The Widower: 'Til Death Do Us Part (2026) Movie Script

-[intriguing music playing]
-[man 1] All righty.
Yeah, just keep recording, but hold it.
[groans]
Hello. We're here, uh, from Dateline.
-[man 2] What are you doing?
-I'm from Dateline.
-[man 2] And?
-I'm here to see a detainee.
[man 1] In my 30 years as a journalist,
the case of Thomas Randolph
stands out as the most bizarre,
insane, surprising story
that I have ever done.
You know this guy? Randolph?
He's unforgettable.
[camera shutter clicks]
[man 1] He had six wives.
[camera shutter clicking]
[man 1] Four of them were dead.
Just make sure you're rolling
when we meet.
This is the second time
that he's facing the death penalty.
-Hi, Dan.
-[Dan] How you doing?
You wanna just clip it on there?
I interviewed him over a decade,
ten times.
What's up with your hair?
Uh, it was this long
last time you was here.
This guy's giving me all this access.
This is the Tommy Show,
live from Las Vegas.
He's claiming he's innocent.
Maybe he's just really unlucky.
Am I beautiful?
Or perhaps he's a criminal genius.
Who in America has stood trial,
facing the death penalty twice,
20 years apart?
I would absolutely agree with you.
And again, you must remember
[camera shutter clicking]
[gunshot]
I didn't kill anybody.
["She's Got You" by Patsy Cline playing]
I've got your picture
That you gave to me
And it's signed "with love"
Just like it used to be
The only thing different
The only thing new
I've got your picture
She's got you
[song ends]
[siren wailing in distance]
[intriguing music playing]
As a producer for Dateline,
I have covered hundreds of stories.
We got access. We got full access
to the homicide unit
and a couple detectives.
I followed dozens of murders in real time
as a fly on the wall filming everything.
And so when I get a lead,
I don't know what's gonna happen.
But I follow my gut.
[music fades]
[Dan] On May 9th, 2008,
I get a call from
the Las Vegas Homicide Bureau.
"We had a weird case last night."
"You might wanna pay attention
to this one."
[phone line ringing]
-[man panting]
-[operator 1] 911 emergency.
[man] Uh
My wife's been shot,
and there's a guy in my house,
and I shot him. [continues panting]
-[operator 1] What's your name, sir?
-[Tom] Uh, Tom. Uh, Tom.
[operator 1] Where is your wife
in the house?
[Tom] In the hall, in the bedroom.
She's been shot bad.
[operator 1] Where is she shot at?
Do you know?
[Tom] Uh, I think in the head.
[operator 1] And is the guy
still in the house?
[Tom] No, he's in the garage. I know him.
[operator 1] Do you know what his name is?
[Tom] Mike. I don't know his last name.
[operator 1] Is is he hurt too?
[Tom] I hope he's dead!
[operator 2] Who shot your wife? He did?
-[Tom] Uh, he did.
-[operator 2] Is she awake?
[Tom] No. No.
[operator 2] Okay, put her
flat on her back.
[Tom grunting, panting over phone]
Oh, God.
-[operator 2] Sir?
-[Tom] Oh, God.
Sharon. Oh, fuck.
[sirens wailing]
[reporter] Metro officers responded
to a 911 call from a man who said
[Dan] By the time the police come over,
Sharon Randolph had died.
And the intruder, Mike Miller,
had been shot dead by her husband,
Thomas Randolph.
[intriguing music playing]
[door creaking]
[Detective] You okay, Tom?
-[Tom] Been a long day.
-I can imagine.
[Dan] It was like 12:15 in the morning.
They brought in Randolph.
He was the only one alive at the scene.
He was the only one
that saw what happened.
[Detective] You had told us that
you had employed
a person by the name of Mike.
-Is that correct?
-[Tom] Yes.
[Detective 2] Did Mike know you guys
were going to dinner tonight?
Yeah, yeah.
-[camera shutter clicking]
-[Dan] Mike Miller had a ski mask.
[camera shutter clicking]
[Dan] There was a bag of jewelry
that was next to him.
There's a lot of detectives saying
looks like a guy is protecting his house.
This guy's a hero.
But one detective was like,
"Something doesn't feel right about this."
[man] On the night of May 8th,
I got a call from my sergeant
to respond to a murder that occurred.
My responsibility as the lead investigator
is to document the crime scene.
And right out of the gate,
there were things that weren't adding up.
The burglar, Mike Miller
[camera shutter clicking]
he had been shot in the head.
So why was the ski mask
on the floor of the garage
[camera shutter clicking]
without any blood on it?
We then entered to find Sharon Randolph
laying at the other end of the hallway.
[camera shutter clicking]
And we were able to determine
that Mike Miller came in the back door.
[camera shutter clicking]
[O'Kelley] If he heard
the garage door opening up,
why wouldn't he have
run out the back door?
I'm expressing out loud
some of the red flags that I'm seeing.
And I'm getting a lot of pushback,
even from my own sergeant.
We butted heads over it.
But when I spoke with Dan Slepian,
and I said,
"Something seems off about this,"
he was immediately on board.
He wanted to get on a plane,
I think, you know, within minutes.
[airplane engine whirring]
[Dan] When I asked permission
from the Vegas Homicide Unit
to follow Dean O'Kelley, they were like,
"We don't want big boom microphones
and cameras around."
And I said, "What if I just show up
by myself with a camera?"
-I'm looking at you? Down?
-[Dan] Yeah.
-Does it look weird though?
-I don't know. No. I don't think so.
So they allowed me complete,
unfettered access.
You're videoing me tucking my shirt in.
All right.
Dean told me that we're gonna have
Thomas Randolph walk through the scene.
I asked him,
"Are you gonna videotape that?"
[static warbles]
[eerie music playing]
My name is Tom Randolph.
My date of birth is 2-2-55.
And it's my understanding
we're doing a walk-through of the house,
kind of a reenactment
of what happened, uh, last Thursday.
[intriguing music playing]
About there, we start opening the door up.
She's going in the house about right now.
[O'Kelley] He explained Sharon had gone in
while he has apparently
finished listening to a song.
Now, this door was closed. I open it up.
I get right here,
and Sharon's laying in the floor,
face down.
And I stopped right about here.
I had the door.
I said, "Sharon?"
"Sharon?"
About about right here,
when I was like this,
I was trying to kind of get a view.
I thought I'd just seen like a shadow
or something over this way.
I reached right up here, got the gun,
grabbed it, stuck it in my pocket,
came around just like that.
And about that time, he's right up on me.
And that's when I just pushed him.
Boom, boom! Boom! Boom, boom! Boom, boom!
And I don't know if I shot him once,
I shot him twice.
And then started
coming back down this way.
And I'm being real, just, you know
"Sharon? Sharon!"
"Sharon!"
And she's not
[O'Kelley] What are you doing now?
[Tom] I'm just kind of trying to see
if anything else is going on.
[O'Kelley] He said
he cleared the rest of the house
ended up getting the home phone.
[Tom] And I got back over here
where I could kinda see everything.
And I called 911.
[Operator] 911 Emergency.
[Operator 2] Okay,
let's focus on your wife.
[Tom] I said, "Sharon? Sharon?"
The paramedic keeps telling him,
"You need to turn her over."
"You need to, you know, do compressions."
All these things.
[Tom] I should go open the garage door,
shouldn't I?
[Operator 2] No!
Keep doing what I'm telling you to do.
There was multiple times
where he delayed it.
[Operator 2] Sir,
we've gotta do this quickly.
It was like [straining]
And she came over.
And it was the the grossest thing
I had ever seen in my life.
Just really thick, globby stuff
coming out of the mouth.
I felt like from the video walk-through
that he was confident in his story.
We've switched tapes.
And now we're on tape two.
So now it's my turn.
And when you first fire,
he's right in this area.
-Yeah. Probably. Maybe
-Still facing you.
Maybe a little more that way,
maybe a little more this way.
And I just shot
and shot and shot and shot.
If those shots were fired in the hallway,
the bullets should be in the hallway.
[marker squeaking]
[O'Kelley] But except for
the one cartridge case,
an inch away from the threshold,
everything else is in the garage.
[camera shutter clicking]
-Where'd you hit him?
-[Tom] I shot him in the head.
Shot him in the head.
Shot him in the head.
It seems like
he still had his mask on then.
[camera shutter clicking]
[O'Kelley] Why was the ski mask
on the floor without any blood on it?
If he'd had his mask off,
you'd've known it was Mike, right?
Oh yeah. And I would've still shot him.
It wouldn't have mattered a bit.
I'm actually thinking, why isn't he seeing
that there's a problem with it?
It's not supported by the crime scene.
Are we getting close to done?
My back's starting to hurt.
So from the
from the time you parked the car,
how long do you think it took
from the time you opened the door
to you being on 911?
-Two, three minutes, maybe. Yeah.
