Search Captions & Ask AI

The Widower Ep. 1: “My Wife’s Been Shot”

February 23, 2021 /

This episode covers the case of Thomas Randolph, who shot an intruder in his home, leading to the death of his wife, Sharon Randolph. Key discussions include the investigation into the shooting, the background of Thomas Randolph, and the relationships he had with his wives and the intruder, Mike Miller.

Thomas Randolph called 911 claiming that an intruder shot his wife and that he shot the intruder in self-defense. However, investigators found inconsistencies in his story, leading to suspicions about his involvement in his wife's death.

Detectives discovered that Randolph had been married six times, with four of his wives dead under suspicious circumstances. They also learned that he had taken out multiple life insurance policies on Sharon, raising further questions about his motives.

The investigation revealed that Mike Miller, the intruder, had a connection with Randolph and was allegedly involved in a plot to kill Sharon. Witnesses reported hearing gunshots around the time of the incident, contradicting Randolph's timeline.

Ultimately, the detectives concluded that Randolph had orchestrated the events leading to his wife's murder, manipulating Miller into committing the crime for him. Randolph was arrested and charged with murder.

TLDR

Thomas Randolph shot an intruder, but evidence suggests he orchestrated his wife's murder for insurance money.

Episode

40:43
00:00:00
What is it about you and women, Tom? I love women. I love all women. That's why it's weird to think that this would come about.
00:00:11
9-1-1 emergency. My wife's been shot and there's a guy in my house and I shot him.
00:00:16
Oh, I shot and shot and shot and shot. Thomas Randolph is the only person that could tell us what happened
00:00:21
because the other two people that were there are dead. It looked like it might have been a home invasion robbery,
00:00:27
But in fact, there were some things that were not right about it. Thomas Randolph had a lot of secrets.
00:00:32
It wasn't easy digging all of them up. He'd been married six times and four of his wives are dead.
00:00:42
These women come up dead. He comes up with money. I had nothing to do with any of them.
00:00:46
He's evil. I'm not no saint. We have to stop him. His gig is up. I'm the victim in this.
00:00:52
He's really a sick son of a bitch. bitch. And now it's the Tommy Show live from Las Vegas.
00:01:04
Boom, boom, boom. Put your hands on your head right now. Put your hands on your head.
00:01:10
What did you do, my brother? I love you, Tommy. I'm like, You're all gonna come.
00:01:46
911 emergency. My wife's been shot and there's a guy in my house and I shot him.
00:01:54
Is he hurt too? Huh? Is he hurt too? I hope she did. Okay. My wife's hurt really bad.
00:02:00
What's your name? What's your name, sir? Tom. Tom. It was, I'd say, probably about 10 o'clock on May 8th of 2008.
00:02:09
I was at home. I was with my family and I got the call from my sergeant. I grabbed my notebook real quick and I came back to the phone.
00:02:17
I said, shoot. Where is your wife in the house? She's in the house in the bedroom.
00:02:25
She's been shot bad. Where is she shot at? Do you know? I think in the head. Oh, God.
00:02:33
I don't know. The very first thing that I was told from my sergeant was that we had a woman down in the house
00:02:45
and that there was an intruder that had also been shot. Metro officers responded to a 911 call from a man who said an intruder was inside his home.
00:02:56
There was a robbery and a home invasion in progress at his residence here on Rancho Santa Fe.
00:03:02
There are two dead bodies inside the house, one being the wife of the homeowner, and her name was Sharon Randolph.
00:03:10
And the other was the intruder, Mike Miller, who was dead inside the garage. We were initially briefed by the patrolman who got there and encountered the homeowner, who we determined his name to be Thomas Randolph.
00:03:26
Police tell us that 57-year-old Sharon Randolph was shot and killed by the burglar.
00:03:33
Metro says her husband struggled to get the gun away from the suspect. He succeeded, then shot and killed the burglar in the garage.
00:03:44
There was a ski mask laying on the floor not far from Mike Miller's body in the garage.
00:03:50
Next to him, there was an open bag where you could see there was a substantial amount of jewelry.
00:03:56
As we walked into the hallway, you could see Sharon Randolph laying on her back.
00:04:00
There was a bag of takeout food from the restaurant that they had been to. Her purse was laying next to that.
00:04:08
