Girlfriend of gunman who killed 6-year-old boy in road rage shooting on California freeway pleads guilty
A Costa Mesa woman whose boyfriend shot and killed 6-year-old Aiden Leos during a 2021 road rage confrontation on a busy Orange County freeway pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact,
A Costa Mesa woman whose boyfriend shot and killed 6-year-old Aiden Leos during a 2021 road rage confrontation on a busy Orange County freeway pleaded guilty Friday, April 26 to being an accessory after the fact, but due to credit for time already served will not spend any more time in custody.
Wynne Lee, 26, was sentenced to four years in prison moments after pleading guilty to the accessory count, a felony, as well as a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle. But she was given more than four years worth of credit for time served awaiting trial and for good behavior.
Lee has been out on bail under GPS monitoring since shortly after her arrest. Under state law, defendants on court-ordered home confinement accrue the same credit for time served and for good behavior as those who remain in local lockup pending trial.
It was not a plea deal negotiated with prosecutors, but a plea Lee made directly to the court. Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard M. King made clear that Lee, prior to making her plea, had been offered no promises about what her sentence would be. The four-year sentence the judge handed down was the maximum available by law.
Lee, speaking in a soft voice, confirmed to the judge that she understood what she was admitting and the rights she was giving up. She did not give a formal statement prior to her sentencing. Both Lee and her attorney declined to comment after the hearing.
With no further time in custody, in home confinement or on parole or probation, Lee’s electronic monitoring was formally ended by the judge at the close of Friday’s hearing.
As part of her plea, Lee admitted to helping Marcus Eriz, her live-in boyfriend, evade arrest despite knowing Eriz was responsible for the death of Aiden. She also acknowledged allowing a firearm — owned by Eriz — to be concealed in a vehicle she had control over.
Judge King noted that Aiden’s death was a crime of great violence, involving a victim who was particularly vulnerable and greatly impacting the boy’s mother. But, he also acknowledged that Lee had no past criminal record.
Aiden’s mother was not present for the plea or sentencing. No one spoke to the court on behalf of either Aiden or Lee.
Lee’s driving during a busy morning commute on the 55 Freeway set in motion the confrontation that resulted in Aiden’s violent death.
Lee and Eriz were in Lee’s Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen, on their way from their Costa Mesa apartment to the Highland auto-repair shop they worked at. Aiden’s mother, Joanna Cloonan, was taking her son from their Costa Mesa home to Calvary Chapel Pre-School in Yorba Linda.
Lee sped up behind Cloonan’s Chevrolet Sonic in the carpool lane, abruptly moved past Cloonan’s car and then jumped immediately back into the carpool lane, cutting Cloonan off and brake-checking her.
A “peace sign” Lee flashed at Cloonan did little to calm the mother’s anger, and as Cloonan began merging away from the Sportwagen in order to exit the freeway, Cloonan flashed her middle finger.
Cloonan later testified to seeing Eriz, who was sitting in the passenger seat beside Lee, smile. Moments later, the mother heard a loud noise and Aiden, who was sitting in a booster seat behind her, exclaimed “Ow!” Looking back, the mother saw Aiden’s head hanging down.
A single gunshot fired by Eriz had ripped through the trunk of Cloonan’s car, entered Aiden’s back, traveled through his liver and lung, pierced his heart and then exited his right abdomen. The mother screamed, “Aiden, Aiden, Aiden!” as he lay dying in her arms on the side of the freeway.
The massive manhunt to find Aiden’s killer, and the vehicle the fatal shot was fired from, stretched on for more than two weeks.
As daily commuters passed under banners draped under overpasses reading “Who shot Aiden?” California Highway Patrol investigators and other law enforcement officers fanned out door to door at businesses along the 55 Freeway, looking for footage from security cameras facing the roadway. Meanwhile, the reward for finding those responsible for Aiden’s death grew to $500,000.
Lee and Eriz continued their daily commute from Costa Mesa to Highland during the manhunt, though they later began using Eriz’s red pickup rather than the Sportwagen.
Looking at the trim and tires of a suspect vehicle caught in surveillance footage and comparing it to DMV records, investigators narrowed their search down to several dozen specific cars, including the one driven by Lee and owned by her parents. A tipster also reached out to authorities, telling them that Lee and Eriz had been driving in a vehicle matching the description.
The couple were arrested as they pulled into their Costa Mesa apartment complex. Minutes into his interview with police, Eriz admitted to shooting at Cloonan’s vehicle.
Eriz told police that he didn’t learn he was responsible for Aiden’s death until a week after the shooting, and said he decided not to turn himself in because he didn’t believe Lee had done anything wrong and didn’t want her to get in trouble.
Unlike Eriz’s police interview, which was played during his trial, the full details of Lee’s conversations with police were never outlined in open court. But an officer previously testified that Lee seemed to be in denial after the shooting, telling Eriz prior to his arrest that “you don’t know for a fact it was you.” The officer said that when Lee was asked why she didn’t come forward sooner, she responded that she “was afraid of incriminating herself … or she wasn’t sure it was them.”
There is no evidence that Eriz was aware the boy was in the car or that he intended to kill the mother.
During Eriz’s trial, the prosecution argued he felt disrespected by Cloonan and was waiting for a chance to use a weapon he had been carrying around for months “waiting for someone to get out of line.” The defense countered that Cloonan provoked Eriz, causing him to act rashly in the heat of passion.
A jury in January convicted Eriz of second-degree murder. He was sentenced earlier this month to 40 years to life in prison.
After Lee’s sentencing, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said that Lee getting credit for time served and good behavior “while sitting at home instead of doing time in a jail cell is disgraceful.”
“The day Aiden was laid to rest in his tiny casket, Wynne and Marcus were kayaking, enjoying a beautiful California summer day, knowing that Aiden would never get to play in the sunshine again,” Spitzer said in a statement. “A six-year-old little boy is dead and instead of coming forward while the rest of Southern California was desperately searching for his killer, she helped the murderer hide critical evidence and then continued to live her life like nothing ever happened…
“Her behavior is despicable and I, along with our entire Orange County community, am outraged that the state Legislature continues to water down our laws to give criminals charged with egregious crimes break after break,” the DA added.