Fast Cars, drag racing and an unsolved murder. Join us as we discuss the life and death of racing legend Mickey Thompson along with the murder of his beloved wife at their California home.
The Real Estate: 53 Woodlyn Ln. Bradbury, CA
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Show Notes & Sources: https://www.crimeestate.com
This episode edited by the oh-so-talented, Elena
[00:00:05] At the intersection of true crime and real estate, you'll find Crime Estate. I'm Heather.
[00:00:09] And my name is Elena. As real estate agents and true crime junkies, we view crimes through
[00:00:14] a different lens. So walk through the door of some of the most notorious true crimes with
[00:00:18] us and discover how sometimes the scene of the crime has its own story to tell.
[00:00:27] Well, hey y'all. Welcome back to Crime Estate. I'm Heather and I'm joined as always by my
[00:00:32] co-host and fellow real estate agent, Elena, and our friend, producer and commentator,
[00:00:37] Melanie. Hey ladies.
[00:00:38] Hey guys. So we're recording early on a Saturday morning this week, which is odd for us. So
[00:00:44] if our voices sound extra sexy.
[00:00:47] Sexy. I think we have a little bit of sexy voice.
[00:00:51] But we took a week off because of fall break and I missed doing this.
[00:00:55] Yeah. Fall break was a little hectic this year. Our kids had what, three days off of school.
[00:01:00] So we had a five day weekend. And it would have been lovely if it had felt like fall,
[00:01:06] but it was what, 95 degrees here?
[00:01:08] So hot.
[00:01:08] It was miserable.
[00:01:09] Yeah.
[00:01:10] Yeah. It was pretty miserable in the heat. Yeah.
[00:01:14] But you and I got to hang out a little bit, Melanie. That was fun.
[00:01:19] Yeah. My family's really big Texas Longhorn fans. Hook them. And so we had some people over
[00:01:26] before going to watch the game at the Texas State Fair, which was lovely and very hot. But,
[00:01:32] but Heather, I did find some shaded area. So we were okay.
[00:01:35] I was really worried about you guys.
[00:01:37] Yeah. You know, we actually, we were, we were okay because we found a good shaded spot to sit
[00:01:42] that we could watch the game and maybe have a few adult beverages, but no, it was good.
[00:01:48] Yeah. Well, what I really want to know when you were at the State Fair, did you find the Art Deco
[00:01:54] statues of Mary Ellen Benston from Queen of Swiss Avenue?
[00:01:57] You know, I didn't on that day. Then, but then we went Thursday night for kind of an adult night
[00:02:05] because the weather actually was lovely on Thursday. Remember it was in like the sixties,
[00:02:09] which is beautiful fall weather here in Dallas. And I looked around and I couldn't exactly figure
[00:02:15] out where they were, but I spent a lot of time looking at the beautiful Art Deco paintings on
[00:02:20] the wall. So maybe I was looking at one of them and I didn't know it was her, but yeah, if you know,
[00:02:25] if you're ever in Texas and at the State Fair, you probably don't notice it, but there's some really
[00:02:29] cool art that's, that's there.
[00:02:32] You know who loves the State Fair more than anybody else?
[00:02:35] I bet we know.
[00:02:37] We love the fair.
[00:02:38] How many times did y'all go?
[00:02:40] Oh, seven.
[00:02:41] And will you go again this weekend before it's?
[00:02:43] I was thinking about that on the ride over here. I'm like, I hope we get to go one more time.
[00:02:48] It's just fun. It's just, I don't know. Something about it's nostalgic.
[00:02:52] Well, it always ends like it too quickly for me. Like I always think, okay, well now that it's
[00:02:58] starting to feel like more like fall will go. And then I'm like, oh, Sunday's the last day.
[00:03:03] Like I never want to go the first weekend because it's usually really hot, but then it just,
[00:03:08] then life gets really fast and rapid. But yeah, I feel like we're always amateurs.
[00:03:13] Because every year we say we're going to get the season pass like you do, and then we don't.
[00:03:17] And then we wish we had gotten the season pass.
[00:03:19] Yeah. It just makes sense.
[00:03:20] Absolutely.
[00:03:21] Yeah.
[00:03:22] Yeah.
[00:03:22] We love it.
[00:03:23] All right. Well, we may have confused some of our listeners if you don't follow every episode
[00:03:28] or if you haven't started from the very beginning. Those Art Deco statues we were talking about,
[00:03:33] that was what? Mary Ellen Binston, Queen of Swiss Avenue, episode seven? Does that sound right?
[00:03:38] Maybe?
[00:03:38] It was early on. It was one of our very first episodes.
[00:03:41] Yeah.
[00:03:43] Anyway, the subject of our story today probably doesn't have any statues made of him at State
[00:03:49] Fairgrounds, but he is quite famous. And I was inspired to research this story after watching
[00:03:55] a show about this person on the new Netflix series, Homicide LA. Do either of you recognize
[00:04:01] the name Mickey Thompson?
[00:04:03] No.
[00:04:03] I did not.
[00:04:05] All right. So I didn't immediately recognize his name either, but my husband did, and I
[00:04:10] bet your husbands would as well. You see, Mickey Thompson made the coolest car parts of the 1980s.
[00:04:17] So I'm pretty sure every 40-year-old man knows who he is, but his story doesn't start with car
[00:04:23] parts. Pauls, can y'all appreciate that I'm bringing you a story about cars? I mean, it's a little off-brand
[00:04:29] for me.
[00:04:30] Yeah, it totally is.
[00:04:30] I mean, I think it's a little off-brand for all of us, other than the fact that I'm guessing
[00:04:36] there's a crime involved.
[00:04:37] There's a crime? There's an incredible house?
