A 47-year-old woman was convicted of murder Thursday, Dec. 4, in the stabbing death of a retired nurse inside the parking structure of a Rolling Hills Estates mall more than seven years ago.
After hours of deliberation, jurors found Cherie Lynnette Townsend guilty of first-degree murder in the May 3, 2018 slaying of 66-year-old Susan Leeds of Rancho Palos Verdes, who was stabbed 17 times and had her throat slashed. The killing was the first in the community in nearly a decade.
Prosecutors, showing Google searches, text messages and notes on Townsend’s phone, argued that Townsend killed because she was desperate for money she needed to send her and her daughter to Florida for her daughter’s cheer competition and argued that she searched and went to the mall looking for a vulnerable victim.
Townsend’s defense attorney countered that there was no direct evidence tying Townsend to the murder – no DNA, fingerprints, witnesses or video – and that detectives focused solely on her and didn’t explore other possible leads.
Leeds had gone to a workout class the morning of May 3, 2018, then went to the nearby Promenade on the Peninsula mall to shop at the Gap and order food from a Rubio’s restaurant, prosecutors said during opening statements.
That same morning, Townsend made Google searches for Promenade on the Peninsula and whether an Equinox gym was at the mall. In the days leading up to the murder, she had texted her son’s former football coach about getting a fake ID and had Google searched, among other things, whether Walmart would check ID if presented a credit card for a purchase.
She had also written in a note on her phone that “In this moment, I am completely broken” because her then-14-year-old daughter was set to “compete in the biggest event of her life” and Townsend was about “$2,000 short of traveling expenses,” according to evidence presented during trial.
She had also taken money from three friends after promising them that she would get their daughters plane tickets as a birthday gift for Townsend’s daughter, but never bought any tickets, prosecutors said.
On May 3, 2018, automated license plate reader cameras captured her car heading southbound on Crenshaw Boulevard toward the mall and cameras in the parking structure captured her gold Chevy Malibu entering shortly before 9:40 a.m.
Townsend remained in the parking structure and was there when Leeds returned to her white SUV around 12:12 p.m., prosecutors said. Moments after Leeds opened her driver’s door Townsend went around another car and attacked Leeds from behind.
Cameras then captured the Malibu hastily exiting the parking structure, cutting off another SUV and running a red light to turn onto Norris Center Drive, according to a witness.
The license plate reader cameras captured her car northbound on Hawthorne Boulevard, but then captured her going back toward the mall, then leaving north on Hawthorne again. Prosecutors said this was when Townsend realized she didn’t have her cellphone, but she told detectives she never went back into the parking structure because she heard sirens.
She then went to a Verizon store in Carson and had an employee attempt to close her account, prosecutors said.
Townsend’s phone was found underneath Leeds’ SUV. Meanwhile, Leeds’ phone pinged off cell towers going in the same general direction as Townsend’s route of travel after the murder. Investigators never found Leeds’ phone and the only thing missing from her SUV was a black bag that contained her blood sugar monitor. A friend testified that Leeds would also keep her cellphone in that bag.
Credit and debit cards in Leeds’ name, as well as a checkbook, were found in Leeds’ SUV.
Townsend was arrested on May 17, 2018 and told detectives during an interview that she went to the mall for her daughter, but never left the parking structure because of a problem with her transmission relay.
Prosecutors pointed out that her car appeared fine as she left the structure after the murder.
Townsend was released after prosecutors asked for more investigation, but was arrested again in August 2023 and told detectives she went to the mall for her son and walked into the mall area. However, investigators found no video that showed Townsend walking in the mall.
The murder weapon was never found and Townsend’s defense attorney said her DNA was not at the scene, nor was any blood evidence found on her or in her car after detectives took it as evidence.
Townsend, who faces a possible maximum sentence of 26 years to life, was tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23.