Information Sought In Rolling Hills Estates Stabbing Death

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, CA – Sheriff's investigators turned to the public for information Thursday that could lead to the person that murdered a 66-year-old woman in a fatal stabbing last week in parking structure at a shopping mall in Rolling Hills Estates.

The attack took place shortly after 12:20 p.m. May 3 at the Promenade on the Peninsula in the 500 block of Deep Valley Drive.

Susan Leeds of Rancho Palos Verdes was found inside her SUV parked inside the Promenade's parking garage with her throat cut and several stab wounds to the chest. A man detained a day after Leeds was killed was initially called a person of interest in the case, but although he was arrested for an unrelated offense, he has been ruled out as a suspect in the killing.

"Based on surveillance video and current known evidence, the male is no longer being considered a person of interest, unless additional information or evidence comes to light," according to a sheriff's department statement.

Investigators released a surveillance image of Leeds that was captured prior to her being attacked and they are hoping to generate clues from potential witnesses who may have seen her on the day she was killed.
Leeds was white, about 5-foot-2 and 140 pounds, and was wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt, black workout-type pants and pink shoes with white soles.

Anyone who saw her, other people or anything suspicious or out of the ordinary in the parking structure between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on the day of the killing was urged to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890- 5500. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers by calling (800) 222-TIPS or at http://lacrimestoppers.org.

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this post; Image via Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department