Homicide: Los Angeles on Netflix- What happened to Mickey Thompson? 

The second episode of the second season of Netflix's docuseries Homicide: Los Angeles titled Race Car Killer, deals with the murder of Mickey Thompson and his wife Trudy Thompson. Mickey was a legend in the automobile world who had several auto-car racing records to his name.

In 1988, Mickey Thompson was murdered in the driveway of his home. The second episode of the true crime documentary series digs deep into this murder mystery, which to date remains unsolved and is an ongoing case.

The first season of this docu-series focused on true crime cases based in New York, whereas season two focuses on crimes that occurred in Los Angeles. Season two arrived on Netflix on July 16, 2024. Season two has a total of five episodes each dealing with keyed-up investigations and cases.

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What happened to Mickey Thompson?

A still of 90's renowned Mickey Thompson (Image by Netflix)

Mickey Thompson, a record-breaking auto racer and inventor of indoor stadium racing, was murdered in his driveway on March 16, 1988, along with his wife. The LA County Sheriff's Department called it a high-profile case that was difficult to solve.

His son Danny also became an auto racer, and his wife helped promote races. Retired detective Rey Verdugo and crime scene investigator Liz Devine were the first to examine the scene in Bradbury Estates, where they found blood running down the gutter.

Trudy was near the driveway and Mickey was near the garage. Mickey was shot in the head and body and his wife was shot in the head.

As narrated in the episode, Mickey was yelling at the killers not to hurt his wife, which was reported by the neighbors too after which there was a series of gunshots. The couple was killed just before they were going to the office. Mickey had several thousand dollars and his car from the crime scene had expensive jewelry, as recovered and reported from the crime scene.

To date, why the two were killed remains a mystery but as guessed by the detectives, revenge was the only reason to kill both.

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Who are the suspected killers?

Who killed Mickey and his wife? (Image by Maxim Hopman/Unsplash)

The killers are suspected to be two African-American males, as reported by Allison Triarsi a neighbor of Mickey, who saw Trudy and Mickey while they were killed. Allison Triarsi is the only eyewitness to this case to date. Another woman who was driving near Bradbury on the day of the murder was the first to spot the suspected killers on 10-speed bicycles after which she made forensic sketches of the two.

According to Triarsi, the killers first killed Trudy as Mickey watched and begged for mercy, following which he was killed too. The shooters were presumably hired by Mike Goodwin, an ex-business partner of Mickey Thompson.

The actual shooters are still not identified to date and the investigation continues.

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Mike Goodwin was arrested for Mickey's murder

Mike Goodwin was jailed for Mickey Thompson and his wife's murder (Image by Engin Akyurt/Unsplash)

Mike Goodwin, a drag racer who invented supercross, partnered with Mickey Thompson to revolutionize racing. Goodwin promoted motorcycle racing, using Mickey's name to boost popularity. However, Goodwin didn't pay Mickey despite successful events, leading Mickey to terminate the partnership and win court cases against him. After losing, Goodwin threatened Mickey.

Though suspected in Mickey's murder, Goodwin had an alibi and no evidence linked him to the crime. When investigations began, Goodwin and his wife sold their house, liquidated their assets, and left the country by boat to evade the investigation.

Theodore Cold Case County Sheriff's Department with close-to-retirement detectives wanted the new detectives to take charge of this case. Earlier Scott Campbell, Mickey’s nephew was also killed. The detectives tried to connect the two crime cases, which did not help.

In 1993, Mike Goodwin was charged with fraud, following which he went to prison. The detectives reported Goodwin as a megalomaniac whose whole life was a lie. As shown in the series, Mike even revealed to a woman in his life that he had killed them both and never got caught.

Ron Stevens another neighbor had seen Goodwin surveilling the area, a few days before the murder as reported by Ron himself.

A 'Ramey' warrant was issued against Goodwin as shown in the docu-series, following which he was arrested. However, Goodwin didn’t give up and fought back after the arrest. Ron Bowers helped to get the case to trial, following which it was filed for the trial of Goodwin.

On Jan 4, 2007, after a hiatus, the jury in Los Angeles Supreme Court convicted Goodwin guilty. He was sent to jail with two consecutive life terms for two accounts of murder. To date, the two shooters have not been identified and arrested.

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Homicide: Los Angeles is now streaming on Netflix.