[00:04:39] Yeah. Yes. I say that is on-brand. And, you know, spoiler alert, I looked ahead and this is
[00:04:46] in California, in Southern California, which, you know, we as Texans, it is funny how often our
[00:04:52] stories are in Southern California, but I think it's a lot of really beautiful homes out there
[00:04:57] and apparently some crime.
[00:05:00] Yeah, and as we were talking about earlier, we have a ton of listeners in California too,
[00:05:02] so thanks guys for listening to the show. We appreciate that.
[00:05:05] Yeah, and please feel free to recommend some of your favorite stories that we might not know
[00:05:10] about because we are always up for a good virtual tour, and I am also trying to get the ladies
[00:05:16] to do like an L.A. trip sometime. We need to do a girls' weekend in L.A.
[00:05:22] That could be so fun.
[00:05:23] That could be a lot of fun.
[00:05:24] I think, I know we're talking about this live right now, but now that I'm thinking about it,
[00:05:27] I think we really need to schedule one for 2025.
[00:05:30] I like it.
[00:05:31] Yeah. So Dallas, Elena is fun, but vacation, Elena?
[00:05:34] Ooh, I bet.
[00:05:36] Oh!
[00:05:37] So fun.
[00:05:37] All right, you can cut this, but can I just say, Elena had my kid last night, and you texted me at 1 a.m.
[00:05:47] Thank God I was up. I had been asleep, and I just got up to go to the bathroom, and I was like,
[00:05:51] oh, oh, hi. Oh, we're talking about the kids.
[00:05:55] 1 a.m. I was like, you are way more fun on a Friday night than I am. I was sound asleep.
[00:05:59] Yeah, yeah. Well, so thanks for making sure I got home.
[00:06:02] You're welcome.
[00:06:03] Wow.
[00:06:04] Yeah, all right, so let's go back to Mickey Thompson. According to the Automotive Hall of Fame,
[00:06:08] Mickey was born in Alhambra, California in 1928. We've talked about Alhambra, too. Isn't that where
[00:06:14] Phil Spector's house was?
[00:06:16] I don't remember that.
[00:06:17] I'm putting y'all on the spot, but I'm pretty sure it was.
[00:06:19] It really sounds very familiar. Yeah.
[00:06:21] At only 14 years old, Mickey bought his first car, a 1927 Chevy that he paid $7.50 for.
[00:06:30] Okay.
[00:06:30] He began building cars out of his garage before he was old enough to legally drive.
[00:06:35] And as they say, the rest is history. He turned his love of building cars into a love of building
[00:06:41] the fastest cars. And in the 1950s, he changed the race car industry by designing the Slingshot
[00:06:47] Dragster, a race car which placed the driver behind the rear axle as opposed to in front of it.
[00:06:53] So picture like a really long dragster type race car with the driver sitting at the very back of
[00:06:59] the car. It would sort of look like you had pulled back a slingshot and the rock in your slingshot
[00:07:05] would be like the driver. So that's sort of how the slingshot got its name.
[00:07:11] Gotcha.
[00:07:11] Or the slingshot car, not the axle.
[00:07:13] Wow. You know, I'm not really a car person, truthfully, but I did a little research on Mickey
[00:07:20] when we were talking about this yesterday. And he really was a literal king of cars in
[00:07:25] the muscle car era. You know, his nickname sometimes was the king of speed and included
[00:07:31] working as an off-road racer, speed car builder, a designer, and an industry salesman. And, you
[00:07:37] know, to date myself, I always think of the movie Grease. Remember in Grease where they did
[00:07:42] the drag racing.
[00:07:44] Go Grease lightning, go Grease lightning.
[00:07:47] I know that that is my muscle car drag racing thing that comes to mind. I don't know about
[00:07:52] you guys. But being in East Dallas and having a son at the historic Woodrow Wilson High School,
[00:07:58] I know about Carroll Shelby. So Carroll Shelby was one of the many alumni of Woodrow that happened
[00:08:03] to be the inventor of the Ford Mustang. And that was the movie Ford versus Ferrari, which
[00:08:09] was all about Carroll Shelby and the racing of the same exact era. And so, of course,
[00:08:15] I looked up Mickey and did, you know, searched for Carroll Shelby. And they were definitely
[00:08:20] contemporaries. They knew each other. They raced against each other. So, you know, it all circles
[00:08:24] back a little bit. But yeah, I was...
[00:08:27] The world revolves around East Dallas.
[00:08:28] Yeah.
[00:08:29] Or actually just Melanie.
[00:08:31] Oh, there you go. Perfect.
[00:08:33] No, but what I thought was really cool was you can still buy Mickey Thompson tires today.
[00:08:38] Like, you know, you search Mickey Thompson and like, it's just page after page of his tires
[00:08:43] that you can buy or at least are branded with his name still today.
[00:08:46] Yeah, you're absolutely right. So, like you were saying, you know, Mickey and Carroll Shelby
[00:08:51] and all of those racing contemporaries were working, you know, were competing a little bit at the time.
[00:08:57] But in the 1960s, Mickey became the fastest man in America. He drove his car at over 400 miles
[00:09:04] per hour in the Bonneville Salt Flats. And side note, the Smithsonian says that that is equal to the
[00:09:10] velocity of a bullet. Can you imagine going that fast?
[00:09:14] No way.
[00:09:15] I won't even do roller coasters.
[00:09:16] No.
[00:09:17] So, in 1965, he also went on to self-publish his autobiography.
[00:09:23] And then he took on a different title, that of husband and father, Mary and Judy, with whom he had two kids,
[00:09:30] Lindy and Danny. And despite his career, he sounds like a great dad. He coached his son's football
[00:09:35] and baseball teams. He was very hands-on, although he reportedly did not want his son Danny to follow
[00:09:42] in his racing footsteps. But it was his second marriage in 1971 to the much younger Trudy Feller,
[00:09:48] who everyone would go on to say was the love of his life. Trudy shared Mickey's love of fast cars
[00:09:54] and worked as a secretary at Hot Rod Magazine. Talk about a match made in, Evan.
