Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
The ID documentary series The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph examines the infamous case against Randolph. The three-part docuseries will air on the network this Monday, July 15, 2024, from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET. Per IMDb, the synopsis reads, “Thomas Randolph has been married six times, and four of his wives are dead. Several died under mysterious circumstances, leading some to call the Nevada man a ‘Black Widower.’”
Thomas Randolph gained notoriety as “The Black Widower” because four out of his six wives died under suspicious circumstances. He first stood trial in 1986 for allegedly murdering his second wife, Becky Gault. However, the trial resulted in his acquittal, after which he married four more times. Later, in 2008, his sixth wife, Sharon Causse, died in an apparent home invasion when Michael Miller, a handyman, fatally shot her. An investigation revealed Randolph had hired Miller, who was also killed that night, to murder Causse.
Reportedly, Thomas Randolph was eventually convicted on charges stemming from the 2008 killings and is now serving a 60-year sentence in prison.
Where is Black Widower Thomas Randolph now?
According to the Nevada Department of Corrections, Thomas Randolph is now serving time in the Lovelock Correctional Center. Randolph made headlines as “The Black Widower” because of the deaths of four out of his six wives over the decades. His conviction finally came in during a trial in 2023 for murdering his sixth wife, Sharon Causse, and her shooter. A jury found him guilty of two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. He then received a 60-year prison sentence, reported People Magazine.
The outlet stated that in May 2008, Randolph’s sixth wife, Sharon Causse, died in an apparent home invasion. The two had just returned home from a date night when the armed intruder fatally shit 57-year-old Causse. Randolph claimed he found her dead and then fired at the shooter, killing him in self-defense. The subsequent investigation revealed that the killer was Michael Miller, a handyman hired by Randolph to commit the crime.
Prosecutors later alleged that Thomas Randolph wanted Causse murdered for insurance money. The sum was more than $300,000. The investigation also disclosed details about the suspicious deaths of his other wives. Authorities unearthed information that Rudolph’s three previous wives had also died under mysterious circumstances.
The Las Vegas Sun reported that Randolph’s second wife, Becky Gault, died in 1986 in their Clearfield, Utah, home. At the time, The Black Widower had called authorities to report that Gault committed suicide, further alleging that she had threatened to kill herself the day before. He claimed the reason was that he refused to buy cocaine with her. Randolph alleged that he told her to go ahead before leaving the house and only returned the following afternoon to find her dead of a gunshot wound. He stood trial in 1989, which resulted in his acquittal.
In 2017, nearly a decade after Sharon Causse and Michael Miller’s murders, Thomas Randolph stood trial in the case. The trial had resulted in a conviction on the counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors proved that he hired Miller to shoot his wife in a staged crime to make it appear like a home invasion and then shot the killer. Following the guilty verdict, he received a death sentence.
The following year, the Nevada Supreme Court overturned Randolph’s conviction. The court cited that prosecutors should not have introduced evidence and information from Becky Gault’s case during the 2017 trial. The prosecution had heavily relied on Gault’s death, drawing comparisons, which the court believed was highly prejudicial.
Five years later, in 2023, “The Black Widower” Thomas Randolph stood trial a second time on the same charges. Once again, a jury convicted him of two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. This time, he received a sentence of 60 years in prison and remains in the Lovelock Correctional Center now.
ID’s The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph documentary series premieres on the network this Monday, July 15.