There was a gun laying on the floor. We looked into the master bedroom. There were several drawers that were open.
00:04:15
There was every indication that somebody had come into the house and had gone through their property in order to take it.
00:04:26
I was at home. Got a phone call from a good friend of my mom's, and she was watching the news and said she saw a shooting happened on the street.
00:04:46
And she says, your mom's street? I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's my mom's street. And I knew it had to have come from my mom's house.
00:04:56
So I drove over to my mom's. I saw the cop cars and lights. I knew. I just knew.
00:05:11
Maggie! I talked to my mom. About six. Like two and a half hours later, she was killed.
00:05:26
You okay, Tom? It's been a long day. This is my partner, Ken Hardy. Hi, sir. Two other detectives from Homicide that were on my squad brought Mr Randolph back to the homicide section to conduct an interview with them You had told us that you had employed a person by the name of Mike
00:06:09
Is that correct? Yes. Tom Randolph told Detectives Mogg and Hardy that he knew Michael Miller.
00:06:17
He had him do some handiwork around his house. And how long have you known Mike?
00:06:22
Four to five months, maybe. Did Mike know you guys were going to dinner tonight?
00:06:27
Yeah, yeah. He told us that he had taken Sharon to have a dinner at a local casino right down the street.
00:06:35
So you go home, and when you arrive at the house, tell me everything that happens.
00:06:43
I pull up into the driveway. Does she get out in the driveway or in front of the house?
00:06:48
She got out in the driveway. And you enter the house, and what do you see? Sharon laying on the floor.
00:06:55
What was the first thing you thought when you saw Sharon laying down? I thought she'd fallen.
00:07:07
When we initially looked at the evidence that we had, it looked like it might have been a home invasion robbery.
00:07:13
He was a hero. But in fact, there were some things that were not right about it.
00:07:23
I didn't see the red flags. Should have. Is it Sharon? Sharon! I just remember her showing up to my front door with him.
00:07:43
And I was like, who is this guy? She says, Tommy and I got married. I said, oh my God, you didn't.
00:07:53
When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a police officer. It's the Lord's work. You know, there's not a lot of people that are willing to do it,
00:08:16
but I feel honored to be, you know, part of bringing some justice to the victim's families.
00:08:22
it's a difficult thing for them not only to lose their loved one but to go through the whole process
00:08:30
they're almost in a sense victimized again but you have to think about you know what's colleen
00:08:37
thinking i was about five and a half months pregnant with katie we just found out a few weeks before
00:08:52
I was having a girl, which was super exciting, especially for my mom. They say you should put them on.
00:09:00
What is it, a helmet? It's a helmet. Well, it's a rollerblading. It's a helmet for me.
00:09:05
It's a helmet for me. That's cute. She was looking forward to it big time. I mean, she's always wanted a girl grandchild, so she was really, really happy.
00:09:19
I mean, she was already out shopping for little pink dresses. It sucks. I've only got a couple of friends, and I don't have any brothers or sisters.
00:09:33
So, my mom was my buddy. I grew up in New Jersey. Just me and my mom. She took good care of me.
00:09:56
It was hard in Jersey. It was hard. Just me and my mom and not a lot of help. So I moved to Vegas so my mom could have a better job opportunity.
00:10:08
She went to beauty school, got her license, did hair. And she was the only one that ever cut my hair.
00:10:17
Tommy was from Utah I think she said match.com to me She really didn't say much about him
00:10:32
A little bit of what he did You know, like a special ed teacher But he wasn't working when they got together
00:10:42
I just remember her showing up to my front door with him and he just, he looked crazy with the long, scraggly blonde hair.
00:10:54
I mean, it was really long. And I was like, who is this guy? So my mom was very happy.
00:11:03
They were doing a lot of things together, going places, traveling. And he had a boat back then.
00:11:10
So they were doing a lot of things together. My mom had a lot of friends. She confided more in her closer friends, like Alice.
00:11:27
I met her at the hair shop. We were hairdressers there. She would say the funniest things, and she was just so down to earth.
00:11:38
I just loved that about her. Sharon says oh I've got a picture of this guy that I want to meet
00:11:49
