‘Unprovoked’ killing of bank teller in 1997 robbery leads to arrest, California cops say

Monica Leech, a 39-year-old mother of two, had been working at a California bank for only a few weeks when two men robbed it in 1997, according to reports.

Handcuffed and on her knees in the Thousand Oaks bank’s vault with three other employees, Leech died when one of the men shot her point-blank in the back of the head, SF Gate reported.

“It was absolutely unprovoked,” Ventura County chief deputy Bob Brooks said at the time, according to the news outlet.

Now new evidence in the 26-year-old cold case has led to an arrest, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said in a March 14 news release.

Kevin Ray James, 55, of San Bernardino faces charges including murder, deputies said. Investigators arrested him March 9 after reopening the case in 2021.

The original investigation zeroed in on James as a suspect in the April 28, 1997, robbery of Western Financial Bank but lacked enough evidence to arrest him, the sheriff’s office said.

New evidence, including DNA evidence, led to his arrest, investigators said.

Investigators ask that anyone with information call 805-383-8704 or email coldcase@ventura.org.

Thousand Oaks is a city of 125,000 people about 40 miles west of Los Angeles.

This story was originally published March 16, 2023 at 11:57 AM with the headline "‘Unprovoked’ killing of bank teller in 1997 robbery leads to arrest, California cops say."