Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #131 - JP Miller (Finally) Heads to Federal Court + the Chilling Lethality Assessment Charity Beallis Had Before Her Murder
Episode Date: January 8, 2026Investigative journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell are ready to celebrate as Myrtle Beach “Pastor” John-Paul Miller is finally going to federal court on Jan. 12 in Florence, South Carolina.... He’ll be arraigned on two charges related to why his estranged wife, Mica, allegedly killed herself in April 2024. Plus, Mandy and Liz begin peeling back the layers on the Charity Beallis case in Bonanza, Arkansas. Charity, who was 40, was found shot to death in December 2025 alongside the bodies of her 6-year-old twins in their house the DAY AFTER her final divorce hearing. No suspects have been named yet and her soon-to-be ex-husband, Dr. Randall Beallis, has denied having anything to do with their deaths. The investigation includes six law enforcement agencies, including the United States Secret Service and Homeland Security Investigations, but little information has been given to the public on the status of the case. In the meantime, there’s plenty to discuss … especially when it comes to Randall and his dark past. 🦈 Let’s Dive in 🥽 Episode Links List of Upcoming Events including JP Miller’s Federal Arraignment on Jan 12, 2026 📆 Keep up with the latest with Justice for Christa on Facebook and Instagram 💜 Regina Ward’s Jan 5, 2026 TikTok Video 🌐 Journalist Doug Warner’s Dec 8, 2025 Facebook Post 🌐 Information on Laura’s Law ⚖️ “This Is How A Domestic Violence Victim Falls Through The Cracks” - June 16, 2014, HuffPost 📰 Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ Support Our Show, Sponsors and Mission: https://lunasharkmedia.com/support/ Quince - Hungry Root - Bombas https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email info@lunasharkmedia.com and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: lunashark.supercast.com Instagram.com/mandy_matney | Instagram.com/elizfarrell bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com | bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com TrueSunlight.com facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
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I don't know who killed Charity Bialis and her two children, but I know that she left behind
a paper trail of abuse allegations against her estranged husband, and I know that police officers
concluded that he was a danger to her life before the system let him off easy.
So why are there still no suspects in this triple homicide, and who is to believe?
My name is Mandy Matney and this is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption, previously
known as the Murdoch Murders podcast. True Sunlight is a Lunar Shark production written with
journalist Liz Farrell. Hello and welcome to Season 5 of the True Sunlight podcast. We have a lot to
cover today, so let's jump right in. We have a busy schedule ahead in 2026 with J.P. Miller's
federal arraignment on January 12th, Elic Murdoch's Supreme Court Appeal on February 11th, and the
Scott Spivey's Stand Your Ground hearing on February 17th. So be sure to sign up for Lunashark
Premium today for extra content and updates surrounding all of those events, plus access to
exclusive podcast episodes, case materials, or Discord channel, buzzing with
scoops and positivity, and a whole lot more.
Head to lunashark.supercast.com or click the link in the description to sign up today.
As we look at the 2026 calendar, the trial of Lee Gilley in Houston, Texas will likely be the biggest
event that we cover this year.
On Tuesday, that trial date was moved to June 5th and is expected to last around two weeks.
Lee Gilley, the Houston man accused of murdering his wife, Krista Bauer Gilley, and her unborn baby on October 7, 2024, was released on a $1 million bond soon after he was arrested in 2024.
He has been allowed to basically bop around Houston while he awaits his capital murder trial.
Let me say that again, so it sinks in for y'all a little bit more.
Texas, the state was some of the most strict abortion laws and toughest penalties for individuals.
ending the lives of the unborn, allowed this man who was accused of violently killing his wife
an unborn child while his two other young children were at home.
They are allowing him to wander around Texas while he awaits his capital murder trial.
You know, the self-reclaimed pro-life state that jailed a black woman last year for five months
after she miscarried.
The Texas court thought that she was dangerous enough to lock her up for five months before
before they realized their major mistake and dropped her charges.
Lee Gillies' almost immediate bond release 10 days after he was charged, coupled with the fact
that he is being represented by one of the most expensive defense attorneys in Texas,
Dick DeGaron. Well, that motivated us to cover this case. Right out of the gate, it looked
like Lee's privilege and connections to deep pockets gave him an unfair advantage in his trial.
Mind you, Lee Gilly, a barely-employed, self-proclaimed Excel spreadsheet expert who seemed to have found comfort in the online arms of men's rights misogynist told police that three hours, after having an argument with Krista that night, he found her unconscious.
He told them that he thought that she died by suicide.
Specifically, he speculated that she had overdosed on drugs.
Hours later, on October 8th, 2024, the medical examiner, investigating Krista's body, found evidence to the contrary that she was in fact strangled and did not die of overdose.
Lee was arrested three days later on October 11th.
What we don't know in this case is how the police treated the scene of the homicide in those hours and days between the time that Krista was killed in the time that Lee was arrested.
We don't know how much evidence they preserved or lost in that time when they gave Lee Gilly the benefit of the doubt that he did not deserve.
That is why this case deserves sunlight and why we will continue to cover it until trial this June.
In the meantime, be sure to follow the Justice for Krista page on Facebook and Instagram.
Okay, let's talk real quick about the John Paul Millie.
case because things are heating up. If we've learned anything in our careers, it's that there's
a predictability factor when it comes to men like JP and the final moments when consequence is
about to catch up with them. To begin with, men like JP will deny every incriminating factor
against them. They live in a world, the good old boy world, duh, where their lies are accepted
as truth, and anything that contradicts those lies doesn't matter. Men like JP are so acclimated
to this world where lies go on challenge.
that they lose sight of what is at stake.
They'll even lie to federal investigators, allegedly.
Men like J.P. will double down every time their backs are against a wall.
No matter how stupid, it makes them look.