and she pulls it up on her computer he on a motorcycle and he got this long curly hair and I looking at him and I said he Sharon is he a woman I mean he looks like a woman And she goes oh no no
00:12:05
She says, he's really all man. They just had a lot of conversations. Then he comes to Vegas and she and he go to a concert, a rock concert.
00:12:21
And, well, that was great. I mean, she just fell in love with him. Now, Sharon had told me that in his past, he was a truck driver.
00:12:35
He was a master carpenter. He was like a jack-of-all-trades of things, you know.
00:12:43
He wants to take her on a cruise to Baja, California. So she goes on this cruise, which was like three days,
00:12:51
and they come back and she says, just Tommy and I got married. I said, oh my God, you didn't.
00:13:09
Police tell us that Sharon was shot and killed by the burglar. Her body was found lined in a hallway.
00:13:14
We learned that there were neighbors close by that heard the gunshots and one in particular
00:13:19
across the street several houses away. I heard a gunshot right where that truck's pulling up.
00:13:24
I heard the gunshot come from that area. I knew it had to be like one of these houses right here across the street
00:13:29
because it was like boom, boom. I heard it. I told my friend he's on the line. I said, I would hear that as a gunshot.
00:13:37
Mark Bartlett didn't see the shooting. He just heard the gunshots. Based on the scene, Thomas Randolph was the only person
00:13:44
that could tell us what happened inside the house because the other two people that were there are dead.
00:13:54
He kind of rushed up on me a little bit, and that's when I just pushed it and boom, boom!
00:13:58
Just kept riding going. Boom! Boom! Boom! We came up with an idea to do what's called a video walkthrough.
00:14:27
We do this to get a clearer understanding of where the armed confrontation took place.
00:14:32
He agreed to do that. My name is Tom Randolph, and it's my understanding we're doing a walkthrough of the house.
00:14:41
We came back to the house at 8.30 at night, exactly a week later. He gave us blow by blow everything that happened.
00:14:50
I stopped the car. About there, we started opening the door up. He explained to us how Sharon had gotten out of the vehicle, went inside the house.
00:15:00
Sharon gets out. And we had him walk through. He ended up coming into the door. I open it up.
00:15:06
I get right here and Sharon's laying in the floor, face down. Her head's just barely, I mean, barely in the bedroom of that.
00:15:18
I said, Sharon? Sharon? I thought I just seemed like a shadow or something over this way, right there.
00:15:31
Just thought, no, this ain't cool. I reached right up here. He ducked into the office, retrieved a 9mm semi-automatic.
00:15:38
He said that when he came back to the door, he was confronted by a masked intruder.
00:15:43
He described him. He had a ski mask on. I'm coming out about the same time, too, and about right here.
00:15:48
He kind of rushed up on me a little bit, and that's when I just pushed him. Boom, boom, boom!
00:15:53
He started going out toward the shed. I don't know how many times I shot him, but I just kept right on going.
00:16:00
Boom, boom, boom! And he just lay in there. And then started coming back down this way.
00:16:07
He wasn't moving. He, some noise. Thomas Randolph came back into the hallway. Sharon, Sharon.
00:16:16
He'd come up to an open doorway and then just kind of jump his head in to see if there was something in there.
00:16:22
What are you doing when you're doing this? I'm just kind of trying to see if anything else is going on.
00:16:28
You know, like there's anybody around. Then after that, he said he went over and got the cordless phone.
00:16:35
I called 911. I have a conference. His wife is shot in the head. He needs medical advice.
00:16:41
Sir? Yeah. Is she awake? No, no. Okay, let's focus on your wife. Put her flat on her back.
00:16:48
So I tried to roll her over several times, and I couldn't get her over. Okay, put her flat on her back.
00:17:01
He was like, ah! He was very dramatic. He's making these loud grunts and noises that we did here on the 911 call.
00:17:10
He was duplicating them. And about the third time it jerked enough that she got up kind of straight up
00:17:17
and I could just kind of push her over. Okay, don't turn your head back. Listen, okay?
00:17:21
Okay. Metro, tell your units to go in any way they can. When it got to the end of what he was telling us,
00:17:32
then I had a big list of questions. Turn around and he was coming down. The thing that I wanted to focus on the most was that relationship between Randolph and Miller when the shooting started.
00:17:46
So when you first fire, he's right in this area. Yeah, probably. Maybe a little more that way, maybe a little more this way.
00:17:54
When you back here and you squared off on him you still had his mask on Yeah If he had his mask off you have known it was Mike right Oh yeah And I was still shotting I was still shotting It wouldn matter a bit
00:18:05
It seems like I shot him again, maybe like about right here. And then he started turning like this toward the door.
00:18:13
And I just I shot and shot and shot and shot. I may have emptied the gun. I don't know.
00:18:17
We didn't have forensic evidence. We didn't have physical evidence that the shooting occurred inside that hallway.
00:18:30
There was one casing in the hallway. Maybe a single round was fired as they were leaving the house and entering the garage.
00:18:38
But most of the shooting happened inside the garage. One of the other problems is on the night of the shooting,
00:18:46
In the interrogation room, Thomas Randolph told the detectives that he didn't hear the shot that killed Sharon Randolph.
00:18:54
Did you ever hear any shots? I didn't hear anything, but that's, I'm really deaf.
00:18:59
When we listened to the 911 call. Is he alone? Yes, well, as far as I know, I didn't. I just heard shots.
00:19:06
He contradicted himself. He told dispatch one thing, that he'd heard the shot. And then he told detectives that he hadn't heard it.
00:19:13
The other big problem that we had was the timeline. Thomas Randolph told us that he had taken Sharon to have a dinner at a local casino right down the street.
00:19:25
We checked that. We checked the Santa Fe video surveillance. They did have dinner at the restaurant.
00:19:30
They gambled. They left the casino. He told us that they went to a gas station to fill up.
00:19:36
We checked the video surveillance at that particular gas station, confirmed that they did fuel up the car.
00:19:43
The video surveillance shows them leaving the parking lot of the gas station at 8.26 and some change.
00:19:50
We're looking at 8.30 when they arrived home. Sharon got out of the car and walked into the house.
00:19:56
By the time he finished parking the car and walked into the house, she was already laying on the ground.
00:20:02
So all told, how long do you think it took from the time you opened the door to you being on 911?
00:20:08
Two, three minutes maybe. Two, three minutes to go. We have Mark Barlett across the street saying that he thought he heard the five gunshots at 8.30.
00:20:17
I told my friend he's on the line and I said, I would hear that as a gunshot. We were able to check his phone records. That was 8.33.
00:20:26
Well, the 911 call didn't come in until 8.45 and some change. So we were talking about 12 minutes. It didn't match up. None of it matched up.
00:20:39
You're like my best friend, dude. Tom Randolph said a lot of things. It's just for shock value.
00:20:44
I like you. You I don't like, by the way. I don't know why. I just don't like you.
00:20:49
Thomas Randolph came into our office in early June. If you had to sum up Sharon in one word, what would you say?
00:21:21
She's f***ing wonderful. Best thing that ever happened to me. Nicest lady I ever met.
00:21:25
Tom was quite different in that second interview. He was definitely much more expressive.
00:21:32
How would you sum yourself up? I'm a cocky f***er. Always have been. But I'm also really nice and generous.
00:21:42
I'm a smart a**. I should have been on the dream team. I always wanted to be a lawyer.
00:21:46
Really? Yeah. No, I worked for the lawyers for a long time, just as an investigator, as paralegal, ran a lot of their law offices.
00:21:54
We confirmed that later on, that he worked with criminal defense attorneys. Having that conversation with Tom Randolph was important for us to learn more about his relationship with Mike Miller.
00:22:04
Is there anything at all that happened that day that made him believe that he needed to get into your house that night?
00:22:12
I did. I took 20 grand out of the bank. I had 20 grand transfer. He's good with you then when you've had large amounts of cash.
00:22:21
I've always had large amounts of cash for Jim. Why don't you think he shot you? He was trying to shoot me.
00:22:28
I've told you this over and over. He was trying to shoot me. Tom Randolph said a lot of things. It's just for shock value.
00:22:33
to see how we would respond. I like you. You I don't like, by the way. I don't know why, I just don't like you.
00:22:41
And I said, that's okay, I don't take it personally. It was interesting. There was a relationship that Thomas Randolph
00:22:47
