Following today’s sentencing of Melissa Huckaby to life in prison without parole for the murder of Sandra Cantu, the prosecutor in the case released a timeline and details about Sandra’s kidnapping and death.

San Joaquin County pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu reported that Sandra died between 4 and 6 p.m. the day she first went missing by “homicidal asphyxiation,” and was found with a cut on her lower inner lip, an abrasion on her left elbow and other injuries, according to a release issued by prosecutor Thomas Testa. Omalu also noted that Sandra was found with a torn cloth that had been “knotted into a ‘noose.’”

Testa's timeline points to Clover Road Baptist Church, just a few addresses to the west of Orchard Estates, as the likely scene of the murder. Huckaby’s grandfather was a pastor there, and Huckaby had also taught Sunday school at the house of worship.

According to prosecutors, by the time Sandra’s mother, Maria Chavez, called police to report Sandra missing at 7:53 p.m. March 27, 2009, the 8-year-old girl had already been killed and her body disposed of by Huckaby.

The documents released by Testa state that the last evidence Sandra was alive — captured in a surveillance video at 3:54 p.m. March 27, 2009 — came just eight minutes before Huckaby was seen driving her Kia sports-utility vehicle out of Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where both Huckaby and Sandra lived, and toward Clover Road Baptist Church.

The media release states that at about this time, Huckaby reported to mobile home park management that her Eddie Bauer suitcase had been stolen.

Eighty-five minutes after driving away from Orchard Estates, the release says, Huckaby was seen driving away from the vicinity of the church before she returned about 30 minutes later.

During that 30 minutes, the prosecutor’s report says, Huckaby was seen by a former U.S. Marine and his wife near an irrigation pond at Bacchetti and Whitehall roads north of Tracy. The report says Sandra’s body, which was stuffed inside a black Eddie Bauer suitcase, was pulled 10 days later from the same irrigation pond where the man and his wife reported seeing Huckaby.

According to the timeline, Sandra’s body had been dumped by 6 p.m. March 27 — no more than two hours after she first went missing.

On March 28, police received a handwritten note that read: “Cantu locked in stolin suitcase thrown in water onn Bacchetti Rd. & Whitehall Rd witness” (sic). Prosecutors say that the handwriting matched samples of Huckaby’s writing, even though the writing in the “witness” note was disguised.

When Clover Road Baptist Church was searched on April 6, 2009, police found a rolling pin with blood on it that contained Sandra’s DNA, according to Testa's report. Investigators also found that one of the church’s window blinds was missing a draw cord, and the cord that was used to tie shut the Eddie Bauer suitcase was later determined to be a match for the cords on the other church blinds.

Alprazolam, a form of the muscle relaxant anti-anxiety drug benzodiazepine, was found in Sandra’s body. Bottles of alprazolam were also found in Huckaby’s purse and home, the prosecutor's report stated.

Prosecutors had accused Huckaby of drugging a 7-year-old girl in January 2009 and a 37-year-old man in March 2009 with benzodiazepine, though those charges were dropped as part of Huckaby’s plea bargain.