Mickey Thompson's 1988 Death Explained: Who Killed The Race Car Driver

This article contains discussions of murder and SPOILERS for Homicide: Los Angeles.

Summary Mickey and Trudy Thompson were murdered in a baffling case that remained unsolved for almost two decades until 2007.

The couple was shot in their driveway, with $70,000 worth of jewelry and $4000 in cash, indicating a planned attack, not a robbery.

Michael Goodwin, Thompson's former business partner, was eventually charged and found guilty in 2007 based on eyewitness identification and possible motive.

Homicide: Los Angeles episode 2, "The Racecar Killer" outlines one of the most perplexing homicides on the show, that of the 1988 death of Mickey and Trudy Thompson. In 1960, Mickey Thompson became internationally known as the first American to drive faster than 400 miles per hour. In the next decade, the racer went on to win many championships. He and his wife Trudy eventually settled in Bradbury, California, around 24 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

In 1988, the pair would become famous for an entirely different reason – their murders. The murder of Mickey and Trudy Thompson became a significant Los Angeles cold case, and, as the Netflix true crime documentary explains, only one of the three suspected murderers was ever caught and convicted. The remaining unanswered questions make this case one that's still bewildering almost four decades later.

Mickey Thompson & His Wife Were Killed In 1988 But The Case Was Unsolved Until 2007

Mickey And Trudy Thompson Were Killed Outside Their California Home

On March 16, 1988, racecar icon Mickey Thompson and his wife Trudy Thompson were shot in their driveway. When the police found them, Trudy had $70,000 worth of jewelry, and the pair carried $4000 in cash, eliminating the possibility of robbery gone wrong. Before his death, Thompson had received death threats, making it more likely that this was planned. One neighbor heard the murder and witnessed two Black men between the ages of 20 and 30, around 6 feet tall, on bikes pedaling away from the scene of the crime, who were labeled suspects (via Unsolved Mysteries).

Related 10 Fascinating True Crime Shows About Lesser-Known Cases There are tons of popular documentary series about famous killers and crooks, but these true-crime shows on lesser-known cases are also worth viewing.

According to Homicide: Los Angeles, police didn't discover there was another witness until the case aired on the true crime show America's Most Wanted in 2001. At this point, they learned that the couple saw two men in a car watching the Thompsons' house with binoculars four days before the murder. The person in the driver's seat perfectly matched the description of Michael Goodwin, Mickey Thompson's former business partner who had a grudge against him. The police arrested him to put him in the lineup, then released him without filing charges. The witnesses picked him out in the lineup (via Car and Driver).

Mickey Thompson's murder became subject of the true crime books Killing of a Legend: Mickey Thompson Double Murders by Ronald E. Bowers and Mickey Thompson: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of a Racing Legend by Erik Arneson (the latter of which is part biography and part true crime).

Michael Goodwin Was Eventually Charged For Murdering Mickey & Trudy Thompson

Michael Goodwin Was Found Guilty in 2007, Six Years After Being Identified By Witnesses

Though he was suspected from early on, Michael Goodwin wasn't identified as being at the crime scene until 2001. That year, the prosecutors submitted a case against Goodwin to the Orange County grand jury, which decides whether there is enough evidence to indict a suspect (via Car and Driver). They chose not to indict Goodwin. At the end of 2006, he was finally indicted and went to trial on two counts of murder (via ESPN).

Significant pieces of evidence against Goodwin were the eyewitness identification and his possible motive. Michael Goodwin and Mickey Thompson went through a legal battle that went in Thomson's favor. Two weeks before the murders, the California Supreme Court upheld the ruling, giving Goodwin a reason to kill Thompson. The prosecution also suggested that Goodwin hired the two men on bikes to murder Mickey Thompson. On January 4, 2007, the jury found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with two aggravating circumstances, that he lied in wait and committed multiple murders (via Tire Business).

Sources: Unsolved Mysteries, Car and Driver, ESPN, and Tire Business