Overview
- After less than a day of deliberations, a Torrance Superior Court jury found Townsend guilty of first-degree murder for the May 3, 2018 killing of retired nurse Susan Leeds.
- The jury also found true an allegation that Townsend personally used a knife in the attack, which left Leeds with 17 stab wounds and a slashed throat inside her SUV.
- Evidence presented included Townsend’s phone discovered under the victim’s vehicle, automated license-plate images showing her car entering and leaving the garage, and cell-tower data tracking Leeds’ missing phone along Townsend’s route.
- Prosecutors argued Townsend was financially desperate to fund her daughter’s cheer trip, citing searches about fake IDs and credit card use plus messages and notes, while the defense stressed the absence of DNA, blood, the murder weapon, or identifiable video and pointed to untested male DNA samples.
- Townsend faces up to 26 years to life, with sentencing set for January 23, 2026.