LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Prosecutors put the defendant on display on Day 2 of the so-called Black Widower trial, airing a lengthy police interview with Thomas Randolph, who is accused of masterminding the murder of his then-wife and a handyman.
Thomas Randolph is being retried for those murders after the Nevada Supreme Court tossed out Randolph’s conviction because, they said, the 2017 jury should not have heard evidence about Randolph being a suspect in the death of one of his other five wives.
“I liked him, he’s a really nice guy,” Randolph told two Metro police detectives in that 2008 interview, during which he was not a suspect and did not have an attorney present. He was referring to the purported handyman, Michael Miller. Prosecutors say Miller shot Randolph’s wife, Sharon, and staged a robbery before Randolph shot and killed Miller.
Prosecutors also put two of the victim’s friends on the stand. One of those witnesses, Antoinette Beam, testified that she was upset when Sharon Randolph told her that she and Thomas Randolph had gone urn shopping.
“I’m her friend, so I’m allowed to tell her she shouldn’t be planning her death,” Beam told attorneys from the witness stand.
Another friend, Alice Wolfe, worked with Sharon Randolph at a hair salon. The two spoke regularly on the phone.
Wolfe told prosecutors the Randolphs’ marriage was not good, especially in its final months. She said she would express concerns about Randolph “every time I talked to her.”
Prosecutors also heard from two other witnesses before a retired Metro police detective introduced the police interview of Randolph.
One of those women, Elizabeth Lavatour of Utah, was known to be Randolph’s on-again, off-again girlfriend during the entirety of his marriage to Sharon Randolph. He, like Sharon Randolph, met the accused murderer on an online dating service.
Lavatour testified via the online video platform Bluejeans, that Randolph suggested she get a $150,000 life insurance policy “for the protection of my daughter.” She says Randolph agreed to pay for that policy “and take care of it.” She testified that Randolph would be beneficiary of half the policy.
Prosecutors, in their opening statements at this retrial, told jurors that Sharon Randolph’s life insurance was a motive.
Lavatour testified that Randolph would visit her during holidays. She gave him an ultimatum in 2008.
“I got very tired of it and told him it’s not going to work anymore for me,” Lavatour said. “He needs to make a decision.”
Lavatour continued: “He said he was going to go out and deal with Sharon so we could be together.”
