Stockton, Calif. ? A woman kidnapped, raped and murdered an 8-year-old girl whose body was found in a suitcase dumped in a pond just a few miles from home, prosecutors alleged Tuesday.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was charged with murdering her daughter’s playmate, Sandra Cantu, in a gruesome crime that has shocked and terrified residents of Tracy, a Northern California city of about 78,000, 60 miles east of San Francisco.

Huckaby, who volunteered as a Sunday school teacher at her grandfather’s Clover Road Baptist Church in Tracy, appeared in a San Joaquin County courtroom for her arraignment in a red jumpsuit and shackles. She trembled and cried as a judge read the charge: one count of murder with the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 and murder in the course of a kidnapping.

The special circumstances mean Huckaby, if convicted, could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. District Attorney James Willett said Tuesday he has not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

During Tuesday’s hearing, which lasted several minutes, public defender Ellen Schwarzenberg asked Judge Richard A. Vlavianos for a gag order in the case. Vlavianos said that question would be answered by his colleague, Judge Terrence Van Oss, who would be presiding over future hearings.

Vlavianos ordered Huckaby to return to court April 24, when she’s expected to enter a plea.

Family members of the defendant and victim filed quietly into and out of the courtroom Tuesday, declining to speak with reporters. Many cried softly during the hearing and became especially emotional when the rape allegation was read.

Sandra disappeared March 27, last seen on surveillance camera video skipping outside the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park where she lived just five doors from Huckaby.

A 10-day search by law enforcement and the community ended April 6, when farmworkers draining an irrigation pond a few miles away from the mobile home complex found the suitcase containing Sandra’s body.

Police have said Sandra was found wearing the same clothes she had on when she was last seen: a pink “Hello Kitty” T-shirt and black leggings.

They have not said how, why or where she was killed, and the coroner’s office has said autopsy results are pending.

A criminal complaint said the murder occurred “on or about” March 27 but gave no other details.