had developed with Detective Mog. I've talked to you more than anybody. I've talked to him in Las Vegas since I've been here
00:22:53
rather than Sharon and Pauline and the grandkids. So you're like my best friend, dude.
00:22:59
well shouldn't have secrets right shouldn't have secrets that's right what do you mean
00:23:08
everybody's got secrets something else to ask is you know what unless you come and just tell me i'm under arrest or
00:23:21
you just really need to talk to me to clear something else up i'm probably not coming back
00:23:25
out of here for at least 30, 40 days. Do you think we should tell you you're under arrest?
00:23:29
No, because if you are, you f***ed up. You f***ed up. This one's an easy one for you.
00:23:36
This one's an easy one for you because the forensics is there. It has, uh, it has its issues.
00:23:42
At the end of the interview, we're getting ready to walk out. It's not that I don't trust you, but I think I'll take my back with you.
00:23:48
Just an extra dig. Is your wife did a little? What do you think? To kill for? I think that's a Freudian slip.
00:24:08
I think that was just a little peek at his hand. He just showed us a little peek at his hand.
00:24:12
After my mom died, I called Randolph and I said, what did you do to my mother? And he said, I didn't do anything to your mother.
00:24:36
And Michael shot and killed your mother. And he hung up on me. It's cold. I'm just cold.
00:24:47
I just acted like everything was normal, that we were family still. Tommy called the house. He left me a couple of messages.
00:24:56
I called Lena to come home. I am just going to drive my darkness to bug up and get the cleaning done
00:25:04
and try to save us some money to get this house for sale, get this on the market and get on with it.
00:25:10
And this message. I acted like I thought he was innocent and he was the hero. I said that we were still family.
00:25:20
That he was still grandpa to my kids. That was really hard. That was really hard.
00:25:34
Hi, let me call. I'm still just to chat. Sorry, Dad, I just... What? It makes me feel better when I hear your voice.
00:25:43
Love you. See you later. Bye. And the message. And then he popped up with this will, and I saw it.
00:25:57
He thought with his will that he was in control of everything. Everything was his.
00:26:05
but a couple days after my mom died, her best friend Alice gave me another will.
00:26:17
She writes it out. I'm watching her do it. And we go to the notary and have it notarized.
00:26:24
And she gives it to me and she says, if anything happens to me, Alan, she says, please give this to Colleen.
00:26:30
She had left the house to Colleen. She had to have suspected something, that she would go behind his back and change everything and leave it to me.
00:26:45
So my will was valid, and his was no longer valid, which really upset him. Then I started getting really nasty phone messages.
00:26:59
You know, it's really weird. We sit there, and we talked about the house. I can see in your eyes you were lying to your teeth.
00:27:10
No wonder your mother didn't like you. Yeah, good message. I mean, as far as I know, he's still in Utah.
00:27:18
He might be on his way to Vegas now. I stopped talking to him. This is the very last message maybe two, three days ago.
00:27:26
Hi, I was actually calling to apologize for getting so upset with me, but that's what happens when people look me in the eyes and lie to me.
00:27:35
Now the lawyers are going to get all the money. I still get half the house because I'm married to your mama.
00:27:41
I forgive you. I'm sorry. I called you bad names. He didn't realize I had a will.
00:27:47
Yeah, he thought he was in control and in charge of everything. And he doesn't like it when a woman takes control away.
00:27:59
We were convinced that Miller was the one who fired the shot that killed Sharon Randolph.
00:28:04
Why did he do that? He said he ain got a 9mm Mike said he got that from who He got that from a white guy
00:28:25
So, back to Miller. After the second interrogation, we got just a limited amount from Tom Randolph
00:28:31
about the relationship that he had with Mike Miller. We were convinced that Miller was the one who fired the shot that killed Sharon Randolph.
00:28:41
The question was, why did he do that? Even though Mike Miller was a victim in the fact that he was killed, he was also a suspect.
00:28:54
We learned that his family was in North Carolina, and we made arrangements to go out there and conduct interviews in person.
00:29:05
Right now we're in Charlotte, North Carolina. We're here to talk to Rufus Miller.
00:29:24
It's Michael Miller's brother. Hey, how you doing? Hi, Rufus. How you doing? I'm sorry.