In J.P.'s case, there are way too many examples of this to go into right now,
but let's talk about his latest moment of stupidity.
On Tuesday, Attorney Regina Ward called for a press conference outside the Orie County Courthouse.
Regina represented Micah Francis before her death in her filing for divorce against J.P.,
and represented Micah's family after Micah's death to prevent JP from becoming personal representative of Micah's estate.
The family settled that case within months, allowing JP to move forward as Mike is representative.
Regina also represents Sam Rickman, a former member of JP's now former church,
Solid Rock Ministries, who was one of the 21 so-called protesters.
JP attempted to sue in municipal court for harassment because they had the audacity to publicly call for justice.
for Micah. Well, most of them. At least one person was just an unfortunate random civilian
caught in the crossfire of JP's dipshit plan. And Sam Rickman didn't even really protest.
At any rate, Sam won his case against JP and was awarded $3,500 in a magistrate jury trial.
JP, of course, appealed that finding. Because again, men like JP doubled down, no matter
how stupid they look. He lost every single attempt at suing protesters.
made a fool of himself inside and outside of the courthouse, and still he thought an appeal
made sense. Why not, right? There's no financial logic to it, but who cares? He apparently
has plenty of money to waste on his sad little ego. Again, on Tuesday, in what can only be
described as a top 10 awkward and bizarre TikTok moment on Regina Ward's page, Sam Rickman and his
wife are seen standing together waiting for something. From the left of the screen, a blonde
woman suddenly comes bouncing into the shot like a stage mother at a beauty pageant. That blonde
woman is Regina. She then gives Sam Rickman a persistent and bouncy hug and then announces that
J.P. Miller has dropped his appeal and has paid the jury award with interest, which is great. Oh my
God. Just stick a pin in that because there's one more part to our men like J.P list. Men like
JP, when time is running out on their good old boy clock, will suddenly claim to be broke.
All of them, J.P. Miller, R.J. May, Russell, The Feet, and of course, Eleg Mardock.
Never mind that they can afford to hire super-pricey attorneys to defend them.
Never mind that up until the allegations against them, they were looking pretty flush.
They're broke, and they're going to show you that they're broke by transferring their assets to
other people. And men like JP, when they know that they're truly going to have to face the music,
will then play victim.
Remember when we told you about J.P.'s plea to his congregation on November 2nd,
when he told the people who are funding his lifestyle with 10% of their meager earnings
that he was facing a, quote, life or death situation, and needed their prayers and sacrifices
to help him.
Which, pause for a second.
Life or death situation.
Micah was in a life or death situation.
Micah feared for her life.
J.P. is in a bed that he made for himself.
and the quilt is made of $100 bills, so shut up JP.
Two days after JP's weepy plea for prayers and sacrifice from people who owe him no such thing,
JP's associate Mark Kaufman filed a new LLC called Cachow Global.
Cachow, by the way, is apparently a reference to Lightning McQueen from the children's movie Cars.
As you all know, J.P. loves a cartoon.
We're not sure what this LLC is or what, if any, involvement J.P. might have
it, but we know that 10 days after this, J.P. signed legal documents, making Mark Kaufman
his power of attorney over J.P.'s stocks. J.P. then granted Mark his stock ownership in Flipside
3, Inc., which is the business that owns the Crocodile Rocks piano bar. You know what?
Let's take a second to talk about Mark Kaufman and his connection to JP. Here is an excerpt
from a blog post on Solid Rock's website that Lunashark researcher and reporter Beth Braden
had the foresight to save. We'll have David read that for you.
Pastor J.P. and the worship band have created and performed over 100 parodies since 2016,
covering everyone from Adele to Zizi Top.
Well, maybe not Zizi Top yet.
And decades of Billboard songs, like Somewhere Over the Rainbow,
re-dubbed Some Prayers Only My God Knows.
Sweet Home Alabama.
Redubbed, Sweet Holy Messiah.
and B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Eas, but re-dubbed as Jesus is the best.
It's an innovative spin on church music, with an inspirational birth backstory that was a long time in the making.
Flashback to the 1990s when a teen pastor JP was selling popcorn at Dixie Stampede,
and Mark Kaufman, now Solid Rock member and pianist, was playing piano during the pre-show.
J.P. was amazed by Kaufman's skills with the Ivories, but Mark wanted nothing to do with the younger
employee. Quote, after working there for several months and watching the show every night,
there was only one night in the very beginning of the show when Mark got incredibly sick and
ran off stage, says J.P. Quote, I was 16 years old. I had memorized all the piano parts,
solos, and jokes, so I ran up on stage and took over. And quote,
Later, when Mark opened the dueling piano bar, Crocodile Rocks at Broadway at the beach,
Kaufman wasn't exactly happy that JP wanted to again befriend him and have Mark mentor him,
but JP was persistent. Quote, I wasn't old enough to go in, so every night I would stand outside
the doors and just watch the show, end quote, says JP, I wasn't allowed to listen to secular
music growing up and never heard secular music until I was around 15 years old, so I thought
that all these songs they were playing were original songs. Later I learned who Billy Joel and Elton
John were. Queen, Prince, Journey, I was amazed." End quote. In 2015, God would finally bring JP and
Mark together during a season of struggle for JP. He had resigned as the pastor at his former church. He was
divorced with five children to support. He had no friends and was at a dead end. Quote, I went to
crocodile rocks one night and visited Mark to ask him for a job. Mark asked why I stopped
pastoring and when I told him my story, he said, quote, didn't God still use people in the Bible
who made the same mistakes? And quote, I said, what do you know about the Bible? He said,
I'll make you a deal. If you will go back and pastor, I'll come play piano and sing,
End quote.
For those of you who have been following along, 2015 is when J.P. was caught having an affair
with Micah Francis. Later, Micah, who attended Solid Rock, would tell a law enforcement officer
that J.P. had been grooming her since she was a teenager. J.P. obviously denies that.
