Sunday school teacher arrested for murder
Issue date: 4/13/09 Section: News
1 TRACY, Calif. (AP) - Police and residents here said they were shocked when the suspect in the killing of a young girl turned out to be a woman, the mother of the slain girl's best friend.
Melissa Huckaby, a 28-year-old Sunday School teacher, was on suicide watch Saturday at the San Joaquin County Jail on suspicion of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. The girl's body was found in one of Huckaby's suitcases in an irrigation pond nearly a week ago, police said.
"This was an anomaly in the murder of a child," police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said at a news conference Saturday. "Finding out that it is a woman who is responsible for Sandra's kidnapping and murder, and then finding out it is a member of the community is another blow."
FBI statistics show women are involved in just seven percent of murders of any sort. Solo killings of children by women are even more unusual.
Sandra disappeared on March 27 and hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials turned out to search for her. Pictures of the girl with dark brown eyes and light brown hair were posted all over Tracy, a city of 78,000 people about 60 miles east of San Francisco. Police said they received 1,500 tips in the hunt for Sandra and her killer.
Thailand announces state of emergency in capital after protesters shut down Asian summit
2 BANGKOK (AP) - Thailand's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday and ordered armored vehicles into the streets to stem a tide of protest across the country.
Bands of anti-government protesters roamed areas of Bangkok as the emergency decree was announced, with some smashing a car they believed was carrying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, and others beating up motorists who hurled insults at them.
The emergency decree bans gatherings of more than five people, forbids news reports considered threatening to public order and allows the government to call up military troops to quell unrest.
Melissa Huckaby, a 28-year-old Sunday School teacher, was on suicide watch Saturday at the San Joaquin County Jail on suspicion of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. The girl's body was found in one of Huckaby's suitcases in an irrigation pond nearly a week ago, police said.
"This was an anomaly in the murder of a child," police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said at a news conference Saturday. "Finding out that it is a woman who is responsible for Sandra's kidnapping and murder, and then finding out it is a member of the community is another blow."
FBI statistics show women are involved in just seven percent of murders of any sort. Solo killings of children by women are even more unusual.
Sandra disappeared on March 27 and hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials turned out to search for her. Pictures of the girl with dark brown eyes and light brown hair were posted all over Tracy, a city of 78,000 people about 60 miles east of San Francisco. Police said they received 1,500 tips in the hunt for Sandra and her killer.
Thailand announces state of emergency in capital after protesters shut down Asian summit
2 BANGKOK (AP) - Thailand's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday and ordered armored vehicles into the streets to stem a tide of protest across the country.
Bands of anti-government protesters roamed areas of Bangkok as the emergency decree was announced, with some smashing a car they believed was carrying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, and others beating up motorists who hurled insults at them.
The emergency decree bans gatherings of more than five people, forbids news reports considered threatening to public order and allows the government to call up military troops to quell unrest.
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