Mom Killed Ex-Nurse to Get Cash for Daughter’s Cheerleading Competition

A mother of two has been found guilty of killing a retired nurse so she could get money to send her daughter to cheerleading camp, according to reports.

On Thursday, Dec. 4, Cherie Townsend was convicted of first-degree murder following the killing of Susan Leeds on May 3, 2018, in the Promenade on the Peninsula shopping mall’s parking structure in Rolling Hills Estates, California, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) confirmed in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Leeds, 66, was fatally stabbed 17 times in the mall’s parking lot shortly after noon on the day of her death, the Los Angeles Times reported. Prosecutors have claimed that the killing occurred during an attempted robbery, with Townsend looking for money to pay for her daughter to attend a cheerleading competition, the outlet noted.

Among the twists in the case through the seven years since Leeds’ killing, Townsend, 47 — who has maintained her innocence — sued Los Angeles County after being arrested, released and then rearrested over five years later, per NBC4 Los Angeles. She previously told the outlet in August 2023 that she was only linked to the killing because she’d accidentally dropped and left her phone in the parking lot near the murder scene.

The cellphone, which was found underneath Leeds’ white Mercedes SUV at the time, led to Townsend’s arrest, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Townsend previously accused the LASD of unfairly targeting her, alleging false imprisonment, defamation, racial discrimination and intentional infliction of emotional distress in October 2018, per the outlet. The federal lawsuit against the sheriff’s department has since been dismissed.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Monday, Dec. 8, the LASD said, “When [Lomita Station Deputies] arrived [at the murder scene], they observed the victim in the driver’s seat of her vehicle suffering from multiple stab wounds. Paramedics responded and subsequently pronounced the victim deceased.”

“Investigative leads were followed, and the suspect, Cherie Townsend, was arrested for murder on May 17, 2018. On May 21, 2018, the case was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. At the time, the case was rejected pending further investigation,” the statement continued.

“In July of 2022, the case was reassigned to new investigators, and the evidence was re-evaluated. Several witnesses were re-interviewed, and new witnesses were interviewed.”

“On August 16, 2023, investigators presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for their consideration of filing charges. A warrant for murder 187(a) P.C. was issued for the arrest of Suspect Townsend,” the statement added, confirming that Townsend was located and arrested for murder on Aug. 18 of that year.

The LASD continued, “On November 12, 2025, the trial began at Torrance Superior Court, Department 8, under the Honorable Judge John J. Lonergan Jr.,” adding that Townsend’s sentencing has now been set for Jan. 23, 2026, after the guilty verdict was revealed last week.

Townsend’s public defender, Elizabeth Landgraf, had argued in court that there had been no direct evidence to link her client to the killing, such as fingerprints, DNA, witnesses or video footage, per the Los Angeles Times. 

Reports presented at the trial confirmed that the blood samples found in and around Leeds’ car didn’t match the suspect’s DNA. However, the cellphone found underneath the victim’s car did have traces of DNA that matched Townsend’s, the outlet stated.

Townsend had previously said she’d been shopping at the mall for her son’s prom, but could not explain why her cellphone was found where it was, according to KTLA.

A criminal complaint stated that Townsend had been looking for ways to come up with $2,000 to send her daughter and two of her friends to a cheerleading competition in Florida, the Los Angeles Times noted.

The victim’s stepson, Fred Leeds, told KTLA, “So many lives were impacted by this murder,” adding of his stepmother, “She lived a great life… a kind human being that would have done anything for anyone, and to be so brutally murdered, there’s just no explanation for it.”

“I want to first start out by thanking the police and sheriff’s department in the pursuit of this murder,” he added, according to the outlet. “She didn’t have to be murdered for her purse.”

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The victim’s husband of 25 years died in 2022 and never got to see the case brought to justice, KTLA stated.

“The last words from [my Dad] to me were, ‘My Susie didn’t deserve this'” Fred Leeds told the outlet.

The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office and the L.A. Courts didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.