Anyway, four days after Mark Kaufman was made J.P.'s power of attorney, J.P.'s Church, Mercy Church Ministries,
His new church that went through a succession of registered agent changes on the Secretary of State's website
bought a house in J.P.'s neighborhood for $316,500.
And we would love to know the tax situation on that.
Public Service PSA, this is another example, tax the churches,
and especially tax the churchy businesses.
Anyway, a month later, JP was federally indicted for cyberstocking.
and lying to federal investigators about his creepy and dangerous behavior toward Micah.
Which brings us to now, the ORI County Planning Commission will hear from Living Water Church,
another one of J.P.'s religious ventures. They are asking the county to rezone a parcel of land
for, quote, commercial retail development, meaning land purchased with church money, money that belongs to J.P. Miller
might be seeing a very lucrative future for itself.
So that's today, and on Monday is the JP Jubilee in Florence, South Carolina,
where J.P. Miller will appear for his arraignment for his federal charges.
Florence is about an hour and a half from ORI County,
so it's going to be very interesting to see the breakdown of the gallery.
How many people will J.P. be able to convince to be there to support him?
and how many people will be there to finally see what could be J.P. Miller's first day of reckoning.
According to Pacer, J.P. is represented by attorneys Andrew Mormon and Nathan Williams.
Mormon is best known for representing another infamous Myrtle Beach man, Doc Anil from Tiger King.
Because, of course, J.P. Miller is somehow connected to Tiger King.
Antel was charged with 10 counts of federal wildlife trafficking and ended up pleading guilty to one of those counts for which he was sentenced to a year in federal prison last July.
Mormon was also on the defense team for Zachary Hughes, who killed a Greenville woman named Christina Parcel in 2021, stabbing her 35 times and apparently scattering rose petals in her house.
The case was a strange one in that Hughes had no direct relationship with Parcel but had become
convinced that she was a danger to her child. Coincidentally, Hughes was connected to the father
of that child who was battling Parcel for custody. This is all to say that Hughes was a pianist
and that is a very odd coincidence between those two clients of Mormon.
Nathan Williams, J.P.'s other defense attorney, was on the defense team for Jamie
Kamorski, the woman who drunkenly hit a golf cart on Folly Beach in 2023 that was carrying four people,
including a bride and groom. The bride, Samantha Miller, was tragically killed. But Williams is perhaps
better known as the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Dylan Roof, the man who coldly walked into
a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and after being welcomed into a Bible study group meeting,
killed nine people, including state representative Clementa Pinckney.
Now, how is it that J.P. Miller can afford the likes of Andrew Mormon and Nathan Williams?
We'll unpack a lot of this in a future episode, but the short answer is, the church.
Churches are made of people. You get it. But like I said, we're going to dive into J.P.'s
finances, Mark Kaufman, and J.P.'s daddy, Reggie Wayne Miller, who is also a dirty felon pastor.
If you have any information you would like to share about J.P., Mark, or Reggie Wayne, or the finances
of J.P.'s churchy businesses, please email us at info at lunasharkmedia.com. We are happy to talk
off the record and keep your names anonymous. If you're planning to attend JPs around,
It will be held at 2.30 p.m. Monday at the federal courthouse in Florence, South Carolina,
and that's at 401 West Evans Street. The hearing is scheduled to be in courtroom three before
magistrate judge Thomas Rogers III. If you go, don't wear flip flops, shorts, or tank tops.
Federal court is a whole different ballgame, so dress conservatively and citizens cannot take in their
cell phones, smart watches, or any cameras. The hearing is expected to be short. Generally
speaking federal arraignments include a reading of the charges which jp. can wave and a bond getting
set for the defendant. That said, we wish all of you a very happy jp. Jubilee celebration. Justice for
Micah is finally happening. Speaking of, one thing that continues to haunt us in Micah Francis's case
is how despite Micah being in the process of divorcing JP and living on her own, officials allowed
JP to have custody of her body.
When we think about the mystery of Micah's death and how so many elements of what happened
that day still don't add up, there's one thing that has made sense to us.
And that's the notion that Micah might have been trying to cube her body from JP,
that she might have chosen to die in another state thinking the police there wouldn't
automatically listen to and believe JP like they did in Ori County, South Carolina.
If that's true, she did go to North Carolina to make sure J.P. Miller couldn't have one
more second of control over her.
It's more than heartbreaking knowing that J.P. did end up getting Micah's body.
It's infuriating because before having her quickly cremated, J.P. reportedly asked for her eyes
to be removed and donated. Think about that. Because like with any man accused of coercive
control abuse, it's hard to know what the motives were there, right? Was he donating her eyes to
help out others or was there a more sadistic reason behind it? One final expression of I
own you. Or maybe it was simply he couldn't stand knowing what those I saw in her last
hours. We still don't know what made Mike across the state line on her last day and drive
into a remote state park she had no connection to. Perhaps she was hoping that the distance
would free her from her strange husband's ultimate ownership. She knew of his sway with local
police, so maybe she just drove somewhere she didn't think JP had ties to. We hope to get answers
to those questions in the federal case. Here's the thing. And we've said it so many
times here, but the law continues to work against women's autonomy over their own lives.
Because we think that if a woman was in the middle of leaving her spouse and living apart from
him at the time of her death, that the law should respect that this means that the woman likely
rejects the spouse as her next of kin.
Maybe to some people, that sounds like a small thing, but it is not.
It is really, really not.
Which brings us to our newest case.
The triple homicide of Charity Bialis and her six-year-old twins out of Bonanza, Arkansas.
We'll get into that after a quick break.
We will be right back.
Three weeks ago, we told you about how we started looking into a truly horrifying case in Bonanza, Arkansas,
where a 40-year-old woman who was nearing the finish line in leaving her husband,
a husband with a dark history, which we'll get into,
was found shot to death on December 3rd alongside her six-year-old twins inside their home.
