San Diego high school cheerleader charged in fatal beating of homeless man

A high school cheerleader has been charged in connection with the beating death of a homeless man in San Diego County, officials said.

Hailey Suder, 18, pleaded not guilty Monday to two felony counts of being an accessory after the fact, according to Tanya Sierra, spokeswoman for the San Diego County district attorney’s office.

Suder was dating one of two brothers charged with killing 50 year-old George Lowery, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Sheriff’s homicide investigators did not say what role she played in Lowery’s death, and which brother she was dating.

Suder was a senior at Santana High School, but did not graduate with her class this month, said Catherine Martin, spokeswoman for the Grossmont Union High School District.

She was a cheerleader, Martin said. In a photograph on Suder’s Facebook profile, she and three other cheerleaders were pictured posing together holding pom poms.

On Facebook, Suder listed her relationship status as single.

Brothers Austin Mostrong, 20, and Preston Mostrong, 19, have admitted involvement in Lowery’s beating, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. George Modlin.

Lowery’s wife found him unconscious April 24 near their camp in a river bottom at Chubb Lane and North Magnolia Avenue in Santee, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Lowery suffered severe trauma after being kicked and punched in the head.

He was taken to a hospital, where he died days later.

Sheriff’s investigators alleged Lowery was tortured during the attack.

Lowery’s daughter, Katey Torres, set up a GoFundMe account to raise funds for the family’s expenses.

See the most-read stories in Local News this hour >>

She said her mother and father had been married 25 years.

“His whole life revolved around his wife, Penny,” Torres said. “Working and doing any handy work he could to provide for him and his wife and family.

Her mother, she said, found her father “brutally beaten, bloody, tied up, face down and unconscious. Covered up to die.”

Torres described her father as a generous man who suffered in his last days. He had a stroke and two brain hemorrhages as a result of the beating.

“Although he did not have much he was always giving,” she said. “Anyone he came across loved his personality and he was always talking to people. Anyone he saw that needed help or just needed a smile he’d be there lifting your spirits. If someone was in need he would do what he could to help, no matter how hard the task. If he came across good fortune, he shared it.”

For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

MORE LOCAL NEWS

1 in 10 Cal State students is homeless, study finds

L.A. will keep getting hotter, scientists say — a lot hotter

Woman who defiled national parks with graffiti banned from 524 million acres of public land