(L.A.) Susan Leeds, 66, Died in a Vehicle

Case Number: 2018-03444

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 66-year-old Caucasian female that occurred in a vehicle.

The coroner’s office identified the woman as Susan Leeds of Rancho Palos Verdes.

Manner of Death: Homicide

Cause of Death: Stab Wounds of the Neck, Chest, and Abdomen

RIP SUSAN LEEDS (May 22, 1951 – May 3, 2018)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Thursday at 12:36 p.m.

The decedent was a retired nurse who was attacked during a robbery attempt in a Rolling Hills Estates mall parking lot. She was found in her Mercedes-Benz SUV with 17 stab wounds and her throat slashed.

A woman named Cherie Lynnette Townsend was convicted in 2025 of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors argued that Townsend was desperate for money to pay for her daughter’s cheerleading competition in Florida and went to the mall looking for a vulnerable victim to rob.

Townsend was initially arrested weeks after the murder in 2018, but released five days later due to insufficient evidence, after which she sued LA County for false imprisonment and civil rights violations.

She was re-arrested in August 2023 when new evidence allowed prosecutors to file murder and second-degree robbery charges.

During the recent trial, prosecutors used circumstantial evidence, including a blurry surveillance video of the attack and Townsend’s cellphone found under Leeds’ vehicle, to secure the conviction.

Jurors found her guilty on Thursday, December 4, 2025, after several hours of deliberation, bringing a conclusion to the seven-year case.