-[O'Kelley] Two, three minutes total?
[somber music playing]
I heard a gunshot across the street
at my neighbor's house.
-[O'Kelley] Where?
-Uh, it's right over there.
[O'Kelley] We interviewed with a neighbor
across the street
by the name of Mark Bartlett.
He had just connected
a cell phone conversation with a friend.
Because it was like, boom, boom.
You know, I heard it.
Then, uh I was I was like,
"Oh shit, they're shooting."
[O'Kelley] According to his phone records,
the call occurred at 8:33 p.m.
The 911 call occurred at 8:45.
Why did it take Tom Randolph
11 minutes to call 911?
[intriguing music playing]
After the video walk-through,
Tom said he was gonna be out of town.
He was gonna be in Utah.
[indistinct chatter]
At that point,
we didn't have enough to arrest him.
So he was allowed to leave.
[music fades]
[woman] Let's zoom in.
-Don't take me in my--
-[woman] Hello, Aunt Sharon.
[man] Oh, come on, Mom.
Even at the airport,
it's like $6 for a bagel.
[Dan] Frankly, every story I do
about murder affects me.
Because there's collateral damage
any time a murder is committed.
[somber music playing]
[kiss]
[Dan] Sharon's daughter, Colleen,
was her only child.
[kissing]
-[kiss]
-[fusses]
Say hi.
[Dan] Try it on, man.
Actually kind of surprised
that she wanted to participate.
-[fusses]
-[Dan] Oh, he wants his mom.
She was seven months pregnant.
She was devastated.
Here we go. We're gonna get you a cookie.
[fusses]
But she confided in me.
So you wanna know more, like,
right when they first met?
-I mean, from what I know.
-[Dan] Tell me whatever you wanna tell me.
She was, um, meeting guys on the Internet.
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] Sharon and Tom met on Match.com.
And Sharon was swept off her feet.
He showered her with attention.
-[camera shutter clicks]
-[Dan] Took her on vacation.
[camera shutter clicks]
[Dan] They decided
to go on a cruise to Mexico.
And when they came back
[camera shutter clicks]
Sharon told Colleen
[camera shutter clicks]
"We got married."
I was just like,
"Oh God, who's this guy?" You know?
[camera shutter clicks]
-[Colleen] He looked a little wild.
-[camera shutter clicks]
[Colleen] Yeah,
he had the super mullet going on.
And then by January,
he had moved all his stuff in from Utah.
It was kind of very very quick.
[Dan] Did you always feel
something was strange about him?
Yeah.
[Dan] Three months into their marriage,
Sharon made a will,
leaving almost everything to Tom.
And he took out
three life insurance policies on her
for about $350,000.
And then all of a sudden, now,
a new personality started to come out.
[Colleen] He kept leaving
for his ex-girlfriend.
My mom was like, "Hell, no."
And they fought all the time.
[reporter] Metro officers responded
to a 911 call from a man who said
So when, uh, my mom's friend called me
'cause she saw the news
that a woman was killed on that street
And I just knew right right then
that it had to have been my mom.
[pensive music playing]
[beeps]
[Tom over phone] Hi, Colleen, this is Tom.
[Dan] After her mother was killed,
Randolph starts leaving
these phone messages.
[Tom over phone] I am just gonna
try my darndest to buck up
and get the cleaning done,
and try and save us some money
to get this house for sale.
Get this on the market and get on with it.
[Colleen] He thought with his will,
everything was his.
[Tom over phone] Love you,
see you later. Bye.
He didn't realize I was appointed
special administrator to my mom's estate.
[dramatic music playing]
[Dan] Not long before Sharon died,
she started to become concerned
about the way
that she was being treated by him
to the point where she believed
that she was in danger.
And in secret, she changed her will,
leaving nearly everything to Colleen.
He didn't realize I had a will.
Yeah, he thought he was in control
and in charge of everything.
And
He doesn't like it
when a woman takes control away.
-[beeps]
-[automated voice] Please save.
[Tom over phone] You know,
it's really weird.
We sat there
and we talked about the house.
I could see it in your eyes.
You was lying through your teeth.
[laughing over phone]
No wonder your mother didn't like you.
[automated voice] End of message.
[scoffs]
[intriguing music playing]
[Tom sighs]
[Tom] I'm gonna be wigglin' around today
because I am just not comfortable.
[O'Kelley] After the video walk-through,
I told Tom that
there were still some problems
that might need to be cleared up.
Mr. Randolph, thank you for coming in.
So when he came back in town,
we conducted a a recorded interview
with him.
Sum up Sharon in one word.
She's fucking wonderful.
[detective] How would you sum yourself up?
I'm a cocky fucker.
[intriguing music playing]
If I catch you fucking with me
or stealing from me
or fucking my wife
we're gonna have a problem.
And since I got a bad back
I'll probably bring a bat with me.
And I may even try to find a friend
to hold you if I can't catch you.
You could tell
he tried to push buttons a lot.
Yeah, actually I got
so many fucking bullets it's scary.
I could start a small war
on a third [world] country.
-A small third country
-[detective] Right.
He was trying to figure out
if we were on to him.
Unless you come
and just tell me I'm under arrest
I'm probably not coming back out here
for at least 30, 40 days.
You think we should tell you
you're under arrest?
No, because if you are, you fucked up.
You fucked up.
This one's an easy one for you.
He was trying to suggest
we should've said,
"Okay, it's all good. It's over with."
It wasn't working for him.
And he became really angry about that.
I like you. You, I don't like, by the way.
-[O'Kelley] Okay.
-I don't know why, I just don't like you.
[O'Kelley] It happens.
It's not that I don't trust you, but
I think I'll take my bag with me, okay?
As we were up and leaving
the interview room,
Tom looked at me and said
[Tom] Is your wife good-looking?
[O'Kelley] What do you think?
[Tom] To kill for.
And I think that was
just a little peek at his hand.
[music fades]
[cars honking in distance]
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] A lot of my work
actually has to do with cases
where the justice system
has gotten it wrong.
People who claim they're innocent
and are ignored.
So although Thomas Randolph
was under suspicion,
I'm never convinced
whether it's a wrongful conviction
or a rightful conviction
until I know all the facts.
So I called him.
[phone line ringing]
[Dan] I left messages.
[phone line ringing]
[Dan] And finally, he answered.
-[phone clatters]
-[Tom] Hello? [sighs]
[Dan] Hey Tom, it's Dan from Dateline.
How are you?
[Tom] Hi, Dan.
I'm so goddamn pissed off at you.
Tell me straight up what it is
you're you're wanting from me
so I can talk to my lawyer
and see about coming on your fucking show
and shutting you up!
Because you're out of your fucking mind!
Is that clear enough for you,
how I feel about this?
He's mad.
He doesn't know he's gonna talk to me.
How am I gonna s-- flip this?
[Dan over phone] I'm not calling you
with any preconceived notion.
I'm not calling you
with any judgement whatsoever.
My goal was
to slowly have him comfortable with me.
[Dan over phone] You know that there is
some sort of investigation happening.
You know, that must be
very stressful for you.
[Tom] Stressful? I'm ready
to blow my brains out.
I never said that I thought he was guilty.
I never said
that I thought he was innocent.
I just wanted
to keep a relationship with him.
I wanted to keep him talking.
[Tom over phone] You talked
to the detectives, obviously.
Just ask them
how much time have they spent with me.
Have they ever had dinner with me?
[Dan] This is the kind of thing
that I'm talking about.
Just kind of getting to know who you are.
That was the beginning
of our cat and mouse game.
[Dan over phone] You got my number.
-[Tom] Alright, thank you.
-[Dan] Alright, Tom.
[O'Kelley] While we're conducting
our investigation,
there's that ever-present sense of urgency
because we know
that he's a very dangerous person.
But to arrest Thomas Randolph,
we needed more evidence.
[camera shutter clicking]
[O'Kelley] Even though Mike Miller
was a victim, he was also a suspect.
So I wanted to look into his relationship
with Thomas Randolph.
We learned that he had family members
in North Carolina
and friends in South Carolina,
so we traveled there to get interviews
with them in person.
[twangy guitar music playing]
[Dan] Most importantly,
let's talk about life on the road
for a homicide detective.
[O'Kelley] It's all about eatin' grits.
-[both laughing]
-[Dan] Grits.
[Dan] I go with him,
riding shotgun the entire time
with my camera rolling.
[automated voice] Approaching left turn,
followed by a right turn.
All right, did I just do a circle?
-[Dan] Go straight.
-Why'd I do that?
[automated voice] Approaching destination
on the right.
[O'Kelley] All right.
-[O'Kelley] Is this it?
-[detective] That's it.
[O'Kelley] If a person's the subject
of an interview, they had to say yes or no
as to whether or not
they wanted to be on camera.
