[Rolling Hills Estates, CA] Cherie Townsend has been rearrested for the robbery and murder of Rancho Palos Verdes resident Susan Leeds. The LA County District Attorney’s Office filed charges on Aug. 16, 2023 against Cherie Townsend who is now being held on $2 million bail. Townsend had been arrested in 2018 in connection with the same murder, however, she was released after five days when the District Attorney’s Office decided not to bring charges.
Townsend is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 19. She is being charged with committing robbery and murder. She committed both acts with a knife.
This is all a result of the events that transpired on May 3, 2018, where Rancho Palos Verdes resident, Susan Leeds, was found stabbed to death in her car in the parking garage of the Promenade on the Peninsula Mall. Officials had said that Leeds was stabbed multiple times and that there were no witnesses at the time, but they believed robbery to be the motive behind the killing.
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Susan Leeds, 66, was a retired nurse from Rancho Palos Verdes who spent most of her career working at the Kaiser Medical Center as a nurse. She leaves behind a loving family and friends.