Journalists Credited for Cracking Cantu Case

Discrepancies in Melissa Huckaby's stories

In interviews with police and reporters, Melissa Huckaby told different stories about how a suitcase belonging to Huckaby's family was found with young Sandra Cantu dead inside.

The discrepancies between accounts told to the cops, Tracy Press reporter Jennifer Wadsworth and Bay Area reporters including Jodi Hernandez were enough to suggest that she might be a suspect.

Law enforcement had been focused on finding a man, since in most cases child abductions and murders are not committed by women.

In the Tracy Press interview, Huckaby denied having a criminal record.

In following interviews with other reporters, she suggested she had found a note from the killer after the disappearance.

Huckaby told NBC Bay Area 's Jodi Hernandez Friday she found a note near the Cantu home the night after the child's disappearance that had the words, "Cantu," "water,"  and "suitcase" along with the name of the street where Sandra's body was found. 

Huckaby lived with her grandparents in the same trailer park as Cantu.

Huckaby also taught Sunday school, and police say her daughter and Cantu played together regularly.

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