Two Suspects Worked For Atre For Less Than Two Weeks
By Jondi Gumz
Tushar Atre
An investigation into the Oct. 1 murder of Tushar Atre, founder of AtreNet, a website design company, and Interstitial Systems, a cannabis manufacturing business, led to the arrest of four young men, two who worked for Atre, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Lt. Brian Cleveland said at a Thursday press conference that followed social distance guidelines to avoid spreading COVID-19.
“We believe it was a robbery,” Cleveland said, adding that they were armed with a rifle. “They were after monetary gain.”
The suspects are:
- Joshua Camps, 23, of Lancaster
- Kurtis Charters, 22, of Lancaster
- Stephen Lindsay, 22, of Burbank
- Kaleb Charters, 19, of St. Clair Shores, Michigan
Stephen Lindsay
Joshua Camps
Kurtis and Kaleb Charters are brothers, Cleveland said, and Camps is “an associate” of Kurtis.
None of the four has a criminal history, “except for very minor things,” Cleveland added.
The time Lindsay and Kaleb Charters worked for Atre was brief, less than two weeks, according to Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn.
Kurtis Charters
Kaleb Charters
Atre, 50, an inventor, surfer, mountain biker and guitairist, founded a company that worked with dozens of Silicon Valley clients, among them Hewlett Packard, Symantec, and Juniper Networks, and locally Seagate, Polycom and Cruzio. He was kidnapped from his oceanfront home in Pleasure Point, and his body found hours later in a BMW on a property he owned on Soquel-San Jose Road.
“We interviewed dozens of people who worked for Tushar,” Cleveland said, noting a $200,000 reward offered in January did not lead to the arrests.
3,000 hours
“We spent 3,000 person hours on this case,” said Sheriff Jim Hart, noting that officers “worked tirelessly,” in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, prepared 60 search warrants and accumulated “compelling evidence.”
“This is an active investigation,” he said, explaining why some questions would not be answered. “We haven’t wrapped up our case.”
He said the case would be presented to the District Attorney Thursday afternoon.
Hart thanked the Los Angeles County sheriff and police in Burbank, North Las Vegas and St. Clair Shores for their assistance.
Hart said he moved up the date of the press conference, originally planned for May 22, after “the media showed up” in Michigan. The presence of sheriffs, armed and in uniform, at a modest one-story brick home on a quiet street in St. Clair Shores attracted attention from the local television station.
Lindsay, Camps, and Kurtis Charters were arrested near their homes May 19 and are being held without bail in Santa Cruz County jail on charges of murder, robbery and kidnapping.
Kaleb Charters is to be booked on the same charges once he is extradited from Michigan.
Keehn read an emotional statement from the Atre family offering their “deepest heartfelt gratitude” to Cleveland and the investigative team at the Sheriff’s Office, saying their “tireless commitment to protecting our community and achieving justice for Tushar is truly inspiring.”
The statement described him as “a loving son, brother, uncle and friend to so many. He moved to Santa Cruz from the East Coast in 1996 and loved this community for 23 years. He was an entrepreneur who gave so many people their first jobs and created opportunity for so many others…We miss him every day. We believe Tushar’s spirit lives on in us and countless others.”
Sheriff Hart offered his condolences, saying, “A family never really gets over this violent act.”
Top Photo: A photo of Tushar Atre was on display at Thursday’s press conference where the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of four young men on charges of kidnapping, robbery and murder of Atre on Oct. 1, 2019. ● Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz