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Will Thomas Randolph, The Alleged Killer In 'The Widower,' Be Tried For Murder Again?
Thomas Randolph, whose murder conviction was recently overturned, is the focus of the three-part special "Dateline Presents: The Widower."
Marriage has never ended happily for Thomas Randolph. The 66-year-old man has been married six times -- and four of those wives died.
Randolph was convicted of murdering his sixth wife, Sharon Causse, in 2017, but had his conviction overturned in 2020. The shocking and twisting saga is the focus of a three-part docu-series, "Dateline Presents: The Widower," airing on Oxygen on Monday, Aug. 16, Tuesday, Aug. 17, and Wednesday, Aug. 18 at 8/7c. It is also available to stream on Peacock and NBC.com.
So, will Randolph be tried for Causse's murder again? What about the deaths of his other wives, who all died mysteriously and left Randolph with sizable life insurance payouts? Keep reading for everything you need to know.
Randolph has been married to six women: Kathryn Thomas, Becky Gault, Gayna Allmon, Francis Randolph, Leona Stapleton, and Sharon Causse. Thomas and Gault are his only surviving wives. Both testified against him at his 2017 trial for Causse's murder, according to a 2017 Las Vegas Review-Journal report, with Thomas calling him “controlling, manipulative, and psychologically abusive."
Gault, his second wife, died from a gunshot wound in 1986, after three years of marriage, The Las Vegas Sun reported in 2009. Her death was originally ruled a suicide, and Randolph collected a $250,000 life insurance payout. But in 1988, a former co-worker of Randolph's named Eric Tarantino came forward and claimed he and Randolph had plotted Gault's murder, although they didn't go forward with any of their schemes together, according to the outlet.
While awaiting trial, Randolph tried to have Tarantino murdered: He offered a police officer posing as a hit man $2,000 to kill Tarantino. Randolph was subsequently charged with conspiracy to commit murder, which was later reduced to felony witness tampering. He pled guilty to that charge, but was acquitted in Gault's murder in 1989, The Las Vegas Sun reported.
Francis Randolph died following heart surgery, according to the Review-Journal. A witness in Causse's trial claimed that Randolph offered him money to kill her, but said he backed out because he was afraid of Randolph.
Stapleton died of cancer, according to Randolph, and little else is known about her.
Randolph was ultimately found guilty of murdering Sharon Causse and a man named Michael Miller in May 2008. Randolph claims Miller broke into their home and shot Causse, so he killed Miller. Prosecutors, however, argued that Randolph hired Miller to murder Causse and then killed the hitman to cover his tracks.
In 2020, Randloph's conviction was overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court, as officials determined after an appeal that evidence presented at his trial concerning Gault's death tainted the jury’s objectivity, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Currently, Randolph is being held in High Desert State Prison awaiting his new trial.
Randolph’s new trial is currently set to begin on May 9, 2022, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, told Oxygen.com.
For more on this case, watch "Dateline Presents: The Widower" on Peacock or NBC.com.