What a terrible crime. The LA Times is reporting this news:

Police today identified the victim of a fatal stabbing of a Century City high-rise parking structure as Pamela Fayed, 45, of Ventura County. Authorities said Fayed was at the tower, which houses law firms, financial institutions and entertainment businesses, for an appointment Monday, but they did not specify the nature of the meeting.

Officer Julianne Sohn of the Los Angeles Police Department said authorities are looking for a male suspect.

Fayed and her husband, James, operated EBullion and Goldfinger Coin and Bullion, business records show. The company, which has an office in Camarillo, says it is one of the larger Internet gold traders.

According to Ventura County court records, James Fayed sought to divorce Pamela Fayed last October. The couple had two children, an 18-year-old daughter from Pamela’s first marriage and a younger daughter that they had together.

In the divorce papers, Pamela Fayed said the couple had bank accounts worth $12 million and that her husband denied her access to business records. She asked the court for “ground rules to protect our clients and personal assets.”

For his part, James Fayed said his wife had “a history of making false accusations and threatens to cause arrest and ‘throw me in jail,’ ” according to court records. He said that when he contemplated divorce several years ago she threatened to claim he assaulted her and sexually assaulted their daughter.

Court records also showed that Pamela Fayed’s attempt to get a restraining order against her brother-in-law Anthony Paul Fayed in 2003 was denied because of “insufficient facts.” She contended in court papers that he was an ex-convict who harassed her and made hateful racist remarks after being fired from the family business.

Mike Nelson, 49, a neighbor and a friend of Pamela Fayed’s in Camarillo who runs his own security firm, said that her husband moved out about a year ago. Nelson said she had asked him three months ago about building a “panic room” in her house because of threats her estranged husband had made.

“She was concerned that he was going to come over and harm her,” Nelson said. He said he recommended that she hire a security guard and that he made arrangements for one to call her that afternoon, but that she did not follow through.

Nelson said the couple owned a ranch house in Moorpark along with the upscale home nestled in the Camarillo foothills. He said that Fayed’s husband had been dragging out the divorce proceedings.

Another neighbor, an 18-year-old man, who declined to be identified, said he was friends with the couple’s 18-year-old daughter. He said he had seen the couple argue in the past in the driveway of their home.

“The ironic thing is that just last week the daughter said they were getting along fine and they had agreed on a settlement,” he said. “He was going to keep the ranch house and she was going to stay here.”

Monday’s attack occurred about 6:30 p.m. Monday at 1875 Century Park East, an upscale building that houses law firms, financial institutions and entertainment businesses.

The attack on the parking structure’s third floor occurred in front of several witnesses, who were later interviewed by detectives.

The suspect, described as a slender man in his 20s wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, fled in a red sport-utility vehicle, according to LAPD Sgt. Ruby Malachi.

Fayed, who was stabbed repeatedly, screamed for help, witnesses told investigators. She was taken to a hospital, but Sohn announced about 8 p.m. that Fayed had died.

Entertainment attorney Paul Almond said he was leaving his office for the day when he saw a building official run to a lobby security guard, screaming, “A woman has been stabbed!”

Almond said that a crowd began to gather and that paramedics arrived within five minutes, followed by police. Before the paramedics arrived, bystanders, including at least two doctors, came to the woman’s aid, according to Capt. James West of the LAPD’s West L.A. Division.

One man, witnesses said, stripped off his shirt in an apparent attempt to stanch the flow of blood. He was seen carrying a bloody shirt as he left the building.

Sohn said police believed the attack did not involve a carjacking.

Times staff writers Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein contributed to this story.

catherine.saillant@latimes.com

steve.chawkins@latimes.com