Man arrested in 1992 murder of estranged wife in Graham, WA

TACOMA, Wash. - Thirty-three years after a woman was found dead inside her bedroom in Graham, her estranged husband is now facing first-degree murder charges.

Back in 1992, Janice Randell was discovered covered in bruises, with evidence of a struggle and clear signs that a homicide occurred. However, the medical examiner ruled her cause of death as undetermined.

The backstory:

According to court documents, James Randell admitted to two family members that he killed Janice in the years following her death. They were going through a contentious divorce and custody battle at the time, and he even had a domestic violence conviction and reported threats in the weeks leading up to Janice's death.

He allegedly said he set up the house to make it look like she died from a drug overdose, even though no drugs were found in her system.

James Randell, now 68, pleaded not guilty to the crime when he appeared in court Thursday afternoon. He was arrested in an Everett care facility by the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.

What they're saying:

Janice's oldest daughter, Katie Wakin, credits her family members for coming forward to help make the arrest, and also credits Pierce County Sheriff's detective Lindsay Kirkegaard for all of her work to bring this case back to light.

"The blessing of having a lot of my mom's best friends fill in the gaps for us as kids because she was gone. I've had the pleasure of bonding with my siblings and we're very, very close, and I value those relationships a lot more, we all do, because of this loss," Wakin said.

Wakin was just 14 years old when her mother was killed.

"I don't want to say I gave up hope, but I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. I accepted that. I was at peace with that until about a year ago when my younger sister started talking to me about things that she has no memories of," Wakin said,

Katie's younger half sister, Kourtney Lewis, was just 18 months old. She was in her crib, next to her mother's dead body at their home in Graham.

Raising her own family, Kourtney said she wanted her children to learn more about their grandmother. But with limited information herself, she started searching for more in 2025.

"I’ve never looked at some of the documents. We just had autopsy, nothing investigative, just the basic documents when someone dies. I never looked at those, and when I looked at them, I knew. I knew exactly what was happening. And so, I said I need to figure this out," Lewis said.

Working together, Kourtney and Katie gathered all they could to bring a renewed attention to their mother's case. The Pierce County Sheriff's Office uncovered old evidence, reexamined documents and interviews, ultimately coming to the conclusion that James Randell was the only suspect.

James Randell's bail was set at $1 million.

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