Santa Cruz County Officials Refuse to Release $10K Impounded from Girlfriend During Investigation of Boyfriend's Suicide

By Monica Alonzo Tue., Jul. 10 2012 at 4:25 PM

Photo Credit: Leslie Lysy

Fred Carter and Leslie Lysy

Leslie Lysy tells New Times that the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office is refusing to return about $10,000 it impounded along with the Yukon she and her boyfriend were traveling in when he shot himself in the head with a 9-millimeter Glock.

That was on April 10, 2011 -- a traumatic incident made worse with how cops have handled it, Lysy and her attorney say.

It's been one year and three months, and Lysy (pronounced lee-see) is still waiting for Santa Cruz County officials to give her back her money.

And, she says, county officials are responsible for ruining her vehicle because they kept it in an impound lot for five months, with the windows rolled up in the scorching heat, allowing her boyfriend's bodily fluids and bits of flesh to bake into the vehicle.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office tells New Times that it isn't up to it to decide when, and if, property is released. It just follows orders from the Santa Cruz County Attorney's Office.

Santa Cruz County Attorney George Silva hasn't responded to our repeated phone calls.

On September 28, 2011, five months after Fred Carter shot himself in the head, Silva authorized release of nearly all of Lysy's property: the 2007 GMC Yukon, a trailer, a laptop, Lysy's purse -- even the gun her boyfriend used to commit suicide.

But, inexplicably, authorities kept about $10K in cash that was in her vehicle.

It's unclear why Santa Cruz County officials took so long to return the vehicle and other belongings to Lysy, who lives in Utah and was just passing through Santa Cruz County with her boyfriend on their way to Mexico. Lysy never was a suspect, and medical examiners almost immediately confirmed the gunshot was self-inflicted.

Lysy, 35, says the Sheriff's Office handed over her boyfriend's laptop and his other belongings to his family, and as far as she knows, his relatives aren't trying to lay claim to the cash in the car.

Why would they? It's her money, she says.

Lysy says county officials wanted an affidavit itemizing her belongings, and she provided them that statement on August 1, 2011. Then, she says, they wanted a "paper trail" to prove the money was hers. She provided them a statement from the bank on August 12, 2011 showing that she cashed several checks and made two different withdrawals from the bank, showing that she had at least the $9,900 in cash during the time of the Mexico trip.

Still, 15 months and the threat of a lawsuit later, Santa Cruz County officials aren't letting go of the money.

Lysy was questioned twice, but police detail in their report that Lysy was not near the vehicle, but instead had run away from it and was flagging down help when they suspect that Carter took his own life. When police arrived on the scene, they found the gun in Carter's hand, his body slumped over, and his finger still on the trigger. And the medical examiner ruled the manner of death a suicide.

A sheriff's detective wrote in his report that on April 12, 2011, two days after Carter's death, he attended the autopsy.

"Dr. [David] Winston proceeded with the process and at the end advised us he did not find anything out of the ordinary or which would make him believe this was more than just a suicide," the detective wrote.

He also noted that he did not "get the impression or suspicion of any foul play which would implicate Leslie."

Lysy met Carter on an online dating site several months before. Carter was living in San Carlos, Mexico, where he worked as a property manager and also fixed up condos and flipped them for a profit. The two were traveling to his home in Mexico to pick up some of his belongings, and Carter was planning to move closer to Lysy's home in Utah.

Along the way, they were arguing over Carter's sending text messages to other women. She says she told him she couldn't marry someone she didn't trust. At the time, she has said, she was lying down in the rear of the vehicle as Carter drove.

Shortly after, Lysy told Carter it was over. He pulled off Interstate 19 and stopped near County Line Road in Amado, a small town in Santa Cruz County.

Tags:

county attorney, dustin jones, fred l. carter, george silva, leslie lysy, ricardo ugarte, santa cruz county sheriff's office

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concernedazcitizen

The Phoenix New Times obviously didn't do their homework when researching Leslie Lysy's credibility. It doesn't take much to find out Leslie Lysy has been charged with 3 Felonies in Utah: Theft, Forgery, and Obstruction of Justice. Here is an excerpt from the court filing in Utah:

"On or about 4/22/2011 in Cedar Hills, Leslie Lysy received title to her deceased boy friend Fred's jeep in mail addressed to him; Fred died on about 4/11/2011; Leslie Lysy forged Fred's signature on the title and, knowing Fred's family claimed the Jeep, registered the Jeep, with defendant Barron's consent, in her name with the intention of depriving Fred's family of the Jeep (Barron is Leslie Lysy's mother); Police investigating title to the Jeep, after it was reported missing in August 2011 by Fred's mother, discovered it had been recently registered in Barron's name; without knowing Barron's connection to Leslie Lysy, police contacted Barron and asked where she got the Jeep; Barron lied to Police reporting she purchased the Jeep from Carters Auto Repair as abandoned and that she did not know how they had titled it in her name; police questioned Leslie Lysy about the Jeep and she initially lied about it but then admitted she took the Jeep to Carters Auto Repair in early April and collected it, having paid the repair costs, on April 22, 2011, after Fred's death; on 3/13/12 the Jeep was found in Leslie Lysy's drive way by police. The Jeep was never sold as abandoned by Carters Auto Repair."

