Mom of 2 Found Guilty of ‘Brutally’ Killing Retired Nurse to Get Money for Daughter’s Cheerleading Competition

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

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

Leeds, 66, was fatally stabbed 17 times in the mall’s parking lot shortly after noon that day, the Los Angeles Times reported. Prosecutors said the attack happened during an attempted robbery, alleging that Townsend was searching for money to pay for her daughter to attend a cheerleading competition, according to the outlet.

Over the seven years since Leeds’ death, the case has taken several twists. Townsend, 47 — who has consistently maintained her innocence — sued Los Angeles County after she was first arrested, later released, and then rearrested more than five years later, NBC4 Los Angeles reported. She previously told the station in August 2023 that she believed she was only linked to the crime because she accidentally dropped and left her phone in the parking lot near the murder scene.

The cellphone, eventually found underneath Leeds’ white Mercedes SUV, led investigators to Townsend and prompted her arrest, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Townsend later accused the LASD of targeting her, alleging false imprisonment, defamation, racial discrimination and intentional infliction of emotional distress in an October 2018 federal lawsuit. That suit has since been dismissed, the outlet reported.

In a statement released on Monday, Dec. 8, the LASD said that when deputies from the Lomita Station arrived at the 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, noting that Townsend was located and arrested for murder on Aug. 18 of that year.

The LASD further stated that the trial began on Nov. 12, 2025, at Torrance Superior Court, Department 8, before Judge John J. Lonergan Jr., and that Townsend’s sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 23, 2026, following last week’s guilty verdict.

During the trial, Townsend’s public defender, Elizabeth Landgraf, argued that there was no direct evidence tying her client to the killing — no fingerprints, DNA, eyewitnesses or video footage, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Evidence presented in court showed that blood samples in and around Leeds’ vehicle did not match Townsend’s DNA. However, DNA consistent with Townsend was found on the cellphone recovered from beneath the victim’s car, the outlet reported.

Townsend had previously said she was at the mall shopping for her son’s prom, but she was unable to explain why her cellphone ended up under Leeds’ vehicle, according to KTLA.

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

The victim’s stepson, Fred Leeds, told KTLA, “So many lives were impacted by this murder,” and described his stepmother as “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. “She didn’t have to be murdered for her purse.”

Leeds’ husband of 25 years died in 2022 and did not live to see the case resolved in court, KTLA reported.

“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 did not immediately respond to requests for additional information.