Melissa Huckaby Arrested For Murder of 8 Yr. Old Sandra Cantu (Photos/Video)

Police have arrested Melissa Huckaby, 28, for the murder of eight-year-old Sandra Cantu. Read more on the Cantu murder below.

Police have arrested 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby, a neighbor who’s daughter was a friend of Sandra Cantu’s.

Huckaby is a Sunday school teacher, and the granddaughter of the pastor of Clover Road Baptist church that was searched extensively Friday by police investigators.

Melissa Huckaby drove herself to the police station, where she was questioned until early Saturday morning.

Sources state that Melissa Huckaby told four different stories of what happened the day the 8-year-old girl disappeared.

“She gave enough information to us during the course of the interview that probable cause was there to arrest her,” Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman told the Associated Press.

CBS Station KPIX reports that at 2:25 a.m. Saturday, police drove Huckaby out of their headquarters in an unmarked car, headed for the San Joaquin Jail, where she was booked on charges of kidnapping and murder.

Huckaby is being held without bail, with arraignment set for Tuesday.

“We have information that by the time (Sandra Cantu) was reported missing to us, she had already been murdered,” Police Chief Janet Thiessen told KPIX. She would not elaborate on Sandra’s death nor a possible motive.

So far, no other arrests have been made.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Huckaby told KPIX that Sandra visited her home March 27, the day she disappeared. Huckaby also said she had left a suitcase in the driveway that day, and that it was missing.

Sandra Cantu’s body was found 10 days after she disappeared, stuffed into a suitcase and dumped in a farm pond.

The last time her mother saw Sandra alive, the little girl was going outside to play with friends, and surveillance video shows Sandra playing around the trailer park grounds.

At an early morning news conference, Tracy Police Chief Janet Thiessen said investigators had worked on the case tirelessly.

“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.”

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

Melissa Huckaby was recently convicted for petty theft in San Joaquin County. According to court records, the judge ordered her to be examined by physicians after Huckaby claimed she was not mentally competent to stand trial. It was determined that she was competent and she pleaded guilty.

Huckaby was also convicted in November of 2006 for petty theft at the Bellflower Superior Court in Los Angeles County.

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.

In an interview with The Tracy Press on Friday, Huckaby said someone else by the same name was facing charges for the attempted November theft from Target.

Here is surveillance video of Sandra Cantu and more on her story in videos below:

Melissa Huckaby phone interview:

Tribute video:

Click Thumbnails for Larger Pictures

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Posted by: Monya

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