[00:10:00] According to those that knew them, the two were inseparable, doing everything together and
[00:10:04] constantly chasing new speed records and engineering innovations along with promoting
[00:10:09] the drag racing circuit. In an interview with Trudy Thompson that was replayed on the series
[00:10:14] Homicide Los Angeles, she said,
[00:10:16] I like to be close to him. I like to do what he's doing. And I like to go fast.
[00:10:21] She sounds fun.
[00:10:21] She sounds super fun.
[00:10:23] It sounds like a really cute little couple.
[00:10:25] I agree.
[00:10:26] Yeah.
[00:10:27] And an article in the LA Times said it wasn't that Mickey was accident prone. He just wanted
[00:10:33] to go five miles an hour faster than anybody in the world. It wasn't his fault that the machines
[00:10:38] just couldn't keep up. He had the distinction of putting an end to the Mexican road race in 1954
[00:10:43] when he plowed into a crowd of spectators and killed five of them.
[00:10:47] Oh my God.
[00:10:48] But it wasn't really Mickey's fault. The townspeople had clustered around a wreck in the middle of
[00:10:53] the race course when Mickey came upon them going 150 miles an hour.
[00:10:57] And they say he actually veered wildly off and drove off a cliff like trying to avoid the
[00:11:04] people or there would have been a lot more dead.
[00:11:06] Wow.
[00:11:07] His own rib cage, however, looked like an elephant's graveyard.
[00:11:11] And his son Danny is quoted as saying about his dad, a good description of my dad was he
[00:11:16] was flat out all the time. And I mean, he was peddled to the floor. That's the way he
[00:11:20] spent his life. He loved to go fast. He loved racing. And I think the businesses were a way
[00:11:25] to help him continue to race. That same article went on to say that Mickey didn't only go fast
[00:11:31] on land. He put a hydroplane in the water at Lake Mead for a water speed record attempt in 1960.
[00:11:37] Now hydroplanes, I don't know whether you know it or not, they are the most delicate of racing
[00:11:41] machines. They are so finely tuned they should run only in a bathtub or on water so glassy you can
[00:11:48] see yourself in it. Just a Kleenex on the surface can send you orbiting to the moon and your boat
[00:11:53] after you.
[00:11:55] Same article continues with,
[00:11:57] Mickey crashed his hydroplane in the wake of a patrol boat. And the next thing he knew,
[00:12:00] he was flying through the air and landing on water that at those velocities is like landing
[00:12:05] on concrete from a low flying plane. His heart was broken and unfortunately so was his back.
[00:12:11] Will I be able to race again? He asked the doctors. I don't know. They told him how fast can
[00:12:16] a wheelchair go?
[00:12:17] Oh dang.
[00:12:17] I know. But this will not surprise you guys. Mickey gave the medic six months to fix him up and then he
[00:12:23] went AWOL from the hospital in a van fitted with a mattress, an oxygen bottle, and a crucifix.
[00:12:29] When he asked them to recommend a doctor on the way, they gave him the name of the only one
[00:12:33] they thought he would need, the coroner.
[00:12:36] Damn.
[00:12:37] He did however promise to give up skydiving and water skiing, but he was back in a car as soon as he could
[00:12:43] sit up without screaming and reach a foot pedal without feeling as if someone had just kicked him
[00:12:48] in the back.
[00:12:49] That's wild.
[00:12:50] Can you imagine being that dedicated to a thing you love, the truth, whatever it takes? He sounds
[00:12:57] like a really interesting guy.
[00:12:59] Definitely. I wonder what made him like this, like what made him in his childhood become this person.
[00:13:05] I feel the need, the need for speed.
[00:13:10] You did that so well.
[00:13:13] All right. Well, yeah, Elena, I don't, I don't know, but I mean, if he was building cars at 14,
[00:13:18] it just, it had to be like a natural love.
[00:13:20] Yeah.
[00:13:21] And as you might imagine, someone that loves cars so much builds a house with a pretty fabulous garage.
[00:13:27] Mickey and Trudy built their custom home in Bradbury Estates in 1978.
[00:13:32] And I'm going to call this style a California seventies modern, which I'm not sure is really a thing,
[00:13:37] but I think if you think California seventies and modern and put all those pictures in your head
[00:13:42] together, that's what I come up with when I see this house picture, like clean mid-century
[00:13:46] type lines with a more California exterior of stucco and a tile roof.
[00:13:52] And the property itself wasn't huge at 3,500 square feet, but it sits on over two acres and was
[00:13:58] last publicly for sale in 2010 for $1,350,000.
[00:14:03] The listing description from the Compass website reads,
[00:14:06] This is a great property for the car buff, collector, or someone with limo type service
[00:14:11] who needs lots of parking and storage.
[00:14:14] The two large garages should store at least 20 cars plus.
[00:14:18] One of the garages has two working lifts.
[00:14:20] I doubt if you could duplicate the storage parking anywhere in Bradbury or the San Gabriel
[00:14:25] Valley's residential neighborhood today.
[00:14:27] The home is in need of updating and repair.
[00:14:29] Sellers will not make any repair and property is being sold in its as is condition.
[00:14:34] The home was built for famous, the home was custom built for famous race car driver, Mickey
[00:14:39] Thompson.
[00:14:40] There's an additional room and a three fourth bath with entrance to room from garage, which
[00:14:44] may not be included in the square footage.
[00:14:46] Um, yeah.
[00:14:48] So huge garage, more important than the house.
[00:14:52] Yeah.
[00:14:52] I feel like two large garages does not do it justice.
[00:14:56] Like I feel like there should have been a better descriptor there.
