Who is Randolph Dial?
If ever a true crime had all the ingredients that a fiction writer would not dare use to craft an orderly and believable crime novel, it would be the story of Randolph Dial.
There’s the criminal and genius roiling in Dial’s brain. There’s the meek prison warden’s wife, forcibly abducted from her middle-class home, husband and two children. There’s the murder of a man via contract with one of the strangest criminal resolutions in the annals.
Randolph Franklin Dial was born on September 26, 1944 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Until the early 1990’s the world pretty much never heard of Randolph Dial. Though he had murdered Kelly Dean Hogan in 1981, Dial did not confess to his crime, a voluntary confession seemingly from nowhere, until the early 90’s. Dial claimed he murdered Hogan as the result of a contract allegedly with the “mob”. Either there’s no further information on who hired Dial to make the hit, Dial murdered Hogan for his own personal reasons despite his assertion of a contract or the authorities are not releasing any information regarding that murder.
Along the way Dial married three women. The first was to Christiana in 1978. There was one son born from this marriage, Alexis Osborn. In yet another ironic twist in the life of Randolph Dial, this son was arrested and charged in 1998 for the murder of his live in girlfriend.
In 1979 Dial married Katherine. The divorced in 1983 and had one daughter, Rose.
In 1983 Dial married Robin. They divorced in 1986 and had one son, Perry.
In an enigma wrapped in a mystery, in the early 90’s Dial voluntarily confessed to murdering
Karate instructor Kelly Hogan. Until then the murder was unsolved with no solution allegedly in investigators’ sights.
Prison didn’t set well with Dial, who was a very talented painter and sculptor. Thus he schemed and connived a minimum security position with the prison by arguing that he could lead a pottery class for the prisoners.
Bobbi Jo Parker would be Dial’s assistant in running and preparing for this inmate crafts class.
Bobbi Jo Parker was married to Randy Parker in 1982. They had two daughters, who were 8 and 10 years old when their mother disappeared with Randolph Dial. The youngest girl is now ready to graduate from high school. The oldest girl is scheduled to attend nursing school.
It is alleged that Dial kidnapped Bobbi Parker from her home on August 30, 1994 by making Bobbi drive her van out from the prison gates. Bobbi contacted her family on September 9, 1994 saying she was all right and would be home soon. Bobbi Jo’s family had not been heard from her since until now.
Until recently when Bobbi Jo Parker and Randolph Dial were picked up as a result of a tip phoned into America’s Most Wanted. They were living on a chicken farm under the names of Richard and Samantha Deahl in Texas. Dial and Parker were together for almost eleven years.
As the story unfolds from here on it gets murkier and more bizarre.
Everyone has their story about the Deahls/Randolph Dial and Bobbi Jo Parker. The owner of the chicken ranch worked on by the Deahls, Debra Grace says that Bobbi tried to escape on three occasions.
"There's a lady here in Nacogdoches with whom she was friends, and she went to her house. But they both got scared of what Dial would do, and Sam would go back," Debra said.
Debra said she recently learned that Parker's friend (whom she would not name) knew of the situation between Dial and Parker and even knew Dial before his escape.
According to Dial himself:
"She was living under the impression if she ever tried to get away, I would get away and I would make her regret it, particularly toward her family," Dial said. "I didn't mean it, but she didn't know that."
According to Charles Sasser, author of “At Large”, a novel about Dial’s life and escape, Bobbi Jo Parker told him in 1999 via telephone:
"I'm fine and I'm happy,' and . . . she said she wondered if it was better to let them [her family] keep thinking she was dead or to call them."
According to Nacogdoches County Justice of the Peace Donna Clayton, April 6, 2005, after witnessing Bobbi's reunion with her husband, Randy:
"They just looked at each other, and both of them took a deep breath, and the next thing I knew, both of them were hugging and crying. I think on both their parts it was, 'Are you really there?"'
I will never be convinced that Bobbi Jo Parker didn’t leave that prison compound with Dial willingly. Or that she lived with Dial, working a grueling job at the chicken farm when Dial was fired for being unable to do the job due to health problems, willingly all those years. Or that she could not have escaped had she so desired.
But that’s just me and the pundits may go on about Stockholm syndrome, bring on a team of psychologists to tell me not and paint glowing stories of Bobbi’s heart-warming reunion with spouse Randy Parker, now warden of William S. Key Correctional Center at Fort Supply, OK.
I think Bobbi Jo Parker was in love with Randolph Dial, a man alleged to have fathered over a dozen children and never at a loss for the attention of the ladies. Dial is a gifted artist, an artist one could reasonably assume was pleasant, intelligent, keen company and hey, I’ll say it, a great lover perhaps?
I’ll go along that Bobbi Jo wasn’t happy with her chicken farm life especially when she had to do all the work. But what could she do? Surely it’s a crime to run off with a convicted criminal, providing the escape vehicle and keeping his location secret for over ten years?
Bobbi Jo Parker had made her bed and circumstances left her laying in it.
Although it’s likely the woman was happy with Dial. She could have escaped. One time Dial was even hospitalized and Parker spent hours at his bedside, tending to him and nursing him back to health. Bobbi Jo was also the one who ran the couple’s errands, regularly cashing her paycheck at a 7-11 as well as shopping for all their staples of life. She did tell author Sasser that she was happy. She did call her family less than two weeks after Dial “abducted” her. This smacks of a plan, a way to bid her old life goodbye before getting on with the new one.
