CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A former Tennessee police officer is accused in the strangulation death of a woman in a Chattanooga neighborhood, authorities said.
Lawrence Foster Goodine, 43, of Crossville, was arrested Friday in Fairfield Glade, about 90 miles north of Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. Goodine, a former member of the Chattanooga Police Department, was charged with murder, kidnapping and tampering with or fabricating evidence, according to Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office online booking records.
Goodine is accused in the strangulation death of Kara Akins, 48, of Chattanooga, who was found dead in the Southside Gardens neighborhood of the city, the Times Free Press reported.
The medical examiner’s autopsy report stated that Akins died by manual strangulation and a blunt force head injury. The report also noted that Akins suffered a broken bone and several injuries to her neck, according to WTVC.
A former Chattanooga police officer has been arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping and evidence tampering in a Nov. 29 strangling in Southside Gardens, a death police did not report as a homicide until a news release Friday night.
— Times Free Press (@TimesFreePress) December 16, 2023
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Her death was officially classified as a homicide on Friday, Sgt. Victor Miller told the Times Free Press in an email.
An affidavit stated that Goodine told police that he and Akins went to dinner on Nov. 29, and then drove to a gas station to buy cigarettes, WTVC reported. Goodine said that Akins “went missing” and he drove around until he found her, according to the affidavit.
Goodine then told police that he and the victim went home together, had sex, and then fell asleep, the television station reported. He said that when he woke up Akins was unconscious and he tried to splash water on her face to revive her before calling the police, the affidavit stated.
According to a toxicology report, Akins had alcohol in her system at the time of her death. She had a blood-alcohol-concentration of 0.254, more than three times the legal limit for driving in Tennessee. No other drugs were found in her system, according to the toxicology report.
According to the Times Free Press, Goodine was fired from the Chattanooga Police Department in 2007. He was dismissed after an internal affairs investigation led to charges of theft, improper search, improper procedure, untruthfulness and submitting a false report, according to the newspaper.
Goodine was cleared of theft and extortion charges in 2008, but then-police chief Freeman Cooper refused to reinstate him WRCB-TV reported. Goodine sued the city of Chattanooga after city council members backed the chief’s decision but lost the case, according to the television station.
In 2010, the Hamilton County Chancery Court affirmed the termination on another appeal, and the following year the Tennessee Court of Appeals also ruled that Goodine’s firing was valid, the Times Free Press reported.
Goodine remains in the Hamilton County Jail without bail, online records show. He is scheduled to appear in Hamilton County General Sessions Court on Friday, according to the newspaper.