[00:14:59] Well, I'm guessing that that's the most significant part of the house from from at least this real
[00:15:05] estate perspective.
[00:15:06] I think it's really interesting because you mentioned I think it was a 2010 real estate
[00:15:11] listing.
[00:15:12] And we're talking about, well, you know, we were talking about the 1980s, I think beforehand.
[00:15:18] And so, you know, we don't know yet what the crime is, but the fact that they are still referencing
[00:15:25] the house being Mickey Thompson's house, um, you know, relatively recently is interesting.
[00:15:32] Um, but I also was wondering, have either of you ever sold or maybe shown homes that was
[00:15:38] built for like a car collection, like outside of like a normal home ownership?
[00:15:44] I don't think so.
[00:15:48] So the house that immediately comes to mind and we'll post pictures if I can find it of
[00:15:54] the garage on our socials.
[00:15:55] Um, do you remember here in East Dallas, there was the old YMCA was turned into a house and
[00:16:02] it had, um, it had like almost like a basement garage where you could probably park eight to
[00:16:10] 12 vehicles.
[00:16:11] Um, and I've seen a couple of those.
[00:16:13] Think about the house that was being built up near our kids' school where it has like
[00:16:17] this drive-in basement.
[00:16:18] Oh yeah.
[00:16:19] You know, I think if you can get that sort of underground basement type garage, you can
[00:16:25] do a lot more with the space.
[00:16:28] Um, because it's just, it's a little cost prohibitive to build it above ground unless you
[00:16:32] have a huge lot.
[00:16:33] I always thought it was just interesting because, um, a neighbor in my, on my street,
[00:16:38] a few houses down who actually lived in a new build, um, that was kind of the historic
[00:16:43] ilk of my neighborhood had very kind of normal, like house, normal size garage, but they collected
[00:16:50] cars.
[00:16:51] And so they had lifts in their garage so that they could lift the cars.
[00:16:55] I mean, I just, every time I would walk by, I thought that was really interesting.
[00:16:59] Well, and I think that's like when my brother lived in Australia, that's how their parking
[00:17:04] garages were.
[00:17:05] Like you had different lifts for your cars because it, it does maximize the space.
[00:17:09] If you think you can sort of stack two cars on top of each other and then get the one down
[00:17:14] when you need it.
[00:17:14] I mean, I've seen like in, in New York and some urban areas, like a garage, like public
[00:17:19] garages like that, but kind of interesting, I guess it's a way to help it if you are more
[00:17:25] residential and you want to, nobody wants to have that like five cars in the, in a small
[00:17:29] driveway, um, kind of set up.
[00:17:32] So anyway, I just think it was interesting that this real, I mean, like they knew what
[00:17:36] their target was for this house was describing it because of the cars.
[00:17:40] Yeah.
[00:17:40] And from what I can tell, the house is still pretty much in its original condition.
[00:17:44] Um, you know, they were mainly marketing it for lot value or, you know, for its location
[00:17:50] in this prestigious neighborhood of Bradbury Oak Estates.
[00:17:52] Sounds like homes in this section of the neighborhood are gated and are required to be on at least
[00:17:57] a two acre lot.
[00:17:59] But further into the neighborhood, you'll find an even more affluent area called Bradbury
[00:18:03] Estates and homes there sit on a minimum of five acres behind a guarded gate.
[00:18:08] Wow.
[00:18:09] Yeah.
[00:18:09] I was curious about Bradbury.
[00:18:11] And so I texted, um, uh, both my brother and sister last night.
[00:18:14] I think I've said before they both live in the LA area and neither of them had ever heard
[00:18:20] of, of this area, you know?
[00:18:22] And so I, uh, you know, this is pretty far from the coast or Hollywood, uh, or Orange County
[00:18:29] or even the Valley, to be honest.
[00:18:31] And Bradbury is actually pretty small.
[00:18:34] It's Northeast of Pasadena, just South of the San Gabriel mountains below the Angeles National
[00:18:41] Forest.
[00:18:42] It's like 20 miles from downtown LA and the city of Bradbury on their website, it describes
[00:18:48] it as a small residential equestrian oriented community.
[00:18:52] I mean, I figured you're putting equestrian oriented in the title, um, of approximately only
[00:18:58] a thousand.
[00:18:59] The community encompasses 1.9 square miles and much of the city is owned for agriculture
[00:19:05] and maintains open space in the foothills between two and five acre minimums.
[00:19:11] So yeah, if you, I mean, with, you can kind of picture the mountains and the foothills
[00:19:16] going up to the mountains and the forest.
[00:19:18] So it really kind of backends there, but it's pretty, you know, it's maybe a different neighborhood
[00:19:23] that we've talked about.
[00:19:24] Maybe other than Phil Spector's Alhambra estate one.
[00:19:28] Yeah.
[00:19:29] And because it is relatively private, like you're saying, and it has this beautiful location,
[00:19:33] it's been home to a lot of famous celebrities and affluent people like Saudi princes.
[00:19:38] And in 2011, Lindsay Snyder, whose name I didn't recognize immediately.
[00:19:42] She's the former president and heiress to the in and out worker fortune.
[00:19:46] She purchased a home from the famous baseball player, Adrian Beltre and Bradbury States for
[00:19:53] $17.4 million.
[00:19:55] Y'all.
[00:19:56] That's insane.
[00:19:58] Yeah.
[00:19:59] According to an article in realtor.com, the home sitting on over four acres was huge itself
[00:20:04] located off the beaten billionaire path and Bradbury estates and elite community.
[00:20:09] Like Mel said, near the foot of the San Gabriel mountains.
[00:20:11] It was ideal for Snyder in many ways, partly due to the location.
[00:20:16] It's one of the upscale neighborhoods closest to the former in and out headquarters in Baldwin
[00:20:20] Park, California.
