Netflix added The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part on Sept. 30, 2026, the same day E! News published a long true-story breakdown of the Thomas Randolph case. Netflix Tudum lists the film under September 30 arrivals. TV Insider clocks the documentary at about 1 hour 31 minutes, directed by Chris Smith, with Dateline producer Dan Slepian among the executive producers.
Direct answer: Yes. The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part is a true-crime Netflix documentary about Thomas Randolph, convicted in the 2008 Las Vegas killings of his sixth wife, Sharon Causse Randolph, and Michael Miller, the man prosecutors said he hired. It follows journalist Dan Slepian and detective Dean O’Kelley’s years-long effort to build and retry the case. Randolph is serving 60 years to life after a 2023 conviction upheld in 2026.
TL;DR
- Yes, it is a true story. Netflix’s The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part covers the Thomas Randolph case, not a fictionalized drama.
- Drop date: Sept. 30, 2026, on Netflix (Tudum + TV Insider).
- Runtime / format: about 91 minutes, single documentary film (not a multi-episode series).
- Core case: Sharon Causse Randolph and Michael Miller were shot dead in Las Vegas on May 8, 2008. Prosecutors said Randolph hired Miller to kill Sharon for life insurance, then killed Miller.
- Earlier Utah case: Randolph was acquitted in 1989 of murdering his second wife, Beckie Gault (death initially ruled a suicide in 1986).
- Conviction path: guilty and death-sentenced in 2017; Nevada Supreme Court reversed in Dec. 2020; convicted again in 2023; sentenced to 60 years to life in April 2024; high court upheld the conviction in Sept. 2026.
- Where he is now: Lovelock Correctional Center, Nevada, age 71 in 2026 coverage, still denying he killed Sharon.
- Bamfuzzle angle: same-day Netflix true-crime drop + clear “true story / wives / where is he now” Discover queries; no prior Bamfuzzle URL or hub draft.
Is The Widower on Netflix a true story? Yes. It documents the real investigation and trials of Thomas Randolph in the murders of Sharon Causse Randolph and Michael Miller, with Dan Slepian’s reporting and detective Dean O’Kelley at the center.
What is The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part on Netflix?
The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part is a 2026 Netflix documentary about a Las Vegas double homicide and the long legal fight that followed. Netflix’s own September lineup blurb frames it as a journalist and a detective uncovering “the truth about a killer whose charm masked a trail of failed marriages and suspicious deaths over 30 years.”
TV Insider lists Chris Smith as director, with executive producers including Andy Berg, Elizabeth Fischer, and Dan Slepian. That Slepian credit matters: he covered the case for Dateline almost from day one and appears on camera with years of archival access. E! News quotes him saying he was granted “complete unfettered access” to lead investigator Dean O’Kelley’s work.
If you already follow Bamfuzzle’s streaming true-crime lane, this sits next to Welcome to the Family on Hulu: What the Dan Markel Docuseries Actually Shows and Is Death of the Pastor’s Wife a True Story? Mica Miller Case Explained. Those pages answer different cases. This one answers Randolph, Sharon, Miller, the wives timeline, and the Sept. 30 Netflix drop.
When did The Widower premiere on Netflix?
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. Tudum places The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part on the September 30 slate with The Arena. TV Insider lists the same premiere date and a 1 hour 31 minutes runtime.
Practical how-to-watch:
- Where: Netflix
- When: Sept. 30, 2026 (same-day global listing in Netflix’s September guide)
- Length: about 91 minutes
- Format: one documentary film, not a weekly series
- Tone: investigative true crime with archival Dateline material, police walk-throughs, and jailhouse interviews
Prefer updating this URL after early reviews or Top 10 chart moves land, rather than spinning a near-duplicate “Widower ending” post on day one.
Is The Widower Netflix based on a true story?
Yes. The film tracks a real Nevada murder case that began in 2008 and did not reach a final upheld conviction until 2026.
E! News (Sept. 30, 2026) walks the verified spine:
- Sharon Randolph, 57, was fatally shot in the Las Vegas home she shared with Thomas Randolph on May 8, 2008.
- Michael Miller, 38, was also shot dead at the scene.
- Randolph told 911 his wife had been “shot bad” and that he had just shot a man in the garage.
- Prosecutors later argued Randolph hired Miller to kill Sharon so he could collect on life insurance, then killed Miller.
- Former Las Vegas Police Detective Dean O’Kelley said Randolph’s account and the physical evidence were “not adding up.”
That is the Discover answer for “is The Widower a true story” and “The Widower Netflix true story”: it is documentary reporting on Randolph, not a fictional thriller with invented names.
