Sunday school teacher to be sentenced in 2009 kidnapping, murder of California girl

Sunday school teacher to be sentenced in killing

STOCKTON, Calif. — A Sunday school teacher who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering a neighbor girl in Tracy is scheduled for sentencing Monday.

Melissa Huckaby is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without parole. The 29-year-old’s surprise guilty plea last month was part of a deal with prosecutors that took the death penalty off the table.

Huckaby also was charged with sexually abusing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, whose body was found in a suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond not far from the mobile home community where both had lived. The sexual abuse charges were dropped as part of the deal.

Authorities have released few details about the March 2009 killing, including a possible motive.

The judge is set to consider lifting a gag order in the case Monday.