Their six-year-old twins, meaning this man, a medical doctor, was their father.
The woman, Charity Bialis, and her daughter and son, Eliana, and Maverick, were discovered by sheriff's deputies who were responding to a call for a welfare check on them.
Charity and her children were murdered the day after her final hearing and her divorce proceedings against 56-year-old Randallis.
Sorry, Dr. Randall Bialis, let's not forget that formidable title that comes with automatic authority, respect, and a presumption of decency when you're a man.
Again, the day after that hearing, someone killed them the very next day.
The divorce wasn't finally yet, but it was about to be.
And the day after charities and the children's murders, Randy's attorney Michael Pierce
filed a motion to have the divorce case dismissed.
Now, you might be thinking, well, that's odd.
Why would he care about getting a dismissed when the plaintiff in the case, his estranged wife
charity, is no longer alive?
And why so quick on the draw there?
How about y'all take a day to, I don't know, care about the lives that were taken?
Well, there's an answer to that.
By filing the motion to have the case dismissed and with the judge's consent, it meant that
the expected final divorce decree would not be issued.
And old Dr. Randy Bialis would now be considered a widower with all the rights that would
afford him over Charity's estate and her body.
Once again, I say what?
Luckily, like in Micah's case, Charity's family member stepped in to stop that.
And just a cut to the Jay's Charity's 24-year-old son was granted custody of his mother's body.
And the twins, their father was given custody of their bodies.
Why?
Because he's their surviving parent.
And as of now, anyway, police have said there are no named suspects in the case, which would include Randy.
According to news reports, Randy's attorney has issued a few statements on his client's behalf that all have David
Mr. Bialis has been cooperative with law enforcement and fully supports the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office Investigation, end quote.
Cooperative with law enforcement. Where, oh, where have I heard that one before?
Actually, I don't think law enforcement asked me what I did when we first went to the house, but I clearly lied to law enforcement about what I said yesterday.
Okay. And all of this, the last time.
you saw your supposedly saw your wife and child all of this detail you you as a
lawyer and a prosecutor didn't think that was important to offer on your own well I
think it's important you told this jury how cooperative you were been you've been
and how much information you want to provide but you left out the most
important parts didn't you I left out I left out that I sure did you don't
consider that one of the most important parts I think it's important
Right, right. Family Annihilator Alex Murdoch and his attorneys said that same thing all throughout the investigations into the murders of his wife and son, that he was cooperative with law enforcement, except for the parts where he lied about his alibi, his iron-clad alibi, according to Dick Arputtlian. Right, back to Randy's attorney's statements in the press.
David?
We hope that the sheriff's office finds the truth about what happened to Mrs. Charity Bialis
and their children. Mr. Bialis was not responsible for the death of Mrs. Bialis nor his children's
deaths, end quote. Dr. Bialis has not been named as a suspect, and he denies that he had
anything to do with his about-to-be ex-wife and his children's murders. He has not been
charged with anything related to their deaths. I just want to make that clear.
But I also want to say this.
Isn't it amazing how we all could have guessed at what his attorney was going to say before he said it?
I feel like we all could have recited that together without ever seeing it.
Let's hear some more statements from that attorney, David.
Mr. and Mrs. Bialis had a full-day court hearing on Tuesday, December 2, 2025.
Mr. Randallis was awarded joint custody, decision-making for the children.
children's school and medical needs, and his children were set to be with him on a schedule
of two weeks with Mr. Bialis and one week with Mrs. Bialis. At some time on or around December 3rd,
2025, the tragic event occurred before Mr. Bialis was able to receive his children back from
their mother. The children were with their mother until they were to be returned to Mr. Randall Bialis
on Friday, December 5th, 2025. He is now heartburn.
that the return of his children was taken away from him.
The quote, return of his children was taken away from him?
This is probably just an awkwardly worded way of saying that he is heartbroken,
that he will never get to see his children again.
But it's really odd.
The statement was made December 8th,
according to a post on Arkansas reporter Dub Warner's Facebook page.
and it's the timeline that has us pausing.
So the murders occurred two days before December 5th,
when Randy's attorney says Randy was supposed to get the kids again.
Again, that's Randy he is talking about,
the man who has a history of domestic violence accusations against him
and who just pleaded guilty in October to domestic battery,
which we will unpack in a minute.
And three days, after the day he was supposed to get the kids,
five days after their murders.
He's still thinking about them as property
that was supposed to have been returned to him.
In this statement, it's like he hasn't felt the brunt of their losses beyond that.
And we are just supposed to believe that the timing isn't related somehow,
which I have to have David read this part again
and I want you to listen to it knowing two things.
There are no documents we have seen that verifies this statement, and I don't know, it seems kind of coded to me.
Here is David.
Mr. Randall Bialis was awarded joint custody, decision-making for the children's school and medical needs,
and his children were set to be with him on a schedule of two weeks with Mr. Bialis and one week with Mrs. Bialis.
And now I want David to read what Randy's attorney says.
in an email to 4029 News.
Mr. Bialis was not responsible for the death of Mrs. Bialis nor his children's deaths.
Mrs. Bialis has made false accusations against Mr. Bialis in the past.
Stick a pen in those false accusations for a quick second.
I find it interesting that Randy's attorney thought it was important to note that Randy Bialis
was granted joint custody and joint decision-making for the children's schooling and
and health care, and that of the two, Randy, who just pleaded guilty to a domestic battery charge,
was granted twice the amount of custody that Charity was. Allegedly, again, there is nothing
that we have seen in the court documents that verify this. And the attorney, as far as we can
tell, has not produced paperwork proving this claim. What I do know is that in filing her complaint
for divorce on March 5th, 2025. Charity asked the court to do the following. Here is David
reading that. That the court should find the joint custody presumption is not appropriate in this matter.
