Suspect arraigned in girl’s rape, murder

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, April 15, 2009

STOCKTON, Calif. — A woman kidnapped, raped and murdered an 8-year-old girl whose body was found in a suitcase dumped in a pond just a few miles from home, prosecutors alleged Tuesday.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was charged with murdering her daughter’s playmate, Sandra Cantu, in a gruesome crime that has shocked and terrified residents of Tracy, a Northern California city about 60 miles east of San Francisco.