US Open Referee Lois Goodman Arrested, Charged With Murdering Husband

Veteran US Open referee Lois Goodman was arrested on Tuesday and charged with the murder of her 80-year-old husband. The 70-year-old Goodman was served with a felony arrest warrant and taken from her Los Angeles home. Police and prosecutors claim that Goodman beat her husband to death with a coffee mug in April. Goodman was found dead on April 12 inside the Woodland Hills condominium he shared with his wife.

Goodman was scheduled to work at this year’s US Open tennis tournament during the events qualifying matches.

Lois and her husband, Alan Goodman, owned a Southern California auto parts business since the 1960s, and the couple had three daughters.

When the murder was reported, Lois Goodman told investigators she had been refereeing a tennis match at the time of her husband’s murder. Police claim the murder was “suspicious from the start.”

Lt. David Storaker of the Los Angeles Police Department tells Fox Sports:

”She said she surmised he had fallen down the steps, had a heart attack and managed to get back upstairs to the bed. It was a suspicious death from the beginning,”

Investigators at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office quickly noticed several sharp force injuries to Alan Goodman’s head, a discovery that was inconsistent with Goodman’s explanation of events.

Police working alongside the coroner’s office discovered a broken coffee mug and based on blood loss they were able to obtain an arrest warrant for Louis Goodman on August 14.

At least one tennis official and close time friend of Lois believes she’s innocent. Annette Buck tells the Los Angeles Times:

”I’ve worked with her for years and I don’t believe any of this.”

Prosecutors will ask for $1 million bail.

[Image via ShutterStock]