Quick Take:
The arraignment for Tyler Leibelt, the 19-year-old accused of stabbing and murdering Rachell Summers, 73, of Capitola, was delayed again on Wednesday. He is due back in court August 19.
The arraignment for the 19-year-old man accused of murdering a 73-year-old Capitola woman was delayed again to mid-August.
Tyler Leibelt of Santa Cruz is due back in court on August 19. His attorney, public defender Lisa McCamey, declined to comment Wednesday morning on the reasons for the delay.
Leibelt was arrested last Monday after he allegedly stabbed and killed Rachell Summers of Capitola outside the mall in what investigators believe to be a random act of violence. Summers was the manager of the Art of Santa Cruz gallery located in the mall.
Leibelt is charged with first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon, with an enhancement for lying in wait, in other words, hiding and waiting for a person with the intent to kill or inflict serious bodily harm to them.
Documents filed in Santa Cruz Superior Court last week laid out the alleged sequence of events. Leibelt said that he had the desire to kill someone and had considered killing multiple other people, as well as robbing the Macy’s store, before eventually stabbing Summers. He eventually called 911 to confess and say that he wanted police to come so that he could turn himself in. After Leibelt was arrested, he had told staff that he still had homicidal thoughts, according to the court filing.
Court documents also showed that the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office requested a gun violence restraining order in November 2025, when Leibelt was 18, citing that he had “expressed a desire to cause a mass casualty event.” He had also allegedly written a goodbye letter in which he said he had a desire to kill as many people as possible.
