Kourtney Lewis was getting ready to head to work earlier this month when her telephone rang. It was a detective letting her know police had arrested a suspect within the killing of her mother virtually 34 years in the past.
The suspect was Lewis’ father.
“My heart sunk. My hands were shaking,” she informed NCS. “Nothing could have truly prepared me. I had two thoughts simultaneously: ‘We did it,’ and ‘Oh my gosh, what did we do?’”
For Lewis and her half-sister Katie Wakin, who was additionally on the decision, the information marked a turning level in a case that has formed most of their lives.
In November 1992, Janice Randle was discovered useless in her bed room in Graham, Washington. Lewis, who was 18 months outdated, was crying in a crib beside her mother with a full diaper after 14 hours alone, she stated.
Investigators initially handled the demise as a doable overdose after Randle’s estranged husband informed them his spouse abused painkillers, in accordance to court docket paperwork. She was 40.
Janice Randle’s physique had a number of bruises, in accordance to an post-mortem described in court docket paperwork, which later discovered no medicine in her system. Despite an investigator on the time saying the demise was “obviously a homicide,” the medical expert in the end didn’t discover a trigger of demise, in accordance to the paperwork.
The case went chilly for greater than three a long time. Eventually it gained new life as a result of of two sisters, a stack of paperwork and nagging questions that wouldn’t go away.
On April 1, police arrested James Robert Randle at a nursing house in Everett, Washington. An arrest video from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office exhibits him seemingly caught off-guard and asking, “what’s this about?” as officers handcuffed him.
Randle, 68, has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree homicide cost, and is being held on a $1 million bond with a tentative trial date of May 20. His lawyer didn’t reply to NCS’s repeated requests for remark.
Court paperwork launched after his arrest this month describe a turbulent, marriage, a bitter custody battle, and an investigation three a long time in the past that left key questions unresolved.
Watching her toddler helped her perceive her personal loss
Growing up, Lewis knew her mother largely via what her father informed her.
Years later, after she turned a mother herself, she observed the concern in her little one’s eyes each time she stepped away. Watching her daughter navigate the world helped her perceive her personal loss as a child, though she’d been too younger to totally perceive what was occurring.
Her grief resurfaced. So did new questions on what actually occurred in their home that November night time.
“My whole life, I thought, ‘I was just a baby. I didn’t remember. It wasn’t that big of a deal,’” Lewis stated. “And it wasn’t until I became a mom myself, I realized that I was a victim as well. And this is part of my story, and I need to figure it out.”
For a long time, the 2 sisters had averted discussing their mother’s case. Wakin, who was 14 when Janice Randle died, stated she had lengthy suspected Lewis’s father – her stepfather on the time – had one thing to do with it. But she’d stayed silent to keep away from hurting her sister.
“I made the conscious decision a long time ago that I loved her more than I needed answers,” Wakin stated.
Then one day in February 2025, every little thing modified. The sisters have been on a stroll in a park when Wakin introduced up the topic.
“I took a deep breath and I’m like, ‘So I’m just going to rip the Band-Aid off,’” Wakin stated.
Lewis’ response shocked her. She stated she’d been quietly reviewing court docket data and case information about their mother’s demise. She’d found particulars about her mother and father’ tumultuous marriage and different info that made her query her father’s account, she stated.
The sisters, who reside close to one another within the Seattle space with their husbands and kids, teamed up to dig deeper. They requested data from the police and medical expert’s workplace, together with different court docket paperwork, They made a spreadsheet to log inconsistencies and ignored particulars.
“Getting every document we could became our obsession the rest of the spring and summer,” Wakin stated.
Weeks later, they shared the knowledge with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and requested investigators to look into their mother’s case, Wakin stated. A detective stayed in contact and urged them to be affected person.
Last June, the lead detective informed them the case was below assessment. Eight months later, she notified them of the arrest throughout a three-way telephone name.
Even although the sisters had requested investigators to take a more in-depth look into their mother’s demise, her father’s arrest felt like dropping a guardian all over once more, Lewis stated.
“I still struggle with putting my dad in jail. I’m always questioning, ‘Do I go put money on his books? Can I write him a letter?’ I still want that connection,” she stated.
“But I know that is the little girl inside of me. And I have to separate myself from that.”
Lewis and Wakin name themselves “soul sisters.”
Wakin works in a family law office whereas Lewis runs her personal well being and wellness apply.
At first look, they appear like opposites. Lewis’ sandy hair falls over her shoulders; Wakin’s darkish bob is cropped quick. Lewis is extra measured whereas Wakin speaks in fast bursts.
But when the subject turns to their mother, they end one another’s sentences. At occasions, Lewis’ eyes fill with tears when Wakin describes the mother she barely knew. Their purpose, they stated, is to communicate up for their mother and assist restore her voice.
