Husband of doctor found slain in Westchester charged

SCARSDALE, N.Y. -- A 58-year-old pediatrician was found slain inside her multimillion-dollar Westchester County home yesterday and her husband was charged this morning with second-degree murder, CBS New York reports.

Police describe Dr. Robin Goldman's death as a fatal case of domestic violence. Officers responded to a 911 call just after 10 a.m. Wednesday morning to the Scarsdale home of Goldman, a pediatrician affiliated with the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, and her estranged husband Julius "Jules" Reich, who has worked since mid-2014 as a tax specialist at a New York City firm.

"The report is that a female has been hurt seriously, and no further information was given by the calling party," a dispatcher told officers when the crime was reported, according to the station.

Sources told CBS New York that Goldman was found stabbed to death in a bathroom shower and that Reich made the 911 call.

"This is not a random act," said Scarsdale Police Capt. Thomas Altizio. "Both victim and suspect resided in the house."

Neighbors said Reich was estranged from his wife, with whom he has three children. Court records show he filed for divorce last summer.

Sources said Reich was also treated briefly for injuries at a hospital. He was being questioned by police overnight, the station reported.

As colleagues learned of Goldman's death, Dr. Felise Milan responded to a request for comment by sending a statement to "48 Hours'" Crimesider.

A course director at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where Goldman taught in a course on doctor-patient communication, Milan wrote that Goldman was "much loved by her students as well as the faculty who have taught beside her. She was smart, sensitive, dedicated" she wrote, adding that she was a "thoughtful and very talented teacher" and that her death was a "terrible loss."

The crime, which marked the first homicide in this tony Westchester town in nearly 40 years, left neighbors stunned. According to CBS New York, the home where Goldman was found was worth $3 million.

Milan said she hadn't seen any of this coming.

"There were no indications at all that there was any trouble. I was completely shocked," she wrote.

Raymond Kassim, a security guard who knew Goldman, called her a "very pleasant lady" who would always smile and say hello.

"A lady of that stature -- pleasant personality -- who would want to do that? I don't know," he said.

According to FBI statistics, 35.5 percent of female murder victims whose relationship with their killers were known were murdered by husbands or boyfriends in 2014.

A report released by the non-profit Violence Policy Center shows that 94 percent of women killed nationally in 2013 knew their offenders and out of that group, 62 percent were killed by husbands or intimate partners.

In:
• Westchester County