Thomas Randolph case timeline explained
May 8, 2008: the Las Vegas shootings
According to E! News’ reconstruction of the documentary and archival Dateline material:
- Around 8:30 p.m., Sharon was fatally shot in the home.
- Miller was found dead in the garage with a ski mask and a bag of jewelry nearby.
- Randolph called 911 about 15 minutes after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots, per O’Kelley’s grand-jury testimony as reported then by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
- In a videotaped walk-through a week later, Randolph said Sharon went inside first while he finished a song in the car, then he found her in the hallway and chased a “shadow” into the garage.
O’Kelley flagged shell-casing locations, the open escape path if an intruder had used the back door, and the insurance motive. Even with those red flags, there was not enough to arrest Randolph immediately.
Who was Michael Miller?
Miller’s brothers and a friend told detectives he had moved to Las Vegas for work and claimed he was making about $600 a week as a handyman for “the white guy.” One friend told O’Kelley that Miller said the guy offered to pay him to kill his wife. Prosecutors later said Sharon was killed with a .38-caliber revolver belonging to the Randolphs.
January 2009: arrest
After investigators mapped Randolph’s marital history and the Utah allegations, Clark County prosecutors issued a warrant. Randolph was arrested at his mother’s Utah home in January 2009 and remained jailed until the first murder trial.
2017 trial: guilty, then death sentence
The case finally went to trial in June 2017. Prosecutors alleged a murder-for-hire plot plus a double-cross of Miller. The jury convicted Randolph of two counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to death.
December 2020: Nevada Supreme Court reverses
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that on Dec. 10, 2020, the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously reversed the conviction. Justice Abbi Silver wrote that the state had improperly used prior “bad acts” evidence tied to the Utah case:
“Ultimately, the State lured the jury into finding Randolph guilty based on myriad other bad acts that were not even marginally relevant for a nonpropensity purpose, rather than constraining the testimony to evidence relevant to the charged offenses.”
That ruling ordered a new trial. It is one of the clearest legal hinge points the documentary has to explain.
2023 retrial and 2024 sentence
At the 2023 retrial, prosecutors were barred from bringing up Beckie Gault’s death and related Utah allegations. Randolph was still found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. In April 2024, Judge Tierra Jones sentenced him to 60 years to life, noting that 24 jurors across two trials had decided the case.
September 2026: conviction upheld
E! News reports the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the 2023 conviction in a Sept. 2, 2026 ruling, writing that Randolph’s challenges did not merit a third trial. That timing matters for Discover: the Netflix film lands weeks after the final affirmation, not in the middle of an open appeal cliffhanger.
What happened to Thomas Randolph’s other wives?
The documentary and E! News both stress that Sharon was Randolph’s sixth wife. The public record, as summarized in those sources, looks like this:
- Kathy Thomas (wife 1): married 1975; divorced 1983. She later described him to detectives as charming and “psychologically scary.”
- Beckie Gault (wife 2): married in Utah after the divorce. Found dead in 1986 with a gun; initially ruled suicide. Randolph was tried for her murder and acquitted in 1989. A former friend, Eric Tarantino, claimed Randolph asked him to kill her for insurance money.
- Leona Randolph (wife 3): married 1994; later died of cancer, per the documentary.
- Gayna Allmon (wife 4): married 1995 in Indiana.
- Francis Randolph (wife 5): married 1997; died after heart surgery. Her sisters told detectives the hospital update sequence felt abrupt after Randolph first said she was fine.
- Sharon Causse Randolph (wife 6): met on Match.com in 2005; married (including a Las Vegas ceremony in March 2007); killed May 8, 2008.
Only some of those deaths were ever charged as murder. The only murder conviction that stands today is the Las Vegas case involving Sharon and Miller.
Readers who want adjacent “where are they now” and case-status explainers can branch to Where Is Jodi Arias Now? or Bamfuzzle’s broader True Crime Cases of 2026 Updates hub without overlapping this Randolph page.
Where is Thomas Randolph now?
Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada, serving 60 years to life after the 2023 conviction and 2024 sentence, with the conviction upheld in September 2026.
E! News places him at Lovelock per the Nevada Department of Corrections and notes he was 71 in 2026 coverage. He has consistently denied killing Sharon. In a jailhouse interview with Slepian while awaiting trial, he said, “I didn’t do nothin’. I’m the victim in this.” At sentencing he repeated, “I didn’t kill Sharon. I have nothing to do with this.”
He also sat for the 2024 Investigation Discovery docuseries The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph, where he called himself “addicted to love” and argued romance does not make him a killer. Netflix’s film is a separate 2026 production built around Slepian and O’Kelley’s investigation, not a re-air of that ID series.
