Where is James Randall now?

Serial Killer Wives is a crime documentary series that features first-hand testimony from the partners of some of the world’s worst killers.

One woman featured on the programme is Terry Jo Howard, the ex-girlfriend of killer James Randall.

In this article, we take a look at this true crime case and ask the question: Where is James Randall now?

Who is James Randall?

James Michael Randall (born August 28, 1954) is an American criminal who killed two sex workers in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida in the 1990s. He was also the chief suspect in the murder of a Boston woman in 1984 but he was never charged with an offence related to that crime.

What did James Randall do?

On October 20, 1995, a pizza delivery driver found the body of a prostitute named Wendy Evans in a lane. She had been strangled to death. Detectives discovered tyre tracks at the scene but failed to come up with a suspect.

Several months later, another sex worker, Cynthia Pugh, was also found dead. Like Evans, she too had been strangled. This time around, the police identified the tyre tracks as those belonging to a Dodge D-50 pick-up owned by James Randall. They went to speak to him at his home on June 27, 1996. After their first round of questions, he fled the scene in his truck.

A high-speed car chase ensued, during which Randall got out of his vehicle and escaped on foot. He didn’t escape capture for long as he was arrested a few days later.

During their investigation, the police discovered Randall had served time for kidnapping and sexual battery. They also found out about his sexual preferences, which included erotic asphyxiation.

Terry Jo Howard, Randall’s girlfriend at the time of his arrest, described to police the attacks he had made on her. These included attempts to choke her.

Eventually, the police had all they needed to charge Randall with the murders of Cynthia Pugh and Wendy Evans.

What happened to James Randall?

In April 1997, a Florida jury found Randall guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to two death sentences and a concurrent sentence of five years on a charge of evading the police.

In 2000, Randall appealed against the charges made against him. The Supreme Court of Florida heard and upheld his appeal, concluding that Randall had most likely strangled the women for pleasure and not to kill them. His original conviction of first-degree murder was replaced with a conviction for second-degree murder and his death sentences were changed to life imprisonment with no possibility for parole.