An elderly woman has been charged with one count of murder in the shooting death of her husband at their home in unincorporated Malibu on Wednesday, Aug. 1.
An emergency call came in to the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station at 10:28 p.m. Wednesday. Shortly thereafter, when first responders arrived to the home, located in the 500 block of S. Westlake Boulevard in unincorporated Malibu, they found 75-year-old Arnold Farran deceased. Farran’s 76-year-old wife, Patricia Farran, was taken into sheriff’s custody not long after.
“He was suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds—we won’t have a[n official] cause of death until a doctor makes that determination,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Lt. Derrick Alfred explained in a phone call with The Malibu Times Thursday afternoon. Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed that Arnold Farran was pronounced dead on scene at 10:48 p.m. Wednesday and that, as of Tuesday, Aug. 7, his autopsy was still pending.
According to Alfred, the victim’s wife, Patricia Farran, was taken into custody without incident.
“Patrol deputies responded, determined they had an apparent homicide, from there they locked down the scene, they detained the suspect at the scene—who was cooperative—homicide investigators were summoned and we rolled out, processed the scene, conducted interviews and do what we do,” Alfred detailed. “The coroner eventually arrived, along with our crime lab personnel, and collected evidence.”
Sheriff’s officials recovered the murder weapon and believe they know the motive for the crime, though Alfred was not able to share that information as of Thursday.
“We still have people to interview, so we don’t want to put that information out,” Alfred said.
Patricia Farran was arraigned in Van Nuys Superior Court on Monday and charged with one count of murder (Penal Code 187), defined as “Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.” According to Alfred, she was being held on $3 million bail.