T. Eugene "Cotton" Thompson

I have done several cases in which a spouse has been accused of murdering another spouse. These are not generally one of my “favorite” types because sadly, they are almost common place. I have also done several such cases recently involving women who have murdered their husbands, and others with arsenic poisoning, most happening decades ago. I feel as if I have done few cases from say prior to 1970 in which there is a murder of a woman by her husband. Of course there is the Sam Sheppard case and then just at the turn of the decade the Jeffrey MacDonald case but off the top of my head I cannot recall any others from that era that I have researched and discussed.

This is one of those cases in which I am unsure where I obtained the name to make it to my list. My research says that there was an episode of the Investigative Discovery show A Crime to Remember, that centered on this case but honestly, I do not remember seeing it. In fact, I am more than surprised that I knew nothing about this case considering people have called it “the OJ Simpson trial of the time.”

Carol Thompson was a thirty-four year old mother of four children between the ages of six and thirteen when she was attacked in her St. Paul Minnesota home on March 6, 1963. She was the only child of a well respected local business owners, Otto and Antonia Swoboda. Her husband, Tilmer Eugene, often called either T. Eugene or Gene, was a local attorney who many described as “up and coming.” He was making a name for himself around town, but apparently it was not just in the area of law. He was also apparently known as, what they called back then, a “womanizer.” Whether Carol knew this is unclear but considering the time period it likely would not have mattered. First there was the idea of the time that man could really all but do what they wanted as long as it did not come knocking at their door or affect their standing in the community. For her part Carol has been described as the typical 1960's housewife and mother who stayed home and cared for the children and the home while her husband worked to pay the bills.

On this particular morning it was alleged that Carol Thompson was in her bedroom when an intruder entered about 8:30. If the end result would not have been so tragic, the execution of the crime would have almost been a segment for America's Dumbest Criminals. While I will get into those specifics in a bit, the next thing anyone knew was Carol Thompson was at the neighbors home, covered in blood, with a six inch knife still stuck in her throat. She had been been and stabbed repeatedly. She would die about three hours later at the hospital.

Investigators would later say that they were suspicious of T. Eugene right away but to be fair I am unsure this was not something they just said later after the crime was solved. At the crime scene there had been fragments of apparently the butt of a gun left behind. It was later determined that these fragments were a result of Carol being beaten with the gun. By the middle of April investigators would find the gun that the fragments had come from and had linked two people, Dick Anderson and Norman Mastrian. They were both arrested on April 19^th but it seems they were not really talking much. Eventually that would change, at least on the part of Anderson.

On June 20, 1963 Dick Anderson would tell investigators his story. Anderson was a Korean War combat veteran who had an extensive criminal history, mainly out of Michigan. Norman Mastrian was known well by investigators, he was known to work in “underworld” activity and had even at some point been a client of T. Eugene Thompson. According to Anderson, Mastrian had “recruited” him to murder Carol Thompson for $3,000. It was Anderson's understanding that Mastrian was the “middleman” and that the instigator, and payer, of the “hit” was none other than T. Eugene Thompson. The following day investigators would arrest T. Eugene.

Anderson would tell his story as to what happened on that early morning both to investigators and apparently to the courts, at least once. Anderson's initial plan was to make Carol's death look like an accidental drowning. He struck her on the head with a piece of a rubber hose and attempted to drown her in the bathtub. When he saw that plan was failing he decided that he was going to shoot her with the gun that he had brought with him but the gun misfired. So he took the butt of the gun and began beating her upon the face and neck area. He hit her so hard that the gun began falling apart. At some point he had or had obtained a kitchen knife and he began stabbing her. It was said that Carol suffered from more than fifty stab wounds, many in the face and neck area. Anderson believed that he had finally killed Carol and went into the bathroom to clean up. As he did so Carol was able to sneak out and go to the neighbors home for help.

T. Eugene Thompson would go on trial in December of 1963. The prosecutors had the word of Anderson (it is unclear if Mastrian testified) but they had a lot of other things too. They had discovered that over the last year of Carol's life T. Eugene had bought several life insurance policies on his wife. In the the end they would total just over a million dollars. Prosecutors had also learned all about T. Eugene's affairs and while he apparently had several they were convinced that there was one that he was especially infatuated with and intended to marry. Even still neither of these things necessarily meant that he had paid to have his wife killed and to be fair I am unsure that Anderson ever got any money or if prosecutors could prove that he had gotten any money from T. Eugene. Still there were at least two more things that the prosecution alleged pointed to his guilt. The first was that on Valentine's Day, less than a month before the murder would occur T. Eugene had unexpectedly given away the family dog. It was speculated that this was done so that the dog would not alert Carol of the intruder or be in the way and cause trouble. The other was the removal of a phone from the bedroom. Prosecutors allege this was done to prevent Carol from calling for help. According to their oldest child, Jeff, the phone had always been there. It would be said that Jeff testified at the trial but it was not made clear as to which side he testified for. There were indications that it may have been for the prosecution but a comment later by Jeff himself indicated that it may have been for the defense. Jeff would later say that he had been manipulated by his father into believing in his innocence in the beginning.

While I could find nothing specific about the fact that T. Eugene also testified on his own behalf it appears that it did not go well. It was said that his attorney had advised against it but he had insisted and that he “did more harm than good.” This is often the case when defendants testify at their trials. But again, I heard nothing specific on what he would say or claim. The only claim I found by the defense at all was simply that he was innocent. On December 6 1963, after twelve hours of deliberations, the jury would return with a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. T. Eugene would be sentenced to life in prison, which in 1963 was apparently twenty years. He would be home before Christmas of 1983.

In February 1964 Mastrian was convicted of first degree murder and also given a life sentence. Prosecutor had said despite the fact that Mastrian was a known killer and had few qualms about doing it, he “drew the line at murdering a church-going wife and mother.” In June of 1964 Anderson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Carol's parents would raise her four children, one boy and three girls. Oldest son Jeff would in essence follow in his father's footsteps, at least career wise. He would become an attorney and in 1999 a district judge. He would say that being the only son and carrying the Thompson name had brought him a lot of unwanted attention but he learned to live with it. His sisters were seemingly happy to no long have the name after marriage and lose the notoriety.

After his release from prison T. Eugene would remarry and apparently stay pretty close to the area. It was said that the kids had a little contact with him but in 1986 they had a “show down” of sorts with him. They all but told him to prove to them that he was innocent in the murder of their mother. According to his son, Jeff, he could not do so. In fairness, Jeff admits going into this meeting already fully believing in his father's guilt. He said in the end he told his father if he wanted to admit to his guilt and ask for an apology it was ok and they would attempt to move forward but that if he did not they were “done.” T. Eugene Thompson never admitted guilt. T. Eugene would die on his 88^th birthday on December 7, 2015. It was also fifty-two years and one day after he had been convicted of murder.