Timeline in Mickey and Trudy Thompson Slayings
Reported by Karen Rubin
April 1984: Michael Goodwin and Mickey Thompson agree to a trial association of Goodwin’s indoor-stadium
motocross dirt-track racing business with Thompson’s indoor stadium mini-truck and off-road car races.
However, after only a few failed races and a breakdown of their relationship, the business interest ended in less
than 4 months.
September 1985: Thompson sues Goodwin.
May 1986: Thompson wins a $514,388 judgment, which, after 3 ½ years, grows to $766,000 with attorney fees
and interest. The fallout leaves Goodwin a bitter man.
September 1986: Goodwin’s company files for bankruptcy. Thompson never collects his debt.
March 2, 1988: Goodwin appeals the civil suit judgment in the state Supreme Court. In another court action,
the judge throws out Goodwin’s lawsuit seeking the rights held by Thompson to the Anaheim Stadium races.
March 16, 1988: Thompson, 59, and his wife, Trudy, 41, are gunned down around 6 a.m. in the driveway of
their Bradbury home while leaving for work.
March 18, 1988: Sheriff’s detectives report someone made threats against the Thompson family and business
associates. Detectives decline to comment on the content of the threats. No one submits a crime report and to
this day, the “threat issue” cannot be substantiated.
May 4, 1988: Collene Campbell, Thompson’s younger sister, and her husband, Gary, offer a $255,000 reward
to find the murderers. Thompson supporters later raise reward to $275,000.
Late 1988: Goodwin leaves the country for a dive and photographic exhibition to live in the Caribbean.
March 16, 1989: Campbell founds the San Juan Capistrano-based victims’ rights group, Mickey and Trudy
Thompson Memorial Fund and later changes the name to Memory of Victims Everywhere (M.O.V.E). Campbell
becomes an activist for victims’ rights and becomes politically active in Orange County politics and various
California government and law enforcement associations.
November 1992: Campbell elected to the San Juan Capistrano City Council.
Between January and December 1993: Goodwin returns to Los Angeles.
July 14, 1993: FBI agents arrests Goodwin in Santa Ana and federal prosecutors charge him with federal
bankruptcy fraud. Soon after the arrest, the prosecutor drops the charges.
January 1994: Campbell becomes San Juan Capistrano’s first female mayor. Many residents refer to her as San
Juan Capistrano’s “First Lady.”
Oct. 25, 1995: A Santa Ana-based federal grand jury charge Goodwin and his former wife, Diane Seidel
Goodwin, on 13 counts of making false statements on a bank application to finance their business and buy a
yacht.
February 1996: Judge bars Goodwin from soliciting investors for an associate’s business venture. The judge
tells Goodwin to find another job occupation while awaiting sentencing in bank charges.
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July 8, 1996: Goodwin convicted of bilking $288,000 from two banks. The judge sentences him to 30 months
in prison and orders him to pay restitution. He serves two ½ years in federal prison. His wife serves less than
two years in a federal prison.
July 30, 1998: The Campbells announce a $1 million reward for information leading to the conviction of
anyone involved in the Thompson murders.
Jan. 6, 2001: Seventeen-year-old Brian Campbell, the Campbell’s grandson, dies from a head injury in a freak
accident.
March 26, 2001: The Orange County grand jury begins hearing testimony in the Thompson slayings and
subpoena Goodwin. Goodwin’s attorneys asks an Orange County judge to bar District Attorney Tony
Rackauckas and his office from continuing its grand jury investigation because of his prior employment as
Campbell’s attorney in the Mickey Thompson estate. .
Aug. 12, 2001: Orange County Sheriff's detectives arrest Goodwin and place him in a police lineup.
Dec. 13, 2001: Orange County Sheriff’s detectives arrest Goodwin at his Dana Point home. Prosecutors charge
him with the Thompson slayings. Goodwin maintains his innocence.
Dec. 17, 2001: At his arraignment, Goodwin pleads not guilty to first-degree murder charges, including the
special circumstances of lying in wait and multiple murders in Orange County Superior Court.
Jan. 25, 2002: Orange County prosecutors announce they will not seek the death penalty against Goodwin.
Jan. 30, 2002: Goodwin’s attorneys file a motion arguing Orange County prosecutors should not try Goodwin
because District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has an alleged conflict of interest. Goodwin’s attorneys present
evidence that Campbell’s relationship with Rackauckas began 13 months after the murders. Ruckauckas denies
the conflict.