-[woman] Hey, how y'all doing?
-[O'Kelley] Good. How are you doing?
Dan Slepian.
[Dan] I'm with NBC News.
They not only approved. They were willing
to to tell us everything.
[pensive music playing]
[man] My brother worked all his life.
We're sorry for your loss.
[Dan] The detectives went to interview
Mike Miller's two brothers.
-[man] Come on in.
-[O'Kelley] Reco.
-[Reco crying] Excuse me. [sniffling]
-No, take your time. You're fine.
[woman] Come in.
Judy?
[Dan] And a friend of Mike Miller's.
Judy, you understand this interview
is being recorded?
-Is that okay with you?
-[Judy] Yes, sir.
About how long ago did you meet him?
[Judy] It was about 15, 16 years.
-So you're pretty good friends with him?
-[Judy] Mm-hmm.
And at some point
he moved out to Las Vegas?
[Judy] Yup, he said he was moving out
for a better life.
And what did he tell you?
Did he Did he give give you a call
after he got settled in?
[Judy] He always talked about
the man he met at the store.
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] Randolph met Mike Miller
months earlier at a convenience store.
Seemed like a guy down on his luck,
and he bought him some beer.
He said, "I need a handyman.
You wanna come and help me?"
-Was he getting paid then?
-Yeah, he said he was getting $600 a week.
Did he say how often
he had contact with this man Tom?
It was all the time.
[Dan] Over the course of four months,
they spoke, like, every day.
There was like 200 phone calls
that Randolph made to him.
Mike told me he said he had got a gun.
A 9 millimeter.
[detective] Mike said
he got that from who?
He got that from the white guy.
[dramatic music playing]
[Judy] I kept telling him, I said Mike,
something's ain't right about that man.
And then Mike told me
"The man wanted me to kill his wife."
I said, "For what?"
He said, "He'll pay me to do it."
[O'Kelley] Tom Randolph convinced Michael
to kill Sharon
[camera shutter clicking]
make it look like a burglary,
and that they would later
split the insurance money.
[camera shutter clicking]
[O'Kelley] The ski mask
probably came off immediately,
but Tom double-crossed him and killed him.
[camera shutter clicking]
[music fades]
[Dan] Are you 100% convinced
that he's guilty of murder?
Yes. I expect that we're gonna arrest him.
[intriguing music playing]
[O'Kelley] Good morning, sir.
[Dan] Dean can't make an arrest
without the permission
of the District Attorney's Office.
So I follow him over
to meet assistant district attorneys
Dave Stanton and Robert Daskas.
I had never had
that kind of access to prosecutors
where I'm filming
as they're having strategy sessions,
talking about whether they should be able
to arrest this guy or not.
We have a pretty good idea
of when they got home.
It's based on video surveillance.
[Dan] They got a surveillance video
from the casino in the restaurant
where he had taken Sharon out
for a Mother's Day dinner.
If the allegations are true,
as he's holding her hand,
he knows that she's gonna be dead
within five, ten minutes.
[O'Kelley] She came in this garage door,
and just as she clears this doorway,
she's shot.
[camera shutter clicking]
[Dan] They have the forensics
that don't match,
the odd behavior with the walk-through.
Boom, boom! Boom! Boom! Boom, boom!
They have the timeline
that doesn't match up.
He can't get over that time.
He can't get around it.
[Dan] And now they have information
from Mike Miller's family.
So what's the current status of your case?
Well, we're we're talking with you
and roundtabling it
to see whether or not
you think we have enough to
to get the affidavit together
and submit it.
I thought, this is a slam dunk.
They're gonna be thanking us
to bring such a good-quality case to them.
[music fades]
[birds chirping]
The way I assess it is
the defense attorney walks in
and says says to a jury,
"Look, there's an intruder. He's startled.
He panics. He grabs a gun."
"Is it is it any wonder
he can't remember exactly where he was
when he fired that gun?"
I I tend to agree with Robert.
If I'm a defense attorney,
yeah, he's panicked.
[intriguing music playing]
[O'Kelley] I was dumbfounded.
Feeling like I was being punked
or something,
like, "What-- Are-- You're serious?"
Unless there's more evidence
I'm not aware of right now,
there's no way
that a jury convicts him of anything.
[Dan] Even the testimony from Judy Archie,
the prosecutors say it's not good.
[Judy] Mike told me
the man wanted me to kill his wife.
[Dan] Tom didn't say to her
that he wants to kill his wife.
Miller told her that Tom told him
that he wanted to kill his wife.
That's called hearsay.
So it's not admissible.
We've got to make sure,
you know, we're ready
and we've done everything we can
to get this guy.
I just I think it's not there.
[Dan] When the prosecutors
declined Dean's request
to arrest Thomas Randolph,
I was a little bit like, "Oh shit."
"Is this story dead?"
[dramatic sting]
[Dan] But Dean O'Kelley
wasn't gonna give up.
[intriguing music playing]
[O'Kelley] We had to dig
as deep as we could
into Tom Randolph's life.
And it turns out
Sharon Randolph was
Tom Randolph's sixth wife.
And out of the six times
he'd been married,
four of those women were dead.
I was like, "What?"
I've never met anybody who had six wives
and four of them are dead.
His first wife, Kathy Randolph,
was still alive.
And she lived in Carnation, Washington.
[man over PA] boarding everyone
at this time.
-[O'Kelley] Are we getting it now?
-[Dan] Yep.
So the detectives boarded a plane.
That's Rob.
And that's Dean.
I flew with them,
filming them along the way
as we unraveled the secrets
of Thomas Randolph's past.
[music fades]
[knocking on door]
-Hello.
-[O'Kelley] Kathryn, hi.
Hi, Robert, Dean, and Dan. Right?
-[O'Kelley] You got it. Dan.
-Okay.
[intriguing music playing]
[Wilson] We have
a more recent photograph of him,
and we'd just like you
to take a look at it.
Sure.
That's definitely him. He looks terrible.
[O'Kelley] How did you, uh, meet
Thomas Randolph?
Um, I was in high school.
I was a senior, and I had a girlfriend.
And her boyfriend
happened to be roommates.
We were married August 2nd, 1975.
I was 18.
He was 20.
I had my two children with him.
He was very charming and witty person
and very intelligent.
And I fell for that at first.
Do you know
if he had an insurance policy on you?
Yes, he did.
[eerie music playing]
[Kathy] He got really scary.
Not physically, but psychologically.
He liked to control you, you know?
Didn't want you to have any friends.
He started seeing other women,
um, doing a lot of drugs,
and I I just couldn't handle it anymore.
The day I decided to leave,
you could see his face just go red.
But I knew he had guns.
He really scared me at that point.
[Dan] She went on to marry a guy
named Steve Thomas,
who used to be friends with Randolph.
He had, uh, approached me and asked me
if I would kill somebody for money
if I knew I could get away with it.
Not just once, but several times.
At the time, I didn't really know,
but looking back,
I firmly believe that she was the target.
[intriguing music playing]
This was the first time we know
that Tom Randolph tried to groom someone
to commit murder.
[O'Kelley] It shows a pattern.
He's around somebody for a while,
and then he'll just
maybe put something out there
and see whether or not they,
like you say,
whether or not you bite on it.
It was good to know
that we're on the right track.
But we needed to dig further.
We needed more.
[music fades]
[pensive music playing]
[Dan] During the investigation,
Thomas Randolph was free.
So Colleen wanted to change
the locks on her mom's house
so he didn't have any access.
He's a lot more dangerous
than I thought he was.
He doesn't
he doesn't care about anybody but himself.
Oh, you took your shoes off.
[O'Kelley] Colleen was very afraid
of Randolph.
I think that's why she contacted us, uh,
when the locks were being changed
on the house
to make sure
that somebody was there to protect her.
[Colleen] I mean, look at this stuff.
[intriguing music playing]
[Colleen] Bullets.
And he's got this bulletproof vest.
[Dan] And as they're changing the locks,
Randolph shows up.
[Colleen] Um
[Tom] And I I'm still not quite sure
I understand this.
[Colleen] He hasn't left yet.
He's arguing with O'Kelley out front.
[Dan] I know.
[Tom] Now, you got a piece of paper
that says I can't be here?
That's what I thought, so
I think I'll stay in my house.
[Officer] No, I don't think so, sir.
He was agitated right out of the gate,
wanting to take things from the house,
being told that he couldn't.
[Tom] I live here.
This is my house and address.
[Officer] That's not the way
it's going to go today.
[Tom] What do you mean?
I can't get my clothes?
[Officer] No. That's something you
you got to work out with your attorney.
I'm like, "Okay, let's go.
We're leaving the house."
[Tom] You're just an asshole, aren't you?
Yeah, you really are.
[O'Kelley] Right.
He's locked out
because he can't get his clothes.
And I'm not talking to him.
[Dan] Hmm.
