Slain Black Publisher’s Car Is Found Stripped

A car belonging to the slain publisher of a black San Diego newspaper was found by police Wednesday--stripped inside and out--after an anonymous phone tip.

Police said they found the blue 1984 Oldsmobile Toronado, which was being leased by Voice & Viewpoint publisher William H. Thompson, in the 3000 block of Imperial Avenue after receiving the tip about 9 a.m.

“The car had been stripped internally and externally; they took the tires, the radio,” police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Detectives impounded the vehicle and were searching it for fingerprints and other evidence.

Meanwhile, homicide detectives said they were still seeking a motive for the slaying of the 61-year-old owner of the community’s only black newspaper.

Thompson was found dead Tuesday morning in a bedroom on the first floor of his two-story home, Lt. Phil Jarvis said. Officers had responded to a call from one of the victim’s relatives reporting a possible burglary at his home in the 5200 block of Roswell Street in Southeast San Diego.

Officers found Thompson’s body lying on the floor with multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso, according to Deputy Coroner Robert Engel. An autopsy to determine the precise cause of death is pending.

Detectives searched Thompson’s home for clues to the killer. Jarvis disputed suggestions by reporters that the motive for the killing may not have been burglary because an alarm system at the home did not go off even when authorities discovered the body.

He said detectives have not ruled out any possible motive and were investigating whether the alarm system had been tampered with. On Tuesday, a detective said the victim’s home was “slightly ransacked.” Police reported then that the only property taken was the car.

Detectives also were seeking acquaintances of Thompson who may have been familiar with his property to determine if anything was taken from inside the home. “That type of stuff would become more clear to us later,” Jarvis said. “Right now, we don’t have any idea one way or another.”

According to friends, the victim was single and lived alone.

Thompson, president of William H. Thompson Associates, a real estate firm, bought the Voice & Viewpoint in September, 1985. According to Earl W. Davis Jr., editor of the 26-year-old newspaper, Thompson helped increase its circulation and expanded its coverage of the city’s black community, reporting on the people, events and problems in Southeast San Diego.

Davis described the mood of the newspaper’s staff Wednesday as somber.

Black leaders praised Thompson’s recent efforts to create jobs and improve housing in the city’s poorest areas. He was a firm supporter of the Gateway redevelopment project, a 130-acre business and industry park planned to provide jobs for Southeast residents.

He also was responsible for building condominiums and apartment complexes in some of the more dilapidated areas of the city.

Vince Moran, president of the San Diego chapter of the Zeta Sigma Lambda fraternity, a group of mostly black college graduates, said Thompson was scheduled to be honored as 1986 businessman of the year at the group’s annual scholarship banquet.

“We’re still going to go ahead with him as man of the year,” said Moran, who is also coordinator of Saturday’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade. “We’ll still make the award either to Voice & Viewpoint or his family. He knew what was happening in the community.”

“I can’t imagine anything negative as to why anyone would want to do that to him,” he said.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.