[00:20:21] It says the exclusive community originally was developed when owners and trainers from the
[00:20:27] Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia were looking for their own private horse stables.
[00:20:32] Equestrian community.
[00:20:33] There you go.
[00:20:34] It was also ideal for Snyder because of the Bradbury estate's 24-hour guard gated security.
[00:20:40] Snyder had been the victim of two foiled kidnapping attempts and has four children.
[00:20:45] So her estate is equipped with extra security systems.
[00:20:49] Wow.
[00:20:49] Isn't that terrifying?
[00:20:50] That is.
[00:20:51] So it was like, were they trying to kidnap her for ransom stuff?
[00:20:54] I think so.
[00:20:55] That's messed up.
[00:20:56] In and out money.
[00:20:57] I guess so.
[00:20:58] Big time.
[00:20:59] Okay.
[00:20:59] And look, y'all, this house is not this part of our story other than it's in the same neighborhood.
[00:21:04] I just have to tell you a little bit about it.
[00:21:06] Okay.
[00:21:06] Aren't you curious?
[00:21:07] Yeah.
[00:21:07] Okay.
[00:21:08] The mansion includes Luke's features like a hair salon, approximately 3,400 square foot recreation
[00:21:15] center, which could be used as a ballroom, dance studio, batting cage, billiard
[00:21:19] room, a lavish movie theater, a spa-like fitness center, and a temperature-controlled wine cellar
[00:21:25] and tasting room.
[00:21:26] It also has a vineyard, a private two-hole golf course with sand traps and a putting green
[00:21:30] like one does.
[00:21:31] And in addition to the regulation basketball and tennis courts, there's an infinity-edge
[00:21:35] pool with a chic cabana and dining area and full outdoor kitchen.
[00:21:40] That's insane.
[00:21:43] Yeah.
[00:21:45] Let's see.
[00:21:45] Is there anything else about this I need to tell you?
[00:21:47] Because I could go on and on about this house.
[00:21:49] Next time people say that everything's bigger in Texas, I mean, apparently Bradbury Estate,
[00:21:54] you know, huge.
[00:21:55] I did recently tour a house here in Dallas that had like its own like dressing area salon.
[00:22:04] And it had those chairs like you sit in when you go to the salon with the big mirror up
[00:22:09] here.
[00:22:09] And it's like, whoever lives here is real fancy because they have people come in and do their
[00:22:14] hair and makeup at their house.
[00:22:15] And that to me would be a dream.
[00:22:17] Wow.
[00:22:18] Yeah.
[00:22:19] That's the height of bougie.
[00:22:20] And they don't even have to come to your bedroom, right?
[00:22:22] Or your bathroom.
[00:22:23] Like you have your own little space that you go to.
[00:22:25] Would you really like that?
[00:22:26] Yes.
[00:22:27] I like doing my hair and makeup.
[00:22:29] No.
[00:22:29] Mm-mm.
[00:22:31] My, like if I could make a Judy Jetson machine that you just put on your head and it does your
[00:22:36] hair for you, that would make me so happy.
[00:22:39] And that'd make you a lot of money.
[00:22:40] That would be great too.
[00:22:42] Yeah.
[00:22:43] All right.
[00:22:44] So like I said, that house doesn't really have anything to do with our story other than
[00:22:48] I think it does set the seam for the neighborhood in which the crime.
[00:22:52] I'm finally about to tell you about took place.
[00:22:56] But we will post a couple pics of that.
[00:22:58] So make sure y'all check out the pics on our website, CrimeEstate.com and our socials.
[00:23:02] Plus Reddit.
[00:23:03] Mel is posting our episodes on there as well.
[00:23:05] Yeah.
[00:23:05] Thank you, Melanie.
[00:23:05] One day I'll figure out Reddit.
[00:23:07] But it seems to escape me at the moment.
[00:23:09] Yeah.
[00:23:10] I like looking at things at Reddit.
[00:23:12] But yeah, I don't really know how, but I am not an aficionado.
[00:23:17] All right.
[00:23:19] Well, now that you guys have all of the background on Mickey Thompson and the neighborhood in
[00:23:24] which he lived, let me tell you about the as yet unsolved murder of Mickey and Trudy
[00:23:31] Thompson.
[00:23:31] As we mentioned earlier, 59-year-old Mickey and 41-year-old Trudy were inseparable in life
[00:23:37] and in business.
[00:23:38] The two worked together at the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group, which organized and promoted
[00:23:42] car races at venues across the country.
[00:23:45] On the morning of March 16th, 1988, the two left for work just like they did every other
[00:23:51] day.
[00:23:52] According to their neighbors, the two followed a routine leaving at 6 a.m. every morning
[00:23:56] to drive to their offices.
[00:23:58] And as part of that routine, Trudy was the designated driver and she would back out of
[00:24:03] the garage.
[00:24:03] Mickey would manually pull the garage door down and then get in the car with her to ride
[00:24:07] to the office.
[00:24:08] I kind of like the fact that he's this big time race car driver, but his wife is the
[00:24:14] one who drives.
[00:24:15] I love that too.
[00:24:16] At 6 a.m. that morning, the neighbor behind them unfortunately heard a gunshot and then
[00:24:22] heard Mickey call out to Trudy.
[00:24:24] He looked out his window and saw two young black men riding away from the Thompson house on
[00:24:28] Woodland Lane on bicycles.
[00:24:31] By the time the police arrived, Mickey and Trudy were both dead, laying in their driveway in
[00:24:36] what appeared to be a targeted ambush.
[00:24:38] So what motive could they possibly have had for killing the two who by all accounts were
[00:24:43] well loved by everyone?
[00:24:45] I guess the obvious motives would be money and jealousy.
[00:24:49] Were either of them having an affair or were they having money problems?
