First of four suspects in Tushar Atre murder case finally goes to court

More than five years after the murder of tech and cannabis entrepreneur Tushar Atre in Pleasure Point, the trial for the first of four suspects, Stephen Lindsay, finally began on Wednesday afternoon in a Santa Cruz courtroom.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office investigators found the 50-year-old Atre fatally shot and stabbed in the Santa Cruz Mountains close to his cannabis farm on Soquel San Jose Road, near the summit, on Oct. 1, 2019. Atre was the chief executive of AtreNet, a Santa Cruz-based web design and marketing firm, and also ran Interstitial Systems, a cannabis business. 

The four suspects — Lindsay, Kurtis Charters, Kaleb Charters and Joshua Camps — were arrested in May 2020 and charged with murder, kidnapping and robbery. Investigators said Lindsay and Kaleb Charters were Atre’s former employees at the cannabis farm.

Assistant district attorney and prosecutor Michael McKinney walked the jury through the events that unfolded in the early morning hours of Oct. 1, 2019. The suspects came prepared with flex cuffs, zip ties and an assault rifle, he said. The men broke into Atre’s house, where he had several guests over. McKinney said one of them woke up and heard the men ordering Atre to the ground and demanding a code to his home safe. 

McKinney said Atre eventually fled and ran down the street, only to be tackled and stabbed by one of the suspects. He said the men forced him into his girlfriend’s white BMW and drove up Soquel San Jose Road toward his cannabis farm, where they walked him into the forest and fatally shot him. McKinney said the men stabbed Atre at least seven times and shot him four times — once in the shoulder, twice in the cheek and once in the back of the head.

McKinney said evidence will show that three of the suspects — Camps, Lindsay and Kurtis Charters — were the ones actually breaking into the home, assaulting and kidnapping Atre, while Kaleb Charters manned the vehicle. He added that the Charters brothers and Lindsay were very close, as Lindsay married their sister: “They became essentially brothers, with [Lindsay] as the leader.”

McKinney explained that Lindsay and Kaleb Charters worked for Atre and even met him at the same house they broke into. He argued that the men were mesmerized by his lifestyle. “That was when they got the first taste of his wealth and what his life was like,” he said. “They saw the gorgeous house and majestic views.”

Shortly after their hiring, McKinney said, the two lost a set of Atre’s car keys, which led him to cancel their paychecks. When they found the keys, Atre agreed to pay them, but only if they did 200 pushups and added he would subtract a few hundred dollars from the checks. The two quit and moved to Las Vegas. McKinney said on Sept. 26, 2019, just five days before the murder, Lindsay’s phone dropped off its network. However, he added that the jury will see data showing the Charters brothers’ and Camps’ phones traveling all the way to Santa Cruz in the early morning of Oct. 1, 2019.

Following the murder, McKinney said that a number of other incriminating events took place, including Lindsay’s failed attempts to link Atre’s bank account to new credit cards and to Lindsay’s own PayPal account. Investigators also found the same flex cuffs and ammunition from the crime scene in Camps’ and Kurtis Charters’ new apartment.

“At the end of this case, there will be no reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the robbery, kidnapping and murder of Tushar Atre,” said McKinney.

San Francisco-based Marsanne Weese, Lindsay’s attorney, said in her opening statement that jurors would be hearing a lot of evidence over the coming weeks, but said that the prosecution’s case is “based on assumptions, bias and association.”

Weese asserted that the men in neighborhood surveillance videos that captured Atre’s kidnapping do not contain identifying facial features or distinctive clothing. She said that multiple pieces of evidence that law enforcement collected — a sock from near Atre’s house, carpet inside his girlfriend’s car and ammunition casings near Atre’s body — all did have DNA on them, but none of it was Lindsay’s. She also questioned the tracking of the suspects’ cellphones.

“They looked to see whose cellphone was connecting in or around the locations, and you’ll see that it wasn’t Mr. Lindsay’s,” she said, adding that Lindsay’s phone was broken, a point McKinney disputed in his opening statement. “When you’re looking at these forensics, you’re going to see that law enforcement does not have sufficient forensics to show Mr. Lindsay was present on the early morning of Oct. 1.”

Weese advised the jury to be wary of witness testimony, as some people have biases and “a motive to lie.” She said, for example, Kelsey Charters, Lindsay’s now-ex-wife, will testify, but “just like every scorned ex-partner, Ms. Charters has a bias in this case.”

“After you hear all of the evidence, not just one day or one week, but all the evidence, I’m confident you will find Mr. Lindsay not guilty,” she said.

Christopher Hankes, an inspector with the district attorney’s office and former officer with the sheriff’s office who responded to the break-in at Atre’s house, began his testimony of the events he witnessed on that night before the courtroom adjourned for the day. He will continue his testimony on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.