Homicide: Los Angeles

Homicide: Los Angeles is a five-episode Netflix docuseries focused on several high profile murder cases investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau. I was asked to appear in the first two episodes along with a few of my former colleagues, and it was an honor to do so.

Homicide: Los Angeles

Episode one focuses on the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson. She was shot in the mouth by music producer Phil Spector in the marble foyer of his 10,590-square-foot Alhambra home, a mansion known as the Pyrenees Castle.

February 3, 2003

Alhambra PD requested that our bureau handle the investigation of Clarkson’s murder. It is a common practice for many of the smaller city agencies throughout the county to rely on Sheriff’s Homicide, with its vast resources and experience, to investigate murders and officer-involved shootings within their jurisdictions.

My team was in the rotation for murders, meaning that for the next 48 hours, those of us assigned to Team 2 (about a dozen investigators) would be dispatched to any homicide cases that might occur throughout the nearly 5,000 square miles that comprise Los Angeles County.

You never knew if you would be sent to the high deserts of the Antelope Valley — an hour’s drive from our office in Monterey Park — or to the streets of South Los Angeles, or to any of the scores of communities that sprawl to the eastern boundaries of the enormous county. Sometimes — not often, but occasionally — you would be sent west to places like Malibu, Marina del Rey, or Palos Verdes, where multi-million-dollar homes speckled the coastline.

But on this day, we had a very short jaunt to the neighboring city of Alhambra, where a castle sat nested on a knoll overlooking the San Gabriel Valley. Who could have guessed that our next murder investigation would occur behind 10-foot walls and wrought-iron gates?

A Red Ball Case

Rich Tomlin and Paul Fornier were first up for murders on our team, and they were assigned the case. But this was going to be a red ball case — there was no question about that — one that would require the entire team during the initial stages of the investigation.

When celebrities are involved in murder, the dynamics of an investigation are drastically changed. Names like O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake come to mind, two killers who many believed escaped justice because prosecuting celebrities in Los Angeles is no simple task. Every homicide detective is keenly aware of the challenges of such cases.

The Crime Scene

Mark Lillienfeld was asked to oversee the crime scene investigation. He assigned me to write the Mincey Warrant, which is a crime scene search warrant that is legally required when an investigation takes place on private property where the suspect has legal standing. After writing the warrant and getting it signed by a magistrate, I assisted in the daunting task of searching every inch of those 10,000 square feet for evidence.

Hundreds of items of evidence were seized. The location was photographed and videotaped, and measurements of relevant items were recorded. Some of these items seized would seal Spector’s fate, evidence of a murder and his attempt to cover it up.

Lana Clarkson

The remains of the beautiful young actress who was senselessly killed were removed from the premises by the coroner’s office once the documentation was completed. An autopsy would later show that she died from a single gunshot to her head (in her mouth). The murder weapon was a .38 caliber pistol that had been wiped clean of fingerprints.

In the end, justice prevailed, but I’ll leave the details for you to enjoy when you watch the show on Netflix.

Mickey and Trudy Thompson

Episode two is about the contract killing of racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife, Trudy, which occurred in the very secure, gated community of Bradbury (L.A. County) in 1988.

That same year, Mark Lillienfeld and I were both still assigned to Firestone station in South Central Los Angeles, he as a detective by then, and I was a young patrol deputy. Not long after, Lillienfeld left Firestone for Special Investigations Bureau (now called Major Crimes Bureau), and soon after he was selected to go to Homicide Bureau.

I took the same path a few years later, promoting to detective at Firestone, and five years later landing a coveted spot at Special Investigations Bureau. But I, too, was destined for Homicide, and a year later, I arrived at the bureau.

At some point, Mark had begun working on the unsolved murder case of Mickey and Trudy Thompson. The trail had gone cold as far as the search for the two gunmen who were seen by witnesses, but Lillienfeld strongly suspected that Thompson’s former business partner, Michael Goodwin, had contracted the murders for his financial gain. (Goodwin owed Thompson more than $750,000 but had refused to pay him.)

My Contribution

Mark Lillienfeld and I were on the same team at Homicide, and he asked me to assist with aspects of the Thompson investigation. Though my contributions were minor (compared to the monumental task Lillienfeld undertook), I had the distinct pleasure of going to Virginia for a week in order to facilitate parts of the investigation that included various types of surveillance work.

Virginia Special Police

In compliance with Virginia state law, we were required to be law enforcement officers in order to carry out some of the tasks we had planned in the Old Dominion state. As such, my colleagues and I were sworn in as Special Agents of the Commonwealth of Virginia and issued ID cards and badges for the duration of our visit.

To keep this blog a manageable length, I’ll not get into much more detail about the Thompson murder case investigation, but I encourage you to catch the documentary, Homicide: Los Angeles, now streaming on Netflix. I think you will really enjoy all five episodes.

Check out all of my books here!

* * *

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you will share it with your family and friends.