New Witnesses Come Forward

A few months after Mickey's murder, Michael Goodwin left the country.

He went to the Caribbean on a boat, where police believe he had a rendezvous with the hit men to pay them off. Goodwin denies this. But when he did return to the U.S., he was charged with filing false loan statements, convicted and sent to prison for 30 months. Goodwin says that Collene had a vendetta against him, and that the evidence was fabricated.

"He's nothing to me at all, I don't know the man," says Collene. "But if he killed my brother, then yes, I want him brought to justice, and I'll do everything in my power to make that happen." Like her brother, she usually gets what she's after.

Twenty years ago Collene, a housewife and mother, learned what it takes to solve a murder.

When her son Scott was 29, he disappeared without a trace. Collene hounded L.A. County Sheriff's office, and they began to piece together what happened to him. Police learned Scott had met two men, Larry Cowell and Donald Dimascio, and the three were to fly in a private plane to Fargo, N.D.

Scott never made it out of that plane alive. Somewhere between Los Angeles and Catalina, Island, Scott met his death. Det. Larry Flynn, who worked on the case, thinks it was a drug-related robbery.

Frustrated about the slow pace of the investigation, Collene tracked down the man her son was to meet in Fargo. She got him to wear a wire, and he taped a confession from the two men in the plane. According to Flynn, Dimasio broke Scott's neck, and they threw his body into the ocean. It was never found. Cowell is doing 25 years to life and Dimasio is doing life with no chance of parole.

Flynn says that her participation in the investigation was singular. After that, Campbell began working as an advocate for victims' rights. She became the first woman mayor in her hometown of San Juan Capistrano, and served twice.

In August 2001, Goodwin was brought in to stand in a lineup. Two new witnesses had come forward. Mark Lillenfeld, the sheriff's detective who inherited the unsolved Thompson murders seven years ago, says the witnesses came forward at the time of the murder, but not until now did the pieces come together.

"What they saw was two men sitting in a car in front of their home and they were just watching the roadway using a pair of binoculars," he says. Witnesses identified one of them as Goodwin. Lillenfeld thinks this was a dress rehearsal for the murder.

But there's a problem with the detectives'theory. The people in the car were not in a position to see Mickey's house.

Goodwin says that he was never in a car with a pair of binoculars near Mickey and Trudy's house. He says the witnesses are lying. Goodwin's lawyer Jeff Benice says that his client is innocent of the murder, and that Mickey owed money to organized crime. Collene says that her brother was not involved in anything illegal, and lived a clean life.

After 12 hours, Goodwin was released. The two witnesses did identify him in the lineup, but the authorities decided that's not enough to hold him.

Goodwin's friends say he is innocent. "He's incapable of that kind of act. He's incapable of even thinking that way," says Linda Terbush, his friend and former assistant.

Tim Tuttle, dean of racecar journalists, says he has not seen the evidence yet. District Attorney Tony Raukakas says there is some new evidence, but he won't say what it is.

The D.A. himself is also a point of contention. In 1988 and 1989, Raukakas represented both Collene and the Thompson family. Raukakas says that this will not affect the objectivity of the investigation.

On Dec. 17, Goodwin was arrested for the murders. Another new witness has just come forward: Katherine Wiese, who used to work for Goodwin. She says she saw and heard Goodwin directly threaten Mickey Thompson's life. The conversation, she says, took place on a speakerphone.

"Michael felt that Mickey had cheated him and couldn't get over that," she says. "And he told him, he said, 'I will take you out. And you know I can.'" Goodwin says the conversation didn't happen.

Goodwin says if she's the heart of the case against him, he's not worried. Wiese is a convicted felon doing time for writing bad checks. Goodwin says she is looking to get her own prison term reduced, and to get a piece of the million dollar reward money Collene has put up.

Wiese responds: "Michael Goodwin is not a good man. He did this. I know he did this."

Go back to Part 1, Murder In The Fast Lane