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New Witnesses Come Forward

Leading the charge against Michael Goodwin is Mickey Thompson's sister, Colleen Campbell.

"If he killed my brother, then I want him brought to justice," says Colleen. "And I'll do everything in my power to make that happen."


Since she was a child, Colleen idolized her brother Mickey and he protected her. And when the big brother became a champion, his little sister was right there.

Now, Colleen, at 69, is determined to find her brother's killer.

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

When her son Scott was 29, he disappeared without a trace. Colleen hounded local authorities, and helped them piece together what happened to her son.

Police learned that Scott had met two men, Larry Cowell and Donald Dimascio, and the three were to fly in a private plane to Fargo, N.D.

But Scott never made it out of that plane alive. Somewhere between Los Angeles and Catalina Island, Scott was killed, in what police believed was a drug-related robbery.

Frustrated about the slow pace of the investigation, Colleen 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 police, Dimascio broke Scott's neck, and they threw his body into the ocean. Cowell is serving a sentence of 25 years to life and Dimascio is doing life with no chance of parole.

Later, Campbell began working as an advocate for victims' rights, and became the first woman mayor in her hometown of San Juan Capistrano.



In August 2001, Goodwin was brought in to stand in a lineup. And, after all these years, it appears that two new witnesses have come forward.

Mark Lillenfeld, the sheriff's detective who inherited the unsolved Thompson murder case, says the witnesses had come 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," says Lillenfeld.

Witnesses identified one of the men as Goodwin, which Lillenfeld thinks is enough reason to believe that this was a dress rehearsal for the murder. Goodwin, however, denied that he was in a car with a pair of binoculars near the Thompson house and says the witnesses are lying.

"The bottom line would be what legitimate reason would Mr. Goodwin have for being in the neighborhood of this murder three or five days prior to the murder," asks Lillenfeld.

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


Michael Goodwin, however, had a history of money problems and a pattern of suspicious behavior.

A few months after Thompson's murder, Goodwin left the country to go to the Caribbean by boat, where police believe he had a rendezvous with the hit men to pay them off. Goodwin denies this, but found himself in a sea of trouble when he returned to the U.S.

He was charged with filing false loan statements, convicted and sent to prison for 30 months. Goodwin, however, says that Colleen had a vendetta against him, and that the evidence was fabricated.

Twelve hours after his arrest, Goodwin was released from the county jail. The two witnesses did identify him in the lineup, but the authorities decided that wasn't 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.

Even Tim Tuttle, dean of racecar journalists, thinks it's the cops, not Goodwin, who have something to prove: "They have looked solely at Mike Goodwin since the day of the murder ... Show me the evidence."

District Attorney Tony Raukakas says there is some new evidence, but he won't say what it is.

In fact, the D.A. himself is a point of contention. Raukakas once represented both Colleen and the Thompson family. But Raukakas says that this will not affect the objectivity of the investigation.



On Dec. 17, 2001, Goodwin was arrested for the murders of Mickey and Trudy Thompson. And this time, another new witness came 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. And he told him, he said, 'I will take you out. And you know I can.'"

Goodwin, however, says the conversation never happened. He says he's not worried if she's the heart of the case against him.

Why? 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 Colleen has put up.

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


The Thompsons have been gone for 15 years. And while son Danny Thompson now sets his sights on a new speed record, Colleen Campbell awaits the murder trial of the man accused of killing Mickey and Trudy Thompson.

In the year since 48 Hours first brought you this story, Mickey Thompson's one-time business partner Michael Goodwin has continued to await trial for the murders in a southern California jail. Goodwin is contesting whether Orange County even has jurisdiction to try the case.

Goodwin has always maintained that the gun used in the killings is not a match with one that he owned. Recently, prosecutors conceded he's right about that - eliminating a key element of their theory about Goodwin's role in the crime.

Even the police now say that Michael Goodwin might never stand trial for the murders of Mickey Thompson and his wife Trudy.

Meanwhile, Colleen Campbell's family continues to offer a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of all those involved in the murders.

Part I: Murder In The Fast Lane

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