[00:24:53] I mean, not that anybody knew at the time, Elena, but one of the things that jumped out at detectives
[00:24:59] immediately was that Trudy was shot first.
[00:25:02] To them, this told them two things.
[00:25:05] First, that the motive wasn't robbery.
[00:25:07] If it had been, the assailants would have shot the larger male presence, Mickey, first.
[00:25:11] And further corroborating that conclusion, they found $4,000 cash in Mickey's wallet.
[00:25:17] And Trudy was said to be either wearing or carrying with her in the car over $70,000 worth of jewelry.
[00:25:23] So if robbery was the motive, why didn't they take that easy to grab cash and jewelry?
[00:25:29] Second, Trudy being shot first told the detectives that this was a personal crime
[00:25:33] and that someone wanted to make Mickey suffer by having to watch the woman he loved die.
[00:25:38] That's sad.
[00:25:39] It's very sad, but I think it's a smart and interesting conclusion, you know, from a detective's perspective
[00:25:46] that if the point was robbery, you would go for the person that could attack you and take you down first.
[00:25:55] Right.
[00:25:55] Now, another person was driving by the neighborhood at the time and also saw the two men speeding away on bikes.
[00:26:01] She called the police and was able to work with a sketch artist to provide likenesses of the alleged attackers.
[00:26:08] Police worked quickly to get those photos out to the local media and set up traffic stops throughout town
[00:26:13] to see if they could identify the men in the photos, but that did not produce any solid leads.
[00:26:18] So investigators went back to the basics, interviewing everyone who knew Mickey and Trudy.
[00:26:24] And in those interviews, one name kept coming up.
[00:26:27] Mike Goodwin.
[00:26:28] Mike was to motocross racing what Mickey was to drag racing, and the two had formed a partnership of sorts,
[00:26:35] cross-promoting their events and often creating events that would include both motorcycle races and car races.
[00:26:41] Motocross racing is a motorcycle?
[00:26:44] Yes.
[00:26:45] But like a dirt bike?
[00:26:47] I feel like you're asking me something that I don't have the answer to, but I feel like it's sort of like a dirt bike.
[00:26:54] That's what I'm picturing.
[00:26:55] That's what I'm picturing.
[00:26:56] Okay.
[00:26:56] Yeah.
[00:26:58] But y'all, this partnership was not all champagne and roses.
[00:27:02] Mike would run up big bills at the stadiums and then not pay those bills.
[00:27:06] And Mickey just did not want his name associated with this kind of business practice and ultimately dissolved their partnership.
[00:27:12] But as you can imagine, that did not really sit well with Mike Goodwin.
[00:27:16] And what came next was a long series of legal battles in which Mickey was ultimately successful.
[00:27:23] So, of course, detectives want to interview Mike Goodwin and they do so at his attorney's offices in downtown L.A.
[00:27:28] But unfortunately, Mike has a solid alibi.
[00:27:31] He was at the gym at the exact same time as the murders and had quite a few people who could verify his whereabouts.
[00:27:38] And y'all, from there, the case goes cold for eight years until it's picked up by a new detective in the department.
[00:27:44] And they start fresh investigating the case from square one again.
[00:27:49] Now, originally, detectives thought that Mike Goodwin was a dead end.
[00:27:53] But then he sells his house, flees the country, and funnels all of his money into a Caribbean bank.
[00:28:00] They wondered why he would do this if he hadn't had anything to do with the crime.
[00:28:04] And while his alibi made it clear that he didn't actually commit the crimes himself,
[00:28:08] they wondered if he could have paid to have the murders committed.
[00:28:12] I see where they're going with that.
[00:28:14] But I also wonder if maybe he knew there was like a threat.
[00:28:17] Maybe there's a threat in the community.
[00:28:19] Oh, like you think like maybe somebody's taking out people in this industry and he felt...
[00:28:24] Reminds me of the DJ case.
[00:28:25] Oh, yeah, you're right.
[00:28:26] Where one DJ was killed and then they were worried that...
[00:28:29] Right, yeah.
[00:28:31] Somebody was targeting DJs.
[00:28:32] That makes sense.
[00:28:33] Okay, I could see this.
[00:28:35] Now, at some point in the early 90s, Mike Goodwin comes back to the United States and he's arrested for fraud,
[00:28:40] having to do with all the purchases that he made in the Caribbean.
[00:28:44] He's sentenced to two and a half years in prison, though not for any crime associated with the Thompson murders.
[00:28:49] But it does seem like there were a lot of people who were very, very suspicious of him and everything that had been going on.
[00:28:56] And I want to give a call out to Mickey's sister, Colleen, who was really pushing for someone to solve this case.
[00:29:05] And she and her husband put up money for this.
[00:29:08] So, I mean, it was not forgotten.
[00:29:11] Yeah.
[00:29:12] And Mel, when really at the end of the day, you know, she kept pushing for the police to keep investigating.
[00:29:19] And it really was good old-fashioned police work that changed the whole trajectory of the story.
[00:29:24] So, these new detectives went back and they re-interviewed everyone who had originally been interviewed in the case.
[00:29:31] When they re-interviewed the neighbor, the one that originally heard that gunshot that morning,
[00:29:36] he mentions that his daughter's best friend lived across the street from the Thompson.
[00:29:40] And she, wait for it ladies, had seen the entire crime take place.
[00:29:46] What?
[00:29:47] But the cops had never interviewed her.
[00:29:50] And before we give them a hard time about this, her parents were so worried about the trauma that she had after seeing this crime,
[00:29:58] that they didn't want to put her through the retelling of the story.
[00:30:01] So, they didn't come forward to the police about their daughter having seen the crime.
[00:30:06] I don't feel good about that.
[00:30:09] I mean, would y'all do the same thing?
[00:30:10] I mean, she was a 15-year-old girl.
[00:30:11] We have 15-year-olds.