The plaintiff believes that it is in the best interests of the minor children that she be awarded
sole custody due to the following. The defendant is currently facing criminal charges related
to domestic violence. As a result of said criminal charges, the defendant is currently under
a court-ordered no-contact order, which prohibits any contact with the minor children and
the plaintiff, that the defendant has a history of domestic violence within the marital
residence. Charity asked the court to deny Randy visitation with the children, and that if
the court decided not to bar Randy from seeing the kids, it would at least order him to have
visitation with them at a supervised third-party family center. She also asked the court to
require a psychological evaluation of Randy in that he be subjected to an anger management screening.
But wait, there's more to Charity's court filings. That the defendant has a disclosed history of
substance abuse and based upon his recent behavior and criminal conduct, the plaintiff is under
the information and belief. That the defendant is a
abusing illegal substances and requests that this court order the defendant to submit a
fingernail clipping drug screening.
So, yeah, a lot more to that story, right?
Actually, we haven't told you the half of it yet.
Anyway, back to Randy's attorney's statement about him being granted significantly more joint
custody of the children than charity.
What was the point of that?
What was the point of focusing on the custody aspect of this in a statement about the murder
of Randy's soon-to-be ex-wife and his two six-year-old children.
Was it to show that Randy was a real dad's dad that the judge trusted him with his children more than
she trusted charity with them?
Despite all those accusations against him, which, again, stick a pen in it.
It's just enough information to hint at that, right?
Just enough intrigue to make people question charity as a mom, yeah?
And I know the words murder-suicide weren't used in the attorney's statement, but what a great way to get people wondering
if charity was unstable or so angry about the court's alleged decisions on custody that she decided to take her and her kids' lives.
So Dr. Randy Bialis would be deprived of custody visits.
I mean, that's the focus in the statement, right?
Custody visits, he's heartbroken, he won't be getting those now, or rather the part where the kids get returned to him.
Luckily, people didn't fall for that if that was, in fact, their intention.
The police have released next to zero information about this investigation, so we don't know how many times each victim was shot.
We don't know whose gun it was.
We don't know the distance at which they were shot, how they were found, when they died, where they were found.
We don't know if the murder weapon was found, but we do know some things.
One, the police haven't hinted at a murder suicide.
In fact, they've publicly stated that there are at least 18 warrants connected to this investigation.
And oh yeah, when I say police,
I mean police. There's the sheriff's office, two local police departments, the state law enforcement division, the secret service, and homeland security investigations, which I don't know about you, but I've never heard of a six agency investigation into a potential murder suicide involving a stay-at-home mom.
Again, that doesn't mean Randy Bayalas killed his wife and children or that he has anything to do with their deaths.
But it does mean that we should learn more about that guy, right? So let's do.
them and let's do it sort of in reverse let's unpeel the onion together here because when i say
oh my god you guys double o double m a thousand g's and a full scrolls worth of whatever
emoji means you cannot be serious this onion has got some layers but first let's talk about charity
and what happened on february 16th 2025 when randy was charged with aggravated assault on a
family member which is a class d felony and includes a sentence of up to six years in prison randy
was also charged that night with third-degree domestic battery, a misdemeanor that includes up to a
year in prison, and third-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, up to 90 days in jail.
I'm going to read Charity's statement to police about what led to the charges against
Dr. Randy Bialis, who again was 56 years old at the time, and according to the police
report, Charity was 39. Here we go. This is Charity's statement to police.
I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed when my husband Randy walked in the bathroom and
was angry, I was taking too long in the bathroom. He then got paranoid I was talking to someone,
which I was, and it was my dad. I just reconnected with him today via Facebook Messenger after years
of no communication. I reached out because my husband had told me last Saturday, he was leaving
me and the kids to find someone that loved him the way he needs to be loved. He told me this
about a week after I told him, I finally realized he's a textbook narcissist. Once I exposed him for
a narcissist, he chose to flee. I wasn't perfectly.
prepared to let him go at the time, worrying about how I would support me and my twins
with no financial support. Tonight, he slammed my head down on the bathroom counter and was choking
me. I did everything I could to get him off of me. He then pulled me by the hair into the bathroom
with my twins, witnessing it all. He slammed me on the wall repeatedly trying to get my phone from me,
yelling, cussing, calling me a bitch, which he censored by using stars in the middle of the word,
and a fucking cheater. Again, she has stars to spell out the cuss word. He drugged me down the
the stairs by the hair. Once downstairs, he slammed me down on the floor and ran out the front
door with my phone. I ran after him hoping to get my phone back to call 911. Plus, I didn't
want him to see that I had been talking to my dad because I knew he would lash out even more.
Then I realized he had left his phone in the house, so I ran upstairs, called 911, and the police
were here within five to ten minutes. They went upstairs to get my two five-year-olds. Corporal James
Seismore brought us to safety in his SUV. I was checked out by EMS, all good, besides
high heart rate. Officers took pictures of the marks on my neck, arms, and feet.
The police report, which Luna Shark journalist Beth Braden, FOIA 4, among other files,
does include color photos of what Charity told police her husband, Dr. Randy Bialis,
had done to her. In the photo, Charity is wearing a light purple t-shirt and has a charm
necklace with diamond-encrusted charms of her children's initials on it.
J for John, E for Eliana, and M. Bermaverick.
Her face is not shown, but her neck has several red marks on it
and bruising on her chest with what appears to be extensive, fresh bruising on her left shoulder.
In another photo, you can see Charity's left arm.
She is wearing an Apple Watch with what appears to be a diamond-encrusted gold or rose gold band.
The inside of her left forearm has significant red marks around her wrist.
as well as big areas of red abrasions and bruising around her elbow.
In another photo, Charity's left foot appears to be entirely covered in yellow and bluish
bruising with a small cut near her toes.