Interestingly enough Leslie's mother Barron has also been charged with a felony as well for being her accomplice. See this Utah County Daily Herald online article - http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/girlfriend-s-mother-arrested-in-theft-of-dead-boyfriend-s/article_3eef67ac-73a8-11e1-a0c6-001871e3ce6c.html

Whether she is convicted or not doesn't change the fact that she did indeed keep her deceased boyfriend's (Freddie Carter) vehicle and belongings when they didn't rightfully belong to her. They belonged to her boyfriend's family.

I question why the Phoenix New Times didn't divulge or research this information to present a more unbiased less liberal view of Leslie Lysy's situation, instead of trying to make the Santa Cruz County Attorney's office and County Sheriff's out to be incompetent, which clearly is not the case as Leslie Lysy faces 3 Felony charges in the state of Utah related to her boyfriend's death. So, not only did Leslie Lysy try to keep her dead boyfriend's Jeep and belongings, which didn't rightfully belong to her, she is now manipulating the facts to the media in an effort to depict her cause as a just one in order to extort $65,000 in a "law suit" over $10,000 that Freddie's family claims isn't even Leslie's to begin with. Come on Phoenix News Times - don't be so sloppy in your reporting the facts. I would love to know why you didn't research public court records in Utah and why you didn't reach out to Freddie Carter's family for comment?

catcher

Did you know that Leslie Lysy and her mother were charged in Utah County for attempting to fraudulently acquire title to the dead boyfriend's Jeep and for lying to a police officer about this after Leslie refused to release Fred Carter's Jeep to his relatives? Where's the conscience and credibility? Leslie damaged the jeep driving it after Fred died.

Doesn't it make sense if you had $10,000.00 in $100.00 bills that you'd immediately know the approximate total, or at least the uniform denomination of the bills?

Is it more likely that the money belonged to Fred Carter since he was the one that was moving from Mexico, the money was in his computer case, not Leslie's purse, and Leslie was just along for the vacation with Fred?

Why did Leslie, if for any rational reason, need to bring $10,000.00 cash in $100 bills with her on a one week vacation with her boyfriend? Why not safe credit cards that work in Mexico?

Did you know that Leslie recently drove the Tahoe on an extended vacation with the four Lysy children? Could it not be as bad as she's trying to make it out to be? Why make it seem worse?

Did you know that Leslie admitted under oath in her divorce related case that she combined with her mother to burglarize her ex-husband’s residence.

Did you know that Leslie testified in the Utah County court that she withheld $34,000.00 from family money and while she was negotiating the Decree of divorce she did not disclose this?

Did you know that during divorce related proceedings it appears that Leslie attempted to prove that her ex-husband bought the handgun in Washington, when apparently the handgun used to kill Fred Carter was Leslie’s?

Why did Leslie bring a handgun along? Was it permitted? How did Fred know where to get it if Leslie was in the back seat? Why was Leslie apparently attempting to bring a handgun across the border into Mexico?

Who is the more credible, the police doing their job or Leslie doing her best for Leslie. After all, she almost got away with the dead man’s Jeep for her efforts, why not his cash?

kgambill2002

This guy is my older brother and there is a reason they have not given her the money. I wasn't hers. It belonged to property owners in Mexico that my brother was managing there properties. My mother and myself have worked hard to pay these people back the money that was owed to them due to it being held by the police. There is a reason she did not know how much money was in my brother's computer case, it was not hers. It was in his belongings, not hers. My mother provided documentation showing where the money came from. This black widow has refused to give any of my brothers belongings back to his family including his Jeep that she transferred the title to her mother's name after my brother's death. Her and her mother have been charged with multiple felonies for the theft of my bothers Jeep.She lied to the police stating everything in the car was hers even after my mother provided receipts for the computer and a digital camera this woman was trying to say were hers. She has lied to the police in Utah about mu brothers Jeep and was caught only after she totaled it. They only dated for 5 months and it was her gun he was shot with. No one from my family had been contacted for this article and I live in Arizona. This story is one sided and very false in nature. After speaking to this woman's exhusband it has been made clear to me that she is not someone I would wish on my worst enemy. You may think she is cute but wait until she takes you for everything you have; maybe you can come out with your life but maybe not.