Killers for Hire by Tori Richards Read Free Book Online

amazing depiction that likely involved the real shooters. David Cooper said he was working the graveyard shift at a business several miles east of the Thompsons’ home, along the 210 Freeway. He had been standing outside in the early morning when he saw two black men on new racing bicycles pedal rapidly toward an adjacent parking lot. One of the men was carrying a bag—a piece of information that had never been released to the media and wasn’t common knowledge.
    A yellow Ryder van was waiting in the parking lot with the back door rolled up. The men threw their bikes and the bag into the back of the van, closed it, and then one man got into the driver’s side and the other into the passenger’s side. They drove out of the parking lot and out of sight.
    “These bikes were new, I was surprised that they would treat them so harshly,” Cooper said, adding that he wouldn’t be able to identify the men because everything happened so fast.
    Robinson called the Ryder truck rental company and was told that all records prior to 1990 had been destroyed. The following year Cooper died, taking with him the last known sighting of Mickey’s and Trudy’s killers.
    Mickey’s employee Michael DeStefano continued to pass along any tidbits he could find to help detectives. In October of 1998 he called Robinson to report that he’d just run into Goodwin at a Radio Shack store in Orange County. Goodwin, dressed in a safari jacket and camouflage pants, stuck out his hand for a shake. DeStefano ignored it.
    “I’m staying locally in a hotel and planning on moving back to Laguna Niguel,” Goodwin offered. He went on to talk about a big electronic business he was putting together and a book deal with television possibilities. And then there were people trying to get him back into Supercross, Goodwin said. They chatted for a few more minutes and went their separate ways.
    The following month, Goodwin’s probation officer, Carla Laubacher-Funk, called Lillienfeld to say that Goodwin, his father and his brother, Marc, had planned to move to Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles County. Goodwin then changed his mind and said he wanted to live in Orange County. Lillienfeld didn’t like this.
    “Because of the animosity between himself and Collene Campbell, it’s not in anybody’s best interest to have Goodwin living in Orange County,” Lillienfeld told the officer.
    In the end, Laubacher-Funk decided to let Goodwin make the move because prohibiting it would just “fuel his anger toward the Campbells,” she said. So Lillienfeld would make the best of a bad situation. At least now Goodwin would be close enough for Lillienfeld to do things himself, like rifle through Goodwin’s trash and more closely monitor him. Some days, the detective even showed up at Goodwin’s job site, where he was a telemarketer, to see what was going on there.
    The move to Orange County brought a new probation officer whom Goodwin didn’t like at all. Officer Tracy Briles didn’t waste any time in confronting him about several guns he still had registered in his name. As a convicted felon, Goodwin wasn’t allowed to possess any weapons. But as with everything else, the rules didn’t apply to Goodwin and he became irritated, telling Briles that his 9 mm semi-automatic pistol was given to his girlfriend and that the other weapons were missing. Briles fined Goodwin $25, which was added to the $300,000 he already owed for the loan fraud conviction.
    “The fine, too, seemed to irritate Goodwin greatly,” Lillienfeld noted in a report.
    Apparently this incident got Goodwin thinking, because later that day he drove to the Grant Boys gun store and met with owner Randy Garrell. The men spent about 30 minutes talking about how the registration process worked. After Goodwin left, Garrell promptly called Lillienfeld.
    Goodwin wanted to know if Garrell had any computer records regarding his previous gun transactions. He appeared nervous and didn’t want to