Friends, Experts Skeptical of Huckaby Guilt

(NEWSER) - The accused killer of an 8-year-old California girl has been linked to an earlier abduction of a child in the same community, reports the Tracy Press. A 7-year-old girl was led from her neighborhood in January by a woman driving the same kind of car belonging to Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby. The teacher was charged last week with murdering Sandra Cantu, a friend of Huckaby's young daughter. Huckaby, Cantu and the abducted girl all lived in the same trailer park. More»

Huckaby swallowed three knife blades before arrest

(NEWSER) - Days before she was arrested for the rape and murder of Sandra Cantu, California Sunday-school teacher Melissa Huckaby attempted suicide by swallowing three razor blades, CBS reports. She was hospitalized and remained under suicide watch until yesterday’s hearing, where a sobbing Huckaby learned she could face the death penalty for murder, kidnapping, and rape with a foreign object of her daughter’s 8-year-old playmate. More»

Will be charged today; may face death penalty

(NEWSER) - The California Sunday school teacher set to be accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu may also face rape and child molestation charges, qualifying her for the death penalty, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Melissa Huckaby will be arraigned this afternoon; prosecutors will charge her with murder but are debating whether to add the “special-circumstances” charges. More»

Prosecutors file charges of murder, kidnapping, and rape

(NEWSER) - A California Sunday school teacher arrested for the murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu is now eligible for the death penalty after prosecutors added three “special circumstances,” to her charges today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The San Joaquin County DA alleges that Melissa Huckaby killed the girl after kidnapping her, sexually assaulting her, and raping her with a foreign object. More»

Melissa Huckaby stuck to claim of innocence as evidence mounted

(AP) - Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby placed the lifeless body of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu into a suitcase with a care that investigators say indicated a "calm, calculating mind at work." This and other macabre pieces of information were revealed in more than 1,800 pages released yesterday, shedding new light on Huckaby, a depressed woman with a penchant for cutting herself, in the murder of her daughter's playmate last year. More»