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A new documentary series will explore the strange and twisted story of Thomas Randolph, the man who was married six times and had four of his wives die mysteriously.
Investigation Discovery’s The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph will stream on Max starting July 16.
The episodes delve into whether Randolph is a calculating killer or just unlucky, as each death leaves him wifeless but hundreds of dollars richer thanks to multiple paid-out life insurance policies.
Randolph, a Nevada native now 69, earned the nickname “The Black Widower” after all four of his wives died under gruesome circumstances.
The trailer for the series shows Randolph in prison, discussing the death of his sixth wife, Sharon Causse, who was shot and killed in a planned home invasion in 2008.
A new documentary series will explore the strange and twisted story of Thomas Randolph, who was married six times and had four of his wives die mysteriously.
At his 2017 trial, prosecutors accused him of arranging for his friend and handyman Michael Miller to kill her in what was apparently a home invasion, in order to collect more than $300,000 in life insurance payouts.
Randolph, who maintains his innocence in the circumstances surrounding Causse’s death, recounts the night his sixth wife was murdered in the short trailer.
“Let’s start with Sharon,” he begins. “Okay, it’s a nice Mother’s Day dinner and she says, ‘let’s go home and have sex.'”
He continues: “Everything we did was compatible: the best sex, the best grandmother…”
A 911 call is then shown from Randolph, reporting his wife’s death, and a news report that a woman and the apparent masked and armed robber had been shot.
“Which version of events is true?” someone asks, accompanied by clips of Randolph’s daughter admitting she doesn’t know whether her father is innocent or not, along with interviews with victims’ families and legal analysts.
Causse died in May 2008 after a masked and armed Miller broke into Randolph’s Nevada home and shot her to death.
Randolph was convicted a second time in the deaths of Causse and the hitman, Michael Miller, he hired to kill her.
Randolph, who maintains his innocence in the circumstances surrounding Causse’s death, recounts the night his sixth wife was murdered in the short trailer.
Prosecutors accused him of arranging for his friend and handyman Michael Miller to kill his sixth wife, Sharon Causse, in what appeared to be a home invasion.
The episodes delve into whether Randolph is a calculating killer or just unlucky; each death leaves him without a wife.
Randolph called 911 after the apparent home invasion, reporting his wife’s death.
He was retried after the state Supreme Court ruled a new trial was necessary, arguing the 2017 jury should never have heard evidence about the 1986 death of Randolph’s second wife, Becky Gault, in Utah.
Randolph was originally sentenced to death, but the sentence was overturned in 2020.
Jurors in the 2017 and 2023 trials heard testimony from and about several of his ex-wives, which painted a portrait of a violent, abusive and manipulative man who had a pattern of marrying and then abusing women.
Kathryn Thomas
Randolph married his first wife in 1975, when she was just 18 and he was 20.
During Randolph’s first trial, Thomas, who divorced him in 1983, told jurors he was controlling, manipulative and psychologically abusive.
She revealed an incident when he threw a bowl of oatmeal against the wall because it had no sugar in it.
After remarrying, she and her new husband reportedly moved several states away, to Washington, to distance themselves from Randolph.
Sharon Causse (left) died after Randolph hired a friend to kill her and make it look like a robbery gone wrong. His other wives, including Kathryn Thomas (right), testified at his trials
Becky Gault
Prosecutors told jurors that Gault was found dead with a bullet in her skull in the home she shared with Randolph just three years after marrying him.
The couple married on the same day in 1983 when his divorce from Kathryn Thomas was finalized.
Randolph received a $500,000 life insurance payout after his death was initially ruled a suicide.
He was later charged and acquitted of her murder after police discovered that he used to sing songs about murdering her.
Randolph also attempted to hire a hitman to kill her, who ended up being a police officer.
Although Randolph pleaded guilty to witness tampering, he was never convicted of her murder.
Becky Gault (left) was found with a bullet lodged in her head, although Randolph was never convicted of her murder. Gayna Allmon (right) told jurors she believes he tried to kill her in an attempted shooting while they were married.
Gayna Allmon
Randolph’s third wife told jurors at his first trial that she believes Randolph tried to kill her in an attempted shooting.
She revealed that when they were married, Randolph shot her while he was cleaning his gun.
The bullet left a hole in the kitchen and she believed her life was in danger after that.
Randolph did not allow Francis Thomas’ daughter to see her while she was hospitalized
Francisco Thomas
Thomas died in the hospital in 2004 after botched heart surgery, a witness, Glen Morrison, told jurors that Randolph asked him to kill her and stage the crime scene as a robbery, similar to how his then-future wife, Sharon Causse, died.
Thomas’s daughter was apparently not allowed to visit her mother while she was sick.
Additionally, Randolph reportedly cremated his wife’s body less than 24 hours after her death.
Although he was married to Leona Stapleton, his fifth wife, there is little public information about her. His family told the court during his first trial that he had died of cancer.
The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph will stream on Max starting July 16.