Goodrum denied crime in videotaped interview played in court Friday

Saturday, March 12, 2005

OWENSBORO A videotaped police interview of Lucas Goodrum, shown to jurors Friday in Goodrums capital murder trial, showed the then-20-year-old Scottsville residents completely baffled reaction when told he was a prime suspect.

Kentucky State Police Detective Kevin Pickett told Goodrum he had numerous samples of physical evidence taken from the crime scene, along with security videotape and more than 200 interviews with people saying they knew Goodrum was involved in the rape, beating and arson of Western Kentucky University freshman Melissa Katie Autry, 18, in the early morning hours of May 4, 2003 .

Autry died of third- and fourth-degree burns in a Nashville hospital three days after the attack in her Hugh Poland Hall dorm room.

Man, you can run them tests, Goodrum told Pickett during the May 10 interview. That wasnt me. It aint me. Yall are looking at the wrong person. You deserve to know and find out who did it and I didnt do it.

In reality, police had and still have no physical evidence linking Goodrum to the crime scene, no security video footage and only one eyewitness, Stephen Soules. Soules pleaded guilty in the case a year ago to charges of murder, first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, first-degree robbery and complicity to rape, sodomy and arson.

When Goodrum demanded to see the videotape Pickett claimed to have, Pickett replied that wasnt necessary.

You already know whats on them, he said.

When Goodrum said investigators should call his father and stepmother, Mike and Judy Goodrum in Scottsville, right away to verify his alibi that he was at his fathers house by 3:15 that night, Pickett said that wasnt necessary either.

I dont have to call your dad because I already know where you were and Im sure your dad is going to say you were there because hes your dad, Pickett said. I know where you went, and you didnt go to Scottsville.

Goodrum, who began the interview talking about cars and his desire to join the Air Force, became increasingly disbelieving.

In cross-examination, Goodrums attorney, David Broderick, picked apart the investigation.

It seems to me like every time somebody gave you an alibi, you went and followed up on it, except for Mike and Judy Goodrum, he said, and Pickett agreed that was true.

After viewing the videotape, jurors heard the testimony of Danica Jackson, Autrys roommate, and Brian Moon, 20, a former WKU student who hung out with Goodrum into the early morning hours the night of the slaying.

Moon testified that at 2:18 a.m., a friend named Ryan Possum Payne the designated sober driver for a fraternity party the boys had attended earlier in the evening called to announce he had arrived to pick Goodrum up from Moons dormitory, Bemis Lawrence Hall, and give him a ride back to Southern Lanes bowling alley on Campbell Lane, where Goodrum had parked his car.

Jackson took the witness stand later Friday morning to describe a two-minute cell phone conversation she had with Autry at 2:26 a.m., during which she spoke with a male on the phone and heard another male voice in the background.

Then I heard, Danica, Im scared. Someone just came in the room, Jackson recalled, adding that she demanded to speak with the visitor, who said he was the boy who brought Autry home.

Autry had thrown up in his truck, he explained, and he just wanted to make sure she was OK.

Jackson testified she then heard the door close again and another male voice.

I couldnt tell what he was saying to Katie, but I heard her saying, Leave me alone. I just want to go to sleep.

Those were similar to the words Soules had previously testified Autry said to Goodrum when he tried to make sexual advances toward her in her dorm room.

Jackson said she intended to further question the boy on the other end of the line, but couldnt because he hung up.

Matt Hire, Goodrums roommate at the time in a Scottsville apartment, testified that Goodrum returned home May 4 around 5 or 6 a.m. and began sleeping in his closet.

He told us he was going to be sleeping there for a few days and he told me and (another roommate) we could drive his car around for a few days and let him drive the Taurus, Hire said, adding that the offer seemed odd because Goodrum was really protective of his Ford Mustang.

Testimony from three Warren County Regional Jail inmates Micah West, Terry Campbell and Richard Mealer indicated that Goodrum talked with each of the men individually about his involvement in the crime while they were incarcerated together.

I know he said he had sex with her and he had hit her and, from what I could tell, he didnt seem to feel that bad about it, said West.

West said he spoke with Goodrum on May 11, immediately after Goodrum was arrested in the case.

He didnt think it was that big of a deal she was kind of a slut, he said.

Attempting to shed light on a deal that Broderick claimed West made with prosecutors in exchange for testimony, Broderick pointed out that Wests felony charges of second-degree forgery and theft by unlawful taking over $300 were reduced to a misdemeanor offense and West was sentenced to probation.

Outside the courtroom, Goodrums mother, Donna Dugas, said it was very emotional to view Goodrums videotaped interview with Pickett.

To see your child tell the truth and be lied to continuously and him ask to see proof and there was none to show him I did not know the system worked that way, she said. I was raised where, if you told the truth, justice would be served.

Stephen Soules relatives expressed sympathy for the Autry family.

Im trying to pray for all three families, said Soules aunt, Roxanna Smith. Its three families lives that have been devastated.

Soules original attorney, Zach Kafoglis, who represented him for about six months after his arrest in the case, is protected by attorney-client privilege from testifying, as requested by Goodrums defense team.

Special Judge Thomas Castlen ruled on the issue Friday morning before jurors entered the courtroom, based on a motion filed Monday by Kafoglis.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700