00:29:34
Dean O'Kelly? with Mog. Please meet you. I'll grant you. All right. Thank you. You can see I'm this bitch
00:29:42
where my brother worked all his life. We're sorry for your loss. And tell me a little bit
00:29:50
about your conversations with Mike and what went on with him and this man. Do you know his name?
00:30:00
The person he was hanging out with or associating with? I don't know. It's Thomas.
00:30:04
Tom. Tom? Yeah. Okay. How did he meet Tom? Do you know? He was on the street corner and he pulled up to a mass and did he want to do some work.
00:30:13
Was he supposed to be doing like regular work for Tom? Handyman. Was he getting paid then for what he was doing?
00:30:20
He said he was getting $600 a week. Okay. For doing work with Tom around Tom's place?
00:30:25
Yep. The RC and jobs. Did he say how often he had contact with this man Tom? It was all the time.
00:30:36
Did you ever know your brother to have a gun? No. I don't know how y'all would feel if it was one of y'all loved ones.
00:30:51
You know what I'm saying? My brother wouldn't kill nobody. That's just like saying me.
00:30:56
You know what I'm saying? Rufus didn't believe his brother was capable of that. And yet we knew, based on the evidence, that he had actually killed Sharon Randolph.
00:31:06
He shot her in the head. We were leaving the interview, and Rufus told us that Mike had another brother.
00:31:14
You got a brother? I had another brother. Rico Miller. Where's Rico? He's at home.
00:31:20
So we made arrangements to go over and talk to Rico. Come on in. Rico. Hey. You were in communication with Mike between why he was out there in Vegas?
00:31:29
I talked him like from that Monday to that Wednesday. Before this happened? Yes, sir.
00:31:36
Because it happened at Thursday. Right. What happened? Tell me about the conversations you had with him.
00:31:42
Oh, well, he was saying he was doing good out there. He was working for that white guy.
00:31:49
What did Michael tell you about him? He might not say nothing bad about him. Excuse me.
00:31:58
No, take your time. You're fine. Rico was overcome with emotion. He told us too, he told us something interesting at some point that Tom Randolph gave Mike Miller
00:32:13
a 9mm, that he'd given him a handgun. Well Mike told me he said he had got a 9mm I don know what kind of 9mm it was Mike said he got that from who He got that from a white guy Why did he give it to him
00:32:28
I never did. I don't know, sir. Approaching left turn, followed by a right turn.
00:32:36
One of the most interesting people that we ended up talking to on the trip was Judy Archie.
00:32:40
Approaching destination on the right. A friend of Michael Miller's. She had known him for about 15 years.
00:32:46
Judy? Mm-hmm. Hi. This interview is being conducted at Judy Archie's residence, 9, 26 hours.
00:33:06
Judy, you understand this interview is being recorded? Is that okay with you? Yes, sir.
00:33:10
You were friends with Michael Miller, is that correct? Mm-hmm. About how long ago did you meet him?
00:33:15
It was about 15, 16 years. Okay, so you were pretty good friends with him? Mm-hmm.
00:33:19
And at some point he moved out to Las Vegas? Yep, he said he was moving out for a better life.
00:33:25
And what did he tell you? Did he give you a call after he got settled in? What was he talking to you about?
00:33:31
He always talked about the man he met at the store. And I kept telling him, I said, Mike, something ain't right about that man.
00:33:38
Again he called. He said, he told me he wanted me to kill his wife. I said, for what?
00:33:45
He said, I don't know. He told me he wanted me to kill his wife. He said that's all that man was talking about.
00:33:55
Killing his wife, killing his wife, you know. And I didn't ever understand that.
00:34:00
You know, and I was like, Mike, go to the police with this. Did he ever tell you anything that he was supposed to get out of that?
00:34:08
No. What would it benefit Mike to kill this man's wife? I don't know what he was going to give Mike because he never did say.
00:34:15
Okay, he never told you about this. Uh-uh. To go to the Carolinas and have Judy Archie tell us
00:34:24
that there was conversations that she had with Mike about Tom Randolph wanting him to kill his wife,
00:34:33
it was a validation for me. We had gotten the information that we wanted at that point
00:34:38
about Mike Miller. There was more that we needed to know about Tom Randolph and his past.
00:34:43
it was clear it was the tip of the iceberg. We had a theory, and that's this. Thomas Randolph created and groomed a person that would be willing to kill for him.
00:35:13
