Upon hearing the gun discharge, Randolph later said, he entered the house, relaying to police in a walkthrough that he’d found Sharon lying on the floor bleeding out. At that moment, after seeing a moving shadow, he grabbed a gun from a nearby room and reactively shot the intruder multiple times, killing him with a bullet to the head, before clearing the rest of the house and calling authorities.
The next day, veteran Dateline NBC producer Dan Slepian heard about the murders from O’Kelley’s colleague, who offered an intriguing message: “You might want to pay attention to this one.” Slepian had previously worked alongside the LVPD homicide unit, filming real-time investigations, so he was accustomed to documenting cases as they unfolded. This seemed like another prime opportunity to do just that.
That lengthy investigation, along with Randolph’s sinister history, is the subject of a new Netflix documentary, The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part. Directed by Chris Smith, the executive producer of Tiger King, the documentary leans on Slepian to tell the complete story, featuring his real-time footage of interviews with Randolph, witnesses across the country, and family members of his victims, as authorities worked to eventually convict him of murder, put him behind bars, and keep him there.
Sharon Causse —Courtesy of Netflix
As Slepian and O’Kelley began digging more into the Mother’s Day murders, the pair found more alarming circumstances and reasons to believe Randolph had been lying about the sequence of events. Causse's daughter Colleen told them that Randolph had become the beneficiary of her mom’s will three months into their marriage. He’d also taken out a $350,000 life insurance policy on her—raising Colleen’s suspicions even further.
The rest of the documentary unfolds much like O’Kelley and Slepian’s real-time investigation, criss-crossing the country and unearthing new information about Randolph’s past that eerily informs the Causse case. “That kind of documentation as things unfold adds a value to not only the journalism but to the storytelling itself,” Slepian says. “There's a layer of suspense because the viewer understands that neither we nor the detectives have any idea what's about to happen.”
Kathy Thomas —Courtesy of Netflix
In 1983, on the same day his divorce to Kathy was finalized, Randolph married his second wife, Becky Gault. Three years later, Slepian and O’Kelly would find out that Gault had died of a gunshot to the head inside her Utah home. Her death was initially ruled a suicide. But in 1988, her death was reclassified and Randolph was put on trial for murder, after he’d collected a $500,000 life-insurance payout.
Thomas Randolph and Becky Gault —Courtesy of Netflix
Three more marriages ensued, each culminating under strange, sometimes fatal circumstances. There was Gaynal Allmon, who was “stupid enough to marry him,” she says in the doc, after admitting he’d also taken out a life insurance policy on her. They divorced before anything nefarious happened, but Francis Randolph wasn’t as fortunate.
“I went to 10 states and was embedded with [investigators], but what was surprising to me was when I told everyone we met that I was with NBC News, almost every witness in every state said, ‘Oh yeah, you can film this,’” Slepian says, suggesting to him that they all believed Randolph was guilty and wanted to help catch him. “The extraordinary thing is that as we traveled digging into his past, it felt like we were walking into the present.”
Over the next few years, Randolph became convinced he could sway public opinion. He repeatedly delayed his 2008 murder trial, fired lawyers at the last minute, and tried to keep Gault’s case from the ‘80s out of the court. “It was just all kind of a big challenge or game for him,” Slepian says. “He turned suspicion into entertainment and would use his charm and the uncomfortable charisma to camouflage the suspicion.”
Francis Randolph in The Widower —Courtesy of Netflix
Throughout this time, Slepian had struggled to tap into Randolph’s impenetrable psyche and cocky personality. The Dateline producer worked to remain unbiased, in part to keep Randolph talking throughout his stay in Clark County jail. “We’re going to become infamous together,” Randolph tells Slepian in the documentary, further creeping him out. “The things that he said were so unsettling so often,” Slepian says. “But the unsettling part wasn't what he was saying, it was how comfortable he was saying it.”
In June 2017, eight years after Causse’s death, Randolph’s case finally went to trial, where he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death. But that wouldn’t be the end. Three years later, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed the conviction and death sentence, ruling that the trial should not have allowed evidence from Gault’s case—just like Randolph had told Slepian. “I put nothing past him,” Slepian says. “It really is because of him that the trial was delayed for nearly a decade. And I think he was waiting for witnesses [to die].”
Randolph, now 71, was sentenced to 60 years to life at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada. And, as noted in the documentary, he’s had multiple appeals denied, including one in early September. Slepian, who still calls Randolph in prison, notes that the Black Widower continues to claim his innocence and has people on the outside handing out flyers around the courthouse about his case.
At this point their conversations remain strictly about his legal case, but Slepian is glad that he’s kept his word and remained objective throughout the years. Otherwise, he never would have gotten to share this story. “I had to keep my footing, just listening, knowing why I was there, and using the archive of him over time to create a record,” he says. “The archive itself became a witness to him over time. Now, the whole world gets to know who he is right now.”
Hence then, the article about the true story behind netflix s the widower and the many wives of thomas randolph was published today ( ) and is available on Time ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The True Story Behind Netflix's The Widower and the Many Wives of Thomas Randolph )
Also on site :