A former Columbus resident is accused of killing his wife in Arizona last month.
Anthony “Tony” Goodin, 59, was arrested at 4 a.m. on July 12 by officers with the Kingman (Arizona) Police Department. Goodin, who resided in Columbus on California Street in 1987, has been formally charged in Mojave County Superior Court with first-degree murder.
Former Bartholomew County Sheriff Mark Gorbett, who was a detective sergeant when Goodin lived in Columbus, said it was an internet search conducted by his adult daughter, Laura, on cold cases that led to the unexpected discovery of Goodin’s recent arrest.
Gorbett said he reached out to Kingman Deputy Police Chief Joel Freed to share what information he had concerning Goodin with the Mojave County authorities. “He was, in my eyes, a candidate for a potential serial killer based on the background material I read,” Gorbett said. Gorbett said he talked with the FBI, which was developing their method of profiling serial killers in the late 1980s, about Goodin.
The former sheriff said he also made initial inquiries with Freed regarding a possible interview with Goodin regarding a cold case stabbing homicide in Bartholomew County in the 1980s.
An investigation indicates Goodin and his wife were traveling from Alabama to California when they pulled into a Walmart parking lot in Kingman. According to the Valdosta (Georgia) Daily Times, Linda Goodin were arguing with her husband about giving $20 to a stranger when they only had $52 to reach their destination of Yreka, California.
Early in the morning of July 12, officers responded to a 911 call reporting that a man was stabbing a woman outside a Walmart. Investigators later determined that the call, which contained several quotes of Bible verses, was actually made by Goodin himself after he confessed to killing his wife, the Kingman (Arizona) Miner newspaper reported.
When officers arrived at a Walmart parking lot, they found Goodin holding a large, sharp object. He was subdued by Taser devices before first responders could reach his wounded wife, the Miner reported.
Linda Goodin, 53, was taken from the scene to a regional hospital where she later died. Her husband admitted stabbing the victim several times with a machete that was recovered at the scene, the Kingman newspaper reported.
According to a police narrative written by Detective Francisco Alonso, Goodin’s various admissions about murdering his wife included statements such as “Linda was being a witch,” “the wicked must be put to death” and that “he executed the judgment of God and did what God told him to do,” the Miner reported.
“Anthony asked if Linda had died. I advised Anthony that Linda died,” Alonso’s report stated. “Anthony asked if Linda had repented.”
The first murder connected to Goodin was the killing of Georgia Christian School teacher Marlin Carpenter on or about April 28-29, 1987, court records show.
Police in Georgia were still searching for Goodin three months later when it was discovered on Sept. 30, 1987, that Goodin was living in a California Street residence in Columbus. Bartholomew County deputies arrested Goodin after the Columbus woman he was living with told them he had assaulted and tried to rob her. Two counts of battery were filed against Goodin that included the beating of the woman’s 7-year-old son.
As he was being held in the jail in Columbus, the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department was working with Valdosta, Georgia authorities, Gorbett confirmed. They also talked with Alabama investigators who believed Gooding may have connected to the deaths of three men. Investigators told The Republic that Goodin had contact with the victims, living with one as he hitchhiked to Florida.
Prosecutors or investigators in both Alabama and Georgia said they suspected the killings in both states were, in some way, related to homosexual behavior.
Former Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Suzanne Trautman agreed to put Goodin’s case on hold on Dec 18, 1987, so he could be extradited to Lowndes County, Georgia to stand trial for Carpenter’s murder.
Waiving extradition proceedings, Goodin declared that “to me, death is better than serving time in Indiana.”
In Valdosta, Goodin was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for Carpenter’s murder. Gorbett said he, as well as local acquaintances of the defendant, went to Georgia to testify in the first trial.
But on Dec. 22, 1988, he was granted a motion for a new trial based on new evidence. He was retried a year later and acquitted of murder on Dec. 7, 1989.
After his release, Goodin would later serve time in Georgia prisons for a variety of battery and aggravated assault charges, prison records show.
In his 1990 book “An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers,” the late author and researcher Michael Newton described Goodin as “a lethal drifter.” Goodin can also be found in the Serial Killer Database Wiki.
Federal agents will work with prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to take an in-depth look at Goodin’s criminal past, Gorbett said.
“Everything indicates there may be additional victims, but on the flip side, I hope there are not,’ the former sheriff and current Bartholomew County councilman said.
Following his July 25 arraignment in Kingman, court-appointed attorney Paul Amann filed a motion for Goodin to undergo a mental health evaluation, according to published reports in the Miner. In his motion, the attorney said Goodin is both knowledgeable and fixated with religion and the Bible.
But Amann also wrote he was not able to engage in meaningful dialogue with Goodin during a July 23 visit at the detention center, the Miner reported.
“It was not possible to maintain a conversation independent of his biblical discourse,” Amann’s motion stated. “Defense counsel has reason to believe that Mr. Goodin does not understand the proceedings against him and will be unable to help in his defense.”
Mojave County Superior Judge Doug Camacho granted Amann’s request, and has scheduled a Sept. 5 pre-trial conference.
