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Arrest Made In Cantu Case 4/11/2009 1:30:20 PM
TRACY, CA - Following Friday night's shocking arrest of a Sunday School teacher and mother in connection with the murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, Tracy police could offer few details Saturday about the question on everyone's minds -- why?
"I couldn't even begin to theorize what her motive was," Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said during a Saturday news conference.
Melissa Huckaby, 28, was arrested around 11:30 p.m. Friday, following more than five hours of questioning by investigators about her contact with Sandra on March 27, the day the child disappeared from outside her home in a Tracy mobile home park.
VIDEO: Tracy police discuss Huckaby arrest; 4/11/09, 10 a.m.
VIDEO: Sandra's family: "We're shellshocked"
ARCHIVE: Follow past stories in the Sandra Cantu case
Sheneman said that Huckaby drove herself to police headquarters at the request of authorities around 6 p.m. Friday and was initally cordial with officers. While Sheneman said he could not offer exact information on what was learned from the interview, investigators felt they had cause to arrest Huckaby for the girl's death.
"During the course of the conversation, she was calm, cool and connected, then became very emotional and then was calm again and then became resigned," Sheneman said.
Sheneman said investigators had located the suspected murder scene and believe Huckaby, the mother of one of Sandra Cantu's best friends, acted alone in Sandra's murder.
"Sandra was very close friends with Melissa's daughter. They used to play together," Sheneman said.
Huckaby is the granddaughter of Lane Lawless, the pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church. On Friday, Tracy police and the FBI searched the church and the surrounding area for a second time looking for evidence in Sandra's death. Huckaby teaches Sunday school at the church.
Join local moms who are talking about this story on momslikeme.
Huckaby had previously 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.
Sheneman confirmed early Saturday that the suitcase Sandra was found in belonged to Huckaby. The girl's body was found April 6, left in an irrigation pond just two miles from the mobile home park.
"A lot of the statements that she made (this week) to the Tracy Press were inconsistant with statements she had made to us in the initial canvass (on March 27) and a short interview we had had with her (later)," Sheneman said.
When asked about Huckaby's previous criminal record, Sheneman said investigators had "signficant details" that could not yet be released.
Sheneman said after completing the interview, Huckaby was fingerprinted and processed on suspicion of kidnapping and murder charges before being transported to the San Joaquin County Jail around 1 a.m. Saturday.
Earlier Saturday, Tracy Police Chief Janet Thiessen said investigators worked the case tirelessly in the hopes of finding Sandra.
"We have information that Sandra, by the time she was reported missing to us, that she probably had already been murdered," said Thiessen.
"It has helped us to bring Sandra home, again not in the way that we would've hoped, but that was out of our hands shortly after she went missing."
After more than two weeks of hunting for Sandra and her killer, Sandra Cantu's family members said they were stunned Saturday -- not only to learn the suspect was not the stereotypical career criminal or pedophile many had envisioned, but a young mother with close ties to the Cantu family.
"I can't imagine a mother doing this to a child," Sandra's aunt Angie Chavez said.
"We're shellshocked here," Sandra's uncle Joe Chavez said. "Hopefully, with time and trust in God, we're going to be able to trust people again. But who can you trust?"
Even Sheneman expressed the surprise felt by many members of law enforcement at their strikingly uncharacteristic suspect.
"It's unusual for a woman statistically to be involved in anything like this," Sheneman said.
Everyone who cooperated with police offered to help them locate "the monster, the man that did this," Sheneman said. Discovering it was a woman and a member of the tight knit Tracy community who knew the family was "a double blow."
"Here in Tracy, it's been very hard on everyone," Sheneman said. "Professionally, while we're confident and pleased that an arrest has been made, it will never reverse what happened. There's no joy in this."
Sheneman said that while the bulk of the investigative work was completed in the case, other interviews and other procedural matters would continue as prosecutors begin building their case against Huckaby.
"There's still a lot of work left to be done over the next several weeks to insure that Ms. Huckaby pays for what she's done," Sheneman said.
An angry Joe Chavez said if proven guilty, he hoped Huckaby would face the death penalty for her crime. "Prison is too lenient," Chavez said.
Huckaby was expected to be held at the San Joaquin County Jail until her arraignment, which was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, Sheneman said.
Condolences, Memorial Service
Fry Memorial Chapel on S. Central Avenue in Tracy is open for the community to write their messages to Sandra's family in a condolence book. The chapel is open Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The public memorial service for the victim is scheduled for Thursday, April 16 at West High School in Tracy on the 1700 block of West Lowell Avenue.
Police said as of Friday, there was seating for about 3,000 mourners, but there were plans to try to open the stadium to the service. If that is possible, Sheneman said there would be room for as many as 8,000 to attend.
He also said there were only about 500 parking spaces around West High, so he urged mourners to arrive early to find parking and be prepared to walk a distance.
