Michael Goodwin has been in communication with Diane Seidel Goodwin since your affiant’s first interview with her in 1997 and before the attempt to re-interview her in 2000…Goodwin seemed to have an almost Svengali-like grip over Diane Seidel Goodwin.”
On February 17, 2001, “America’s Most Wanted” ran the Thompson segment again. This time, the results would be far superior to anything else Lillienfeld had obtained in the past and set in motion a chain of events that would impact the future of the case.
Ronald Stevens called the AMW hotline to report that he lived about a quarter mile downhill from the Thompsons and together with his wife had seen suspicious activity several days before the murders. After the case became household news, he called the sheriff’s department twice but never received a follow up call from Griggs. Now he was trying again.
The events were still clear in Stevens’ mind: He drove up to his house around 10 AM and found two men sitting in an older model station wagon parked in front on the wrong side of the street. The faded blue or green Chevrolet Malibu with Arizona plates was facing Mount Olive Drive, the street that borders the Thompsons’ home. As he approached the car, he noticed that both men were white and that the driver was looking through binoculars. Stevens was concerned because a grammar school was in the direction the men were facing and it seemed like they could be pedophiles. When Stevens got within 15 feet of the car, the driver put down the binoculars, looked in his direction and immediately drove off.
Mel Reeves called the AMW’s hotline to report that he was jogging around 5:30 the morning of the murders and saw a blue Chevrolet station wagon parked in the same spot in front of Stevens’ home. He also saw the car several days earlier but wasn’t close enough either time to identify the passengers. He, too, called in this clue after the murders but never got a return call from Griggs.
Lillienfeld went out to the area and gazed toward the Thompsons’ hilltop home, which could not be seen behind heavy tree growth. However, something else could: the traffic pattern. It struck Lillienfeld that this was the major arterial for hundreds of people who lived up that hill.
The Stevenses were shown a collection of six similar looking male mug shots that included a photo of Goodwin and they picked him out.
Then Lillienfeld and Jacobs were ready to take their best shot—wiretapping the phones of Goodwin friends and relatives and then serving them with grand jury subpoenas as a catalyst to get them to talk about the murders. Grand juries in California are utilized as prosecution investigative bodies as well as a tool for indictments. Subpoenaed witnesses cannot decline to answer questions or they face jail time. The only exception is a right against self-incrimination pertaining to a crime.
The subpoenas went out in early 2001, and as predicted, a flurry of calls ensued. Even though he didn’t have any direct knowledge of the wiretaps, Goodwin was suspicious and told people on the other end of the line that his phones were probably bugged.
More than 100 officers in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and Virginia, and with the federal government monitored the eight phone lines in Goodwin’s home on a full-time basis. He made or received about 300 calls a day.
“He would babble and bitch about Lillienfeld and how the cops were after him and it was all unfair,” Jacobs said. “He’d say things like, ‘They don’t have anything on me; it’s that asshole Lillienfeld again.’”
One of the most damning statements came not from Goodwin, but his friend Bill Redfield in a conversation with Diane.
“Is there a weak link; is there someone who may talk?” Redfield asked Diane.
“I don’t think we should talk about this on the phone, I think we should do emails,” Diane responded.
Two other calls showed the animosity between Goodwin and brother Marc.
“Marc has
On February 17, 2001, “America’s Most Wanted” ran the Thompson segment again. This time, the results would be far superior to anything else Lillienfeld had obtained in the past and set in motion a chain of events that would impact the future of the case.
Ronald Stevens called the AMW hotline to report that he lived about a quarter mile downhill from the Thompsons and together with his wife had seen suspicious activity several days before the murders. After the case became household news, he called the sheriff’s department twice but never received a follow up call from Griggs. Now he was trying again.
The events were still clear in Stevens’ mind: He drove up to his house around 10 AM and found two men sitting in an older model station wagon parked in front on the wrong side of the street. The faded blue or green Chevrolet Malibu with Arizona plates was facing Mount Olive Drive, the street that borders the Thompsons’ home. As he approached the car, he noticed that both men were white and that the driver was looking through binoculars. Stevens was concerned because a grammar school was in the direction the men were facing and it seemed like they could be pedophiles. When Stevens got within 15 feet of the car, the driver put down the binoculars, looked in his direction and immediately drove off.
Mel Reeves called the AMW’s hotline to report that he was jogging around 5:30 the morning of the murders and saw a blue Chevrolet station wagon parked in the same spot in front of Stevens’ home. He also saw the car several days earlier but wasn’t close enough either time to identify the passengers. He, too, called in this clue after the murders but never got a return call from Griggs.
Lillienfeld went out to the area and gazed toward the Thompsons’ hilltop home, which could not be seen behind heavy tree growth. However, something else could: the traffic pattern. It struck Lillienfeld that this was the major arterial for hundreds of people who lived up that hill.
The Stevenses were shown a collection of six similar looking male mug shots that included a photo of Goodwin and they picked him out.
Then Lillienfeld and Jacobs were ready to take their best shot—wiretapping the phones of Goodwin friends and relatives and then serving them with grand jury subpoenas as a catalyst to get them to talk about the murders. Grand juries in California are utilized as prosecution investigative bodies as well as a tool for indictments. Subpoenaed witnesses cannot decline to answer questions or they face jail time. The only exception is a right against self-incrimination pertaining to a crime.
The subpoenas went out in early 2001, and as predicted, a flurry of calls ensued. Even though he didn’t have any direct knowledge of the wiretaps, Goodwin was suspicious and told people on the other end of the line that his phones were probably bugged.
More than 100 officers in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and Virginia, and with the federal government monitored the eight phone lines in Goodwin’s home on a full-time basis. He made or received about 300 calls a day.
“He would babble and bitch about Lillienfeld and how the cops were after him and it was all unfair,” Jacobs said. “He’d say things like, ‘They don’t have anything on me; it’s that asshole Lillienfeld again.’”
One of the most damning statements came not from Goodwin, but his friend Bill Redfield in a conversation with Diane.
“Is there a weak link; is there someone who may talk?” Redfield asked Diane.
“I don’t think we should talk about this on the phone, I think we should do emails,” Diane responded.
Two other calls showed the animosity between Goodwin and brother Marc.
“Marc has
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