[00:30:14] That's hard.
[00:30:15] Yeah.
[00:30:16] I mean, as much as I would want to protect my child, I also would want them to, like, you know, it's kind of a lesson, you know, to do the right thing.
[00:30:25] And, you know, see something, say something, speak up.
[00:30:28] And I feel like maybe, you know, repressing it would have other issues as well.
[00:30:34] Well, and, you know, let's keep in mind this is, you know, 1986.
[00:30:38] You know, therapy was not the thing that it is today.
[00:30:41] Yeah.
[00:30:41] We would immediately, you know, have our kids in therapy.
[00:30:44] Exactly.
[00:30:46] So, I can see both sides of it, for sure.
[00:30:49] But by now, this 15-year-old girl, she's a grown adult, and so the detectives track her down for an interview.
[00:30:55] She tells them that she was getting ready for school that morning when she heard a scream.
[00:30:59] And so, she runs to the living room window, and she sees Trudy Thompson crawling down the driveway,
[00:31:04] and Mickey Thompson kneeling on the driveway, begging the assailants not to kill Trudy.
[00:31:10] As Trudy reaches the end of the driveway, one of the gunmen turns around and shoots her, and then returns to shoot Mickey.
[00:31:17] She then noted that the two black men hopped onto bicycles and sped away.
[00:31:22] In an effort to identify these two men, the L.A. police took the story to America's Most Wanted.
[00:31:27] And that led to a former girlfriend of Mike Goodwin's calling into the police station and telling them that he had told her he was responsible for the murders of Mickey and Trudy Thompson,
[00:31:38] but that he would never be caught because he had been so smart about it.
[00:31:41] Oh, wow.
[00:31:42] What's the phrase?
[00:31:43] Sinking?
[00:31:45] Loose lips.
[00:31:46] Loose lips.
[00:31:46] Sink ships.
[00:31:48] Yeah.
[00:31:48] If you're so smart about it, would you really be telling anybody?
[00:31:53] And so the detectives wondered, did he have other girlfriends who he had shared the same info with?
[00:31:59] What about with his ex-wife?
[00:32:00] You know, that same woman that he was married to at the time the crime occurred?
[00:32:04] And so they put a wiretap on Mike's ex-wife's phone, and then they called her to see if she would talk to them about the crime.
[00:32:13] Now, not surprisingly, she didn't want to talk to the police, but they were monitoring her phone,
[00:32:17] and it didn't take long for her to get on the phone with someone else and tell them that Mike had admitted to her that he was responsible for the Thompson murders.
[00:32:24] I think this is fascinating.
[00:32:25] They're like, let's call and just like plant the seed in her head, like remind her about this, and then just wait and watch and listen.
[00:32:33] And sure enough, she calls somebody else.
[00:32:35] Can they do that, though?
[00:32:36] Can they just hit a bug in your phone?
[00:32:38] I mean, they did.
[00:32:40] Okay.
[00:32:41] Yeah, I don't know what the rules are now.
[00:32:43] I hope not.
[00:32:44] I mean, don't you just sort of assume.
[00:32:46] I think it's probable cause.
[00:32:48] I'm sure they had to get a warrant or something like that.
[00:32:50] Okay, yeah, that makes sense.
[00:32:51] Let's hope, right?
[00:32:52] Now, that same America's Most Wanted episode provided a second really important lead.
[00:32:59] An accountant calls in, and he tells them that he has a client who has tried to contact the police several times in the past about this case,
[00:33:07] and no one ever got back to him.
[00:33:09] The guy lives about three blocks from Mickey and Trudy's house.
[00:33:13] And so he gets home from work one day, less than a week before the crime occurs,
[00:33:17] and his wife comes out the front door and tells him that she's really glad he's home because there has been this suspicious vehicle loitering by their house,
[00:33:24] and the guys in it have binoculars.
[00:33:27] Now, he calls the police that day, and he's actually concerned that they live like right down the street from an elementary school,
[00:33:34] so he's like, are these pedophiles? Are they, like, planning a kidnapping attempt?
[00:33:38] You know, he's worried that they're up to no good.
[00:33:42] And the guy goes on to describe the driver of the car, and when he does, the police immediately know that he is describing Mike Goodwin.
[00:33:50] So they pull Mike in for a lineup, and this guy, after all these years, is able to pick Mike Goodwin out of that lineup as the man he had seen in front of his house.
[00:34:00] I sort of wonder how that holds up in court because that's a long time.
[00:34:05] Yeah.
[00:34:05] Yeah.
[00:34:07] Now, because, remember, the Thompson's house was in a really exclusive gated area,
[00:34:12] whoever committed the crime had to be extra prepared,
[00:34:14] and it seems that Goodwin set out to prepare his hired guns himself,
[00:34:18] helping them to scope out the best entrance and exits to and from the property.
[00:34:23] This is interesting.
[00:34:25] Even though it was a remote, gated community,
[00:34:28] kind of an area, if you're a local, you might know it, but definitely not outsiders,
[00:34:31] especially at 6 a.m.
[00:34:33] It feels like an inside job.
[00:34:35] Or you would have to at least know somebody.
[00:34:37] Totally.
[00:34:37] I mean, you would have to definitely know how to get in and out of the neighborhood.
[00:34:40] Right.
[00:34:40] Well, I mean, if they were previously business associates, maybe, you know, kind of work friends,
[00:34:46] there's a very good chance that he had spent some time, he had been to the house,
[00:34:49] he knew kind of their schedule.
[00:34:52] I mean, 6 a.m. is not a crime of opportunity in a gated area, I don't think.
[00:34:58] Well, and like we said, this section is not the fanciest section of the neighborhood.
[00:35:03] So it was gated, but it was not guard gated.
[00:35:06] And so, yes, they had to get through a gate,
[00:35:09] but there wasn't somebody like checking your ID as you're coming in and out.
