Free Killers for Hire by Tori Richards Page B

when they were awarded a $54,000 claim for lightning damage.
    McGhee soon found the boat docked in Pensacola, and Marc Goodwin was aboard with two black men who looked like the composite drawings of the Thompsons’ killers. Michael Goodwin wasn’t there.
    As McGhee walked up the dock toward the boat, Marc “went ballistic,” McGhee said. “He screamed at me and threatened to kill me.” One thing that is different between McGhee and his land-based counterparts: He locates the boat but doesn’t actually seize it; that part is left to a repossessor.
    The boat was not seized in time and left Florida. McGhee started his search anew, focusing on dive spots in the Caribbean. It took three months before he hit pay dirt—Goodwin was found in Belize, swimming, lying out in the sun, laughing and joking with his brother and the two black men.
    As the bounty hunter approached Goodwin’s boat, named the Scalawag, “he knew exactly who I was,” McGhee said. “He said, ‘I know why you’re here. What do you think you’re doing? You think you’re slick!’
    “I said, ‘It’s all over Mr. Goodwin. Your boat is the bank’s and you know it.’ “
    At that point, Goodwin’s face turned red with rage as he screamed and cursed at McGhee, threatening to kill him.
    McGhee watched the boat for 12 days, waiting for a moment when everyone would be on shore so it could be repossessed. That didn’t happen, and it went back to Florida and then to Guatemala, where it was eventually repossessed.
    “When Goodwin found out the boat was gone, he went crazy,” McGhee said. “He rented a helicopter and flew around looking for it.”

Chapter 10: Two More Murders
    Goodwin claimed to be indigent, so his case was assigned to the Public Defender’s Office. Deputy Public Defender Elena Saris became his attorney. The judge was Teri Schwartz, a former gang prosecutor who had a reputation of being extremely methodical to the point of plodding.
    From the start, Saris and Jackson rubbed each other wrong. Each accused the other of procrastination and unethical tactics. Dixon was a mediator of sorts between the two because he got along well with Saris. Court hearings were peppered with sarcastic comments like, “As Mr. Jackson well knows…” and “Ms. Saris knows that’s not true…”
    Goodwin was ordered to stand trial after a one-week preliminary hearing in October 2004. Several witnesses recounted hearing Goodwin threaten to kill Mickey, and ex-girlfriend Gail Hunter testified that Goodwin confessed to murder following the airing of an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries” depicting the case.
    “There’s simply no one else the court can say committed this crime,” Schwartz ruled.
    While this was going on, Lillienfeld received a phone call from an interesting witness. The man, identified as Rick, said he had heard that the case was going to trial and had some information. He had known Goodwin since his rock star promoter days in the late ’60s and the pair struck up a friendship. In 1969 they decided to drive down to Baja California with Diane for an extended dive vacation.
    One night they were sitting on the beach and talking about work. Goodwin was recalling how he hired two young men and showed them how to become successful rock promoters. But instead of staying with Goodwin, they branched out on their own and started taking away his business. Goodwin was livid.
    “They were alcoholics and I got lucky,” Goodwin told Rick. “The dumb bastards got drunk one night and drove off a cliff.”
    The way Goodwin stated that fact—evenly, with a sense of retribution—took Rick aback. “There was no question in my mind that he killed those guys who went off that cliff,” Rick said. “He’s egotistical as hell and doesn’t like losing.”
    A few weeks later, Rick, Goodwin and Diane were sitting in a Mexican restaurant with several locals and had gone through five or six rounds of drinks. Their new friends said they had poached shrimp