A Sunday school teacher was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu of Tracy, whose body was found in a suitcase in an irrigation pond, authorities announced this morning.
Melissa Huckaby, 28, was arrested about midnight Friday, about five hours after she drove herself to the local police station at the request of police investigators, said police Sgt. Tony Sheneman at a press conference this morning.
"She gave enough information to us during the course of the interview that a probable cause was there to arrest her," said Sheneman. No other arrests were made, and there are no other suspects, he said.
"Nothing we can say can return Sandra to her family," Sheneman said.
He said Sandra Cantu was "very close friends with" Huckaby's young daughter and the two girls played frequently. But he said he "couldn't even begin to theorize what the motive is."
Huckaby was being held without bail at the San Joaquin County jail in French Camp where she has been booked on kidnapping and murder charges, according to a statement from the Tracy Police Department.
"There is still a lot of work that has to be done to ensure that Ms. Hushaby pays for what she's done," Sheneman said. The results of the autopsy and warrants related to the case are still sealed, he said.
Police notified the family last night and stayed with them for several hours.
The slain girl's aunt, Angie Chavez, said in a phone interview with the Associated Press early today that she was happy to learn of the arrest.
"I want to know why she did it, if she did it," Chavez said. Chavez added that she had no indication that Huckaby could be a suspect, and her family had been avoiding news coverage because it was too painful to follow.
Chavez said she plans to speak publicly about the arrest later today.
It has been almost 15 days since Cantu was reported missing. Hundreds of volunteers and search-and-rescue crews from 16 agencies joined the search after the little girl with brown hair and brown eyes vanished on March 27 from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where she lived with her mother, grandparents and three siblings.
A surveillance camera caught the bubbly 8-year-old girl skipping down a street after a play date that Friday afternoon, but she never made it home.
