Autopsy indicates murder-suicide
A Hermosa Beach woman involved in an acrimonious custody dispute apparently drowned her 8-year-old daughter before taking her own life in the surf near San Simeon, according to preliminary autopsy results.
Investigators believe that Marcia Harrigan, 43, left Hermosa Beach on Jan. 9 after receiving word that she would have to turn her daughter, Gillian Goldman, over to the girl’s father, Glenn Goldman, the following day.
During a phone call to a lawyer friend earlier in the day, Harrigan expressed reluctance to follow the court’s order. Investigators with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department said Harrigan and her daughter had spent the night at a hotel in Goleta.
The next morning, about 10, the bodies of both were found floating in a rocky cove near San Simeon. Sheriff’s investigators said autopsy findings indicated that Harrigan drowned Gillian and then took her own life.
A sheriff’s spokesman said no note had been found. Toxicology results are pending, and investigators have subpoenaed court documents concerning the legal dispute between Harrigan and Goldman.
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-- Catherine Saillant
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