When we started looking into Tom Randolph's past, the more that we learned about him and learned about his history, the whole investigation changed.
00:35:27
I was going to need my partner. Yeah, this is Detective Wilson from Las Vegas. I'm a two-man partner with Rob Wilson.
00:35:35
You know, at the time this happened, we were the longest-running partnership in homicide for a long time.
00:35:41
What could be more important than my fault? I can't imagine. It's almost like a marriage, really.
00:35:47
You start to think alike. You start to finish each other's sentences sometimes. It's really cool when you get it working right.
00:35:56
Rob was on vacation when we caught this case. So he wasn't at the scene. He wasn't involved in the interviews.
00:36:02
He didn't do any of that. He called me, and he said, I tell you in my heart, I know that he's guilty.
00:36:10
I needed him up and running and up to speed in the case, and he was immediately.
00:36:15
I had a lot of confidence in Rob, especially in his investigative skills. In reading your report, it's a pretty comprehensive report,
00:36:24
but I think that we left some things hanging in the investigation The two of us hit the ground running It like putting together a puzzle We had a theory that we believe was well established by the evidence and that this
00:36:41
Thomas Randolph had intentionally married Sharon with the sole purpose of cashing in
00:36:49
on life insurance policies when she died. We ended up ultimately finding four life insurance policies that Tom Randolph had taken out on Sharon, totaling about $360,000.
00:37:06
We believe that Tom Randolph met Mike Miller at a convenience store, struck up a conversation with him, and that being the manipulator that Tom Randolph is, immediately recognized that he had somebody in front of him.
00:37:18
He created and groomed a person that would be willing to kill for him. And that's what he found in Mr. Miller.
00:37:32
So we believe that Randolph took Sharon out to dinner for Mother's Day as part of the ruse to allow Miller to go into the house and prepare.
00:37:46
That's one of the eerie aspects of this case. As they're walking together out of the casino holding hands,
00:37:54
he knows within a very short period of time she'd be dead on the floor in her house.
00:38:03
Now Mike's at the house. He's probably in the backyard. We knew he had a key. This clock hinges down right here,
00:38:13
And apparently, and from what we're told from Tom, is that the gun was kept inside the clock here.
00:38:19
So apparently Mike knew where that was. He was laying in wait in the hallway bathroom until Sharon came into the house by herself, as prearranged by Thomas Randolph.
00:38:30
And as soon as she walked into this area here, where her head was positioned right here, right in this area, that Miller fired that shot.
00:38:39
Michael Miller had a ski mask with him. Doubtless now that he knows that Sharon's down and that a friendly, his confederate, is coming in through that door, that he takes his mask off.
00:38:53
He relaxes. As Miller started to walk through the garage door to leave with Thomas Randolph behind him, Tom Randolph fired the first shot.
00:39:03
He ambushed it. Boom! We found the ski mask right here on the ground, away from the body.
00:39:09
There were no bullet holes in the ski mask. There wasn't any blood on the ski mask.
00:39:14
It's huge that there's no blood or bullet holes in the ski mask because Tom Randolph said he still had it on his head.
00:39:20
How's the ski mask get where it was? With no blood, no bullet holes. We both were very confident that Thomas Randolph was guilty.
00:39:29
But being able to prove it in a court of law is something different. There was a lot more to Thomas Randolph than we knew.
00:39:40
I never in a thousand years thought that this would develop into what it developed into.
00:39:50
We went to Washington State, Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Utah. What really became important was his past history.
00:40:00
Police arrested Thomas Randolph on charges of murder. He asked me if I would kill somebody for money if I knew I could get away with it.
00:40:16
These women come up dead. He comes up with money. The most significant thing that we found out about Tom Randolph,
00:40:24
Sharon was actually his sixth wife. He's really a sixth of a bitch. Out of those six wives, four of them were dead.
00:40:33
Put your hands on your head right now. Put your hands on your head. On the ground.
00:40:38
On the ground.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Biggest twist
  • 85
    Most intense
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Most unpredictable

