Don't Marry This Guy // The Randy Roth Murder Story
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Who was Randy Roth and how did his scheme begin?
So this man married four women and two of them ended up dead. Now the guy's name is Randy and Randy's around 26 when all this starts and he's living in the Seattle, Washington area. Now here's the thing about Randy. He loves luxury things like expensive cars and nice houses, all the things that make one look successful. The problem is he works as a mechanic, which means he doesn't make enough to afford all that nice stuff, and Randy will do just about anything to get the money for it. And so one day in 1981, he comes up with a terrible idea. An idea that has become cliche in my videos. He wants to kill his wife and collect the insurance money. Now his wife is this woman, Janice. And Janice is actually his second wife.
He had gotten a divorce from his first wife. Now I don't know if Randy doesn't love Janice anymore or if he's just greedy, but murder is his plan. So he gets to work on this plan. He coerces Janice into taking out a $100,000 life insurance policy on herself. Then one day he suggests to her that they go on a hiking trip to Beacon Rock State Park. And Janice, she's all excited to go hiking because, you know, she wants to hang out with him. And she's like, that sounds great. And so they head out to the park and they start hiking. And allegedly, and this hasn't been proven, but allegedly once they're at an area of the hike where no one is around up on a cliff, Suddenly, bam! He shoves Janice off the edge, and she falls, and unfortunately, she doesn't survive.
Now, when police investigate, they question Randy, and he tells them that he and Janice were just taking a hike when suddenly she slipped on some pine needles and fell off the rock. Now, police are skeptical. They aren't sure what to make of all this. I mean, the whole thing just feels a little too convenient. However, Randy is the only witness, and without evidence proving that what he's saying isn't true, there's not much they can do. So eventually, Janice's death is officially ruled an accident, and Randy wastes no time in making sure the case stays that way. Because the very same day, he has Janice's body cremated. And of course, ultimately, he collects the $100,000 in life insurance money. And so years pass, and it's now 1985.
How did Randy engineer Janice’s 1981 Beacon Rock cliff death?
And by this point, it seems like the insurance money has started running low, and Randy needs more. So he starts looking for another wife that he can murder and collect some money from. And that is when he meets this woman, Donna. So Randy meets Donna and he thinks she is fine. And she thinks he is fine. And he also allegedly thinks that she would be the perfect victim. And so soon enough, they start dating. And after only two months of dating, they get married. So this is wife number three. Then Randy tries to get Donna to take out a life insurance policy on herself, but Donna's like, fuck all that. However, he does talk her into altering an existing small $3,000 policy that she already has to make him the beneficiary.
Which, you know, $3,000, that isn't a lot of money for this kind of thing, but I guess he'll take what he can get. And so now it's allegedly time to murder her too. So, just like he did with Janice, he suggests that they take a trip together. But this time, it's a rafting trip. Now, on this trip, Donna's parents decide to come along too. But Randy, he doesn't let that stop him. He's going to go through with his alleged murder plan regardless. Now, at some point, Randy and Donna are in a raft and they're out on the water. And Donna notices that Randy keeps steering the raft toward rocks, like big sharp rocks, the kind that could rip the raft apart. I guess it seems like he's actually hoping that he'll puncture the raft and that they'll sink and Donna will drown.
And she's apparently not a very strong swimmer. So, of course, Donna is like, avoid the rocks! But he doesn't. He ignores her. And eventually, pow! The raft slams into the rocks and it gets punctured. And pretty quickly, water starts pouring in and the raft starts sinking. And Donna, she's all scared and screaming, while Randy, he just keeps calm.
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Chapters
2 chaptersSpeakers
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