[00:35:14] But eventually, because he is, you know, identified in this lineup,
[00:35:19] they go ahead and arrest Mike Goodwin.
[00:35:21] And he is convicted of planning the murders of Mickey and Trudy Thompson.
[00:35:26] But ladies, the two men who pulled the trigger have never been identified.
[00:35:31] So we're going to put the sketches of these two up on our socials.
[00:35:34] You know, somebody out there knows who they are.
[00:35:36] And let's remember, there is not a statute of limitations on murder.
[00:35:39] So, you know, I think with all this new press, you know, like I said,
[00:35:43] this idea came from the new Netflix series Homicide LA.
[00:35:48] Like people start talking.
[00:35:50] And, you know, when like when the America's Most Wanted story came out,
[00:35:54] that brought a lot of leads.
[00:35:56] So, I mean, I think there's still the opportunity for somebody to recognize these guys,
[00:36:00] even all these years later.
[00:36:02] That's wild.
[00:36:03] So they're young men.
[00:36:05] Well, yeah, they were young black men in the mid 80s.
[00:36:10] Okay.
[00:36:11] Yeah.
[00:36:12] So I bet you wondered what happened to the house.
[00:36:16] It does appear to have been sold only a few months after the 1988 murders for $450,000.
[00:36:23] And perhaps minimally updated before the next 2010 listing that we spoke about earlier.
[00:36:28] That's still highlighted, like we said, those car locations and the Mickey Thompson lineage.
[00:36:32] In fact, the garage in those photos that we'll post online still had a giant M and T on the walls for Mickey Thompson.
[00:36:40] And it doesn't appear the fact that the home had a murder in its background seemed to be something they were trying to hide.
[00:36:46] I mean, you would think you would get rid of the big M and the T on the big garage or not included in the real estate listing.
[00:36:54] Because, I mean, even though they didn't have, well, they had Google in the 2010s.
[00:36:58] So, I mean.
[00:36:59] Yeah.
[00:37:00] And I do wonder, you know, the murders happened outside the house itself.
[00:37:07] So does that impact that question that we ask every episode?
[00:37:11] Like, would you live there?
[00:37:12] Would you list it?
[00:37:13] Does it make a difference to you that the crime did not occur inside the walls of the home?
[00:37:18] It makes a difference to me, for sure.
[00:37:19] Yeah.
[00:37:20] Oh, yeah.
[00:37:21] Absolutely.
[00:37:22] I think it makes a difference.
[00:37:24] Not to say that there hasn't been a few homes that we have said, yes, we'd still do.
[00:37:28] But I think definitely outside the home, I could see that being less scary or worrisome.
[00:37:35] So, would you live there?
[00:37:37] I think so.
[00:37:39] Yeah?
[00:37:40] Yeah, I think so.
[00:37:40] What would you do with a 20-car garage?
[00:37:43] Hmm.
[00:37:44] I mean, you do have the Richie real estate van.
[00:37:46] I do have the Richie real estate van.
[00:37:48] Like, take a couple laps in that.
[00:37:50] Daily laps in the garage.
[00:37:53] I would start a company.
[00:37:56] Maybe my own, like, Uber for kids.
[00:38:01] You know, like a licensed Uber for kids kind of situation.
[00:38:05] Oh.
[00:38:06] I don't know.
[00:38:06] You'd have your own fleet of vehicles there.
[00:38:08] I'm just brainstorming here.
[00:38:09] I love it.
[00:38:09] I love it.
[00:38:10] Yeah, I think, I mean, this house does not call to me in a way that I'm dying to live
[00:38:16] there.
[00:38:16] But would I live there as a result of the crime?
[00:38:18] Absolutely.
[00:38:19] Yeah, same.
[00:38:19] Right.
[00:38:20] And, you know, I would list it too.
[00:38:22] It sounds like a really interesting property.
[00:38:24] And to the listing agent's point, I think, you know, they did figure out the key differentiator
[00:38:30] in this house and they were marketing it to the right group of people.
[00:38:35] Yeah.
[00:38:36] I did a little bit of research and I think the people that live there today own a automobile
[00:38:42] company and so I think that they found the right owner or at least who bought it in 2010.
[00:38:51] Very cool.
[00:38:52] Well, thanks for doing that.
[00:38:52] I did not do that research.
[00:38:54] I appreciate it.
[00:38:55] We hope all of you enjoyed today's episode.
[00:38:57] As always, if you want to support the show, you can leave us a five-star review on Apple
[00:39:01] Podcast.
[00:39:01] And now, y'all, you can shop with us too.
[00:39:05] That's right.
[00:39:06] Check out some of our favorite products on our website at CrimeEstate.com slash shop.
[00:39:11] All the products are Heather, Elena, and Melanie approved.
[00:39:14] It will make your home nicer or safer.
[00:39:15] So if you love the show, go check it out.
[00:39:17] CrimeEstate.com slash shop.
[00:39:20] Yes.
[00:39:21] If there's one thing the three of us know, it's great products for your home.
[00:39:25] And we've recently added my favorite cookbook.
[00:39:27] You know, anybody who knows me, I've been to my house.
[00:39:30] I love a good cookbook, but it makes a great gift and the holidays are rapidly coming.
[00:39:36] So anyway, there's other amazing things in the shop.
[00:39:38] So go and check us out and help us keep the mics on around here.
[00:39:42] That's it for this week, ladies.
[00:39:43] Bye.
[00:39:44] Bye.
[00:39:45] Hey, y'all.
[00:39:46] Thanks for listening and being a part of our Crime Estate family.
[00:39:48] If you're curious about today's featured Crime Estate, you can find additional photos and details from today's episode online at CrimeEstate.com or on Facebook and Instagram by following at CrimeEstatePodcast.
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