A Murder in Whitepath Part 3: The Murder/Suicide
We left off at Redden W. Randell's sentencing of 5 years for the murder of Theodore Samms in November of 1940. Two months later, on January 14, 1950, Redden went to the Lawrence A. Powell Funeral Home and ordered a $250 wooden coffin for himself to be delivered to Madison, Florida, where the first woman he murdered was buried. Redden told the funeral home that his wife would pay for the expenses later. The next day, he wrote a suicide note and left it on a ledge in his panelled music room near the telephone in his house on First Avenue in Fort Myers, Florida.
The note, handwritten in pencil, read, "It had to be done. God forgive me. The poor little soul was worrying to death." It was signed as Dad and R.W. Randell and was in an envelope addressed to no one.
Abe Skinner, a man who worked at the funeral home recalled Redden obliquely referring to his suidice and stating that "I know I am going to go to Hell anyway."
Later on the afternoon of the 15th of January, Randell called the Sheriff around 3:25 pm. He cryptically hinted at things. The call went like follows:
"I guess you're surprised to hear from me. I'm physically in very bad shape. I want to talk to you. It's very important. I'd appreciate you coming over."
When Sheriff Thompson arrived the front and back doors were locked. The neighbors reported hearing shouting and two gunshots earlier. The Sheriff left and returned with Judge Hiram Bryant, the coroner Dr. Baker Whisnant, and Gus Blemke, one of Randell's friends. A side door was open and they went inside.
What they found inside was supported by the early reports of the neighbors. There was evidence of an argument, items were thrown around the house. A painting had been thrown down the stairs along with a conch shell, both were broken.
They found 60-year-old Redden first on an interior porch. He lay on the floor with a shotgun wound and powder burns to his abdomen. He was wearing pajamas and his shotgun lay beside him near his feet.
Evelyn, 34, was found in the corner of the adjacent laundry room. She was shot through the chest once with Randell's double barrelled twelve-gauge shotgun. She was wearing a white blouse and brown slacks, and one shoe. There was a considerable amount of blood in a pool nearby.
Later, they found her shoe under the couch in the living room. There was evidence that Redden had tried cleaning up the blood with soap and water. A lamp was destroyed by one of the shotgun blasts. Holes were in the windows from the buckshot.
It was determined that Redden shot his wife in the living room. He carried her through the music room, and dumped her in the laundry room, before writing the suicide note, and reloading his shotgun. The only thoughtful thing he had done was sending their ten-year-old son Ted out to see a movie while the premeditated crime took place.
And with Redden's passing, the deaths of two wives, a tenant, and all the chaos left behind went with him to the grave. By killing himself, he never was held accounable for any of the three murders and he damaged so many people and their loved ones.
Before this story, ends there is one other part that is left inconclusive. Redden went after both of his housekeepers who testified that he was violent to his forst wife. The case made it all the way to the Governor of Florida at the time. The local Ft. Myers police had threatened Florida Wardlaw, one of his two servants. Nothing can be found on Mrs. Wardlaw past September of 1935. She's not listed as being buried in any cemetery. She's not listed as being married. She vanishes from the historical record shortly after her investigation.
Maybe Redden and the police didn't have anything to do with her beyond her seven hour interrogation and threats she endured. But I wouldn't rule out foul play. It wouldn't have been the only African American he killed, would it?
Part Four continues with the ruins and artifacts of the former hotel property in Whitestone.
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