A California woman who was accused of murdering a retired nurse so she could rob her and fund her daughter's cheerleading trip was found guilty.

Cherie Townsend, 47, was convicted of murder by a jury on Thursday, seven years after she was arrested, released, and rearrested in connection with the 2018 murder of 66-year-old Susan Leeds , a retired nurse. According to courtroom coverage by the local news outlet Daily Breeze, prosecutors argued that Townsend was seeking illegal ways to raise cash so she could send her teenage daughter on a cheerleading trip.

On May 3, 2018, Townsend went to the Promenade on the Peninsula mall in Rolling Hills Estates, California, the same day Leeds was found stabbed to death in her Mercedes-Benz SUV.

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