March 18, 2002: A judge rules the Orange County District Attorney’s Office does not have a conflict of
interest in prosecuting Goodwin.
April 15 -18, 2002: An Orange County judge hears testimony at Goodwin’s preliminary hearing.
April 18, 2002: A judge rules there is enough evidence to try Goodwin for the Thompson murders.
April 30, 2002: Goodwin pleads not guilty to murder charges at his second arraignment hearing in an Orange
County courtroom. The judge orders Goodwin held without bail.
November 2002: Campbell retires from the San Juan Capistrano City Council after serving as mayor and
councilwoman from 1992 to 2002.
Feb. 13, 2003: In a state appeals court hearing, a judge rules that Orange County prosecutors did not have
“evidence of jurisdiction” to have arrested and/or prosecuted Goodwin.
May 27, 2003: Orange County District Attorney’s Office requests the to court disregard the evidence,
involving the murder weapons. Sheriff’s homicide Detective Mark Lillienfeld said under oath that the guns
registered to Goodwin could have been the murder weapons. He also said Goodwin supplied those guns to the
killers. However, a 1989 ballistic report made it clear this statement was not true.
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April 25, 2004: A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeals in Santa Ana unanimously orders
prosecutors to drop the murder charges against Goodwin. The panel rules there is no evidence showing
Goodwin plotted the murder in Orange County. Therefore, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office does
not have jurisdiction to prosecute Goodwin and orders the attorneys to dismiss the charges, after Goodwin has
served 30 months in the Orange County jail.
June 2, 2004: Orange County prosecutors do not appeal the appellate court’s decision.
June 8, 2004: Before Goodman’s release from the Orange County jail, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s
Office charges Goodwin with two counts of murder. This includes the special circumstances of lying in wait
and multiple murders.
June 26, 2004: Detective Mark Lillienfeld again arrests Goodwin on murder charges at the Orange County jail
and transports him to Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
June 29, 2004: Goodwin enters a not guilty plea at his arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court in Pasadena.
Judge orders him held without bail and schedules his preliminary hearing for Sept. 8.
Sept. 8, 2004: The judge delays the Oct. 4, 2004 preliminary hearing at the request of the defense because
Goodwin’s attorneys needed time to read and review 40,000 pages of discovery that the prosecution provided.
Oct. 4 – 13, 2004: The judge hears 20 witness statements at Goodwin’s preliminary hearing.
Oct. 13, 2004: The judge rules there is enough evidence linking Goodwin to the Thompson murders and orders
him to stand trial.
Oct. 28, 2004. Goodwin pleas not guilty to murder charges at his arraignment hearing.
Dec. 8, 2004 – July 26, 2006: A series of motions, discovery issues and legal delays stretch over a 20-month
period. Goodwin’s attorneys request the judge to recuse the prosecutor on the case because he had been privy to
attorney/client privileged documents.
July 26, 2006: The judge gives Goodwin’s attorneys access to two documents in the personnel file of sheriff’s
Sgt. Michael Griggs, the first lead detective on the case. The defense also gains access to a number of records in
his retirement file. Griggs wrote a memo that was submitted into evidence, that “outside forces” were
interfering with his investigation. He followed witness statements who saw a man – a man named Joey Hunter--
frantically trying to hitchhike out of the area on the morning of the slayings. Hunter failed three polygraph tests,
and had no alibi. However, detectives inexplicably drop Hunter as a suspect and zero in on Goodwin. The judge
says she does not want any more delays and stresses the trial must begin Sept. 21. Next court date set for Aug.
16.
Aug. 16, 2006: The judge allows the defense’s request for DNA testing of Trudy Thompson’s nail clippings.
This was not done following the murders some 18 years ago. The defense addresses issues involving
Goodwin’s health and his inability to access medical treatment. Next court date set for Aug. 30.
Sources: Newspaper articles from the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Times, the Pasadena Star
News, the Daily Journal and The Capistrano Dispatch; court documents from the Orange County Superior
Court, Los Angeles Superior Court and the 4th District Court of Appeals; a 16-page letter to the Los Angeles
County Sheriff’s Department, written by Goodwin’s former attorney, Jeffery S. Benice; Collene Campbell and
the racing Web sites: LandRacing.com and Jacksonville.com.
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