[Colleen] Oh, my heart's still going
pretty fast.
Just scared the crap out of me.
This guy's dangerous,
and you don't know
what he's planning on next.
The sooner we can get him into custody,
the better.
[music fades]
[phone line ringing]
[Tom over phone] Hi, Dan.
I just thought I'd call you back 'cause I
[Dan] Tom and I would have
hours-long phone conversations,
so we formed this rapport.
[Tom chuckling] I'm really
starting to like you. I really am.
[Dan] And what seemed to be
very appealing to him
was my work with wrongful convictions.
[Tom] My perspective is the same as yours.
The system's screwed up.
In his mind, if he thought
he was being wronged,
he may have seen me as an ally.
[Tom] These cops-- I'm just pissed off.
How callous or how unconcerned they was.
They think they found a serial killer
marries these women
and insures them and kills them.
You know,
there's always been a lot of insurance
on every wife I've ever had.
And I've had a bunch of 'em.
And my second wife
killed herself 22 years ago.
Suicide! She committed suicide.
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] Tom's second wife
was Beckie Randolph,
who he had met in Utah.
He had been with Beckie
before he divorced Kathy.
So when he divorced Kathy,
he ended up marrying Beckie the next day.
[sirens wailing]
[Dan] In 1986, Randolph was pulled over,
driving erratically,
had a bottle of vodka in the car with him,
and he was arrested.
He got out of jail the next morning,
went to the house, called 911,
and said he found Beckie dead
and that it was a suicide.
[Tom over phone] I'd been in jail
for about four hours
before my wife killed herself.
So, I didn't do this shit.
These cops,
I guess now they want to solve this
and become policemen of the century
or something.
[music fades]
-[Wilson] We'd better hit the road though.
-Okay.
[Dan] I went with the detectives
to Clearfield, Utah,
to talk to Beckie's aunt.
Anything you wanna say
to your lieutenant and your, uh, sheriff?
-[Wilson laughing]
-We did not rent an Infiniti.
[Dan] This car is awful.
[O'Kelley] Yeah, I think that's the only
How are you? Rob Wilson.
-Rose Allred.
-[Wilson] Nice to meet you, Rose.
-Hi. Hi.
-Dean O'Kelley. Good to meet you.
Come on in.
One picture of her.
Here's
Beckie was happy.
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] Even though Beckie died
20 years earlier
I felt that emptiness.
I felt that sadness from her.
[O'Kelley] Tell me what you know
about Tom Randolph and their relationship.
I just didn't like him.
He was just an arrogant smart-ass.
Did, uh, Beckie ever talk to you
about anything that he was doing to her?
Yeah.
He had a room down in the basement,
and he always kept it locked.
She told me that he had other girls
down there and make her go down.
I asked her, "Doesn't it kill you
to watch him do that with other girls?"
She said, "Yeah."
"But I do it because he wants me to."
[sniffles]
She lost her job.
They were losing the house.
And Tom was bitching
'cause the insurance premium
was due on their insurance.
-The life insurance?
-Mm-hmm.
He had three policies out on
[Dan] Rosealie said Beckie was getting up
the courage to leave him.
And Beckie told Rosealie,
"I'm gonna go over to the house,
pack up some stuff,
and I'm gonna stay with you."
[sniffles] The My cousin called
and told me to come home.
At what-- 'cause I was at work,
told me to come home.
And I said, "She's dead, isn't she?"
"Just just come home."
And she was dead.
[camera shutter clicks]
[Dan] When the investigators came over,
there was a gun in her hand.
There's a suicide note.
But one detective was convinced
there was foul play.
-Is it 160?
-I think so.
[O'Kelley] While we were in Utah,
we went up to meet with
the lead investigator of Beckie's death.
-Dean O'Kelley. Good to meet you.
-Dean?
[O'Kelley] He pushed back, like I did,
because he had problems
with what he saw at the scene.
There were a lot of things that,
you know, was a red flag to me,
you know,
such as the position of the hands.
Upside down,
laying like this to pull the trigger?
Mm-mm. Ain't happening.
Just by looking at it,
she'd have had to be
on her head and ambidextrous
in order to pull that trigger.
There was no way that could have happened.
[camera shutter clicking]
[O'Kelley] Not long after the murder,
Dick Martin went back to the crime scene
to do a deeper investigation.
I was under the impression
that the County Attorney's Office
had locked the house down.
By the time I could get my warrant
in order to get back in there
and do things,
everything that I wanted to do was gone.
Carpet was up, walls painted.
You know?
I mean, you name it, it was done.
'Cause they didn't lock it out,
that allowed Tom Randolph then
to get back into the house
and change things.
[pensive music playing]
[O'Kelley] And it's case closed.
So Randolph was able to profit
on insurance policies
close to half a million dollars.
[camera shutter clicks]
[Dan] He ends up buying a hot tub
and a Porsche,
and he lived for a couple of years
believing it was over.
But that all changed in 1988.
When Beckie Rae Randolph
died two years ago
from a gunshot wound to the head,
Clearfield police called it
apparent suicide.
[intriguing music playing]
[anchor] But today police arrested
Randolph's husband
on charges of murder
after new evidence
implicated him in the shooting.
[Dan] A new witness came forward.
Eric Tarantino.
[camera shutter clicks]
[Dan] He was a former friend
of Randolph's,
and he'd been in hiding for two years.
[reporter] Eric Tarantino claims
Randolph once offered him $10,000
to kill Mrs. Randolph
and make it look like an accident.
The prosecutors claimed
Tom Randolph had groomed Eric
and got him to the point
where he'd be willing to kill Beckie.
That's all matching up with what we knew
happened in Las Vegas with Mike Miller.
So we needed to travel to New Hampshire
and get a statement from Eric Tarantino.
[Dan] I flew in with the detectives,
but I assumed
that he wouldn't want me around.
He was terrified of Thomas Randolph.
In fact, he moved as far as he could
across the country,
literally to New Hampshire
from the West Coast
to get away from him.
Really appreciate you coming. Dean.
Mr. O'Kelley, how are you?
-[O'Kelley] Rob Wilson, my partner.
-[Wilson] How you doing? Nice to meet you.
[O'Kelley] And Dan Slepian.
I say to Eric Tarantino,
"I'll stand in the background."
"Do you mind if I film the conversation?"
He's like, "No, go ahead."
And it's a scene out of a movie.
You know, it was 20 years ago,
but for 20 years, it was yesterday.
There isn't a day that goes by
I don't look over my shoulder for him.
I don't think anybody
ever got as close to him as I did.
I don't think anybody ever would.
[Dan] Tarantino met Randolph
when he was 19.
Randolph was older. He looked up to him.
Tom and I had become good friends.
We did a lot of camping,
hunting, fishing,
running around, doing what guys do.
[gunshots]
[Eric] We were shooting guns in, uh,
I wanna say, Weber Canyon.
[gunshot]
It's just one thing after another.
It was little innuendos here and there
about killing somebody
for, you know, collecting insurance.
And then just a point-blank,
"I want you to kill my wife."
And "no" was the first thing
out of my mouth.
And this is exactly what he said.
"You know way too much to say no."
"So it's you or her."
[chuckling] Well, I wasn't ready to die,
so I played the game.
I did whatever he asked me to do.
I mean, we went out
so many different times
practicing ways to kill her.
[intriguing music continues]
Pushing her down in a canyon
with a raging river.
Shooting her, accidental, non-accidental.
You didn't make mistakes
or you paid for them.
The way Eric Tarantino explains it
is that they practiced killing Beckie
for about a year.
He was almost like a hostage.
[O'Kelley] But Eric developed
affectionate feelings towards Beckie,
and he wasn't gonna be able
to follow through with it.
[Eric] She got on the phone.
I said, "Beckie, Tom's gonna kill you."
"He's got life insurance policies
in the bottom drawer of his bureau
at his mother's house."
He was dancing on the bed
when we were there,
uh, playing a Rod Stewart song.
"I wanna kill my wife
and make it look like suicide."
Or should I act
Quite cold and deliberate?
Or maybe blow out her brains
With a bullet?
They'll think suicide
They won't know who done it
I wanna kill my wife
-[gunshot]
-[song ends]
I knew when I made that phone call,
I either had to run
or I was gonna be dead.
I wasn't going anywhere
where I could be found.
[Dan] The next day,
Tarantino went into hiding
[pensive music playing]
but then about a year later,
he gets a call saying she's dead.
Beckie's dead.
They had a hundred suspicions
that her death was murder
and not suicide.
I was the missing link
to the entire thing.
[intriguing music playing]
[reporter] Based on Tarantino's testimony,
prosecutors filed murder charges
against Randolph.
It is a capital case,
which means Thomas Randolph
could face the death penalty.
[Dan] Tom knows
the key witness against him
is his former friend.
