Murder Suspect Allegedly Tries Suicide in Cell

A 45-year-old Newport Beach woman accused of shooting an attorney in her condominium last August was reported in critical condition Friday after authorities said she tried to hang herself in her jail cell.

Pamela Pauline Ayers, 45, was found hanging from a bedsheet tied to a shower rod during a routine cell check Thursday afternoon, Lt. Richard J. Olson of the Sheriff’s Department said. The deputy who made the discovery immediately summoned paramedics, who treated Ayers before rushing her to the UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Ayers, who was alone in her cell, was awaiting trial on a murder charge in connection with the fatal shooting of Gerald Goldfarb, a 49-year-old Harvard-educated attorney and author.

Goldfarb died of multiple wounds to the head and body, and Ayers underwent surgery for a self-inflicted wound to the abdomen.

Police alleged that Ayers fired 10 shots from a 12-gauge shotgun that she had bought just hours before the slaying. Investigators also allege that Goldfarb and Ayers argued shortly before the shooting.

Ayers’ attorney has said that she mistook Goldfarb’s friendship and legal counsel for love.

But Christa Irwin, Ayers’ 27-year-old daughter, said that Goldfarb and her mother once enjoyed a romantic relationship and were trying to have a child until Ayers suffered a mental breakdown early last year.

Goldfarb, who at one time hosted a cable television program on legal matters and was prominent in the holistic health movement, had married someone else about five months before the shooting.

The district attorney’s office, which routinely investigates jail incidents, has been informed about the suicide attempt, Olson said.