Arraignment Today in Slaying of Doctor : Estranged Wife Charged With Shooting of Santa Ana Physician

The estranged wife of an Orange County physician is expected to be arraigned today on charges that she shot him five times in the back on Halloween night.

Carol Worthman, 36, of Long Beach, a student at Cal State Long Beach, was arrested at a neighbor’s home immediately after police found the body of Paul T. Worthman, 33, of Santa Ana in her home, Long Beach Police Detective Tim Cable said.

The Worthmans had been married for five years and had separated in April, officials said. Paul Worthman had filed for divorce May 9. They had no children.

Police said they knew of no motive for the shooting, although Carol Worthman, a photo-journalist on the staff of the university’s newspaper, the Daily Forty-Niner, had reportedly expressed frustration over her marriage and financial difficulties to students, instructors and friends.

Paul Worthman had been employed only three months as a general practitioner in the Fountain Valley office of the Bristol Park Medical Group Inc.

“We didn’t know him that much. We knew he was separated and had filed for divorce, but we didn’t know the background,” said Patrick Kapsner, the medical group’s administrator who had recruited Worthman.

“He was a real likable guy,” Kapsner said of Worthman, whose birthday was celebrated at an office party last week. Worthman had moved to Santa Ana near South Coast Plaza after the couple separated.

The shooting occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, according to officers who went to the rented home at 6803 Monloco Road in east Long Beach. There they found a .38-caliber pistol, Cable said, and Worthman’s body in a bedroom.

Suspicion of Murder

Carol Worthman was booked at the Long Beach City Jail on suspicion of murder. Her arraignment is scheduled for today in Municipal Court in Long Beach, Cable said.

Kapsner said that although Worthman was new to Orange County, his practice was growing.

“He was building it up, and although he had been with us only three months, he was seeing about 20 to 25 patients a day. I thought he was going to fit well with us . . .,” Kapsner said.

Funeral services are pending at Shannon Mortuary in Orange.