Now what's surprising in this report, in a good way, is that there is something called the
Loras Law Assessment Form with a Sebastian County Sheriff's Office letterhead and Sheriff Hobe
Ruhn's name on it.
This form is a domestic violence lethality assessment, which is a chilling thing to see in this case.
But also, we like this law, even though, we'll get to that in a minute.
In 2015, Asa Hutchinson, who was the newly elected governor of Arkansas, signed Laura's law,
making it mandatory for law enforcement agencies responding to domestic violence calls,
to ask victims a set of questions created by the University of Arkansas's criminal justice
Institute to assess potential future danger to the victim. The law was named after three women in
Arkansas. The first is Laura Aceviz, who was killed by her ex-boyfriend in 2012. Laura was 21 years old
and a mother of three. She was the subject of a 2014 investigative piece by the Huffington Post titled
This is How a Domestic Violence Victim falls through the cracks. According to the Huff Post story,
Laura was found dead just two days after calling police to report her physically abusive ex-boyfriend
yet again for stalking and harassing her. This time, he had destroyed her car, causing her to
break down on the way home from work, which, huh, does that sound familiar? Here is David, with what
the Huffington Post story said about Laura's death, which her ex-boyfriend later admitted to.
Her four-month-old son was crying by her side, coated in so much blood that EMTs thought he'd been shot too.
Laura had an open casket funeral. No amount of makeup could conceal her black eyes.
Laura's ex-boyfriend is currently in maximum security. He was sentenced to prison for 25 years. He has a long list of disciplinary actions against him from the prison.
The second Laura that the law is named after is Laura Aceve's mother, Laura Ponce,
who advocated for the law and for domestic violence victims after her daughter's death.
Here is David with a 2015 interview that K.A.R.K. News did with Ponce.
Quote, she tried to hide many places.
Everywhere she went, he would find her, terrorize her, and tell her she was going to die.
He was going to kill her and her children, end quote.
Numerous protection orders were filed against Victor Akuna Sanchez.
There were times he was arrested, writing letters to Laura from jail reading, quote,
Don't tell my lawyer I choked you, end quote, but he was released each time.
Quote, she said, Mom, he comes after me worse.
He's in prison one or two days and then released, and he comes after me and makes me pay, end quote.
The third Laura that the bill is named after is Laura Webb, a domestic abuse survivor
who in 2012 was in the middle of divorcing her husband when he ran her over with his truck
at a state park. She had to crawl to a nearby cabin for safety. Here is what Laura Webb
told the record newspaper in a 2018 report about her advocacy work.
Quote, I don't remember the crawl. I got to the cabin and I was
below the window, so I tapped on the window. That didn't work. They couldn't hear me, but
I was able to pull myself up with one arm, and they saw the top of my head. The look on
the woman's face told me that things were bad, and then I fell back to the concrete in front
of the door, and they came and saved me.
These stories are so awful, but we thought it was so important to acknowledge the women
behind this law. Because of this law, we know more about the extent of the
allegations in Charity's marriage as of February 2025.
More on that, after a quick break.
We will be right back.
Now, David will read the Laura's Law Assessment
that was done on the night Charity Bialis called the police
on her husband Randy, and I will read the answers
that police wrote down for Charity.
Has the offender ever used a weapon against you or threatened you with a weapon?
Yes.
Do you believe the offender will try to kill you?
Yes.
Has the offender ever tried to choke you?
Yes.
Is the offender violent or constantly jealous?
Yes.
Does the offender control most of your daily activities?
Yes.
Ask the victim's current living situation and if he or she has recently left or separated from the offender after living together or being
Married.
Separate it.
Still live together.
Ask the victim's employment status.
Stay at home mom.
Ask if the offender has ever attempted suicide.
No.
If the victim has a child, ask if the offender believes that the child is not their biological child.
No.
Ask if the offender follows, spies on, or leaves threatening messages for the victim.
Yes.
Ask for any other pertinent information, including any other conditions or circumstances that concern the victim.
that concerned the victim regarding their safety.
She answered yes, but didn't explain.
Ask the victim if they need assistance getting to a safe place or shelter.
Declined any assistance.
Now again, this form is great.
These are important questions to ask, but, um, what happens next?
The last paragraph of the assessment form says that, quote,
based upon the results of the assessment by the deputy compiling the information,
the deputy may refer the victim to an available shelter,
or domestic violence intervention program
and shall comply with statute 1690-11-07 victim's rights,
which, okay, but why does the victim need to do an intervention program?
And again, I ask, what happens next?
Shouldn't the police be doing something
when they determine that a person might be lethally dangerous?
There's no score being tallied at the end of this form.
I even went to the actual Laura's Law bill itself
and nothing.
There's nothing about what happens after the assessment is done
other than what I just told you about the shelter and intervention program.
Now, there's no score being tallied at the end of this form,
and I'm not trying to be glib or too dark here,
but if this were a BuzzFeed quiz
about whether you'll be murdered by your partner in the future,
charity would have scored a 10 out of 13 yeses.
But unlike BuzzFeed, we have no way of analyzing what that score,
means. And here's the thing. Charity knew her life was in danger after the February
2025 incident. We know that because she posted about this a lot on social media. In the months
leading up to her death, Charity shared a slew of photos on Facebook about the dangers of
narcissistic abuse and coercive control. She shared news reports of other women who had been
killed by their abusers. In August, she shared three haunting screenshots that should have
absolutely raised concerns for the prosecutors on her husband's DV case. The screenings
shots were from a daily press story titled, if a partner has ever strangled you, they will likely
kill you. I'll have David read a couple paragraphs from that story that charity shared.
If a woman's partner has ever strangled her, even once, her risk of being murdered by that
same partner with a gun shoots up 750% compared to a woman who has never been strangled.
A partner who strangles you is likely to kill you, and soon. That seven
750% increase isn't just an increased risk of death in your lifetime.