So while he's in jail,
Tom hires a hit man
to kill Eric Tarantino.
[Eric] They were smart enough
to put an undercover agent
in the cell next to him,
which was the person
that he hired for the contract.
[O'Kelley] So you would think
a person wanting to have
one of the witnesses against them murdered
would be something
that the jury would wanna hear.
But unfortunately,
there are many occasions
where evidence cannot be introduced
that would prejudice the jury
against the defendant.
So they never heard about the attempt
on Eric Tarantino's life.
Everything hinged on
Eric Tarantino's testimony.
[Eric] When I walked into the trial,
I was less than a foot from Tom Randolph.
Shaking.
My mind was racing 100 miles an hour.
I looked at the jury a lot of the time,
just trying to get them to realize
[camera shutter clicks]
that's an insane person.
That's a psychotic person.
[Rawson] The 34-year-old Randolph
testified for more than two hours,
described marriage to a woman
he said was disturbed,
depressed, and dependent on drugs.
[siren wailing in distance]
[Dan] Randolph had his alibi.
"I was in jail that night."
[Rawson] The prosecutor argued
he killed Beckie first.
He wanted to establish an alibi.
And what better alibi
than to be thrown into jail?
The jury must decide
if Beckie Randolph took her own life
as a way to escape her problems
or if Thomas Randolph
used his wife's depression
and her talk of suicide as a way to mask
what he may have thought
was the perfect crime.
The jury was out [exhales]
most of the day.
Um
They came back.
Michelle, we were just informed
a few moments ago
that the jury has returned a verdict.
He did not kill his wife to collect
a quarter million dollars in insurance.
[reporter 1] Minutes
after the jury's decision,
Thomas Randolph Jr. approaches our camera.
I need to thank the jury
for being so attentive.
[reporter 2] How are you feeling?
Wonderful.
[Dan] It just goes to show
how effective he is in swaying people.
He was facing the death penalty,
and he was acquitted.
[Rawson] Minutes after he was acquitted,
Randolph was hauled back to jail.
He faces another charge,
conspiracy to murder
the state's star witness against him.
[Dan] Randolph ended up spending
about a year and a half in prison
on the witness tampering charge,
got out,
and then sued the prosecutors
for prosecuting him.
Not only did Tom get a settlement.
He also got his record expunged.
He knew how the system worked.
There's no question about that.
And like everything else he did,
he knew how to manipulate things too.
[Rawson] There were other tears
of anger and bitterness
from members of Beckie Randolph's family.
I think it's very unfair and unjust.
Part of it,
which I found chilling to hear,
Beckie's mother goes outside
and is filmed by the local news.
He's guilty.
And he's just gonna kill
somebody else's daughter, so beware.
[music fades]
[Dan] Let's get this on tape for you.
You want to shoot my belly?
Yeah, that's my baby girl.
[pensive music playing]
[Dan] I had a young child at the time.
I felt Colleen's pain.
[Colleen] We have scheduled a pickup time
for Thomas Randolph
to come get his stuff from the house.
[O'Kelley] Tommy, let her
take a look at that, please.
[Colleen] I was hoping
he would be arrested,
but, uh, it turns out
they're gonna hold off on that.
I'm losing faith. [sighs]
Just, I I worry
about my [sighs] my safety and my kids.
Yeah, it's just [sniffles]
it's taking too long.
[O'Kelley] I knew
any moment that he was free,
anybody on Tom's radar
that could testify against him
could end up dead.
-Thanks so much.
-If he bothers you at all, just call.
But before we could arrest him,
we needed to dig further
into all of these previous marriages
that Tom Randolph had.
After Beckie,
the next woman
that Tom Randolph married was Leona.
He met her in Utah,
and together they moved to Indiana.
[camera shutter clicks]
[Dan] They were divorced,
and she actually ended up dying
much later from cancer.
But Indiana started to open up
the eastern front for him
when it came to finding new wives.
[O'Kelley] His fourth wife, Gayna,
was the only other woman
that's still alive.
How are you feeling
about flying cross-country again?
-Sucks. I hate flying.
-[O'Kelley chuckles]
[intriguing music playing]
[automated voice] Approaching left turn.
We go over to Gayna's house.
[O'Kelley] Hi, Gayna. Dean O'Kelley.
[meows]
[Gayna] Come here.
[Dan] She lets me film
her interview with the detectives.
[O'Kelley] Do a little introduction
to the recording, and then we'll talk.
-All right?
-Let's go. Chop-chop.
[O'Kelley] How did you meet Tom Randolph?
Through, um, a an ad,
a dating thing in the newspaper.
He says everything
that, uh, you basically wanted to hear.
Brought flowers
and all those kind of stuff.
Then the next thing I know,
I'm stupid enough to marry him.
[Dan] One day, she gets a call
from the Edinburgh Police Department
saying that Tom was involved
in a shooting at a bar.
"And by the way,
you know about his second wife, right?"
They were asking me if he'd taken out
a life insurance policy on me,
and I told them, yes, that he had,
and then they explained to me
about an incident that happened in Utah.
That he had been under suspicion
as far as murder there of the wife.
-And I had no knowledge of any of that.
-Mmm.
And I was totally shocked.
[O'Kelley] Everything came to a head,
uh, one night
when Tom was supposedly cleaning firearms
[gunshot]
and the bullet went through the floor
about a foot away from her.
I was extremely scared,
and it wasn't too long after that
that he went to work,
and I packed up my stuff, and I was gone.
[indistinct chatter]
[Dan] Gayna took off as fast as possible,
and it's a good thing that she did
because Randolph had allegedly
approached a guy named Glenn Morrison
about killing his wife.
-[knocking on door]
-[dog barking]
Mr. Morrison, do you understand
this is being recorded?
Yeah.
-Do you recognize this fella?
-[Morrison] Yeah, that's Randolph.
We were out drinking beer, or something.
And he asked me something
about making some quick money.
He said, "Well, my wife."
"I got insurance money for you
to shoot her and shoot me in the leg."
"I'll give you 30 minutes to get away."
"Wait for the insurance company
and if it settles I'll pay you the money."
He was trying
to make it look like a robbery?
Yeah.
[O'Kelley] Although no investigation
was ever done into this claim
and Tom Randolph was never charged,
it's exactly what played out in Las Vegas
with Mike Miller and Sharon Randolph.
Way before Tom even met Sharon,
he's talking to Glenn Morrison
about doing the same thing.
I said, "You're
out your fucking mind, man."
I said,
"I ain't have nothing to do with that."
If I did that, he'd have shot me.
It'd be the perfect alibi.
I broke in there, shot his wife,
shot him, tried to rob the place.
No witnesses.
He actually saw the outcome
of what happened to Miller
[camera shutter clicking]
and said, "No, I don't want
to have anything to do with this."
[music fades]
[Dan] While he was with Gayna,
he had met Frances, his fifth wife.
And he convinced Frances
to leave her husband to marry him.
[intriguing music playing]
[O'Kelley] We knew that Frances was dead.
The question was, why?
How did that happen?
[automated voice] Destination on the left
in 0.3 miles.
[O'Kelley] And so we ended up
meeting with Frances's family.
-How are you?
-Hello. Dean O'Kelley.
-You're Dean O'Kelley? I'm Carolyn Austin.
-[O'Kelley] Yes, ma'am. Hi.
And we found out
that she had a heart condition
that needed to be dealt with
at some point in time.
She told me that week.
She said,
"I don't have to have the surgery."
"But they said
if I would have it before I got older,
that it'd be so much better for me."
[camera shutter clicks]
Tom hand-selected this doctor in Utah
to get the surgery done.
Family members come to visit.
She had surgery,
come out of recovery, and was doing fine,
was sitting up, eating, talking.
So we all went back.
[heart monitor beeping]
[O'Kelley] While they're at the airport,
they get a phone call
that said that Frances
had taken a turn for the worse
[heart monitor flatlining]
and that she had died.
[somber music playing]
[Dan] To this day,
it's never been declared a murder.
He insists that she died
from a malpractice.
And he ends up not only collecting
on her life insurance money,
but he sues the hospital
for wrongful death
and settles with them.
[Carolyn] And it seemed like
everybody he's ever around,
these women come up dead.
He comes up with money.
Every time there's money,
he's always getting money.
[O'Kelley] Are you saying
And then Carolyn comes up
with this videotape.
I'm like, what is that?
Well, this is the will
that he he had sis to make.
I've never watched this because I can't
I just feel like I can't bear to watch it.
[static warbles]
[pensive music playing]
-[Frances] Go ahead and do it now?
-[Tom] Pardon me?
-You want me to go ahead and do it now?
-Uh-huh.
This is Frances Louise Randolph
and I'm makin' this tape
so that people will know what I want
when I pass away.
[Tom] What do you want done with yourself?
And for my burial
I would like to be cremated
and put along, uh, with Tom in a place.
