(CNN) -- Police are searching for any other alleged victims of a Sunday school teacher accused of raping and killing an 8-year-old girl from Tracy, California.


Melissa Huckaby is charged with killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, who was a friend of her own daughter.
1 of 3 "We are asking the public if they have any indication that any of their children may have had inappropriate contact with [the suspect] to contact us," Tracy Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said Tuesday evening. "There has been no indication that this has happened. But she is a Sunday school teacher and did have contact with children, so that is why we are asking."

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was arrested and charged with killing and raping 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, a friend of her 5-year-old daughter.

Huckaby, wearing red jail scrubs over a white T-shirt, was in court Tuesday for an arraignment. She was charged with murder, kidnapping, the performance of a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 14 and rape by instrument.

If convicted, Huckaby would face the death penalty or life in prison without parole, San Joaquin County District Attorney James Willett told reporters after the hearing. A decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be made later, he said.

Huckaby did not enter a plea or speak during the court hearing, although she flinched when Sandra Cantu's name was spoken, and she cried at times.

Sandra's body was found April 6, stuffed into a suitcase and submerged in a pond at a dairy farm. Huckaby was arrested Friday night after questioning by police.

Sandra was last seen alive March 27 in the mobile home park where she lived with her family -- the same mobile home park where Huckaby lives with her daughter. The two children were close friends and played together frequently, police said.

Huckaby is the granddaughter of Clifford Lane Lawless, pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church near the mobile home park, and she taught Sunday school at the church, police have said. The church was searched as part of the investigation into Sandra's disappearance and death.

Before her arrest, Huckaby acknowledged to a newspaper reporter that she owned the suitcase that contained Sandra's body. But Huckaby said the suitcase had been stolen.

Willett declined to comment on any of the evidence or allegations in the case, saying evidence would be presented in court.

A memorial ceremony is scheduled for Sandra at 1 p.m. Thursday at a high school in Tracy, police said
[Edited 4/15/09 10:41am]

Sorry, I saw Nancy Grace and shut it off.

our kids are NEVER safe

There are some real freaks in Tracy. I might be wrong on this but I think that is where a 16 year old boy was being held prisoner and being abused by his parents. He escaped and ran to a fitness gym. The people thought it was a 7 or 8 year old boy because of how malnourished he was

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Was this the same place!??!

paisleypark4 said:

SAME

CITY

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...14G1FQ.DTL

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

jeez

The girl's body was found in a suitcase in a lake

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

we have some really good friends that live in Tracy, we've been there several times....i don't think i'd wanna live there, nice mall, but the town has too many issues.

kimrachell said:

Isn't that a Republican bastion?!!! Hate to drag that into the discussion but serouisly, how could these places where "family values" are held in such high regard be absolute nightmares?

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

The monster who did that should be put to death....case closed.

uPtoWnNY said:

No arguments from me.

He's a PIG and ANYBODY who HURTS a CHILD or has Sex with a CHILD is a SICK NUT who should be KILLED BY ELECTROCUTION on their NUTSACK! I HATE PEDOPHILES and RAPISTS who DEAL with INTIMIDATION and FEAR and POWER get a REAL WOMEN who will BITE and KILL YA.. I mean deal with People who can FIGHT YA ASS! NOT WEAKER INDIVIDUALS! I feel these people are WHIMPS! I would SERIOUSLY KILL some BASTARD TRYING to HURT MY FAMILY OR ME! And The cops would be on my side for HURTING the CREEPAZOID!
[Edited 4/7/09 14:05pm]

I heard on the news today, she was found dead in a suitcase, in a ditch.
My prayers go out to her family.

I heard them mentioning it on the news this morning, and my mother was furious.
What a way to leave this earth.

MRGee said:

No, make sure there is someone the built of a wrestler assigned as his roommate.

angel345 said:

they showed a clip of her skipping through her trailer park before disappearing. My only hope is that her death was instant so she had that happiness around her on her way to the next phase of life.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

It's just the thought of it, that's all. Child abuse and murders, but I see what you're saying.

They found the killer, she is a minister's daughter. Dear god

Police: Motive unknown as Sunday school teacher arrested in killing of girl found in suitcase



TRACY, Calif. (Associated Press) -- Police said Saturday after arresting a Sunday school teacher that they still didn't know the motive for the killing of an 8-year-old girl whose body was found in a suitcase dumped in an irrigation pond.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, a local minister's granddaughter, was arrested late Friday about five hours after she drove herself to the local police station at the request of officers, said police Sgt. Tony Sheneman. She was being held without bail in connection with the death of Sandra Cantu, the San Joaquin County sheriff's office said.

