What she was arrested for tells us something as well- the crime of kidnapping includes holding someone against their will. It can be as much as what we consider everyday kidnapping/child abduction, or as little as in the Joseph Duncan case- tying his victim's hands a few minutes before he killed them.
So we don't know THAT much, but we can rule out MH accidentally backing up her car and hitting Sandra, and then freaking out and covering for it. That situation could be murder, but not kidnapping. At least for now-MH could always confess to something like that happening and the kidnapping charge would be dropped. But we can assume as of right now the police believe MH detained in one way or another Sandra before she killed her.
Edit: Here's a link to the CA kidnapping statute. Its wordy, but you get the idea that a kidnapping needs to be intentional. Doesn't cover accidental anything. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=207-210
Edit again: The inmate booking report says 207(a):
207. (a) Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of
instilling fear, steals or takes, or holds, detains, or arrests any
person in this state, and carries the person into another country,
state, or county, or into another part of the same county, is guilty
of kidnapping.
So we don't know THAT much, but we can rule out MH accidentally backing up her car and hitting Sandra, and then freaking out and covering for it. That situation could be murder, but not kidnapping. At least for now-MH could always confess to something like that happening and the kidnapping charge would be dropped. But we can assume as of right now the police believe MH detained in one way or another Sandra before she killed her.
Edit: Here's a link to the CA kidnapping statute. Its wordy, but you get the idea that a kidnapping needs to be intentional. Doesn't cover accidental anything. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=207-210
Edit again: The inmate booking report says 207(a):
207. (a) Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of
instilling fear, steals or takes, or holds, detains, or arrests any
person in this state, and carries the person into another country,
state, or county, or into another part of the same county, is guilty
of kidnapping.