I don't want to be separated from him,
so please, Tommy,
do what you think is best
because I know
you'll do what's right for me.
Seeing that video
of someone speaking about
their demise from the grave
was chilling.
And Tommy,
I hope you never have to look at
this tape.
Because I love you too much
to think someday I won't be with you.
-[Tom] Asshole. [sniffles]
-I love you, Tommy.
[static warbles]
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] We found out so much more
than I could've ever expected.
And Dean said, "This is the time for us
to bring the case back."
Today's date is September 9th,
and we are heading up
to, uh, Dave Stanton's office
to discuss the completion of the affidavit
and our being ready to submit the case.
It's the moment of truth, all right?
[Dan] This time,
the prosecutors say
You know, one of the things
I wanted to talk about today is
pulling the trigger
when we do grand jury versus prelim.
[O'Kelley] Now arrest warrant's typed up,
signed by a judge,
and I don't think the ink was dry
before we were on our way
to take Thomas Randolph into custody.
[phone line ringing]
[Tom over phone] These cops,
they know damn well I didn't shoot Sharon!
[Dan] Most of the time
when I spoke with Tom,
he was at his mom's place in Utah.
[Tom] I'll save the state of Nevada
a lot of money
if they're coming to arrest me.
Just let me know
and I'll go ahead and shoot myself.
You know, maybe I can shoot them too
and save the taxpayers some money
'cause they sure as hell
ain't very good cops.
We drove all night,
and we ended up in Clearfield, Utah,
at about 4 or 5 a.m.
I'm excited, man,
but I'm also kind of nervous, you know?
-We're gonna get him, though.
-Oh, no, no.
I mean, we're definitely gonna get him,
but I wouldn't put it past him
just to get a chuckle out of it, you know?
[suspenseful music playing]
[O'Kelley] We met in a remote location
down the street
from where the house is located,
and we let the detectives from Clearfield
take the lead.
Do we want to sit on it at all
and try and wait and watch,
or are we just gonna hit it
and see what we get?
We knew that Tom Randolph
might be armed and dangerous.
[detective] He's not answering,
just so you know.
[O'Kelley] So there was
that heightened level of concern.
If he was cornered,
he might go down in a blaze of glory.
The Clearfield detective
approached the house.
I had my weapon drawn
because we didn't know what he had.
[detective] Hello?
-Can I talk to you real quick?
-Good morning.
Put your hands on your head right now!
Put your hands on your head right now!
[O'Kelley] He had his hand
behind the door.
-Watch it. Watch it.
-[detective] Come out.
He wouldn't show his right hand.
-[detective 2] Look. Taser.
-[detective] Let me see your hand.
On the ground! On the ground!
[Tom] My hand. My God.
Look what you've done to me. [grunts]
-[detective] On the ground!
-[detective 2] On your belly!
[Tom grunting]
-[detective] Hands behind your back.
-[Tom] My hand.
-Oh my God, you--
-[detective] You're under arrest.
[Tom] I understand that.
-Let's get him up. Let's get him out.
-[Tom grunting]
-Oh my God.
-Let's get him out.
-[Tom] Oh, you-- Fuck. Oh my God.
-[detective] Stand up and walk!
-[Tom] I can't stand up, you stupid fucks.
-[detective] Walk! You can!
[Tom] Oh my God. [grunting]
-Let's get get him out of the house.
-[Tom grunting]
-Walk.
-You're killing me, you scum. This is--
-Walk. Walk.
-[Tom grunting]
-[detective] Walk.
-Jesus Christ. [panting]
[O'Kelley] Don't make
any dumb moves, okay?
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] After he was tased
and dragged through the snow,
his mother came out.
-[Tom's Mom] Tommy, you okay?
-[Tom] No!
What did you do to him?
He refused to show his hands
when he was ordered to do so,
so they had to take appropriate action.
[Dan] She's a tough woman,
and she just supported him
with everything he ever did.
-Be careful.
-[Tom] Yeah.
[detective] Hey, I didn't have to do
[continues indistinct]
[O'Kelley sighs]
[Dan] Did you not know
that they were coming?
-[Wilson] Careful, Dan.
-No.
[O'Kelley] Are you warm enough now,
Thomas?
-Uh, not really, but
-[Wilson] I'll turn those vents on.
I know you guys have to be burning up
with the coats on.
[Dan] Now, remember,
we've never met each other in person.
I've been talking to him on the phone
for six months.
Look at those mountains, huh?
Did you use to ski?
-Long time ago.
-[Dan] Did you?
I broke my leg when I was
16, 17.
[Dan] He's been tased,
so they need to take him to the hospital.
I said, "Tom, do you mind
if if I go with you?"
And he was like, "No, you can come."
Well, everybody who I've spoken to
who knows you
says you're a pretty charismatic guy.
I don't know about that,
but I guess that's good.
I don't feel too charismatic now.
I kind of hurt.
I'm a nice guy.
I'm I'm cocky, I'm a little flashy,
but, you know,
certainly doesn't make me a murderer.
[Dan] Thomas Randolph wanted me there
with him.
He invited me in.
If you go to Vegas, if you end up in jail
or waiting trial, I'll come and visit you.
-We'll do interviews there.
-Okay. Cool.
-[Dan] All right?
-Yep.
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
-[receptionist] Hi, how are you today?
-Hey, how's it going?
[Dan] As soon as Tom was arrested,
his mother mortgaged her house
to have enough money
to get him his first attorney.
This place always smells.
I don't know what. It smells
It smells like
the bottom of somebody's foot.
What did you wanna talk to me about?
Okay, for bail, I need to be out
to help you 'cause
[Dan] This is the second time
that he's facing the death penalty,
but Tom thinks he's the assistant lawyer
and not the defendant.
So my files are in Mom's house,
in my attic, in Mom's attic,
in the garage.
-What what files, what what paperwork?
-We moved it to--
[Gabe] By the way, my legal assistant,
Melinda, thinks you're a whack job.
She read your letter, and she says,
"I don't understand
anything he's writing."
Okay, she, like, actually typed it out.
She read it and typed it out
and then read it again
and said that you're all over the place.
Gabe knew that
the monumental fight in this case
was to make sure that the Utah case
was kept out for the Sharon Randolph trial
because there was only
one question to be answered.
Whether you were shooting
a burglar or an accomplice.
[music fades]
-[Gabe] See you, Tom.
-[Tom] See you later. Thanks, Gabe.
But before Gabe went to trial,
Randolph essentially fired him.
I mean, Randolph couldn't afford Gabe,
but he never went to Gabe and said,
"Hey, can you represent me?" or whatever.
It was almost like
he was happy to see them go.
So the trial date got postponed,
leaving Colleen in limbo.
[Colleen] Katie.
-We got the new member of the family.
-[Dan] Yeah, good girl.
[pensive music playing]
Oh, definitely I thought
trial would've started by now.
This is getting ridiculous.
I I just wish, uh, he would give in
[Katie babbles]
or pass away [chuckles]
and get it over with.
I think she looks a little like my mom,
especially in the eyes.
I see my mom.
It's hard sometimes. [chuckles]
-[boy] That stuff is
-[music fades]
After Gabe Grasso, the new attorney
was hired by the name of Brent Bryson.
Breakfast of champions with coffee.
Doesn't get better than that, man.
[upbeat music playing]
[Dan] Now, Brent Bryson became a lawyer
because he was charged
with manslaughter years earlier.
[inaudible]
[Dan] He was a musician. He was at a bar
where he got into a fight with a guy.
[inaudible]
Bryson was charged
with manslaughter and faced trial.
And when he was acquitted, he pledged
that he was gonna become an attorney.
-May you all find justice this morning.
-[people laughing]
[Dan] The big issue for Brent Bryson,
as it was for Gabe,
is making sure this Utah case
stays out of the trial.
Tell me when you guys are on.
We we we're all we're good? Okay.
Um
As we were sitting here talking, you know,
the judge came back with this order.
She is, uh, going to let Utah come in.
So it's gonna make the job
a little more difficult.
So if if the jury decides
that I'm guilty of the Utah thing,
will they kill me in Utah,
or will they kill me in Vegas?
-[Brent] Uh, well
-It's it's insane. It's insane.
Problem. There's no doubt about it.
You could see Brent Bryson's face
increasingly getting red.
This this is the state's theory,
four of six wives.
-It's from day one they're saying this.
-Tom.
-They wanna kill you, man.
-Well, yeah.
Okay? I mean,
let's put it out on the table.
-They don't like you. They wanna kill you.
-We're We're okay.
-Let's kick their ass and forget about it.
-We're okay.
That's what I'm talking about.
Tom got a new trial date,
and once again, Tom decides to fire Brent.
[upbeat music playing]
[music ends]
It seemed to be that his strategy
was to continuously change his legal team
to run out the clock.
