Costa Mesa Woman Pleads Guilty to Being an Accessory after the Fact in Murder of 6-Year-Old Aiden Leos in 55 Freeway Shooting
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A 26-year-old Costa Mesa woman pleaded guilty today to being an accessory after the fact in the murder of 6-year-old Aiden Leos who was shot to death in his car seat while on his way to kindergarten in the backseat of his mother’s car in May 2021.
Wynne Lee, 26, of Costa Mesa, pleaded guilty to one felony count of accessory after the fact and one misdemeanor count of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. She was sentenced to the maximum sentence of three years for the felony plus one year for the misdemeanor.
AB 109 amended state law to allow defendants on court-ordered home confinement to accrue actual and good behavior credits while awaiting trial. Because Lee has been on court-ordered home confinement and GPS monitoring since June 21, 2021, her sentence resulted in credit time served.
Lee’s former live-in boyfriend, Marcus Eriz, 27, was sentenced earlier this month to 40 years to life in state prison for murdering 6-year-old Aiden Leos when he shot and killed the little boy from the passenger seat of Lee’s Volkswagen Sportswagen.
A jury convicted Eriz in January of one felony count of second-degree murder, one felony count of shooting into an occupied vehicle, and two felony enhancements of the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury and death.
“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,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “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 fact that someone charged with being an accessory after the fact to a murder of a child is earning not only actual credits, but also good time credits while sitting at home instead of doing their time in a jail cell is disgraceful.”
Just after 8 a.m. on May 21, 2021, Aiden was on his way to kindergarten at Calvary Chapel in Yorba Linda in the back seat of his mother’s car. Aiden’s mother was driving northbound on the 55 Freeway near Chapman Avenue in Orange when she flipped off the driver of a Volkswagen Sportswagen after the driver cut her off.
After driving away, she said she heard a large noise and heard her son say, “ow,” before pulling over on the side of the freeway and getting Aiden out of his car seat and calling 911. Eriz, who was in the rear seat of the Volkswagen, had loaded a handgun, opened a window and shot at the mother’s vehicle, piercing it and striking Aiden.
Aiden later died at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) in Orange.
After Aiden was murdered, the California Highway Patrol launched an intense manhunt for the shooter that spanned Southern California, including issuing a public plea for tips about the whereabouts of the suspects’ vehicle.
Eriz and Lee were arrested by CHP officers on June 6, 2021.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.
