A tech CEO’s final minutes allegedly played out like something ripped from a nightmare — a sudden break-in, a frantic run for his life, and a violent attack caught on security video before he was abducted and executed.
Joshua Camps has now been convicted in Santa Cruz County as the final member of the group prosecutors say hunted down and killed 50-year-old Tushar Atre in October 2019. Court records reviewed by People show Camps was found guilty of first-degree murder, along with robbery, kidnapping, burglary, and carjacking. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in April.
Camps’ three alleged accomplices — Kaleb Charters, Kurtis Charters, and Stephen Lindsay — were convicted of first-degree murder in separate trials last year. Now, all four men accused in Atre’s killing have been found guilty.
But what’s made this case even more explosive are the allegations about what was happening behind the scenes before Atre died.
In testimony highlighted during an earlier trial, Kaleb Charters said he and Lindsay worked for Atre in August 2019 and claimed the job meant starting at dawn for $200 a day, according to KRON4. Then came the allegation that shocked the courtroom: Charters claimed that after they briefly lost Atre’s truck keys, Atre ordered them to do 500 pushups — allegedly tied to $1,400 in pay. SFGate also reported the allegation.
Just weeks later, prosecutors say the situation turned deadly.
According to court records cited by KRON4, Camps, Lindsay, and Kurtis Charters broke into a home on Oct. 1, 2019, believing Atre had $1 million inside. Prosecutors said Atre bolted into the street trying to escape — and that’s when Camps allegedly charged after him and stabbed him as he ran, with the violence captured on home surveillance footage.
Authorities say the attack didn’t end there.
Prosecutors alleged Atre was then kidnapped, forced into a vehicle, and driven to his cannabis farm. There, prosecutors say, Camps shot him in the back of the head.
Atre founded the web design company Atrenet, and his obituary described him as a “free spirit” who supported local artists and renovated homes in California.
Now, with Camps convicted, the case lands as a chilling warning: what began as allegations of humiliation and resentment allegedly spiraled into a brazen, on-camera street stabbing — followed by an abduction and a cold-blooded killing.
I wouldn’t have voted to convict on that charge, maybe manslaughter, not murder 1.
Guy’s running a dope operation……NO LOSS !
DIE DRUGGIE, DIE !