Mickey & Trudy Thompson

Case background and investigation

On the morning of March 16, 1988, legendary auto racing promoter and land-speed record holder Marion 'Mickey' Thompson, 59, and his wife Collene 'Trudy' Thompson, 40, were ambushed in the driveway of their home in the exclusive gated community of Bradbury, California, in the San Gabriel Valley foothills. As Mickey backed his truck out of the garage at approximately 5:30 a.m. to go jogging, two hooded gunmen on bicycles appeared, shot him, then chased Trudy as she fled across the yard and killed her as well.

Suspicion quickly focused on Michael Frank Goodwin, a former business partner of Thompson's who had lost millions in a failed stadium racing venture. Thompson and Goodwin had been embroiled in a bitter civil lawsuit, and Thompson had won a $793,000 judgment against Goodwin shortly before the murders. Goodwin, however, had an alibi—he was in another state at the time of the killings—and the actual triggermen were never identified.

The case languished for nearly two decades due to insufficient evidence to bring charges. The break came when cold case investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reinvestigated and found new witnesses. In 2001, Goodwin was arrested and charged with two counts of murder for hire. His trial in 2007 resulted in a conviction, and he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

Despite Goodwin's conviction as the mastermind, the two hooded shooters have never been identified. The murder weapons were never recovered, and the mystery of who actually pulled the triggers remains unsolved. Mickey Thompson, who in 1960 became the first American to exceed 400 mph on land at the Bonneville Salt Flats, was inducted into numerous motorsports halls of fame posthumously.