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Daughters’ relentless search shatters ‘overdose’ claim, leads to arrest in mom’s 1992 murder

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More than three decades after a Washington mother was found dead inside her home, investigators have made an arrest in a case that had long gone cold.

In November 1992, Janice Randle was found dead on her bed inside her Graham, Washington home, with her young daughter nearby in a crib. At the time, her husband, James Randle, told authorities she may have died from a drug overdose, citing a past history of painkiller use.

The couple had been separated and were going through a divorce. The case was initially treated as a death investigation and possible overdose. However, autopsy results later revealed there were no drugs in Randle’s system, prompting investigators to reclassify the case as a homicide.

Despite that shift, only limited evidence was available, and detectives were unable to establish probable cause for an arrest. The case remained unsolved for decades.

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The investigation was revived in recent years after family members came forward with new information, including accounts of alleged confessions made by James Randle. Those leads gave investigators a fresh perspective—and a new path forward.

Authorities say the renewed investigation ultimately established probable cause to arrest the now 68-year-old suspect, who was living in a care facility in Everett, Washington. He was taken into custody on April 1.

Investigators now believe Janice Randle died as the result of a violent struggle with her husband, with newly uncovered evidence contradicting the original account from 1992.

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“This case stands as a powerful example of how advancements in technology and investigative practices can bring justice—even decades later,” the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said.

“Most importantly, it is a testament to the unwavering commitment of the detectives and investigators who refused to let Janice’s story be forgotten,” officials added. “Their diligence, compassion, and determination have given Janice’s family the closure they have sought for so many years.”

Court documents obtained by Fox 13 Seattle indicate the suspect allegedly admitted to two family members in the years after Janice’s death that he killed her and staged the scene to appear as a drug overdose. Investigators also noted Janice had visible bruising and signs of a struggle, though her death was initially ruled undetermined.

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The records show the couple had been in a contentious divorce and custody battle at the time, and that the suspect had a prior domestic violence conviction and made threats in the weeks leading up to her death.

Jail records show James Robert Randle was booked into the Pierce County Jail on April 1 on a first-degree murder charge, with bail set at $1 million.

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The break in the case was driven in part by Randle’s daughters, one of whom was just 18 months old and in a crib next to her mother the night she died, who helped bring renewed attention to the investigation decades later.

Janice’s oldest daughter, Katie Wakin, credited both her family and investigators for finally bringing the case back to light.

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“The blessing of having a lot of my mom’s best friends fill in the gaps for us as kids because she was gone,” Wakin told Fox 13 Seattle. “I’ve had the pleasure of bonding with my siblings and we’re very, very close… we all do, because of this loss.”

Wakin was 14 years old when her mother was killed and said she never expected to see an arrest.

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“I don’t want to say I gave up hope, but I never thought I would see this in my lifetime,” she said. “I accepted that. I was at peace with that—until about a year ago.”

That shift came when her younger half-sister, Kourtney Lewis, who was just 18 months old at the time of the killing, began digging into the case in 2025 while trying to learn more about her mother for her own children.

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“I never looked at some of the documents… just the basic documents when someone dies,” Lewis told Fox 13 Seattle. “When I looked at them, I knew. I knew exactly what was happening. And so, I said I need to figure this out.”

Together, the sisters gathered information and pushed for answers—efforts that ultimately helped investigators reexamine evidence and zero in on the suspect.

For Randle’s family, the arrest marks a long-awaited step toward closure after more than 30 years.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office for comment. 

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Orioles pitcher commits two errors on one play in disastrous outing

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Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kyle Bradish had a start he probably would like to forget.

Bradish was on the bump against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday afternoon. Chicago took the lead in the fifth inning after Bradish committed two errors on one play.

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White Sox shortstop Colin Montgomery was up at the plate with runners on second and first and was issued a walk after Bradish’s pitch was inside. Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman threw the ball back to Bradish, who dropped it and lackadaisically followed it back to the mound. He realized Chase Meidroth was rounding third and heading for home.

Bradish fired the ball to Rutschman, but it was wide to his left. Meidroth scored on the play to give Chicago a 3-2 lead. Bradish was charged with two errors on the play. He struck out Andrew Benintendi to end the inning and was removed before the start of the sixth inning.

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“Yeah, just frustration came out. Unacceptable,” Bradish told reporters after the game, via MLB.com. “That’s just childish behavior, and that will not happen again.”

The White Sox won the game, 5-3.

Bradish allowed three runs, two earned, and six hits in five innings of work. He struck out seven batters and walked three more, as the Orioles dropped to 6-6 on the year.

The 29-year-old is in his fifth season of his MLB career. He underwent Tommy John surgery during the 2024 season and returned to the mound in August 2025. He has a 3.54 ERA with 396 strikeouts in 70 career starts.

