STOCKTON — Melissa Huckaby pleaded guilty this morning to the murder and kidnapping of 8-year-old Tracy girl Sandra Cantu and will be sentenced in June to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Huckaby’s public defender, Samuel Behar, said he and prosecutor Thomas Testa negotiated for the life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Previously, Testa had been pursuing the death penalty for Huckaby, 29. The other charges against her, including rape with a foreign object and poisoning, were dropped.

Huckaby will be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. on June 14 in Stockton.

The plea brought a surprising, sudden end to the trial phase of a case that gripped the nation shortly after Sandra’s disappearance on March 27, 2009, from her home in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where both she and Huckaby lived. Ten days later, Cantu’s body was found in a suitcase in a dairy lagoon north of Tracy.

Huckaby was arrested on April 10 on suspicion of kidnapping, raping and killing the girl.

This afternoon, Sandra’s principal at Jacobson Elementary, Cindy Sasser, spoke about how she hoped the ruling would help bring peace to Sandra’s family and friends.

“I think that the community in Tracy has really supported us here, and also the Chavez-Cantu family, they’ve felt the community come together,” Sasser said. “Sandra was definitely a very happy little girl, one that did stand out among the other children.”

Sasser said that the staff at Jacobson has not discussed the matter with students, out of respect of Sandra’s family. She said that some of the staff members are prepared to talk about the case with children, if they ask about it.

In April 2009, a garden and a playground at Jacobson were dedicated in Sandra’s memory. Sasser said that the geraniums and azaleas that are growing in the garden, behind the school’s offices, are blooming in pink and white — Sandra’s favorite colors.

Some people who lived at the mobile home park were surprised to hear the news of Huckaby’s plea.

“The girl was a very nice girl and I don’t know (anybody) that would do that,” said Maria Mestrov, who said she’s lived at Orchard Estates for eight years. “We were very, very shocked.”

While a couple people stopped to talk to about ten television, newspaper and radio reporters waiting outside the entrance of the mobile home park, many others turned onto Clover Road without stopping.

One of those who talked to the media was Susan Alley, 51, who said she’s lived in the mobile home park for three years.

“It helps a bit, but it doesn’t bring her back,” said Alley.

Alley, who said she lived near Sandra’s family, the Chavezes, and two doors down from Huckaby, said that the ordeal has encouraged people living at Orchard Estates to get to know each other a little better. She said she didn’t really know the Chavez family or Huckaby, who she said was “hidden.”

In the courtroom today, San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus asked Huckaby if she’s had time to talk with her attorneys and if she really planned to plead guilty, giving up the right to a jury trial, to which she answered yes.

After Lofthus finished most of her questioning of Huckaby, Testa wanted the judge to make sure Huckaby was in the right state of mind to make the plea. He noted that her behavior in prison, such as trying to hurt herself at one point, was odd.

“She appears extremely coherent today, but I just worry down the road,” Testa said, worrying that Huckaby might change her plea.

Lofthus told Testa that “she appears fine to me,” but asked Huckaby anyway if she understood what was going on.

She asked if there has been a change in her medication recently, something Huckaby declined.

“No, I am currently stable on medication, thank you,” Huckaby said.

After the questioning, Lofthus said she accepted Huckaby’s plea. Her attorneys and Testa spoke with members of the Huckaby and Chavez families before coming up with the June 14 date for sentencing.

While Lofthus said she’d allow one camera at the sentencing, she said the gag order, preventing anyone related to the case from speaking to the media, is still in effect. Testa brought up the notion of lifting it and Behar and Huckaby’s attorney, Michael Burt, said they had no objection.

Lofthus said she worried that things were moving too quickly and wanted some time to think about the gag order.

As they left the courtroom, a few members of Sandra's family, the Chavezes were crying. Testa hugged a family member as he walked away. The Chavez family was surrounded by cameras as they walked out of the courthouse and into the parking lot.

"They'll never get over this, but at least they don't have to wait any longer," said Lisa Encarnacion, who at one time was close to the Chavez family.

Contact Tracy Press reporter Justin Lafferty at 830-4221 or jlafferty@tracypress.com.