SANTA CRUZ
– A woman in jail for allegedly killing her mother – Gilroy
school teacher Elvira Burnson – committed suicide in her Santa Cruz
County jail cell Sunday morning.
Jail guards found Paula Burnson, 32, dead on Sunday. Burnson
apparently used a prison-issued razor blade to slash her
throat.
SANTA CRUZ – A woman in jail for allegedly killing her mother – Gilroy school teacher Elvira Burnson – committed suicide in her Santa Cruz County jail cell Sunday morning.
Jail guards found Paula Burnson, 32, dead on Sunday. Burnson apparently used a prison-issued razor blade to slash her throat.
The suicide is the latest twist in the sordid tale of the mother, daughter and Paula Burnson’s former boyfriend, 44-year-old Robert Charles Beckwith, who was also charged in Elvira Burnson’s death.
“This is surprising because there was no indication whatsoever that (Paula Burnson) was suicidal,” Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Spokesperson Lt. Gretchen Hurley said this morning. Burnson attempted suicide prior to her arrest in January 2002.
This morning Hurley said Paula Burnson was not issued the razor blade she used to slash her throat, but that “there’s a multitude of ways she could’ve gotten the razor.”
Burnson had been in isolation in the jail’s medical unit since her arrest in January 2002, according to Hurley. The medical unit is a combination of prisoners with psychological and physical issues.
Burnson had attempted suicide while in custody following her arrest, but was being acclimated into the general population in recent weeks because her medical and psychological evaluations showed no sign of suicidal thoughts, according to Hurley.
“She had been in isolation a long time,” Hurley said. “We were acclimating her to general population a couple hours a day, and she seemed to be adjusting fine.”
To the shock of prosecutors and family members of Elvira Burnson’s, Beckwith was released on a $1 million bail in June. It is believed Beckwith’s mother posted the bail through a Santa Cruz area bond company, meaning she would have to put up at least $100,000, according to Christine McGuire, the assistant Santa Cruz County district attorney prosecuting the case.
Along with Beckwith, Paula Burnson, was charged with killing Elvira Burnson in January 2002. She was Elvira Burnson’s only child, and police say Beckwith and Paula Burnson killed Elvira Burnson because she had threatened to cut her daughter off from a family trust if she did not stop living with Beckwith.
Elvira Burnson, 64, who worked as a substitute teacher in Gilroy and lived on Walnut Lane, was missing for 15 days before police found her charred body stuffed in a small hole near Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Both Beckwith and Paula Burnson were charged with first-degree murder and were set to go to jury trial in September. They each faced 25 years to life in prison.
McGuire is on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment on how Burnson’s suicide will affect Beckwith’s prosecution.
Beckwith is now married to a woman he began corresponding with during his incarceration and is believed to be in the Santa Cruz area.
Prosecutors believe that Beckwith and Paula Burnson murdered Elvira Burnson on Jan. 7, 2002, at the apartment the two shared near the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.
Paula Burnson was known to have a drug problem and had been in and out of rehab several times, according to court documents.
Elvira Burnson was last seen going to visit her daughter at her Santa Cruz apartment that had become known by local police for heroin trafficking.
Several witnesses saw Beckwith driving Elvira Burnson’s 2001 Toyota Corolla toward the Boulder Creek area following Burnson’s disappearance. The witnesses said Beckwith was towing a garbage can behind the car, which police believed carried Burnson’s body wrapped in a rug.
Once they got near Boulder Creek, Beckwith and Paula Burnson burned the body and buried it, police say.
Beckwith was arrested on Jan. 12, 2002, Burnson on Jan. 17, 2002, following a suicide attempt. Elvira Burnson’s charred body was not found until Jan. 22, 2002.
Elvira Burnson worked as an elementary school teacher in San Jose’s Oak Grove School District for more than 20 years before retiring in 1999. Since her retirement she worked as a substitute teacher at elementary schools throughout the Gilroy Unified School District.
Burnson’s husband, Charlie, was a courier for The Dispatch and died in 2000.