[intriguing music playing]
[O'Kelley] In 2012,
it was coming to the end of my career.
But each time they're getting close
to being ready for trial
and he fires attorneys,
that delays the trial by a year.
It's frustrating to see
somebody manipulate the system
when you know that that's their intent.
I mean, I've gotten really familiar
with Thomas Randolph over the years.
You know, I've listened to hundreds
and hundreds of jail phone calls.
I know what he does
to manipulate even his own mother.
[Tom's Mom over phone] That $10,000
that Sharon left to me,
I want it because I'm broke
and that'll help keep you going.
I've got be honest with you.
[crying] The money
don't mean nothing to me.
Your life does.
[O'Kelley] To see his mother
sell properties,
to cash in life insurance policies.
He knows what he did.
And to still do that
is just heartless in my opinion.
[Tom over phone] I love you,
I will talk to you later.
-They're gonna hang up.
-[Tom's Mom] Bye.
As long as Tom Randolph is breathing,
he's gonna be a problem.
So I stayed on the case
as long as possible.
[keyboard clacking]
But ultimately, with another delay,
another postponement, and another year
I decided to retire.
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] Around the time Dean retired,
Tom called me.
"I want you to come over. Let's talk."
-[keys jangling]
-[lock clangs]
[creaks]
Hi, Dan.
[Dan] How you doing? Thank you.
They let me come in with my camera,
and they left me alone with him.
You asked me to be here alone.
-You are.
-[Dan] You said, "No attorneys."
-That's correct.
-[Dan] There are no attorneys.
-So
-Is this a camcorder?
[Dan] It's it's a different one
that I'm trying to figure out how to use.
Cool.
That shoot was the day
that I started to believe,
like, the idea of him
being flirtatious with the camera.
Am I beautiful?
He was trying to use me
to elevate his story
the way that he wanted it to be told.
This innocent guy,
this jovial, smart, funny dude
that all the women love.
[Dan] Name your wives.
Kathy Randolph,
Beckie Randolph, Le-- Leona Randolph,
Gayna Randolph,
Frances Randolph, Sharon Randolph.
Do you want the names of my fiances too?
[music fades]
But I had witnessed
people from around the country
telling their experiences
with Thomas Randolph
[somber music playing]
that were all the same.
They were terrified of him.
So I started asking him questions
in a way that I hadn't before.
I've been doing this with you
for four and a half years.
I've done a lot of reporting on you.
I know a lot over these years.
-Then you know who I saw.
-[Dan] Just be honest with me.
Don't you understand
why people might think
that you were involved in Sharon's death?
[intriguing music playing]
Are you talking "four of six wives,"
that type of thing?
I'm here because
Mike Miller killed Sharon.
That's the bottom line.
So I'm back here by then,
and I-- as soon as he can get lucky
and get a shot here,
and as he finally follow him.
[Dan] What about all his family members
in South Carolina and North Carolina
that he told,
said that there's this white guy
that asked me to shoot his wife?
Um
Well, did you know
actually they all recant that?
-[Dan] They don't.
-Well, only one doesn't.
[splutters] I can't explain it.
I I can't explain it.
[Dan] When Eric Tarantino
says that "Tom asked me to kill his wife,"
he's lying?
Of course he's lying.
[Dan] But you tell me
everything is not true.
-That's the problem.
-What?
-[Dan] I wanna trust you.
-No, what?
-Well, you know, I've never--
-[Dan] You say, "That's bullshit."
-It's like everyone's bullshit except you.
-I I've
I ain't taking nothing.
I ain't taking nothing.
I didn't do nothing.
I'm the victim in this.
I'm the victim in this.
[music fades]
[Dan] As the years went by,
Tom and I stayed in contact.
And I kept coming back to interview him.
That's Tom.
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] Hey, Tom.
Every time I saw him,
it was like a different side of him.
Tell me some secrets about yourself.
Normally I'd say, well, you know,
if I tell you my secrets,
I'm gonna have to kill you.
But next thing I know,
I'll be get charged with that too.
Oh, yeah, and we're not married.
There's no insurance.
So hell, it wouldn't be profitable,
would it?
[Dan] And he was
constantly changing hairstyles.
You never knew what you were gonna get.
Appearance keeps changing.
Um
-[Dan] Long hair, short hair.
-I've always had long hair.
I think he he did see me potentially
as a necessary adversary.
All right.
In the sense that he believed
he would be able to sway public opinion.
Throw this idea at 'em,
and then you'll be the producer of it.
Oh, you you're planning our future, Tom.
I told you we're we're gonna make--
become infamous together.
Well
What the hell did I get myself into?
This is never gonna end.
[laughing]
[Dan] And by 2016,
he was one of the longest-serving
detainees at Clark County Jail.
So tell him how old you are
and what grade you're in.
I'm seven years old,
and I'm in second grade.
-What's your name?
-[Dan] Yeah.
My name's Katie.
[Colleen whispers] My baby girl.
[Dan] I sat in this living room
eight years ago.
Eight years ago, yes.
It's been eight years. May 8th.
[Dan] And you're still waiting
for justice.
Yes.
[pensive music playing]
I think about my [chuckling] mom
almost every day.
[Sharon singing indistinct]
[Colleen] Like a stabbing pain
in my heart.
When is it gonna end?
I have never met a victim
as strong as her.
She is unbelievably, unbelievably brave.
[Dan] Do you think that
you look like your mommy?
[music fades]
Yeah.
[Colleen chuckles]
There's no cars coming.
So it's June 2017.
I've been following this case
for eight years,
and Thomas Randolph
is finally going to trial.
[pensive music playing]
-[radio beeps]
-[officer] Contact on what floor?
[man over radio] You come in
on top of a very
-Hi, Dan. How are you?
-[Dan] Aren't you ready to start?
I am ready. I am past ready.
-What's up?
-How you doing, sir?
Morning.
Did they not bring new clothes?
-That's it?
-That's what you got.
I'm anal-retentive
when it comes to shopping.
I must have a feminine gene
'cause I love to shop.
I love to take the women shopping.
They think I'm such a gentleman
'cause I buy them these clothes.
Hell, it just it's nice just
to get them dressed up in what I like,
knowing I'm gonna be
taking them off later, you know?
[indistinct chatter]
[Dan] We set up a control room
outside of the courtroom.
We installed four robotic cameras,
and we filmed the trial gavel to gavel.
[indistinct chatter]
Ladies and gentlemen,
you will hear two stories of two men,
20 years apart,
that never even met each other.
Their job was to kill
the wives of Thomas Randolph.
And the only reason
why Mike Miller is dead
is because Eric Tarantino
lived to tell the story.
And Thomas Randolph
was not going to make that mistake twice.
[music fades]
[Dan] One of the things
Tom was most upset about
was Clark Patrick and Randy Pike,
who are two special public defenders.
I don't have a problem
with going to trial.
I will be acquitted. I've told you this
from day one, have I not?
The only thing that concerns me
about going to trial
is these turds for lawyers.
I hope everybody's comfortable
'cause I'm uncomfortable
'cause I have to speak.
[quirky music playing]
When there are
discrepancies in testimony--
Oh, excuse me, not testimony.
That's over here.
[chains clanking]
[Dan] How's it going, Tom?
These attorneys suck.
If I can borrow a phrase,
my favorite movie is Forrest Gump.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
[quirky music continues]
Keep trying to explain them
there's a way to do it, but,
"Oh, we don't need to do that.
We don't need to do that."
"We we made our point."
What point?
They ain't done shit. I'm I'm not happy.
Not in the least.
[clerk] State calls Colleen Beyer.
[pensive music playing]
Watching Colleen on the stand
when she testified was brutal.
[Bluth] Do you know
Mr. Randolph personally?
Yes.
[Bluth] Do you see him
in the courtroom today?
Yes.
[Bluth] Got-- Once you got the letter
and the will from your mother,
did you read through it and realize
you were the main beneficiary?
Yes.
[Bluth] Were you afraid
to tell the defendant that?
-[chuckling] Yes.
-[Bluth] Why?
'Cause I
He killed my mom, and I thought he would
hurt me.
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
[Dan] The jury deliberated for two days,
and then they finally came back.
[indistinct chatter]
-[Dan] You're confident?
-I'm very confident.
It's been a long time.
[man] Here.
-[Eric] I'm nervous.
-[Dan] Why?
First trial didn't go so well.
And I'm hoping they come back
with a guilty on this one.
Okay, bring the jury in, please.
[judge sighs]
[Dan] If one person says,
"I'm not voting guilty,"
that's called a hung jury,
and he walks home.
So there was tension in that room.
There is no doubt about that.
And so as the court clerk
announces the verdict
it's silent.
[music fades]
We, the jury in the above-entitled case,
find the defendant,
Thomas William Randolph, as follows.