Episode Highlights

  • Emergency Call
    A frantic call reveals a wife shot and an intruder dead.
    “My wife's been shot and there's a guy in my house and I shot him.”
    @ 00m 13s
    February 23, 2021
  • A Troubling History
    Thomas Randolph's past raises suspicions as four of his six wives are dead.
    “He'd been married six times and four of his wives are dead.”
    @ 00m 39s
    February 23, 2021
  • The Timeline Doesn't Add Up
    Conflicting statements from Randolph create doubt about his story.
    “We were talking about 12 minutes. It didn't match up. None of it matched up.”
    @ 20m 31s
    February 23, 2021
  • Secrets Revealed
    Randolph's relationship with Miller is scrutinized as the investigation deepens.
    “We were convinced that Miller was the one who fired the shot that killed Sharon Randolph.”
    @ 27m 59s
    February 23, 2021
  • Rufus Miller's Denial
    Rufus Miller insists his brother Mike was incapable of murder, despite evidence to the contrary.
    “My brother wouldn't kill nobody.”
    @ 30m 52s
    February 23, 2021
  • Judy Archie's Revelation
    Judy reveals Mike was asked to kill Tom's wife, raising serious questions about his involvement.
    “He said, I don't know. He told me he wanted me to kill his wife.”
    @ 33m 40s
    February 23, 2021
  • Tom Randolph's Dark Past
    Investigators uncover that Tom Randolph had four deceased wives, hinting at a sinister pattern.
    “He's really a sixth of a bitch.”
    @ 40m 26s
    February 23, 2021

Episode Quotes

  • I love women. I love all women.
    The Widower Ep. 1: “My Wife’s Been Shot”
  • She's f***ing wonderful. Best thing that ever happened to me.
    The Widower Ep. 1: “My Wife’s Been Shot”
  • I think that's a Freudian slip.
    The Widower Ep. 1: “My Wife’s Been Shot”
  • He thought he was in control and in charge of everything.
    The Widower Ep. 1: “My Wife’s Been Shot”
  • My brother wouldn't kill nobody.
    The Widower Ep. 1: “My Wife’s Been Shot”
  • He's really a sixth of a bitch.
    The Widower Ep. 1: “My Wife’s Been Shot”

Key Moments

  • Emergency Call00:13
  • Mysterious Deaths00:39
  • Conflicting Statements20:31
  • Secrets and Lies27:52
  • Interview with Rufus29:21
  • Judy's Shocking Claim33:40
  • Tom's Dark History40:24

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown