Timothy Stephenson has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 1998 killing of Randall Oliphant, according to authorities
- Randal Oliphant, 26, disappeared after leaving a Kansas City bar in 1998, police say
- Timothy Stephenson told his husband he fatally shot Oliphant after the two left a bar together more than two decades ago
- Stephenson’s husband later helped police by secretly recording a conversation between the two, court records show
A California man has pleaded guilty to killing a man he was last seen leaving a Missouri gay bar with 26 years ago, authorities say.
Timothy Stephenson, now in his early 50s, was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Benton County, Miss., judge last week for the 1998 killing of Randal Oliphant, online court records show.
Oliphant, 26, was last seen with Stephenson in Kansas City in January 1998, investigators say. Kansas City Star and the SF Gate report. Oliphant was reported missing by his mother that year, SF Gate reports.
Two months later, Oliphant’s body was found by two fishermen in a rural area about 100 miles from Kansas City, SF Gate and Kansas City Star report, citing authorities. He died of gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy cited by SF Gate.
While police kept an eye on Stephenson – who was identified by the bartender as the last person seen with Oliphant – they reportedly didn’t have the evidence until decades later to charge him.
Meanwhile, Stephenson moved on with his life, eventually marrying a certain Joseph Ginejka in California and raising a pair of twins with him, according to Kansas City Star.
In 2014, he admitted to Ginejk that he killed Oliphant while he was “begging for his life,” according to a probable cause warrant from the Missouri Highway Patrol, previously reviewed by SF Gate and Kansas City Star.
Stephenson told his husband that he “shot Oliphant, how Oliphant begged for his life, how Stephenson shot him again and killed him, and how Stephenson disposed of Oliphant’s body in Benton County, Missouri,” the probable cause warrant states , according to the media.
The case remained dormant until Ginejko filed for divorce in 2020 and sought an order of protection against Stephenson due to domestic violence, SF Gate reported.
It was not immediately clear if Ginejko was the one who eventually reported him, but he helped police after the investigation was revived in 2021, SF Gate and Kansas City Star he reported, citing unspecified court documents.
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In April 2021, after the DNA investigation, Ginejko met with Stephenson while wearing a hidden microphone, and in that conversation Stephenson allegedly made several “conflicting” statements to Ginejko, according to Kansas City Star.
Stephenson initially denied telling Ginejko about Oliphant’s murder, according to the probable cause warrant Kansas City Star.
He then said he made up the story to “scare” Ginejko, according to investigators, and at one point blamed the crime on an ex-lover, SF Gate and Kansas City Star reported.
In December of that year, Stephenson was arrested in California, the Missouri State Highway Patrol announced last week.
He was charged with second-degree murder in 2022 Kansas City Star reported.
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