The New York Times—in the calm, measured way only the Gray Lady can—brings us the bizarre story of a 70-year-old professional tennis ref who allegedly used a coffee mug to kill her husband:
“The police arrested a professional tennis referee at a Manhattan hotel on Tuesday on a charge of murder in the death of her husband in April. The referee, Lois Ann Goodman, nicknamed Lolo, was in New York to work the United States Open. According to the criminal complaint, filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles, Goodman ‘personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon(s), to wit, COFFEE CUP.’ “
In short, police say that Goodman had originally told investigators that her husband died when he fell down stairs at their California home, but the scene told a very different story: There was blood in the couple’s bedroom, the stairway and throughout the house. “There was an awful lot of blood,” LAPD Lieutenant David Storaker told the paper. “It just didn’t match the fact that he had just fallen down the stairs.”
Police said that they were hoping to keep the arrest low-key but that they were prepared to make it at the tennis tournament itself if they had no other choice. While that didn’t happen, Goodman did show up to her first court appearance wearing her blue U.S. Open warm-ups. The U.K’s Daily Mail reports that Goodman is well-known within pro tennis circles, and had officiated matches played by John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, and others.
You can read the full Times article here.
