Melissa Huckaby sentenced to life in prison

Stockton - The murder of an eight-year-old girl by a Sunday school teacher caught national attention last year. Melissa Huckaby, the accused, has now received her sentencing: life in prison.

Melissa Huckaby will spend the rest of her life behind bars for killing 8 year-old Sandra Cantu. Huckaby did express remorse for her actions after the sentencing. She, like others in the community, was surprised about the murder., "I owe you an explanation. But I still cannot understand why I did what I did.” She also told Cantu’s mother, “I should not have taken her away from you”. Huckaby’s daughter and Cantu were playmates. Cantu was reported missing on March 27, 2009, from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in Tracy, California. Cantu’s body was discovered a week and a half later, stuffed in a suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond near Orchard Estates. In May 2010, 28 year-old Huckaby plead guilty for murdering Cantu in Stockton, California. Cantu’s body was also found to have been sexually abused, but the abuse charges were dropped as part of the plea deal. Huckaby claims that she did not molest Cantu prior to the murder.