu. The investigators themselves admit to initially doubting the evidence against Huckaby based on statistics that suggest it is very rare for a woman to rape or murder another woman's child. Huckaby's attorney is expected to use those statistics to case reasonable doubt on the state's case.Associated Press: Public skeptical that woman killed, raped girl (April 18, 2009)
Another Melissa Huckaby

Since Huckaby's arrest, another Northern California woman named Melissa Huckaby, who lives in nearby in Manteca, CA, has reportedly received death threats and been trailed by news crews.Salon.com: Calif. woman mistaken for girl's suspected killer (April 15, 2009) Like the suspect, this other Huckaby is active in church, is 28-years-old and has a five-year-old daughter.Salon.com: Calif. woman mistaken for girl's suspected killer (April 15, 2009)
Charges

On April 14, 2009, Huckaby was 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. If convicted, she could face life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.KTVU: Death Penalty A Possiblity In Cantu Murder Case (April 14, 2009)
Evidence against Huckaby

Investigators linked Huckaby to the suitcase that Cantu's body was found in on April 6, 2009. Cantu disappeared from the same mobile home park that Huckaby resides in on March 27, 2009.CBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
Huckaby was a Sunday-school teacher at the Clover Road Baptist Church and the mother of one of Cantu's friends.CBS News: Arrest in Murder of 8-Year-Old Calif... (April 11, 2009)
Other Charges

On May 22, 2009, as Huckaby returned to court and entered no plea in the Cantu case, prosecutors reviewed new charges against her. She is alleged to have administered poison to a man and 7-year-old girl on January 17, 2009. The unnamed girl was reported to have recovered from the poison, but authorities were unable to locate the man, Daniel Plowman.FOX News: Cantu Suspect Faces Charges of Secretly Poisoning Man, Girl (May 22, 2009)