Former Sunday School Teacher Indicted in Girl's Death

(CNN) -- A grand jury in northern California on Monday indicted a former Sunday school teacher on charges of kidnapping, murder and rape in the death of an 8-year-old girl.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, is accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, who disappeared on March 27 in Tracy, California. Her body was found April 6 in a suitcase in an irrigation pond near the mobile home park where her family lived. Huckaby and her daughter, who played with Sandra, also lived in the mobile home park.

San Francisco Chronicle reporter Henry Lee, who was in the courtroom in San Joaquin County on Monday as the indictment was read, told CNN:

"Melissa began weeping as the judge read the charges of murder and rape aloud. ... She was shackled and wore a red jail jumpsuit. Otherwise, she said nothing."

The grand jury heard two weeks of testimony.

In June, Huckaby pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The judge scheduled her next court appearance for September 10, giving her attorney time to review the indictment. No trial date has been set.

The rape accusations, involving special circumstances, are "grotesque to think of," Lee said.

Prosecutors will take about two more months to decide whether to seek the death penalty, because of the special circumstances.

Huckaby appeared in court with several fresh scratches on her forehead, according to Lee. She remains in the San Joaquin County Jail without bail, according to CNN affiliate KCRA.

"There were reports she tried to commit suicide in her jail cell. ... She has previously tried to commit suicide by means of swallowing razor blades," Lee added.

Huckaby Grand Jury Duties Done

STOCKTON - A criminal grand jury concluded its deliberations Friday afternoon in the case of Melissa Huckaby, a Tracy woman accused in the kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

The grand jury's decision to indict her - or not - will remain secret unless Huckaby, 28, is brought back to court for arraignment. The indictment would take the place of charges San Joaquin County prosecutors filed against her after her April 10 arrest.

Huckaby's next hearing before San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus is scheduled for Sept. 8.

For the past two weeks, witnesses have been called to testify before the grand jury. If they return an indictment, the case will next go to a trial in open court.

Huckaby is charged with slaying Sandra on March 27, the day the girl vanished. Huckaby and Sandra were both residents of Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in Tracy. Farm workers found the girl's body 10 days later in a suitcase two miles north of town.

Huckaby's case was set for a September preliminary hearing. If the grand jury issues an indictment, the preliminary hearing won't be held, and key details of the case will remain out of the public's knowledge.

A judge's gag order has kept investigators and prosecutors from explaining a possible motive for the killing and how Sandra died. Legal experts have suggested prosecutors took it to a grand jury, where proceedings are always secret, to quiet the public interest in an attempt to prevent moving the trial out of San Joaquin County.

Murder Indictment in Craigslist Case

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- A Massachusetts grand jury late last week indicted a 23-year-old medical student on seven counts, including first-degree murder, in the fatal shooting of one woman and the robbery of another in Boston hotels.

Philip Markoff is charged with the April 14 fatal shooting and attempted robbery of Julissa Brisman, 25, and the armed robbery of a 29-year-old Las Vegas woman on April 10. Investigators have linked both incidents to advertisements on the Craigslist classified ad Web site.

Markoff also is charged with "the armed and forcible confinement" of the two women, as well as two counts of unlawful firearm possession, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said Sunday.

The grand jury returned the seven-count indictment late Thursday, and it moves the case from Boston Municipal Court to Suffolk Superior Court, where Markoff is expected to appear for a Monday morning arraignment. He previously pleaded not guilty in the city court and is being held without bail.

Markoff's attorney, John Salzberg, had no comment on the new indictment.

Prosecutors said Brisman, a model from New York who advertised as a masseuse on Craigslist, was shot three times at close range and suffered blunt head trauma at the Marriott Copley Place hotel.

The Las Vegas woman was robbed of $800 in cash and $250 in American Express gift cards at the Westin Copley Place hotel, police reports said.

Markoff, a second-year medical student at Boston University's School of Medicine, also has been charged in a nonfatal hotel assault in Rhode Island.

He has been charged with assault with the intent to rob, assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a handgun and use of a firearm while committing a crime of violence, stemming from an April 16 robbery attempt at a Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, Rhode Island.