Murder with the use of a deadly weapon,
Sharon Causse Randolph,
guilty of first-degree murder
with use of a deadly weapon.
Count two.
Murder with the use of a deadly weapon,
Michael James Miller.
[Colleen] Justice, finally,
after nine years,
nine really, really hard years.
-[Dan] And it's over now.
-[Colleen sighing] Yes.
I am so happy.
[poignant music playing]
[Tom] Think next time
we'd better call some witnesses, huh?
Tom was found guilty
and sentenced to death.
And he just sat there stoically.
[intriguing music playing]
Before Tom was taken away,
I went to interview him one last time.
This is my last time I'm going to see him.
I'm going to try
to get him to confess, maybe
It was the end of a chapter of sorts.
And now that he was convicted,
I felt liberated to really push him hard
on what he had been convicted of.
Tom, you have
nothing to lose right now, right?
I mean, you're sentenced to death.
Your chances are probably
not great on appeal.
I think mine are actually
pretty damn good.
[Dan] So six wives, four are dead.
That's a fact.
-I'm not saying you killed them all.
-Well, unless I can give somebody cancer.
[Dan] Right. But it's possible
that you killed three of 'em.
Which three?
[Dan] Sharon, Beckie, and Frances.
Oh, no. Frances
[Dan] You're saying you didn't--
you couldn't have killed Frances?
I would never kill Frances.
I love Frances.
-[Dan] Just Sharon and Beckie.
-See, now you're being funny.
Beckie was whatever I wanted her to be.
She was perfect.
I could call up and say,
"Uh, I want steak tonight."
"And I want you to dress up as a clown
to serve it to me."
And and she would say, "Are--
Do you mean like a sexy girl clown?"
"Or do you want me to have
the floppy shoes and the honk-honk nose?"
[Dan] Even in that interview,
he was so disgustingly inappropriate.
-Do you think you're a narcissist?
-Absolutely. Absolutely.
[Dan] Do you think
because you're a narcissist,
you're unable to see
what the truth might be?
If you're talking about the truth
of me killing Sharon
or having anything to do
with Sharon's death
or Beckie's death, then no,
because I had nothing to do with it.
-[Dan] So--
-I'm telling you, Beckie killed Beckie.
If they right now came and told me,
"If you'll say that you killed Beckie
and you killed Sharon,
we'll let you walk out of here,"
I'm not gonna do it.
-[Dan] I don't believe that for a second.
-Well, I'm not gonna do it.
That was the toughest interview
I think I did with him.
So now it's over.
And and obviously if the appeal comes in
and they reverse it,
we're gonna do this again, aren't we?
[Dan] We'll update it. Sure.
And, uh, thanks for your time.
-Thank you for for being my friend.
-[Dan] Yeah.
I found that word uncomfortable
because I'm not his friend.
-Besides--
-[mumbles] I'm I'm a producer.
-Huh?
-[Dan] I'm your storyteller is what I am.
We also have the perspective
of everybody around the country.
I got you. I got you.
[Dan] I know more about you
than you probably know about you.
We don't have time today
to go through it all.
-It's got nothing to do with anything.
-[Dan] It has to do with who you are.
Given who he is
and what I now know he's done
All right, Tom.
He's deplorable to me and dangerous.
[door creaks]
[door closes]
I thought,
this is finally over. [chuckles]
But that did not last very long.
[tape warbling]
Hell, I will be acquitted. I've told you
this from day one, have I not?
It'll be overturned.
That that's one thing I'm convinced of.
The Supreme Court's gonna overturn this.
No matter what happens.
It's sad I had to wait nine years
to get here.
It's just a matter of three more years,
and we'll get a fair trial.
[clicking]
[Dan] I get a phone call.
"You're not gonna believe this."
The Nevada Supreme Court
overturned a conviction for these murders.
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
The Nevada Supreme Court ruled
that bringing in the Utah case
could've prejudiced the jury.
So now Randolph would stay in jail
while he awaited retrial.
[phone line ringing]
[automated voice] Hello, this is
a prepaid collect call from an inmate.
From jail, Tom called me.
[Tom over phone] I'm just elated.
I'm gonna get paid and I'm gonna get laid
and I'm gonna be acquitted
because I didn't do any of this shit.
I thought about all of the cases
that I've done of innocent people
who couldn't even get the attention
of the justice system
when they were wronged.
But Thomas Randolph
played the system like a fiddle.
The justice system was his game.
[Tom over phone] That's why
I've always said
in the end
I'm gonna win.
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
[reporter 1] 68-year-old defendant
Thomas Randolph in court today.
[reporter 2] double murder retrial
for Thomas Randolph.
I had my robotic cameras,
and here we go again.
Trial number two.
But this time,
they couldn't bring in Utah.
So the jury would never hear
about any other wife.
[camera shutter clicking]
[Dan] Only Sharon's murder.
So what is the truth
about what really happened
on May 8th of 2008?
See, Sharon and Tommy
went to the Santa Fe Casino.
Tommy and Sharon
decide to come home early.
What they didn't know is
what would happen when they got there.
Mike Miller entered his home.
He took his possessions,
and he took his wife from him.
[camera shutter clicking]
[Tomsheck] Tommy Randolph shoots that gun
at the intruder
who has murdered his wife
in a brutal fashion.
[Dan] For the prosecutors,
the challenge became,
how were they gonna convict him
if prior bad acts can't come in?
[inaudible]
[prosecutor] The state will call
Detective Dean O'Kelley.
[Dan] I think that the key
was the testimony of Dean O'Kelley.
What did you use to do for a living?
Uh, before I retired,
I was a a homicide detective
with the Las Vegas Mat--
Metropolitan Police Department.
[Dan] That's good. Perfect.
-It will work?
-[Dan] You're a pro.
You're videoing me tucking my shirt in.
I have spent years with Dean
and getting to know him.
Driving from state to state.
[O'Kelley] Who's that good doggie?
Who's that good doggie right there?
-[Dan] Flying from across the country.
-[inaudible]
[Dan] Breakfasts, lunches, dinners.
[Wilson chuckles]
[Dan] And Dean O'Kelley
was so fixated on justice.
Okay. 188.
The call to 911 came in at, uh, 20:44.
Dean was the encyclopedia
for law enforcement for this.
Sharon Randolph wasn't being helped.
It's over six minutes into the call
before he starts the chest compressions.
I felt really good about it
'cause as the trial is progressing
and it's not going his way,
I don't think he was comfortable at all.
Colleen became someone that I have--
that I care for.
Colleen Beyer, C-O-L-L-E-E-N.
[Dan] When I first filmed her,
she was seven months pregnant.
-[groans]
-[Colleen] Say hi. Katie, say hi.
[Dan] By the time
the second trial came around,
her daughter was 15.
[inaudible]
And all she wanted to do
was hold this guy accountable.
-How are you feeling?
-Very anxious to get this done and over.
[Dan] Yeah.
To have him put away
and finally get justice for my mom.
[music fades]
[prosecutor] Ladies and gentlemen,
as I told you at the very beginning,
it is really, really hard
to plan the perfect murder.
And now that you've seen all the evidence,
it is abundantly clear
he completely failed.
He completely failed.
We ask that you find him guilty
on all counts.
[intriguing music playing]
[reporter] For the victims' families,
it's been 15 long years
since Sharon Randolph and Michael Miller
were murdered.
And now the jury
could be back at any time.
[bailiff] All rise for the jury.
[O'Kelley] In the back of your mind,
juries can do strange things.
You could have it go the wrong way.
-Mr. Dyer, has the jury reached a verdict?
-[Dyer] Yes, ma'am.
[Dan] The jury did not hear
the full story.
They did not hear about any other wife.
All they would need to decide,
based on the evidence of May 8th, 2008,
in Las Vegas, Nevada,
was Thomas Randolph shooting an accomplice
that he double-crossed
or shooting a burglar?
[juror] We, the jury
in the above-entitled case,
find the defendant Thomas William Randolph
as follows.
Count one
guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
[dramatic music playing]
[juror] Count two,
guilty of first-degree murder
with use of a deadly weapon.
[inaudible]
[O'Kelley] That man is guilty.
He killed Mike Miller.
He's manipulated countless people.
It was a good feeling.
It was it was good.
[Colleen] Very happy, extremely happy
that it's finally over and done.
He is a predator, and he is, um
This is what he does for a living.
He he doesn't care about life.
[Dan] As Thomas Randolph
was taken to prison,
I thought about all of the cases
that I've done of innocent people,
who are clearly, provably innocent.
And nobody listens.
But Thomas Randolph
really manipulated the system
in a way
that I've never seen any individual do
in three decades of this work.
My superman.
[Dan] And if it wasn't for people
like Dean and Colleen
I'm so appreciative.
Thomas Randolph would be free today.
[music fades]
[wind whistling]
[somber music playing]
[music fades]