$160,000 Reward Offered in Slaying of Bank Teller

THOUSAND OAKS — Stepping up the manhunt for the killers of a 39-year-old bank teller, officials on Wednesday announced a reward topping $160,000 for information leading to the arrest of two men who have been on the run since the brutal shooting three days ago.

Officials expressed hope that the reward money, drawn mostly from two dozen banks across California, along with a toll-free hotline would break open a homicide case that has puzzled investigators.

“We have come up with a joint effort that will be used to apprehend and convict the criminals responsible for this heinous crime,” said Donald H. Kasle, president of Western Financial Bank, in whose Thousand Oaks branch Monday’s fatal shooting occurred. “We will close ranks to make it loud and clear that we will not tolerate this type of tragedy.”

Family and friends of the slain teller, Monica Lynne Leech of Camarillo, said they hope the reward money would lead to swift capture of the men who killed the mother of two, a career bank teller who began working at Western Financial only two months ago.

“I’m sure it can help,” said her husband, Floyd Leech. “I don’t know how investigations work, but it’s gotta help. But I think it’s going to take more than reward money to find these people. . . . Obviously, these are not good people who did this.”

Authorities said they continue to be frustrated by varying witness descriptions of the two suspects, believed to be a white man and a black man, both in their 20s and about 6 feet tall. They were last seen in a sport utility vehicle heading north on the Moorpark Freeway after Leech was handcuffed and shot in the head during a takeover robbery at Western Financial’s branch on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

Larry Dick, a Ventura-based FBI investigator assigned to the case, said authorities have received more than 100 calls, including some from the Los Angeles area and others from local residents who are sure they saw the two men driving through town before the 1O:20 a.m. slaying.

Authorities also are trying to determine if there is a link between Leech’s killing and a March 29 robbery at a Bank of America branch in the Northern California community of Danville, in which two men of similar descriptions fled after a bank employee was shot in the arm.