March 6, 1963, started like any other Wednesday in the quiet, upper-middle-class Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul. Carol Thompson, a 34-year-old mother of four, was home alone. Her husband, T. Eugene Thompson—a hotshot trial lawyer everyone called "Cotton"—had already headed to his office. By noon, the suburban peace was shattered. Carol was found on a neighbor’s doorstep, drenched in blood, clinging to life just long enough to tell the world she didn’t know who had attacked her.
She died four hours later.
What followed was a scandal so twisted it supposedly inspired the Coen brothers' movie Fargo. It wasn't just a random break-in. It was a cold-blooded hit. And the man who held the purse strings was the same man who sobbed at her funeral.
The Brutality Nobody Expected
Most people think of 1960s St. Paul as a place where you didn't lock your doors. The murder of Carol Thompson changed that forever. This wasn't a "clean" hit. It was a messy, desperate struggle that lasted far longer than the killer anticipated.
The intruder, later identified as a small-time crook named Dick W. C. Anderson, broke into the home at 1720 Hillcrest Avenue with a specific plan. He was supposed to make it look like an accident. He tried to knock Carol out with a rubber hose and drown her in the bathtub.
It didn't work.
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Carol fought back with a ferocity that stunned her attacker. When the drowning failed, Anderson tried to shoot her, but his Luger jammed. He then resorted to beating her with the butt of the pistol so hard that the grip splintered. Finally, he stabbed her in the throat. Even then, Carol didn't give up. While Anderson was in the bathroom trying to wash her blood off his hands, she managed to get out of the house and crawl to a neighbor for help.
Why T. Eugene Thompson Became the Prime Suspect
On the surface, "Cotton" Thompson was a success story. He was a prominent attorney, a church elder, and a family man. But investigators quickly found some red flags that were impossible to ignore.
The most glaring piece of evidence? Life insurance.
In the months leading up to the murder of Carol Thompson, Eugene had taken out a staggering amount of insurance on his wife. We’re talking over $1 million in 1963 money. Adjusted for inflation, that’s roughly $10 million today. For a housewife in the sixties, that kind of coverage was unheard of.
Then there was the "other woman." Prosecutors eventually uncovered Eugene’s affair with a woman named Jackie Olesen. He had reportedly been looking for a way out of his marriage without losing his social standing or his wealth.
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The Hitman and the Middleman
The police didn't have to look far for the physical evidence. Pieces of the broken Luger grip were found at the scene. They traced the gun to Anderson, who didn't take long to crack.
Anderson told police he had been hired by a former prizefighter named Norman Mastrian. Mastrian was the middleman. And who was Mastrian’s client? T. Eugene Thompson.
The trial was a media circus. It was the kind of story that sold out newspapers for months. In a bizarre twist of fate, the national news coverage of the Thompson trial was only interrupted by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.
The "Kitchen Court" and the Family Legacy
Eugene was convicted of first-degree murder in December 1963 and sentenced to life in prison. He served 20 years before being paroled in 1983. He never confessed. Not to the police, not to the public, and most importantly, not to his children.
His son, Jeffrey Thompson, actually grew up to be a judge—the very profession his father once practiced. In a move that sounds like it’s straight out of a psychological thriller, the four Thompson children held a "kitchen court" after their father’s release.
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They wanted the truth.
Jeffrey played the prosecutor. They presented the evidence to their father and asked him to finally come clean. Eugene sat there and maintained his innocence, offering only a flimsy defense about blood samples. The children eventually concluded for themselves that he was guilty, but they maintained a "cordial but distant" relationship with him until he died on his 88th birthday in 2015.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Case
You'll often hear that the murder of Carol Thompson was the direct inspiration for Fargo. While the Coen brothers are from St. Anthony Park and certainly knew the lore, they’ve often played coy about it.
The real similarity isn't just the "hired hit" aspect; it's the utter incompetence of the criminals involved. Eugene Thompson was a brilliant lawyer, yet he hired a middleman who hired a hitman who couldn't even get a pistol to fire. It was a high-stakes plot executed with "slapstick" brutality.
Key Takeaways from the Case:
- The Power of Physical Evidence: The broken gun grip was the "smoking gun" that bridged the gap between a domestic tragedy and a criminal conspiracy.
- The Insurance Red Flag: Excessively high life insurance policies on a non-earning spouse remain one of the most common "tells" in murder-for-hire investigations.
- Resilience of the Victim: Carol Thompson’s refusal to die quietly is what ultimately led to the discovery of the plot. Had she not escaped the house, the "accident" narrative might have actually worked.
If you’re interested in the deeper psychological profile of the case, William Swanson’s book Dial M: The Murder of Carol Thompson is the definitive deep dive. It moves past the headlines to look at how a "perfect" suburban family could house such a monster.
To better understand the legal impact of this case in Minnesota, you can look up the Minnesota Supreme Court's 1966 ruling on Eugene's appeal (State v. Thompson). It’s a fascinating look at how circumstantial evidence and conspiracy testimony are handled in high-profile capital cases. Understanding these historical precedents helps explain why modern investigations focus so heavily on digital footprints and financial records—the 21st-century equivalent of a million-dollar insurance policy.