Tyler Leibelt remains jailed without bail as prosecutors pursue a murder case in the July killing of gallery manager Rachell Summers.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A 19-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing a 73-year-old art gallery manager outside Capitola Mall pleaded not guilty this month to murder and related allegations, moving a case police have described as a random attack toward a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 8.

Tyler Leibelt of Santa Cruz entered the plea Aug. 19 in Santa Cruz County Superior Court and also denied allegations tied to use of a deadly weapon and lying in wait. He remains in county jail without bail. The victim, Rachell Summers of Capitola, managed Art of Santa Cruz, a nonprofit gallery inside the mall. Police said Summers and Leibelt did not know each other before the July 20 attack. The plea is the latest formal step in a case that began as a sudden midday killing outside a busy shopping center and later expanded through court filings that described alleged planning before the attack.

Summers had gone to the mall to pick up a paycheck and was walking toward a nearby bank when she was attacked shortly before 1 p.m., according to reporting based on statements from a co-worker and police. Capitola officers were dispatched at about 12:47 p.m. to the area near the food court exit. They found Summers on Clares Street, across from a mall exit, suffering from multiple stab wounds. Officers and other first responders attempted lifesaving measures, but she died at the scene. Police later said the attack appeared to be random and that investigators had found no prior relationship between Summers and the person accused of killing her.

Prosecutors have alleged in court documents that the killing was not a sudden confrontation between strangers but the result of a plan to kill someone that day. According to those filings, Leibelt told investigators he began thinking about killing someone while at Cabrillo College, where he was a student. The documents allege that he turned off his phone, traveled toward the Capitola area and purchased two knives before reaching the mall. They further allege that he considered several possible targets but did not attack them before encountering Summers outside. Those claims are allegations in a pending criminal case, and Leibelt has pleaded not guilty.

The district attorney’s filings also describe what authorities say happened immediately after the attack. Investigators allege Leibelt ran back through the mall, discarded a knife and went to a nearby gas station. Police and court records cited by local news organizations say he later called 911, told authorities he had killed a woman and asked officers to come take him into custody. Capitola police said officers located him about half a mile from the scene, in the 1400 block of 41st Avenue, and arrested him shortly after the stabbing. The mall was locked down and evacuated during the initial response before later reopening.

The case has also drawn attention to records from before Summers’ death. A Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge issued an emergency gun violence restraining order in November 2025 after a request from sheriff’s deputies, according to court documents reported by several local outlets. Those records said Leibelt had expressed a desire to cause a mass-casualty event and had written about wanting to kill people. The order became part of the public discussion after the July homicide, but a judge in August granted a defense request to seal an earlier juvenile protective-order record. The related juvenile case had been dismissed earlier in 2026, and the reason for that dismissal has not been publicly established in the reporting reviewed.

The sealing decision is separate from the murder prosecution now pending in adult court. Defense attorneys argued that material in the earlier record could prejudice potential jurors, according to local reports on the Aug. 17 hearing. The judge agreed to seal the record, while the murder charge and associated allegations remain public. The distinction is important because the older record is not proof of the current charge, and the current case has not been adjudicated. At the Aug. 19 arraignment, Leibelt entered a not-guilty plea, requiring prosecutors to prove the case through the ordinary criminal process. A preliminary hearing is set to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to continue toward trial.

While the legal case advances, Summers’ family, friends and colleagues have focused on the life she led in Capitola’s arts community. She managed Art of Santa Cruz, a gallery that features work by local artists, and co-workers described her as someone who gave time and energy to both the store and the people whose work it displayed. She was also a writer and illustrator and had recently become a grandmother. Family members said her grandson was a major part of her life, and friends organized an education fund for him after her death. Tributes appeared around the mall in the days after the killing, while the gallery temporarily closed to mourn its manager.

Those remembrances have offered a different measure of the loss than the allegations in the criminal complaint. Summers was 73 but remained active in the gallery and the broader creative community. Published accounts about her described a longtime interest in writing, drawing and encouraging other artists. She had been working on an illustrated children’s book, and people who knew her recalled a generous, engaged presence rather than a public figure known mainly through the circumstances of her death. Her daughter told local media that Summers had been a longtime community member who supported local artists and was deeply attached to her young grandson.

The killing also disrupted an ordinary Monday at one of Santa Cruz County’s best-known shopping centers. Police said the stabbing occurred in a public area near the food court exit, prompting a lockdown, evacuation and a large law enforcement response. Investigators asked witnesses and anyone with photographs or video to come forward as they reconstructed what happened. The public setting was central to police describing the incident as random: detectives said they had found no evidence that Summers was selected because of a prior dispute, relationship or known contact with Leibelt. Prosecutors, however, have alleged that he had been considering violence before he saw her, a claim that will be tested in court.

The first reports after the attack focused on the emergency response and the search for a suspect. Within days, the case shifted toward court filings that described alleged statements made after the arrest, the purchase of knives and the consideration of other possible victims. By August, the focus had shifted again to pretrial procedure, including the dispute over the older juvenile record and Leibelt’s formal plea. That progression matters because some of the most disturbing details in public circulation come from prosecution filings rather than facts proved at trial. Leibelt’s not-guilty plea means those allegations remain contested unless established through evidence in court.

Leibelt remains in custody without bail. His next reported court date is Oct. 8 for a preliminary hearing in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, where prosecutors are expected to present evidence supporting the murder charge and related allegations. No trial date has been announced in the sources reviewed. Summers’ family and community, meanwhile, continue to mark her life through memorials and tributes as the criminal case proceeds.

Author note: Last updated Aug. 28, 2026.