After their mother died, Lewis went to reside together with her father and his brother whereas Wakin moved in together with her father and stepmother. On some weekends and holidays, Lewis frolicked at Wakin’s house.
“They mirrored what a family unit looks like and gave me that normalcy, that structure, the rules,” Lewis stated.
Over the years, the sisters remained shut. In highschool, Lewis briefly lived with Wakin as she navigated a tough patch as an adolescent. Every time Wakin moved, she made positive it wasn’t removed from her youthful sibling.
Wakin began reviewing their mother’s case information in her 20s, however she struggled with whether or not to share her suspicions together with her sister.
“We had this very harmonious, special, close relationship as adults. And I thought, ‘I can’t ruin that.’” Wakin stated.
Wakin declined to elaborate on what led her to query how her mother died, citing the continuing investigation. In a possible trigger doc obtained by NCS, a prosecutor states that James Randle confessed to two members of the family that he killed his spouse.
Around the time Janice Randle died, a neighbor reported seeing a person on a bicycle close to her home, in accordance to court docket data. A member of the family later stated James Randle informed them he’d gone to her house on a motorcycle, in accordance to paperwork.
“I just didn’t have the concrete evidence or proof, and so I had to table it. And every once in a while, I would pick up the files, and I’d look into it a little bit,” Wakin stated. “But at some point, I had children, and I had to pick being present for my family instead of chasing these ghosts.”
Janice Randle was a free spirit.
She liked music and outdated films. Growing up, Wakin watched “Singing in the Rain” so many occasions together with her mother that she will be able to recite it from reminiscence. She stated it was commonplace to see her mother dancing to Janis Joplin within the kitchen as she ready her signature spaghetti sauce. The singer’s bluesy, raspy voice, particularly “Piece of My Heart,” performed on fixed repeat in their house, Wakin remembers.
“She’d be cooking and would do the twist,” she stated.
Janice Randle additionally was a social butterfly who introduced folks collectively. At her funeral, a good friend described her as their group’s Rolodex, Wakin stated.
“She was social media before social media,” Wakin stated. “She gave a piece of her heart to everyone she knew.”
The Randles have been married for 5 years however weren’t dwelling collectively on the time of her demise. They had separated weeks earlier, after an October 1, 1992, home violence incident for which James Randle was later convicted, in accordance to court docket paperwork.
The couple was locked in a custody battle over younger Kourtney, in accordance to court docket paperwork. Janice Randle had sought full custody of the toddler, with supervised visits for her ex-husband. Four days earlier than she was discovered useless, her husband filed a countersuit in search of full custody, with restricted visits for his ex-wife.
Court paperwork described indicators of a battle close to her bruised physique within the bed room, together with a damaged desk and a smashed lamp.
Her case was categorised as a demise investigation –- not a murder – and was later purged for unknown causes.
“Only breadcrumbs of information could be pieced together, with nothing substantial to establish probable cause for an arrest,” the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office stated in a information launch this month.
The sheriff’s workplace stated it’s not clear why investigators within the Nineteen Nineties didn’t pursue a murder investigation or why it took so lengthy to assessment the case.
“The pivotal moment that led our cold case detective to take a deeper look at the case was essentially the family members coming forward with more details and information about recent confessions from James,” stated Carly Cappetto, a Pierce County sheriff’s spokesperson.
“The family has been on board and collaboratively working with our office on this case. They were ready to have closure.”
For Lewis, uncovering particulars about her mother’s demise got here at a price. As she dug deeper into the case final yr, she minimize ties together with her father.
“At that point, I knew too much,” she stated. “It felt fake to have a relationship with him, knowing what I was doing. But prior to that, we had been very, very close.”
The selection didn’t come simply for Lewis. It took lots of remedy earlier than she reached out to investigators, understanding it possible meant the loss of one other guardian.
“I needed to make a decision,” she stated. “I couldn’t sweep this under the rug. I chose to do something about it – even though I loved him very much.”
Lewis and Wakin stated they haven’t spoken to Randle since. Now, as potential witnesses at a doable felony trial, they aren’t allowed to have contact with him.
In an ironic twist, when Lewis started her search for answers final yr, she was 34, the identical age her father was when her mother died. She additionally had a toddler of her personal who was about the identical age as she was again then.
She typically thinks about these parallels.
And as she’s realized extra about her mother, her mindset has shifted in refined methods.
For years, Lewis stated, she understood her household historical past via the lens of her father. But in looking for answers, she’s linked extra together with her mother.
“I know all these stories about my dad,” she stated. “But now I get to be her daughter. I get to learn about her. I get to connect with her. I went from being a daddy’s girl to becoming Jan’s daughter,” she stated. “And this is the first time in my life I’ve gotten to experience that.”