Who Were Thomas Randolph’s Wives? What to Know About the 6 Women Who Married the ‘Black Widower’

Thomas Randolph’s crimes are the subject of the new Netflix documentary ‘The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part’

NEED TO KNOW

• Netflix’s The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part examines Thomas Randolph’s six marriages
• Three of his wives died during or after their relationships with him, while others described controlling behavior
• Thomas is serving 60 years to life after his 2023 conviction for the murders of Sharon Causse and Michael Miller

Thomas Randolph was married six times — and three of his wives died while in a relationship with him.

In 2017, the so-called “Black Widower” was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the deaths of his sixth wife, Sharon Causse, and hit man Michael Miller and was sentenced to death, according to 8 News Now. His conviction was later overturned after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the jury should not have heard about the death of his second wife, Becky Gault. (Thomas was previously tried in connection with Becky’s death, but it was ultimately deemed a suicide and he was acquitted.)

However, after a second jury trial in 2023, Thomas was found guilty of the same counts relating to the murders of Sharon and Michael. He was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison.

The new Netflix documentary The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part, which premiered on Sept. 30, chronicles Thomas’ marriages to Kathryn “Kathy” Thomas, Becky, Leona Stapleton, Gayna Allmon and Francis Randolph, culminating in his trials for the murders of his sixth wife, Sharon, and Miller.

Here’s everything to know about “Black Widower” Thomas Randolph’s six wives.

Kathryn “Kathy” Thomas

Per The Widower, Thomas and Kathy met through friends. They married on Aug. 2, 1975 — when Thomas was 20 and Kathy was 18 — and soon welcomed two children together.

In the documentary, Kathy described Thomas as “intelligent” and a “very charming and witty person,” but said that over time he became very controlling and “very scary psychologically.” According to Law & Crime, Thomas once allegedly threw a bowl of oatmeal she made him at a wall because she didn’t put enough sugar in it.

She also alleged that Thomas frequently cheated on her, prohibited her from seeing or speaking to her friends and both sold and used drugs. Thomas admitted to selling drugs in the 2024 ID series The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph.

Kathy knew that Thomas had a life insurance policy on her and that he owned guns, which made her fearful to leave him at first, but they ultimately divorced in 1983.

Before their split, a man named Steve alleged that Thomas asked him to kill Kathy for money, per the documentary. Steve and Kathy married after her divorce.

Becky Gault

Thomas’ relationship with Becky began as an affair during his first marriage, per The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph. On the day that he and Kathy finalized their divorce, he married Becky.

In The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph, Becky’s loved ones said she was “vibrant” and “happy,” but after she married Thomas, she became addicted to drugs. They also alleged that Thomas tried to isolate Becky from her friends and family.

Becky’s cousins said that she feared Thomas, but finally left him after several years. She was staying at their home when she went back to Thomas’ house to retrieve some of her belongings one morning in November 1986.

Later that day, Becky was found dead on a bed at Thomas’ home with a suicide note and a gun in her hand, per the Las Vegas Sun. Det. Dick Martin, who came to the scene, said he suspected foul play because the position of the firearm and blood spatter were inconsistent with a self-inflicted gunshot, per The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph. However, no investigation could take place because police did not treat the house as a crime scene.

Two years after Becky’s death, one of Thomas’ former friends, Eric Tarantino, told police that Thomas asked him to kill Becky in exchange for half of the life insurance policy he had on her — and that they rehearsed how to do it for nearly a year, per the docuseries.

After Eric’s confession, police arrested Thomas and charged him with murder. While he awaited trial, he asked his cellmate — who was an undercover officer — to kill Eric. After a coroner ruled Becky’s death a suicide, Thomas was acquitted of her murder, but was sentenced to 18 months in prison for witness tampering. He later received Becky’s life insurance policy payout.

Leona Stapleton

Little is known about Thomas’ third wife, Leona Stapleton, whom he married in March 1994.

“She was fun, she was a good person,” Thomas recalled in The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph. “[Leona] was a smarter one, she knew I was having sex with other women.”

The couple moved together from Utah to Indiana during their relationship, but their marriage barely lasted a year, per The Widower. They divorced in 1995 and she died from cancer in 2006.

Gayna Allmon

Thomas married Gayna in October 1995 after meeting through a personals ad. Gayna said she wasn’t looking for a serious relationship at the time, but that Thomas wooed her with flowers and jewelry.