Sandra disappeared on March 27 and hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials turned out to search for her. On April 6, farmworkers draining an irrigation pond found the suitcase.

Huckaby walked into the police station Friday and started a conversation with officers, Sheneman said at a news conference.

"She was calm, cool and collected, then she became very emotional .... She went back and forth from being calm to emotional."

Eventually, she became "resigned," Sheneman said.

"I couldn't begin to even theorize what her motive was," he said.
Sheneman said police know where the girl was killed but can't disclose the location. Autopsy results are not yet available, he said. He wouldn't say whether police believe the slaying was accidental or deliberate, saying that will be an issue for Huckaby's arraignment and trial.

He said police had started to narrow their focus on a suspect about the same time Sandra's body was found. "No one person pointed their finger. It was a compilation of evidence," he said.

Sheneman had earlier told The Associated Press that interviews with Huckaby in The Tracy Press had revealed inconsistencies that prompted further inquiries from investigators. And he had confirmed early Saturday that the suitcase belonged to Huckaby.

Sandra's aunt, Angie Chavez, said the girl's mother, Maria Chavez, was devastated.

"It's not over. This is just the beginning of a horrible nightmare," Angie Chavez said of the arrest as she stood at the entrance to the mobile home park where Sandra lived with her mother.

Angie Chavez' husband, Joe Chavez, said Huckaby should face the death penalty.

"You eye everybody with a great deal of suspicion. We're shell-shocked here," Joe Chavez said. "Who can you trust at this point? Who do you know?"

Huckaby's family had been questioned during the investigation, and their home and vehicles had been searched, Sheneman said.

Sheneman said investigators hadn't expected that the suspect would turn out to be a woman.

"It's unusual for it to be a woman statistically and according to the FBI," he said at the news conference.

Discovering it was a woman and a member of the tight knit Tracy community who knew the family was "a double blow," he said.

"Today's going to be a very difficult day for everyone to digest that," Sheneman said. "This was an anomaly in the murder of a child."

"There's still a lot of work to be done in the next several weeks to ensure that Miss Huckaby pays for what's she's done," Sheneman said. "There are no other suspects in this case. We do not anticipate any other arrests in this case."

Neighbor Barbara Sokoloski, whose home is behind Sandra's, described Sandra on Saturday as "a friendly sweet little girl who always went around trying to find somebody to play with."

"It's too bad that kids these days can't go out and play like we did when I was a little girl," said Sokoloski, 69.

Huckaby had told The Tracy Press that Sandra visited her home on the day of her disappearance to play with her 5-year-old daughter. But Huckaby said she'd turned Sandra away because her daughter needed to pick up her toys and Sandra went to another friend's home. Huckaby also said she had left her suitcase in the driveway that day, and that it was missing.

The Tracy Press said Huckaby was released Thursday from Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, where she spent several days in intensive care for what she described as "internal bleeding."

Huckaby is a granddaughter of Pastor Clifford Lawless, whose Clover Road Baptist Church was searched by police. Huckaby taught Sunday school at the church and lived with Lawless in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park that also was Sandra's home.

Lawless did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Saturday.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton said Huckaby has no state prison record.

Huckaby was scheduled to appear in court on April 17 to check in with a county mental health program as part of a three-year probation sentence for a petty theft she pleaded no contest to. She told the newspaper on Friday that someone else by the same name was facing charges for the attempted November theft from a Target store.

meow85 said:

She's unwatchable




but yeah, this world is becoming more of a mess now

PaisleyPark5083 said:

Unreal.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I just understand what happened so fast. They said it was not sexually motivated and that they have evidence that she died at the church. I dont get it!!! I just don't understand! I really want to believe she did no do this...and for what reason? Did she accidentaly run her over and try to hide it? Did she just spaz out for no reason? Did she even do it?

paisleypark4 said:

I saw that video of her skipping, on the way to that girls house....what a sad world..

paisleypark4 said:

They are saying the girl was raped with an object. I wonder if this woman is protecting the man who did this. So STRANGE that a woman would do this. It's not typical.

I can't even look or listen to this stuff. It makes me so ill to my stomach.

Very sad



Smooches;)

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Gosh, we're on the same wavelength. I was just telling my mother the same thing.

angel345 said:

I know...it just doesnt seem right....I saw the pictures of her in court crying.....I really just dont feel she really did this! Where is the dna evidence?

Bitch, why you crying NOW??? No mercy.