What The Widower documentary focuses on
Based on Netflix’s logline, TV Insider’s credits, and E! News’ scene-by-scene reporting, the film’s spine is investigative process:
- O’Kelley’s early skepticism and evidence gaps
- Slepian’s nearly two-decade access
- The insurance and marriage history that made the case national Dateline material
- The 2017 conviction, 2020 reversal, 2023 retrial, and final sentence
- Randolph’s own on-camera denials
It is closer in appetite to Bamfuzzle’s HBO’s A Killer Story: Dana Chandler Case Explained and Idaho Murders Netflix Doc Explained: Kohberger’s Plea Fight than to pure celebrity gossip. Those URLs cover different defendants and platforms. Use this page for Randolph / Sharon / Miller / Sept. 30 Netflix questions only.
For Monster-anthology true-story demand running the same week, see Is Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story a True Story?. That is a dramatized anthology season. The Widower is a documentary about a living convict and a closed appellate path.
Key facts vs. common confusion
Quick corrections: This is a documentary film, not a scripted limited series. Sharon was wife six, not wife two. The Utah murder charge ended in acquittal. The standing conviction is Nevada 2023 / upheld 2026, sentence 60 years to life, not the vacated 2017 death sentence.
Common search mix-ups to clear:
- Dateline vs Netflix: Slepian’s Dateline coverage and a prior three-part Dateline package exist in the archive. The Sept. 30, 2026 Netflix title is a new Chris Smith documentary with Slepian as EP.
- Death sentence vs current sentence: Death was imposed after 2017 and wiped out by the 2020 reversal. The operative sentence is 60 years to life.
- How many wives died: Multiple prior wives were deceased by the time of the Las Vegas trial, but only the Sharon / Miller killings produced the conviction Netflix is documenting now.
- Insurance figure: Review-Journal coverage of the first trial said prosecutors argued Randolph stood to gain upward of $360,000 after Sharon’s death. E! News describes four life insurance policies in the documentary framing. Stick to sourced ranges; do not invent policy names.
Should you watch The Widower on Netflix?
Yes, if you want a process-driven true-crime documentary about a marriage-insurance murder case that took nearly two decades to stick. Skip or wait, if you need a binge series or a fictionalized courtroom drama. This is one film, about 91 minutes, heavy on investigation and legal turns.
Watch expectations:
- Archival police video and Dateline footage are central.
- Randolph appears in interviews denying guilt.
- The Utah acquittal is context, not a second open murder conviction.
- The ending state of play, as of Sept. 30, 2026, is an upheld Nevada conviction and a long prison sentence, not an unsolved mystery.
If you came here from Netflix’s other Sept. 2026 crime titles, UNABOMBER Netflix Movie Release Date and True Story covers the dramatized Kaczynski film track. Keep that URL for the movie; keep this one for Randolph.
FAQ
Is The Widower on Netflix a true story?
Yes. It is a documentary about Thomas Randolph and the murders of Sharon Causse Randolph and Michael Miller in Las Vegas in 2008.
When did The Widower come out on Netflix?
Sept. 30, 2026.
How long is The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part?
About 1 hour 31 minutes (91 minutes), per TV Insider.
Who is Thomas Randolph?
A Nevada inmate convicted in 2023 of murdering his sixth wife and Michael Miller. He was previously acquitted in Utah in 1989 of murdering his second wife.
Where is Thomas Randolph now?
Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada, serving 60 years to life after his conviction was upheld in 2026.
Did Thomas Randolph get the death penalty?
He was sentenced to death after the 2017 trial, but that conviction and sentence were reversed in 2020. After the 2023 retrial he received 60 years to life.
Who directed The Widower Netflix documentary?
Chris Smith, according to TV Insider. Dan Slepian is an executive producer.
Is this the same as the Investigation Discovery series about Randolph?
No. ID aired The Black Widower: The Six Wives of Thomas Randolph in 2024. Netflix’s 2026 film is a separate documentary.
Sources
- E! News (Natalie Finn), Sept. 30, 2026: same-day true-story breakdown; wives timeline; 2008 scene facts; 2017 / 2020 / 2023 / 2024 / 2026 legal path; Lovelock status; Slepian quotes.
- Netflix Tudum, New on Netflix in September 2026: Sept. 30 listing and official logline for The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part.
- TV Insider show page: premiere date; 1 hour 31 mins runtime; documentary genre; Chris Smith director; Dan Slepian EP credit.
- Las Vegas Review-Journal (David Ferrara), Dec. 10, 2020: Nevada Supreme Court reversal; Justice Silver quote; insurance figure from first trial; Utah acquittal context.
- Netflix title page: platform title listing for The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part.
