According to California authorities, the woman accused of fatally stabbing a senior nurse in a mall parking structure wanted money to take her daughter on a cheerleading trip.
Opening remarks were delivered in Torrance Superior Court on Wednesday in the murder trial of 47-year-old Cherie Lynette Townsend, according to courtroom reporting by the Daily Breeze, a local news site. Prosecutors charged Townsend with the fatal stabbing of 66-year-old Susan Leeds, a retired nurse who was discovered bleeding in her Mercedes-Benz SUV on May 3, 2018. Leeds had just done shopping at the Promenade on the Peninsula mall in Rolling Hills, California. She died just minutes after being found.
Townsend had also been shopping that day, and her gold vehicle was spotted exiting the same parking structure where Leeds was discovered bleeding to death.
According to authorities, Townsend was having financial issues in the days leading up to Leeds’ death and had talked about them on social media. One bone of disagreement was her daughter’s cheerleading vacation to Florida when she was 14 years old. Prosecutors said Townsend offered to invite two of her daughter’s friends on the vacation, and the girls each paid $350 for their tickets. However, according to prosecutors, such tickets were never purchased.
A criminal complaint acquired by a local Patch reporter from Palos Verdes, California, stated that detectives met with the general manager of Townsend’s daughter’s cheering team. The manager said investigators that Townsend had been writing checks that were bouncing, and she had been requested to give cash or cashier’s checks to cover team fees.
According to the complaint, Townsend searched Google for various ways to gain money, such as cloning credit cards, robbing coin-operated washing machines, celebrity donations, and even locating a “sugar daddy.” Prosecutors also mentioned Google searches for “Promenade on the Peninsula” and nearby gyms.
Prosecutors stated in court that Townsend intended to launch a GoFundMe page to generate funds for the trip, but she was afraid her children would be embarrassed.
Prosecutors claimed that Townsend waited two hours for Leeds to return to her SUV. When Leeds returned from shopping at The Gap and ordering takeout, Townsend allegedly stabbed the retired nurse 17 times in the neck and torso. Leeds’ black purse, which she was seen holding on surveillance camera, was missing. She still wore her jewels.
According to prosecutors and the criminal complaint, Townsend’s phone was discovered underneath Leeds’ car. Prosecutors also indicated that Leeds’ phone pinged towers in the general region where Townsend was spotted heading following the alleged incident. According to the lawsuit, a homicide investigator identified Townsend’s phone under Leeds’ car after seeing a photo of her on it.
Townsend, who was interviewed by police in the days following Leeds’ death, told investigators that she knew she had left her phone in the parking garage but didn’t know where. She reportedly went to a Verizon store to try to find her phone.
Police took Townsend’s car as evidence, but found none of Leeds’ things or a murder weapon. Townsend was detained on May 17, 2018, in connection with Leeds’ homicide, but was freed several days later. She later sued the county and maintained her innocence, including in a September 2018 interview with local NBC affiliate KNBC.
Another individual was arrested early in the investigation but later absolved of suspicion.
Five years after Leeds’ death, in August 2023, Townsend was arrested again. Her defense attorney argued in court on Monday that there was no evidence linking Townsend to Leeds’ death, and her DNA was excluded from 40 samples collected at the site.
Townsend’s counsel stated that there were “a lot of questions that the prosecution can’t answer, and that is reasonable doubt.”
Townsend was charged with murder after being arrested again in 2023.
