Arthur Wayne Goodman

Case information

Arthur Wayne Goodman, Jr. was shot and killed by Fort Worth police officers on April 1, 1999.

Timeline

• March 1999 — Arthur Wayne Goodman, Jr. shot his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend Sandi Witt and her three friends, Erica Arispe (21), Naomi Martinez (23), and Pennie Estrada (21), who was six months pregnant.
• March 28, 1999 — Arthur Goodman, described as 19-year-old, was charged with killing his girlfriend and three of her friends.
• April 1, 1999 — Goodman was shot and killed by Fort Worth police officers.

The offence

In March 1999, Arthur Wayne Goodman, Jr. shot his ex-girlfriend Sandi Witt and her three friends: Erica Arispe, Naomi Martinez, and Pennie Estrada, who was six months pregnant. The women were described as being “systematically shot at least once in the head” at the Cedar Street duplex.

An apartment handyman, Larry Hammond, was also shot and critically wounded when he tried to help the women.

Police also suspected Goodman in a previous shooting of a 16-year-old boy who survived.

Investigation

Detective Jay Hatcher said family and friends gave police two versions of a possible motive:

• One version stated that Sandi Witt would not supply an alibi to police for an undisclosed crime in which Goodman was a suspect.
• The other version stated that Witt was planning to give police incriminating information about Goodman.

Hatcher said Witt’s friends “just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Police believe Goodman killed Witt because she refused to testify for him in other cases, including the shooting of 16-year-old Jimmy Estrada on Sunday night (no relation to Penny Estrada).

Hatcher said: “He was in some trouble and was expecting his girlfriend to testify for him. She got mad at him and told him she was not going to testify for him. This erupted into an argument and the catalyst for the shootings.”

Police issued a capital murder warrant for Arthur Goodman after the March shooting in which Witt, Penny Estrada, Naomi Martinez, and Erica Arispe were shot in the head. Larry Hammond was wounded and remained in serious condition at an Abilene hospital.

Hatcher said the slugs recovered from the Abilene shooting scene were from a .40-caliber weapon, and that Fort Worth police recovered a .40-caliber handgun in the car in which Goodman was killed. Hatcher said ballistics tests would be conducted on the recovered gun.

Police were also looking for Goodman’s brother, Vincent (described as 16-year-old), who may have been with him when the shootings occurred.

Fort Worth police Lt. Ric Clark said Goodman was sitting next to a window in the back seat as officers approached the car after stopping it on a highway service road.

Clark said Goodman pointed a handgun at the officers and at least two of them opened fire; Clark said Goodman apparently never fired a shot.

Arrest / death by police

A three-day manhunt for Goodman ended when police confronted him in Fort Worth.

On April 1, Goodman was described as being in the back seat of a white Mercury Cougar that had been pulled over on Interstate 35 when police shot him.

Three other people, including Goodman’s 16-year-old brother Vincent, were in the car. They were questioned by police and it was unclear whether they were taken into custody.

Aftermath

After Goodman was shot and killed, Abilene police said he was carrying a note in which he expressed a death wish and confessed to killing four women on Monday.

The note included: “I want to die and don't plan on getting caught. I plan on being killed by the police. I'm armed and dangerous and ready to die,” and Abilene police Detective Jay Hatcher refused to read any part of the note that mentioned Monday’s carnage inside an Abilene apartment.

A four-page confession and suicide note were later found in Goodman’s clothing.

Christina Goodman, Goodman’s mother, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview:

• “He's where he wanted to be,”
• “I feel bad because I told the cops where he was at,”
• “I took the detective over there Monday or Tuesday.” She said she helped police because she feared her son was suicidal.

Christina Goodman also said:

• “They drug my younger son out of the car. (Arthur) was sitting there, telling them to shoot him. Becky said she held his hand while they shot him,”
• “He just wanted to die.”

In explaining the circumstances of Goodman’s death, the women in the car were described by Christina Goodman as including a person she referred to only as “Becky,” who told a different story.