TV Show Generates Tips in Bank Slaying

Television viewers across the nation got a glimpse this weekend of a gritty reenactment of a Thousand Oaks bank robbery in which a Camarillo woman was shot and killed.

The short segment that played on the Fox network’s “America’s Most Wanted” has refocused attention on the death of Monica Lynn Leech, generating more than 40 tips called into the show’s switchboard after it aired, said Capt. Mike Ball, a spokesman with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Detectives said they welcome the continued media attention surrounding the case and hope they get a lead that helps to solve it.

The CBS News magazine show “48 Hours” also plans to air a segment on the robbery, Ball said.

Leech, 39, was shot and killed on April 28 during a two-man robbery at the Western Financial Savings bank in Thousand Oaks, investigators said.

The thieves, who made off with about $9,000, were last seen driving north on the Moorpark Freeway in a white Ford Explorer or Chevrolet Blazer. Witnesses said the license plate began with “3TRB4.”

Along with the media attention, investigators said they have been helped by a $161,000 reward fund posted by the Western League of Savings Institutions, the city of Thousand Oaks and Ventura County Crime Stoppers.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at 654-2311.