Thirty-nine-year-old Terry Gooderham and thirty-two-year-old Maxine Arnold had been together for seven years and lived in a flat in Walthamstow, East London. Terry worked as an accountant and stocktaker in a pub, and Maxine worked in an insurance office.
On December 22nd, 1989, the couple was having dinner in their home before going out with friends later in the evening. At around six-forty-five p.m., a work colleague called Maxine, and though the exact nature of the call is unknown, Maxine seemed in a hurry after she hung up, and told Terry that they had to go somewhere. They rushed out, leaving their half-eaten meal on the table, a gas fire burning, and the Christmas tree lights on. Maxine even left her purse behind, and Terry neglected to take his wallet.
The pair got into Terry’s black Mercedes and drove toward Epping Forest. Later on, witnesses reported seeing this same car driving erratically and flashing its lights between seven-fifteen and seven-forty-five p.m., and also claimed they thought they had seen a man in the back seat.
Shortly before four a.m. on December 23rd, police on a routine patrol came across Terry’s car in a parking lot in Upshire. The lights were on and the engine was running. Worse still, both Terry and Maxine were dead, having both been shot in the head from behind with a 12-bore shotgun.
Authorities noted that Maxine had defensive wounds on her hands, which indicated that Terry had been shot first and that Maxine then tried to fight off the gunman.
It was initially assumed that the phone call Maxine had received had been deliberately calculated to lure them to a particular area, but as to the motive for the vicious crime, there were absolutely no solid leads. Investigators hypothesized that Terry may have come across some shady dealings while doing the books at the pub where he worked and was killed for what he knew, but police admitted it was only a theory, and the true motive is still completely unknown. There were also hints that the execution-style slaying may have been linked to the infamous Kray twins.
During the course of the inquiry, it also came to light that Terry was seeing another woman behind Maxine’s back. The mistress was questioned about the crime but ultimately dismissed as a suspect.
The double murder of Terry Gooderham and Maxine Arnold remains unsolved, more than thirty years later.
Crime Immemorial 