Inside court room, a grieving family listens as more details emerge about Claymont killing

Kevin Goodson’s family sat in the back of New Castle County courtroom 5D on Thursday, tissues in hand.

Intently, they listened as a Delaware State Police detective detailed how three men attacked the 56-year-old as he walked along Philadelphia Pike in Claymont last month.

They heard that after the beating, Goodson was left in a parking lot to suffer. They listened tearfully as the detective described how Goodson was retrieved 27 minutes later by the same men and thrown in the back of a car trunk, then dumped at an abandoned steel mill.

And they heard how Goodson’s body was so badly burned when police discovered him that a medical examiner could identify the man based only on prior surgeries.

But what Goodson’s family didn’t hear Thursday morning during the preliminary hearing for Justin Locke, one of the three men charged with murder in Goodson’s death, was why.

Why would someone want to brutally attack the longtime Claymont resident who spent more than two decades of his life working as a janitor?

MORE DETAILS EMERGE: A mother, a GPS anklet and a confession: How police ID'd suspects in Claymont killing

Though the hearing, held two weeks after 20-year-old Locke and 22-year-old Jeffrey Labarge were arrested on charges in the July 23 attack, may not have provided Goodson’s family with an answer, it clarified the roles Locke, Labarge and 22-year-old Tyler Simpson reportedly played in the man’s death.

According to Detective Brian McDerby, Locke was at a Claymont gas station shortly around 11 p.m. on July 23 when he “had issues” with Goodson, who was buying coffee. Locke told police an “altercation” took place in line, the detective testified.

In a recorded police interview, Locke admitted that soon after Goodson left the gas station, he, Labarge and Simpson found the man walking near Claymont Auto Repair and attacked the 56-year-old, first punching him and knocking him to the ground, then repeatedly kicking and punching him.

He also confessed that the trio left the area but returned about 30 minutes later in his car, where Labarge and Simpson “dragged the victim's body toward the rear trunk area of the vehicle and placed the victim into the trunk,” McDerby said Thursday.

Locke then told police he drove Labarge and Simpson to an area behind Balfour Avenue in Claymont’s Knollwood community but claimed he had “no further involvement in anything after that,” McDerby said.

McDerby testified that police determined Locke was lying after they pulled the location data from his GPS ankle bracelet, which he is required to wear as a condition of probation.

Maryland court records – where Locke is on probation –  show he pleaded guilty to a gun charge earlier this year.

INITIAL STORY: 2 neighbors charged, 1 still on the loose in connection with Claymont killing last month

The location led detectives to the former EVRAZ Claymont Steel plant, also known as CitiSteel USA, where they smelled gasoline and found “a large patch of scorched ground.” They also found a piece of burned clothing and two spent bullet casings, McDerby said.

Nearby, along the edge of the Delaware River, detectives spotted a piece of tarp sticking out from a pile of rocks. Under it, they found Goodson’s body, which McDerby said had been doused in gasoline and set on fire.

When asked Thursday morning by Locke’s defense attorney whether Goodson had any identifying clothing on him, McDerby paused before reiterating that the man’s body had been set ablaze. Investigators learned his identity only through the autopsy, McDerby added.

While the detective remained vague about exactly how police learned Goodson’s name, he said there “was some identifying information from a prior surgery that was able to be confirmed through the medical examiner.”

Though Goodson’s cause of death is still being determined, McDerby testified that Labarge – who waived his preliminary hearing Thursday – told police that Locke shot Goodson four times and Simpson set the man on fire. Labarge also admitted to the beating.

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As Goodson’s family listened to the detective, they dabbed at their eyes, sniffling at times throughout the 35-minute hearing. Across the room, two of Locke’s family members also occasionally cried.

But Locke, flanked by his attorney and a Department of Correction officer, remained largely expressionless, only rarely glancing around.

And as corrections officers led him out of the courtroom following the hearing, he barely looked at his family as they shouted, “I love you, Justin.”

Locke and Labarge remain in prison in Delaware, while Simpson awaits extradition from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested earlier this week. He faces the same charges in Delaware as Locke and Labarge.

Got a story tip or idea? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com. For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Claymont killing: New details emerge in court hearings for men charged