It's a 750% increase they will kill you within the next year.
Charity was allegedly strangled by her husband in February 2025,
and she was found shot to death in December.
In between that time, she literally posted about this known risk to her life,
and still, the system did nothing to protect her or her children.
Charity even reached out to a state senator for help last year.
According to Five News, she told state Senator Terry Rice that she was afraid for her life and her children.
Like in Micah's case, there is a documented history of escalating abuse and a documented history of charity begging the system to protect her.
With this form, the police are literally just checking boxes without taking action because here's what actually happened next.
In October, Dr. Randy Bialis pleaded guilty, but not to the crimes he was charged with.
No, no.
to one single count of misdemeanor domestic battery.
He was given a one year suspended sentence and was ordered to pay a measly $1,500.
He was told to attend a DV intervention program by May 26,
and he was ordered not to contact charity unless for court or, get this, child visitation purposes.
That, despite the assessment score.
So what is the form for?
Is it to police explain to a woman that she's in a dangerous situation?
Or is it to actually do something in an effort to prevent said dangerous situation?
Turns out, yes, to the police planning.
Beth reached out to the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office to find out what the point of the form is.
Here's David with what she was told.
The main purpose is to show the victim the potential lethality of their situation
and go over the resources that are available to them.
In other words, to tell women what they already know,
to show them that they are in danger.
We obviously have no way of knowing this,
but I think it's a fair assumption
to think that when Charity was answering these questions
asked of her by an officer on that night
with red marks and bruises all over her
that she thought she was giving police more information
for their investigation.
You know, for future action, for accountability,
to paint a picture of how bad and dangerous this situation is.
Yes, yes, yes, he has done all of these things.
This is very serious, officer.
Please, do something.
Because, I don't know, it seems like someone whose partner gives a 10 out of 13 yeses on the Laura form.
Maybe should not be eligible for a plea that doesn't include prison time.
Maybe use the form to help determine an appropriate sentence.
Just saying, because God help us all if the judge,
judge actually did read that form before accepting the plea deal. Now again, Randy has not been
named a suspect in Charity's murder or the murder of their six-year-old twins. And I'm not trying
to say that here. What I am saying is that it is astounding to me that Randy's sentence was so
light. One, there's 10 out of 13 yeses on the Laura form and two. This investigative summary
by Deputy Travis Fisher in the February 16th, 2025 police report.
While I was holding cover of the stairwell, I heard a voice outside the house yelling,
quote, I'm out here, end quote, and then made my way out of the house holding the mail at gunpoint
due to not knowing if he was armed.
I'm sorry, but there's something so creepy about him yelling, I'm out here, to the police
in this high-tension situation.
Anyway, they ordered Randy to the ground, and they put him in handcuffs right before reading
him his rights. But back to David in the summary. I then began questioning Randy while another
deputy was speaking with Charity. He stated he had asked Charity why she had been in the bathroom
for two hours and who she was texting. He said he pushed her against the wall and shoved her
into the sink before she ran outside. Mr. Bialis stated he ran after her and caught her when
when he took her cell phone from her to see who she was messaging.
He stated she had been messaging her father things about him.
And that's all it has to say about Randy.
So he admitted to getting violent with her.
And the summary doesn't say anything about whether he denied choking her.
And like, guys, again, he's a medical doctor and was 56 years old when he did this.
And all he has to say about it is she was telling her dad on me.
What?
All of that, the injuries, the fear, the violence in front of the kids, the police having to go into his house with their guns out, not knowing if there's an armed maniac behind a door.
The whole thing was over a grown woman texting with her father.
And over, as Charity said in her statement, Randy not feeling loved by her.
Guys like these are emotional monsters, allegedly.
But again, the point here is that Randy admitted to assaulting Charity, according to police reports.
So he got that light sentence and was able to plead down his charge despite the Laura's law assessment
and despite the police report where he admitted to hurting her and trying to take her cell phone
where police included photos of her injuries and where he admitted that his anger was about her telling her dad things about him.
How does a judge look at all that and not think that this is so beyond irrational and childish?
How does a judge not think that this man needs more than just intervention classes?
How do they not think that he needs to get humbled the hard way?
Beats me, especially when you consider this.
On July 15th, 2025, so that would be six months after Randy was charged with violence against his wife
and three months before Randy got what appears to be a sweetheart deal from the prosecutor's office,
The Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children sent a child maltreatment,
true investigative determination notice to charity regarding victims Eliana Bialis and Maverick Bialis,
with the result of the agency's findings against offender Randallis
in an incident that was reported March 31st, 2025.
Here's David with what it said.
Pursuant to Arkansas Code annotated 12-18-708,
This is your notice that based on the preponderance of the evidence,
the investigative agency determined the allegation to be true
and that the offender's name should be placed in the child maltreatment central registry.
The type of maltreatment was abuse, abuse with or without physical injury for both children,
and abuse, threat of harm with Maverick.
Now, Randy had a right to appeal that decision, and we don't know if that happened.
And if he did appeal it, we don't know whether this decision was reversed.
We are looking into it.
But what's interesting is that on September 17, 2025, Charity filed this child abuse record
with her motion for the court to order Randy not to shave or alter his hair in any way
so that she could have a 90-day drug and alcohol test done on him,
using strains of his hair as well as fingernail clippings.
meaning she made it public that Dr. Randy Bialis's name was slated for the Child Maltreatment
Central Registry. In the very next day, Randy filed a countersuit against charity for divorce,
which when we saw that, it was like, oh, her filing must have really pissed him off.
Now, he is going to vehemently and specifically deny the child abuse allegation on the record.
Well, not quite. On September 18, 2025, Randy asked the court to adhere to the terms of their pre-up, which was signed by both of them shortly before their marriage in 2015.
We'll talk about that pre-up in a future episode, but here's what else Randy requested that the court find.
