A 19-year-old man pleaded not guilty to homicide charges Wednesday for the recent stabbing death of a woman outside Capitola Mall.
Tyler Leibelt was arrested July 20 and charged with murder and other enhancement allegations, including lying in wait, for the stabbing of 73-year-old Rachell Summers.
Police said he didn’t set out to kill a specific person, but was planning a violent crime, and that he called 911 to confess shortly after the attack.
Summers was a much-loved woman who managed Art of Santa Cruz gallery in Capitola Mall. Her only grandchild was nearing his first birthday when she was killed outside the mall on Clares Street.
A family friend attended court, saying he was only there to relay information to the family.
A handful of people attended to support Leibelt as well. Declining to give their names, three said Liebelt had repeatedly tried, unsuccessfully, to get the mental health assistance he knew he needed.
Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Gary Paden accepted Leibelt’s plea and then asked if he understood the “very serious felony charges” against him. He answered, “Yes, sir,” with a quick thumbs-up gesture.
Leibelt remains in County Jail, where he is being held without bail.
Summers’ daughter is hosting two memorials, per Facebook posts. A drop-in visitation is 1 to 5pm Friday at Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1050 Cayuga St., Santa Cruz. A memorial service is at 10:30am. Aug. 28 at St. Joseph’s Church, 435 Monterey Ave., Capitola.
As of Wednesday, a GoFundMe college fund appeal for Summers’ grandson had raised $14,712 toward the $16,000 goal.
“Her passing left a deep void in the lives of everyone who loved her, especially her grandson,” a statement on the site reads, adding that Summers dreamt of a bright future for her beloved grandson.
Leibelt lived earlier in the Zayante area of Felton. He was in a sober-living home in Santa Cruz when arrested, and has been in Juvenile Hall and at a county short-term psychiatric facility, court records state. Information in a firearms restraining order from November containing an alleged and later dismissed juvenile justice case was sealed Monday by Judge Paden.
Investigators say he had homicidal fantasies and had expressed desires to kill multiple people.
Supervising Assistant District Attorney Conor McCormick declined comment after Wednesday’s hearing, as did Lisa McCamey, felony supervisor at the county public defender’s office.
