Lottery winner could lose $1m ticket bought with dead mother-in-law's credit card

A woman from Oregon could be stripped of a $1 million lottery win after she allegedly purchased her ticket using her dead-mother-in-law's credit card.

Christina Goodenow, 38, of White City has been accused of purchasing her winning ticket via illegal means by the police. She now faces charges of forgery, theft and possession of methamphetamines Oregon law enforcement officials who searched her home on Thursday have said.

If she is convicted Goodenow will see her lottery win become void according to police Lt. Tim George said. State lottery officials have not commented on the situation due to the investigation being ongoing.

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Lottery spokesman Chuck Baumann said: “I’ll be fascinated to see how this shakes out. In my 12 years with the Oregon Lottery, this is the first time I’ve encountered something like this.” Goodenow reportedly purchased the lottery ticket on October 9 2023 using a credit card belonging to her late mother-in-law who died over a year ago.

Upon discovering her Lottery win Goodenow traveled to the Oregon Lottery Headquarters in Salem to cash in her prize on October 12. She opted to received her winnings in repeating payments of $33,500 which would see the $1 million grand prize pay out over the course of 20 years.

Investigators in the case began looking in to Goodenow's finances after learning she had alleged used the stolen credit card to purchase several other items. On Thursday officers reported that they had found methamphetamine in Goodenow's home but very little money. George said: “Our investigation is still trying to determine what happened to the $33,500.”

In 1996 a woman named Denise Rossi attempted to hide her $1.3 million lottery winnings from her husband and11 days after she'd won filed for divorce. At the time her husband, Thomas, said he was hurt and confused as to why she had suddenly left him without giving an explanation.

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However, two years later a letter sent to him in error unveiled the truth behind what had happened and he took his ex-wife to court stressing how she had won the lottery just over a week before filing for divorce. Denise's sole defense in the case was to claim that she did not know it was mandatory to declare her winnings to anyone.

The judge ruled that she had blatantly violated state asset disclosure laws, which dictate that lottery funds won when two people are married must be shared with a spouse, and Thomas was granted every cent of her winnings by the judge.