Thomas Randolph: 8 things to know about the Las Vegas case behind ‘The Widower’

Thomas Randolph: 8 things to know about the Las Vegas case behind ‘The Widower’ Six marriages, four deceased wives and two murder trials in Las Vegas shape the background of Thomas Randolph, whose story is featured in Netflix’s documentary “The Widower.” Randolph was found guilty of arranging the 2008 killing of his wife Sharon Randolph and of murdering Michael James Miller, the handyman he hired to carry out the act. 1. Thomas Randolph married six times; four of his wives died By the time Randolph was taken into custody in January 2009 for the Las Vegas killings, authorities said four of his six wives had died. His marital history became a central element of the investigation and his first Nevada death‑penalty trial. Not every death resulted in a murder conviction. Randolph was acquitted of killing his second wife, Becky, in Utah. Early police reports indicated two other wives had died after illness or surgery. His Las Vegas convictions relate specifically to the deaths of Sharon and Miller. 2. What he described as a home intrusion became a murder‑for‑hire case Sharon Randolph and Miller were shot at the couple’s Las Vegas residence on May 8, 2008. Randolph told officers an intruder killed his wife and that he later shot the intruder. Prosecutors offered a different narrative: Randolph paid Miller to kill Sharon for life‑insurance proceeds, then shot Miller to eliminate a witness. During the 2023 retrial, defense attorneys argued that Miller alone planned the burglary and that Randolph shot him out of fear. The jury found Randolph guilty. 3. His 911 call and his account to a detective differed on a key detail During Randolph’s initial proceedings in 2017, jurors listened to his 911 call and viewed an hour‑long reenactment in which he walked police through his version of the shootings. The reenactment was recorded a week after the killings. In the emergency call Randolph said he heard a gunshot before entering the house. Metropolitan Police Department Detective Cliff Mogg testified that Randolph told him he had not heard a gunshot because he was hard of hearing and his SUV’s volume was turned up. Jurors also heard Randolph crying and saying he attempted CPR on his wife. 4. He was acquitted in Utah—but pleaded guilty to witness tampering More than two decades before the Las Vegas killings, Randolph faced a murder charge in the 1986 death of his second wife, Becky Gault. She died from a gunshot wound to the head, and her death was first treated as suicide. A Utah jury acquitted Randolph of murder in 1989. He did, however, plead guilty to felony witness tampering after trying to have a friend killed whose testimony had helped prosecutors secure the murder charge. That friend, Eric Tarantino, had told authorities Randolph previously asked him to kill Becky. 5. A surviving former wife testified she believed he tried to kill her Gayna Allmon, one of Randolph’s surviving former wives, testified during the penalty phase of his first Las Vegas trial about an incident in which his gun discharged while he was cleaning it in her presence. Allmon told jurors she believed Randolph had been trying to kill her. Her testimony was introduced as evidence while jurors considered his sentence; it was separate from the two killings for which he was convicted in Las Vegas. 6. His first conviction and death sentence were overturned; a second jury found him guilty Randolph was convicted in 2017 and sentenced to death. In 2020 the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously reversed his conviction and sentence, ruling jurors should not have heard evidence about Becky’s death in Utah. The decision led to a second trial, with prosecutors barred from presenting similarities between the deaths of his second and sixth wives. On August 24, 2023 a different jury found Randolph guilty. On April 4, 2024 District Judge Tierra Jones sentenced him to 60 years to life in prison for the killings of Sharon and Miller. 7. He wore a Tony Romo jersey while facing a possible death sentence Before his first Las Vegas trial Randolph requested to wear a Dallas Cowboys jersey instead of the usual court attire. His attorney explained the motive simply: “Because he’s a Cowboys fan.” Randolph appeared before jurors in a Tony Romo jersey during the penalty phase on June 30, 2017, when they were deciding whether