Police Pursuing Leads in Teller’s Slaying

Investigators have narrowed their search for the suspects in last year’s execution-style slaying of a Thousand Oaks bank teller to a band of Los Angeles-based robbers.

After 11 months of investigation, FBI agents and Ventura County sheriff’s detectives said Friday that they are now focusing on the group--some of whom may have been involved in other bank robberies since the slaying of Monica Lynn Leech on April 28.

Leech, a 39-year-old mother of two young children, was shot in the back of the head during the takeover robbery almost a year ago.

“We’ve zeroed in on a group of robbers in the L.A. area,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Montijo. “But we don’t yet know the individuals responsible for her murder.”

Some members of the group are already in custody for other crimes including bank robbery, Montijo said. The investigation is still “very active,” he said. “It’s always been a priority case,” Montijo said.

Meanwhile, Leech’s family continues to hold out hope that the suspects will be brought to justice, said Alfred Cavaletto, Leech’s father.

“I think they are looking at some people but they don’t yet have enough to make an arrest,” Cavaletto said.

Leech was shot for no apparent reason during the robbery of Western Financial Bank in Thousand Oaks.

During the heist, two masked men stormed the bank and ordered the employees into a back room near the safe.

Leech and another employee had their hands cuffed behind them, and the employees were ordered to their knees. One of the robbers then killed Leech. The two robbers escaped in a white sport utility vehicle.

After Leech’s death, her two children were taken to live with their father, Jeff Mince, who was divorced from Leech.