Credit: Netflix

Netflix does not need to manufacture much drama for The Widower, because Thomas Randolph was already on his sixth marriage when his wife Sharon Causse was murdered in 2008, and, well, that is one hell of a place to start.

The Netflix documentary, directed by Chris Smith, follows Dateline producer Dan Slepian and Las Vegas detective Dean O’Kelley as they revisit the case of Sharon Causse, Randolph’s sixth wife, whose death in 2008 sent investigators digging through a marital history that will make you look at your own and take a sigh of relief. Randolph became known as “the Black Widower”, and once you hear why, it will all become too obvious for you.

Four of Randolph’s six wives died, while reporting tied to the documentary says insurance payouts followed two of those deaths. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, Randolph was not convicted of murdering every wife who died, and suspicion is not proof. Although the story is juicy enough for us to imagine things, reports say otherwise.

The Widower: ’Til Death Do Us Part looks at how Causse’s killing opened that older history back up. It shows how Slepian and O’Kelley kept pulling at the thread, and the further they went, the weirder it got. So, what happened that night?

What happened to Sharon Causse and why did investigators suspect Thomas Randolph?

On May 8th, 2008, Causse was shot dead inside the Las Vegas home she shared with Randolph. Handyman Michael Miller was also killed, and Randolph told police that Miller had attacked Causse during a burglary before Randolph shot him in self-defence.

Prosecutors said Randolph had recruited Miller to kill Causse during a staged burglary so he could collect life-insurance money, then shot Miller because Miller could expose the scheme. That story sounds pretty straightforward, but as the detectives began looking at Randolph’s past, earlier marriages came back under scrutiny.

Randolph’s history had already raised questions long before Causse’s death. His second wife, Becky Gault, died from a gunshot wound in 1986, and Randolph collected life insurance money after her death. The notable part is that he was tried for her murder in 1989 but acquitted. Years later, that case came in handy when prosecutors tried to use it during Randolph’s first trial for Causse’s murder.

What happened at trial, and where is Thomas Randolph now?

A Nevada jury convicted Randolph in 2017 of conspiracy to commit murder alongside two counts of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to death. That’s it? Hell no. In 2020, the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the convictions after finding that jurors should not have heard evidence about the death of Randolph’s second wife. That ruling did not declare him innocent… It meant he had to be tried again.

So back into court he went. In 2023, a second jury convicted Randolph of conspiracy and two counts of murder with a deadly weapon, and in April 2024, he received a sentence of 60 years to life. Randolph maintained his innocence and appealed.

Then, on August 31, 2026, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld Randolph’s second conviction. So that is where Netflix picks up the story: Randolph remains in prison, serving his 60-year-to-life sentence. The road from one Las Vegas crime scene to two trials took years, and The Widower has the footage to show how investigators got there.