That the plaintiff has treated the defendant with such personal indignities so habitually and systematically pursued as to render defendant's condition in life in time,
tolerable and to afford a grounds for absolute divorce.
Aw, poor guy.
Brantle also asked for a restraining order against Charity
and that she, a stay-at-home mom,
be ordered to pay his attorney's fees.
In separate filings on the same day,
Randy denied all assertions and allegations contained
in Charity's motion for a drug test.
He denied every single paragraph,
but noted that the exception to his denials
was in missions made by him here and after,
which a what?
But also, here and right now,
Randy denied that they had been married to each other
before and divorced each other in 2012.
He denied that despite Charity providing the case caption and case number,
which if you go to the Arkansas Public Court Records site,
you'll find are accurate.
Charity and Randy were married in May 2012
and granted a divorce decree in November 2012.
Randy denied that they started dating again in 2013.
He denied that they were married.
married in November 2015, Randy denied that they separated on February 16, 20205 after a domestic
violence incident, which again, Charity provided the case caption and number.
Randy denied the incident from March 31, 2025 involving child abuse accusations that the
state law enforcement agency found credible. He denied that the children disclosed that he
suffocated them and threatened to hurt them if they told anyone. Randy denied that there was
infidelity in their marriage, and he denied that Charity didn't know of any drug, alcohol, or
domestic abuse back then. Randy denied that in August 2013, he beat Charity and almost strangled
her to death. He denied portraying her as the aggressor and having her arrested. He denied that
the charges against Charity were dropped, and he denied that Charity believed he was using alcohol
and drugs during that attack. Randy denied that he and Charity split up after this incident.
He also denied that they reconciled in 2015, and he denied that between 2015 and 2019,
when Charity became pregnant with the twins, that he physically abused her numerous times.
He denied holding a shotgun to her face.
He denied being under the influence of alcohol and or drugs, including heroin, during the attacks.
Randy denied psychologically, emotionally, and financially abusing charity after the babies were born.
He denied drinking whiskey and gin to excess.
He denied abusing heroin.
he denied that Charity believed his extreme rage
was related to his substance abuse.
Randy denied that his extreme physical abuse
returned in February 2025 when Charity believed
he was under the influence of heroin.
Randy denied Charity's request of the court
for a 90-day 12-panel drug and alcohol test.
Randy denied Charity's request of the court
for him to not mess with his hair.
Randy denied that he should show up at the testing facility
within 24 hours of the court ordering him to do something.
so. And Randy denied Charity's request of the court that he be deemed positive for all
substances if he adulterates his hair or nail samples or fails to present them within the
ordered time period. Now, at the end of his denials, Randy asked that the court find
charity in contempt for, quote, making false accusations as well as blatantly perjuring herself
as it relates to the above allegations. And his lawyers misspelled perjuring. Because
of course they did. Again, there are these predictable patterns we keep learning about
in these cases. So yeah, this is a really good look at what the public records tell us about
the defining incident that led to Charity's decision to file for divorce in early March 2025
and what they tell us about Dr. Randy Bialis, whose medical license is still active
according to the Arkansas State Medical Board website.
According to this website, Randy had to appear in front of the medical board for a complaint,
but the board tabled discussion about the future of Randy's medical license on August 7th and October 2nd,
pending the outcome of his criminal matters.
The outcome of those criminal matters was known just seven days after the board's last decision,
and there has not been an update since.
So it's unclear whether Randy's October 9th guilty plea to domestic battery will affect his ability to practice medicine in the future.
That said, we have so much more to talk about in this case, including what Randy's first wife told police about him in September 2025,
including a garbage bag, recently found in a dumpster at an address associated with Randy containing personal items and paper.
of charities and a necklace with her twins' names on it, including Randy's history and practicing
medicine and what his patients have said about him, including what happened to Randy's second wife,
Shauna. Shauna, who was found dead with a gunshot wound in the middle of her forehead on
January 5, 2012, just four months before 43-year-old Randy married 27-year-old.
year old Charity for the first time,
Shauna's death was ruled a suicide,
particularly because police found evidence of
Shawna purchasing the ammunition she was killed with
on the morning of her death,
which, huh, that sounds a lot like Micah's case.
Per usual, when we dug into the investigation file
of Shauna's death, we found a whole lot that did not add up,
including the fact that Charity's father told investigators
in 2021 that Charity,
Quote, told him she was the one who shot Shauna.
We aren't taking that statement at face value
considering the history of abuse that Charity has alleged in this case.
But at the end of the day, we have one wealthy man
with a violent history who has standing in the community
and two dead wives and two dead children.
Like we said, we haven't told you the half of the chaos in this case.
But know this, we are very invested in knowing who killed Charity Bialis and her twins,
and what role the system played in this case.
Because after all, a lot of people want to know why police have not arrested or charged
Randy Bialis with the deaths of his soon-to-be ex-wife and his six-year-old son and daughter.
And, to be honest, we have the same question, because,
Well, because we don't even have to say why. It's obvious.
There's that old adage that the husband is always the first suspect, an estranged husband, more so.
And an estranged husband with a history of violence, even more so.
But again, Randy denies any allegation that he had anything to do with his family member's deaths.
That said, if you have information about this case or,
about Dr. Randy Bialis or about what happened with Shauna Bialis, please reach out to us at info
at lunasharkmedia.com. We are willing to talk off the record and we would also love to hear from
anyone who knew charity personally. We have a lot more to cover in this case. Until next time,
stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight.
True Sunlight is a Luna Shark production created by me, Mandy Matney,
co-hosted and reported by journalist Liz Pharrell, research support provided by Beth Braden,
audio production support provided by Jamie Hoffman and Grace Hills, case file management provided by Kate Thomas.
Learn more about our mission and membership at LunaSharkmedia.com.
Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky.