Sheriff’s detectives Friday questioned a man they described as a “possible person of interest” in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 66-year-old woman in a parking structure inside a shopping mall in Rolling Hills Estates.
The attack took place shortly after 12:20 p.m. Thursday at the Promenade shopping mall in the 500 block of Deep Valley Drive, said Deputy Dangelo Robinson of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
The woman now identified by authorities and media reports as Susan Leeds of Rancho Palos Verdes was found inside her SUV parked inside the Promenade’s parking garage with several stab wounds to the chest. It’s unknown if the woman was a victim of a robbery, according to the sheriff’s department.
Leeds was pronounced dead at the scene and there was no other immediate information, Robinson said.
Following the crime, the sheriff’s department released a photo of a man they described as a person of interest who was being sought for questioning. The picture showed a man wearing a red baseball cap and black jacket, with a cup of coffee. The photo was taken from security video at the mall. The man could be a suspect or a witness and sheriff’s officials asked the man to come forward so they can talk to him.
About 8 a.m. Friday, the sheriff’s department reported that authorities had detained a man who “may possibly be the person of interest” being sought. The man was detained near the 1600 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Harbor City.
The killing was the first homicide on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in nine years, the Daily Breeze reported. Rolling Hills Estates Mayor Britt Huff told the newspaper the stabbing was “unbelievable.”
Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau detectives asked anyone with any information regarding the death to call them at (323) 890-5500.