After their courthouse wedding, Thomas took out a life insurance policy on Gayna, per The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph. Gayna said there were several red flags about Thomas, including his controlling nature and huffing of household products to get high, but two incidents specifically convinced her to leave.

According to Gayna, someone from the Edinburgh, Ind., police department called her and told her about the murder allegations relating to Becky’s death. Not long after that, she recalled Thomas acting “kind of different” one day and sitting at their dining room table cleaning his guns when he accidentally fired a bullet about a foot away from her.

“I was extremely scared,” she said, adding that she quit her job and “went into hiding.”

She then removed the diamonds from her jewelry that he’d given her during their relationship. She replaced the stones with cubic zirconia before returning them to Thomas, chuckling in The Black Widower that she pawned the diamonds for “a couple thousand dollars. I thought that was fair play.”

Their divorce was finalized in July 1997.

In The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part, a man named Glenn Morrison claimed that Thomas offered him half of the life insurance policy payout to kill Gayna and to shoot Thomas in the leg. However, Glenn said he refused, believing that if he agreed, Thomas would kill him.

Francis Randolph

Thomas met his fifth wife, Francis, when they worked together at a nursing home. Francis was married to another man, but Thomas convinced her to leave her husband and marry him instead, and they wed in August 1997.

“[Francis] was the one God put on the Earth for me,” Thomas said in The Black Widower. “That was the love of my life.” He called her a “China doll Dolly Parton,” adding, “When I met Francis I totally changed … I straightened up, I grew up.”

Thomas’ mother agreed, saying that Francis was “the best thing that ever happened to him.”

Francis had a heart defect for her entire life, and during her marriage to Thomas, had several mini strokes. She underwent surgery to treat it in April 2004, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, which her family said went well. Later that day, however, her daughter Rachel Gaskins said that Thomas asked her to leave the hospital room, and then Francis died 30 minutes later.

Her death was never investigated as a possible crime. However, Rachel told The Black Widower that she believes that Thomas — who had life insurance policies on both Francis and Rachel, then a minor — killed Francis.

Thomas claims that Francis’ death was the result of medical malpractice. He sued the hospital where Francis got the surgery and received a nearly $400,000 wrongful death settlement. Rachel said she got some of the settlement money, but none of the $18,000 life insurance payout.

Sharon Causse

Sharon was a divorced hair stylist with an adult daughter when she and Thomas met on Match.com in 2006, per The Widower. Sharon’s daughter Colleen Beyer recalled their relationship moving very quickly. Sharon and Thomas got married on a cruise ship just a few months after their first date.

In The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part, Colleen revealed that after Sharon and Thomas’ wedding, Sharon made a new will leaving all property, vehicles, bank and retirement accounts, personal possessions and insurance money to Thomas. Thomas took out three life insurance policies on Sharon, which were worth about $350,000.

One of Sharon’s friends, Deirdra Marley, alleged in The Black Widower that Thomas was very possessive and controlling of Sharon and would call the salon where she worked 15 to 20 times per day. Her concern for Sharon grew stronger after she allegedly showed her bruises she incurred after a boat ride with Thomas and told her about the life insurance policies that he took out on her.

In May 2008, Thomas took Sharon out for dinner to celebrate Mother’s Day. After they arrived home, Sharon entered their house first. Michael shot and killed Sharon, after which Thomas shot Michael to death.

Thomas called 911 and claimed that Michael was a home intruder whom he shot in self-defense, per NBC 8. However, investigators noticed that the crime scene evidence — including blood splatter, ballistics, the delay between the shooting and the 911 call and the lack of blood on a mask near Michael’s body — indicated that the scene was staged. After detectives spoke with Michael’s family, they learned that Thomas paid Michael to kill Sharon and offered to split her life insurance policy with him.

Thomas was arrested and charged with Michael and Sharon’s murders, as well as conspiracy to commit murder. He pleaded not guilty, but didn’t go to trial until 2017 because he kept firing his defense team, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Thomas was convicted and sentenced to death in July 2017, but the conviction was later overturned on appeal after testimony from Eric about Becky’s death was deemed prejudicial by the Nevada Supreme Court.

After a second trial in 2023, Thomas was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison. He is currently serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nev., according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

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