Rachell Summers’ work with local artists remains central to community tributes as the 19-year-old defendant awaits an October hearing.
CAPITOLA, Calif. — Rachell Summers was known around Capitola Mall as the manager of a gallery devoted to local artists, a writer and illustrator, and a new grandmother. Since her July killing outside the mall, those parts of her life have remained at the center of memorials even as a murder case against a 19-year-old defendant moves forward.
Summers, 73, managed Art of Santa Cruz, a nonprofit gallery inside the shopping center. Co-workers and family members described her as deeply invested in the people whose art appeared in the store and in the grandson she had recently welcomed. Friends later organized a fund intended to support the child’s future education. The gallery closed for several days after her death, and an informal memorial grew outside the mall. Those tributes emerged alongside a criminal investigation that police called a random act of violence and that prosecutors now say involved planning before Summers was selected.
On July 20, Summers returned to the mall to collect a paycheck and then left on foot toward a nearby bank, according to a co-worker quoted by local news outlets. Around 12:47 p.m., Capitola police received reports of a stabbing near the food court exit. Officers found her injured on Clares Street across from a mall exit and began lifesaving efforts until firefighters and paramedics took over. Summers died at the scene. Police later said there was no indication she and the accused attacker, Tyler Leibelt of Santa Cruz, knew one another before that afternoon.
The ordinary purpose of Summers’ trip became one of the details that resonated most strongly with people who knew her. She had not gone to the mall for a late-night event or a confrontation, but to pick up money she had earned at the gallery and walk to a bank in daylight. Her death abruptly shifted attention from the artists and community activity associated with the shop to a major homicide investigation. The mall was locked down and evacuated during the emergency response. Police searched the surrounding area and soon located Leibelt about half a mile from the scene on 41st Avenue.
Prosecutors say the encounter with Summers came at the end of a broader sequence of alleged decisions by Leibelt earlier that day. Court filings described by KSBW, the San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets say he told investigators he had a desire to kill someone while at Cabrillo College. The documents allege that he turned off his phone, traveled toward Capitola, bought two knives and considered attacking other people before seeing Summers outside the mall. Authorities allege that he then ran toward her from behind and stabbed her repeatedly. The exact allegations remain subject to litigation, and Leibelt has pleaded not guilty.
After the stabbing, investigators allege Leibelt moved back through the mall, discarded a knife and went to a gas station nearby. Court filings say he later called 911, admitted responsibility and asked for police to come get him. Officers arrested him shortly afterward. In the first days of the case, police emphasized that the attack appeared isolated and that investigators had found no connection between the two people. Prosecutors later added a lying-in-wait allegation and a deadly-weapon allegation to the murder case, reflecting their position that the killing involved advance intent rather than a spontaneous dispute.
The homicide investigation also brought renewed scrutiny to an emergency gun violence restraining order issued in November 2025. Sheriff’s deputies had sought the order after reporting statements by Leibelt about mass violence, according to court records later described by local media. A related juvenile matter was dismissed earlier this year, with the reason for the dismissal not publicly clear in the sources reviewed. In August, defense attorneys asked a judge to seal an earlier juvenile protective-order record, arguing that the material could unfairly influence potential jurors in the murder case. The judge granted the request.
That earlier record has become a separate legal issue from the evidence prosecutors must present about Summers’ death. Public discussion of prior threats or contacts with authorities can create an impression that a current charge has already been proved, but the criminal case still has to move through court. On Aug. 19, Leibelt appeared in Santa Cruz County Superior Court and entered a not-guilty plea to murder. He also denied the associated allegations, according to local court coverage. He remains jailed without bail, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 8.
For Summers’ family and colleagues, the court dates represent only one part of the aftermath. Published accounts described her as a longtime creative person who wrote, illustrated and supported other artists. She had participated in online writing communities and was working on an illustrated children’s book. Her role at Art of Santa Cruz placed her in daily contact with local makers and customers, and co-workers recalled that she continued giving substantial time to the organization at 73. The nonprofit’s temporary closure after the killing reflected both the practical disruption of the investigation and the personal loss felt by people who worked beside her.
Her recent transition into grandmotherhood also shaped many of the tributes. Family and friends said she had hopes for her grandson’s education and future, leading supporters to create a college fund in his name. That effort turned a private family goal into one of the ways the community chose to remember her. It also pushed back against the way homicide coverage can reduce a victim to age, location and cause of death. In the weeks after the killing, local reports continued to describe Summers first as a mother, grandmother, artist and manager whose relationships extended well beyond the mall where she died.
Capitola police have continued to frame the July 20 killing as an attack without a known prior relationship between victim and suspect. That conclusion is narrower than the prosecution’s broader allegations about motive and planning: police say the two were strangers, while prosecutors say Leibelt had already been thinking about killing someone before he encountered Summers. Both points can be true as allegations at the same time, but neither establishes criminal guilt on its own. The evidence supporting the charge will be examined in court, beginning with the preliminary hearing if the current schedule holds.
The timing of the memorial period has kept Summers’ name before the community even as the court process slows into the longer rhythm of pretrial litigation. A public memorial service was scheduled for Aug. 28 in Capitola after an earlier visitation, according to local reporting. That sequence — immediate tributes at the mall, support for her grandson and a later formal service — shows how the community response has continued independently of court deadlines. The next major legal date is still weeks away, leaving family and colleagues to grieve while prosecutors and defense attorneys prepare for the preliminary hearing.
As of Aug. 28, Leibelt remains in Santa Cruz County Jail without bail after pleading not guilty. His next reported hearing is Oct. 8. Summers’ death continues to be marked through memorials, the gallery community and efforts benefiting her grandson, keeping attention on the life interrupted by the attack while the legal system determines what can be proved about the person accused of causing it.
Author note: Last updated Aug. 28, 2026.