The big question about this true crime is what is going to happen to Bobbi Jo Parker. Will she be charged with the crime any but the most dense of fools would agree she committed? Will her “real” husband, warden Randy Parker, protect his wife and his own pride by taking her back and covering for her? Will the investigators simply accept that this woman was kidnapped and push any further investigation aside?
By me it’s Randolph Dial’s own words that sum up his prior actions and his life since his escape:
"I was a hostage-taker and will probably live to regret it," he said. "But now I don't. Doing a life sentence, at my age, I wouldn't trade it for the past 10 1/2 years."
Perhaps Bobbi Jo Parker, now reunited with her “husband”, feels the same way.
The following sites were used to compile this post:
America’s Most Wanted
Daily Sentinel
America’s Most Wanted
Marriage.About.com
In honor of "The Minutemen"
KNOW YOUR STATE MOTTO
In honor of my recent post with mine own proposed Delaware state mottos.
Alabama
Hell Yes, We Have Electricity.
Alaska
11,623 Eskimos Can't Be Wrong!
Arizona
But It's A Dry Heat.
Arkansas
Literacy Ain't Everything.
California
By 30, Our Women Have More Plastic Than Your Honda.
Colorado
If You Don't Ski, Don't Bother.
Connecticut
Like Massachusetts,
Only The Kennedy's Don't Own It Yet.
Delaware
We Really Do Like The Chemicals In Our Water.
Florida
Ask Us About Our Grandkids
And Our Voting Skills.
Georgia
We Put The Fun In Fundamentalist Extremism.
Hawaii
Haka Tiki Mou Sha'ami Leeki Toru
(Death To Mainland Scum,Leave Your Money)
Idaho
More Than Just Potatoes...
Well, Okay, We're Not, But The Potatoes Sure Are Real Good
Illinois
Please, Don't Pronounce the "S"
Indiana
2 Billion Years Tidal Wave Free
Iowa
We Do Amazing Things With Corn
Kansas
First Of The Rectangle States
Kentucky
Five Million People; Fifteen Last Names
Louisiana
We're Not ALL Drunk Cajun Wackos,
But That's Our Tourism Campaign.
Maine
We're Really Cold, But We Have Cheap Lobster
Maryland
If You Can Dream It, We Can Tax It
Massachusetts
Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden's
And Our Senators Are More Corrupt!
Michigan
First Line Of Defense >From The Canadians
Minnesota
10,000 Lakes...And 10,000,000,000,000 Mosquitoes
Mississippi
Come And Feel Better About Your Own State
Missouri
Your Federal Flood Relief Tax Dollars At Work
Montana
Land Of The Big Sky, The Unabomber, Right-wing Crazies,
and Honest Elections!
Nebraska
Ask About Our State Motto Contest
Nevada
Hookers and Poker!
New Hampshire
Go Away And Leave Us Alone
New Jersey
You Want A ##$%##! Motto?
I Got Yer ##$%##! Motto
Right here!
New Mexico
Lizards Make Excellent Pets
New York
You Have The Right To Remain Silent,
You Have The Right
To An Attorney...
And No Right To Self Defense!
North Carolina
Tobacco Is A Vegetable
North Dakota
We Really Are One Of The 50 States!
Ohio
At Least We're Not Michigan
Oklahoma
Like The Play, But No Singing
Oregon
Spotted Owl...It's What's For Dinner
Pennsylvania
Cook With Coal
Rhode Island
We're Not REALLY An Island
South Carolina
Remember The Civil War?
Well, We Didn't Actually Surrender Yet
South Dakota
Closer Than North Dakota
Tennessee
Home of the Al Gore Invention Museum.
Texas
Se Hable Ingles
Utah
Our Jesus Is Better Than Your Jesus
Vermont
Ay, Yep
Virginia
Who Says Government Stiffs And Slackjaw Yokels Don't Mix?
Washington
Our Governor can out-fraud your Governor!
West Virginia
One Big Happy Family...Really!
Wisconsin
Come Cut Cheese!
Wyoming
Where Men Are Men... And The Sheep Are Scared
The District of Columbia
The Work-Free Drug Place!
3 comments:
there is more to dial than is mentioned on this site. for example, one of his wife'a was katherine (Kathy Dial) who had a daughter with Dial named Roxanne who both lived in Tahlequah Ok. Dial was known to be hiding from someone,something and preferred to be hiding while camping at Horseshoe bend,& Kathy took him food until he & a young girl he claimed to be his daughter moved on. Not long after this, Kathy herself got killed. Her death to this day has not been solved by the Tahlequah police or anyone else. I know more because Kathy was my friend.
Randolph Frankin Dial was adopted and had an adopted name of Randolph Frankin Johnston. He changed his name back to Randolph Franklin Dial in the 70's Randolph Franklins Dials First born was in 1965 Randolph Franklin Starnes was also adopted because Dial abandoned his first wife and child in 1966. Want to see Randolph Frankin Starnes? - go to myspace.com/randystarnes
Much of Dials paste is unknown because of the "paper trail of his name change.
Just when you think this story is over it just keeps on giving. Bobbi Parker is set to go to trial in October. Now a book has been released written by Dial himself. It's based on letters he wrote from prison. I had to read it and it is actually really good. I found it at www.asevermedia.com If you have been following this story as long as I have it's a must read. Interesting story, interesting man.
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