Case Is Built on Threats, Stun Gun

The case against a businessman charged in the 13-year-old slaying of Mickey Thompson and his wife centers on allegations of incriminating statements the suspect made to friends, links to a stun gun found at the crime scene and repeated threats he made against the auto racing superstar, according to investigative documents obtained Friday.

The disclosures come a day after sheriff’s deputies arrested Michael Goodwin, who has long been suspected of masterminding the 1988 execution-style slaying of the Thompsons outside their San Gabriel Valley mansion. Investigators allege the killings were tied to several financial and business disputes between Goodwin and Thompson.

The investigative report outlines the case authorities have built over more than a decade. Among the allegations:

* Goodwin made incriminating statements to friends about the Thompson killings.

* Several witnesses told investigators that they saw Goodwin with a stun gun similar to the one found at the crime scene. Investigators believe the stun gun was used to quiet the Thompsons’ dog.

* A witness saw a suspicious man with binoculars sitting in a car about one-quarter mile from the Thompsons’ home just days before the slayings. This year, the witness identified a photograph of Goodwin taken in 1988 as the driver of that car. The witness also identified Goodwin from a group of six people in a lineup at Los Angeles County Jail.

* At least 17 friends, relatives and associates of the Thompsons said the couple had told them of Goodwin’s threats to kill them. The couple told them that if they were slain, Goodwin would be responsible.

* An Orange County marshal’s deputy who was impounding Goodwin’s Mercedes-Benz as part a legal judgment Thompson won against him said that Goodwin told him, “Mickey Thompson doesn’t know who he’s messing with” and threatened to kill Thompson.

* Goodwin once owned a firearm of the same caliber used in the slayings.

Prosecutors last week filed two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder against Goodwin, capping a marathon homicide investigation that tagged more than 1,000 pieces of evidence.

In a jailhouse interview Friday, Goodwin, 56, said he looked forward to a speedy trial to clear his name.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said, looking tired but otherwise upbeat. “This is miserable. The thing I am most upset about is my 88-year-old father seeing this. But we agreed it’d be better to get it over with.”

Goodwin insisted that he had little to gain from Thompson’s death and that investigators should spend their time looking at other suspects instead of concentrating on him.

But prosecutors said they have the right man. “I need to convince 12 jurors. I wouldn’t have filed [the case] if I didn’t think I could do it,” said Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. David Brent.

Although the killings occurred in Los Angeles County, prosecutors in Orange County are handling the case because they believe the plot was hatched in their jurisdiction.

Thompson, the first American to break the 400-mph land speed mark, and his wife were fatally shot in March 1988 by two masked men who fled on 10-speed bicycles. The killers didn’t take anything from the house or from the couple, who had nearly $70,000 in jewelry and $4,000 cash on them.

Almost from the day of the killing, the bad blood between Thompson and Goodwin drew detectives’ attention. Goodwin had lost a $531,000 legal battle with Thompson when a judge ruled that he had misappropriated Thompson’s investments in various joint business dealings. Goodwin filed for bankruptcy soon afterward.

Despite the threats Goodwin allegedly made against Thompson, authorities in the early years of the investigation never gathered enough evidence for murder charges. But this year, detectives finally got what were described as big breaks.

In August, deputies arrested Goodwin and placed him in a lineup. At least one witness identified him as a man seen holding binoculars near the Thompsons’ home just before the shootings, according to the investigative records. They also developed new evidence suggesting that the stun gun found at the murder scene may have belonged to Goodwin, the reports state.

Thompson’s sister, who spent years keeping awareness of the case alive, said she is trying to come to terms with the idea that it might finally go to a court.

“An arrest doesn’t bring Mickey and Trudy back, but you do feel some kind of a relief,” Collene Campbell said.

But Goodwin maintained Friday that his arrest was a mark of injustice. He called the recent lineup a sham, questioning how police could come up with witnesses to identify him 13 years after the murders.

“If I was involved, would I have given the killers a stun gun I had bought? Would I hire killers and then go and watch? It’s just stupid,” he said. “I wasn’t involved.”

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Times staff writers Anna Gorman and Jeff Gottlieb contributed to this report.