Durham woman charged with murder after allegedly strangling boyfriend days before death
A Durham woman is accused of murder after she allegedly fatally injured her boyfriend during an assault, court documents show.
Patricia Renee Ayers, 32, was originally arrested in the early morning hours of Dec. 8 after police were called to her home on Sarah Avenue, according to the arrest report.
She was charged with felony assault by strangulation and a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence after allegedly placing her boyfriend, Mikel Johnson, in a chokehold, causing unconsciousness and brain swelling, her arrest warrant states.
Johnson, 41, died on Dec. 11, according to an online obituary.
Ayers, who was being held on $2 million bail at the Durham County jail, was subsequently charged with murder on Dec. 18, court records show. She is now being held without bail.
Johnson’s death marks at least the fourth homicide in Durham tied to domestic violence this year, with police investigating three such homicides in the third quarter of 2024 alone, according to the department’s third quarter crime report.
The city also saw 173 aggravated assaults tied to domestic violence in the third quarter of 2024, compared to 172 such assaults during that time in 2023 and 156 in 2022, the report states.
Durham police have not publicly announced Ayers’ arrest or the homicide investigation. Ayers is set to next appear in court Jan. 23, court records show.