Chicago improved to 4-8 with the win.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Nashville public school excuses Muslim students for daily prayer time during Ramadan

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A Nashville public school allows Muslim students to leave class to pray in a reserved space on campus during the school day, offering the accommodation daily during Ramadan and once a month during the rest of the year, according to local reports.

According to a report published Tuesday in the Nashville Banner, John Overton High School in South Nashville also supports Muslim students during Ramadan by offering food-free classrooms during lunch for students who are fasting.

In the afternoon, students who signed up received electronic hall passes allowing them to leave class for 15 minutes to pray in a reserved space on campus. More than 80 students signed up, according to the Banner.

Ten teachers also volunteered to make their classrooms a food-free space for Muslim students during the lunch hour during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast daily from dawn to dusk.

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Al-Nadir Muhammad, a member of the school’s support staff, oversees the student prayer period and is responsible for assuring students are following the rules. He also offers support to Muslim students on campus, the Banner reported.

The report noted how students met in a foyer, laid paper towels down for makeshift prayer mats and put a divider between girls and boys before one student led a prayer and recited verses from the Quran.

The outlet previously reported that outside of the month of Ramadan, Muslim students are permitted to leave class to pray on campus once a month.

Muslim teacher Revas Barwari told the Banner the school’s treatment of Muslim students was a stark contrast to her own experience growing up in Nashville public schools, where she felt she had to hide that she was fasting.

“What school do you know that actually changes their whole bell schedule to work around students being able to go pray?,” she told the outlet. “I don’t think the kids really even understand how important that is or see that like, ‘Wow, my school’s doing this for me.’”

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The report noted that the school has worked to refine the prayer system after students and staff suggested to the administration several years ago that they provide a daily time and space for prayer.

The American Muslim Advisory Council also reportedly sent a letter to Metro Nashville Public Schools asking educators to support Muslim students during Ramadan by giving students a reserved space for lunch and to skip heavy physical activities during the fasting period.

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“It is a Muslim’s right to fast and receive reasonable accommodations at school or work,” the letter stated, according to the report.

The U.S. Department of Education says public schools must permit constitutionally protected student prayer and religious expression, including private prayer during the school day, but may not sponsor, organize, coerce or favor religious activity.

In February, the agency released guidance on prayer in public schools, saying schools should allow members of the school community to “act and speak according to their faith” as long as others’ rights are respected, the school itself is not engaging in religion, and the school does not favor one faith over another.

John Overton High School Principal Kelby Garner did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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New exposé claims California lost at least $180B to fraud under Gavin Newsom

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A journalist who claims that California has lost at least $180 billion due to fraud joined “Will Cain Country” to share the findings of his exposé entitled “Gavin Newsom’s Empire of Fraud.”

Chris Rufo of City Journal co-authored the piece. He told host Will Cain on Tuesday that California’s fraud stems from three main sources: Medi-Cal fraud, unemployment fraud and general welfare fraud.

“And if you add these all together, under Gavin Newsom, experts and HHS officials estimate that California has lost somewhere between $180 and $280 billion. Now that’s like the GDP of New Zealand. It’s a lot of money,” said Rufo.

The sheer scale of the problem is more than the federal government can handle given currently allocated resources, he added, expressing frustration with the lack of accountability.

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“The ugly reality, and this is a criticism, frankly, of the federal government right now under President Trump, is that they’re going to have to significantly scale up these efforts if they want to deter fraud in the future,” Rufo said.

He said he hopes to spur additional action through his reporting, and that a big area of focus for him has been California’s in-home care program.

The program is intended to help support those who cannot work because they must provide full-time care for a loved one. But Rufo said it has become the most common job in the state.

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“We’re paying approximately 800,000 people to stay home or to stay in the homes of the care recipients. And because it operates essentially on an honor system… it’s all done in private,” he said.

Rufo said thousands of whistleblower reports on the matter led to hundreds of investigations and ultimately fewer than 100 prosecutions.

Rufo called it a “shadow welfare system,” but said Californians were beginning to grow wise to the scam.

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“I think California voters are starting to look around and saying, wait a moment, this is now 10% of our state budget. It’s $30 billion a year,” he added. “What on earth are we doing? Why do we seem to be paying for everybody, for everything, including fraudsters, when the quality of life in California for middle class working people seems to get worse and worse?”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office pushed back on the idea that his administration wasn’t proactive enough in going after fraudsters.

“This is utter b******* from top to bottom,” a Newsom spokesperson told The New York Post. “California will keep doing its part to go against fraud, we ask the federal government to work with us to do the same.”

The governor’s office previously stated they have been taking action for “years” on the issue of hospice fraud.

“Glad the federal government is finally stepping up to do their part,” they reacted to a federal anti-fraud task force’s actions in California, per The Post. “State has been taking action for years, including suspending 280+ licenses & banning new licenses since 2022. Big question: Will Trump pardon any of them like he’s done for so many fraudsters before?”

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