Husband Being Investigated In Wife’s Suicide

Santa Paula police are investigating the possibility that a local dentist assisted in his ailing wife’s suicide, Cmdr. Mark Hanson said Friday.

Carla Silverman, 50, took an overdose of unspecified pills Tuesday evening while her husband, Edward Silverman, and several friends and family members stood by, said George Eskin, a lawyer for the husband. Eskin said she chose to take her life because her health had deteriorated during a long fight with breast cancer.

Police said they began their investigation after a coroner told them that Edward Silverman had described his wife’s death as an assisted suicide. In California, it is a felony to advise, aid or encourage anyone to commit suicide, Hanson said.

“His wife was very ill, and I don’t think that his presence for emotional and moral support in her last moments constitutes a criminal act,” Eskin said.

Silverman said, “Although I know I’m innocent, I’ve been advised not to say anything about the case.” Friends who reportedly witnessed the suicide also declined to comment.

Carla Silverman was known in Santa Paula as an animal lover who took in cats and kittens whose owners could no longer care for them. Until they moved recently, the Silvermans had a house with a garage-sized enclosure where she kept the rescued cats.

The police investigation will include interviews with all those who witnessed the death, Hanson said.

“We want to find out just what Dr. Silverman’s role was in the suicide,” he said. “We’ll do that as professionally and sympathetically as we can.”

Eskin said Carla Silverman would be “saddened if she knew about how this is being spun into some sort of criminal matter. For her friends and family to have to recount this must be incredibly painful.”