Melissa Chantel Huckaby Arrested for Killing Sandra Cantu

Melissa Chantel Huckaby was arrested at 11:55 last evening for the murder of Sandra Cantu. She was booked into custody at 3:25 a.m. Saturday at San Joaquin County Jail, in French Camp, where she is being held without bail. Her arraignment will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Manteca branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court.

Huckaby, a West High School graduate, lives with her grandparents, Clifford Lane Lawless and Connie Lawless, in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where Sandra lived.

No other arrests were made, no motive was disclosed, and Sheneman offered no other details but said he would have a press conference at 10 a.m. today.

The suitcase the murdered girl was in was owned by Huckaby, who has a criminal background, and a five year-old daughter that Huckaby said Cantu wanted to play with on the day of the murder. Police found Sandra’s dead body in a black suitcase submerged in a dairy lagoon 2 miles north of the mobile home park.

Huckaby claimed to reporters Friday that she had found a note that had the words "suitcase" and "water," as well as "Whitehall," the street near the irrigation pond where she was found.

It would be no surprise if this woman was convicted of murder this 8 year-old girl, and she got little or no jail time. Sexism in our court system favors women so much that crime victims of women, especially children, rarely find justice even after a conviction for terrible crimes such as this. The punishment a woman receives should be equal to what a man would receive. It’s the same crime.

The news that this happy little girl was murdered and stuck in a suitcase really got me down the last few days. I hope justice will be served, and served cold.

There is no good reason anyone could possibly have to kill an innocent child. Child killers are the biggest monsters in existence.