Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Don't Marry This Guy // The Randy Roth Murder Story

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

Randy Roth was a Washington state mechanic who married and murdered women to collect lucrative life insurance payouts. He famously caused the death of his fourth wife in a staged 1991 Lake Sammamish drowning. An investigation into this incident and the 1981 fatal cliff fall of his second wife ultimately exposed his deadly scam

So this man married four women and two of them ended up dead. The guy's name is Randy, and Randy's around 26 when all this starts and he's living in the Seattle, Washington area. Now, here's the thing about Randy. He loves luxury things like expensive cars and nice houses, all the things that make one look successful. The problem is he works as a mechanic, which means he doesn't make enough to afford all that nice stuff, and Randy will do just about anything to get the money for it. And so one day in 1981, he comes up with a terrible idea, an idea that has become cliche in my videos. He wants to kill his wife and collect the insurance money.

Now, his wife is this woman, Janice. And Janice is actually his second wife. He had gotten a divorce from his first wife. Now, I don't know if Randy doesn't love Janice anymore or if he's just greedy, but murder is his plan. So he gets to work on this plan. He coerces Janice into taking out a $100,000 life insurance policy on herself. Then one day he suggests to her that they go on a hiking trip to Beacon Rock State Park. And Janice, she's all excited to go hiking because, you know, she wants to hang out with him.

And she's like, that sounds great. And so they head out to the park and they start hiking. And allegedly, and this hasn't been proven, but allegedly, once they're at an area of the hike where no one is around, up on a cliff, Suddenly, bam, he shoves Janice off the edge and she falls, and unfortunately, she doesn't survive. Now, when police investigate, they question Randy, and he tells them that he and Janice were just taking a hike when suddenly she slipped on some pine needles and fell off the rock. Now, police are skeptical. They aren't sure what to make of all this. I mean, the whole thing just feels a little too convenient.

However, Randy is the only witness, and without evidence, proving that what he's saying isn't true, there's not much they can do. So eventually, Janice's death is officially ruled an accident. And Randy wastes no time in making sure the case stays that way. Because the very same day, he has Janice's body cremated. And of course, ultimately, he collects the $100,000 in life insurance money. And so years pass, and it's now 1985. And by this point, it seems like the insurance money has started running low.

and Randy needs more. So he starts looking for another wife that he can murder and collect some money from. And that is when he meets this woman, Donna. So Randy meets Donna and he thinks she is foin, and she thinks he is foeing, and he also allegedly thinks that she would be the perfect victim. And so soon enough, they start dating. And after only two months of dating, they get married. So this is wife number three.

Then Randy tries to get Donna to take out a life insurance policy on herself, but Donna's like, fuck all that. However, he does talk her into altering an existing small $3,000 policy that she already has to make him the beneficiary. Which, you know, $3,000, that isn't a lot of money for this kind of thing, but I guess he'll take what he can get. And so now it's allegedly time to murder her too. So, just like he did with Janice, he suggests that they take a trip. together, but this time it's a rafting trip. Now, on this trip, Donna's parents decide to come along too. But Randy, he doesn't let that stop him. He's going to go through with his alleged murder plan regardless. Now, at some point, Randy and Donna are in a raft and they're out on the water.

And Donna notices that Randy keeps steering the raft toward rocks, like big sharp rocks, the kind that could rip the raft apart. I guess it seems like he's actually hoping that he'll puncture the raft and that they'll sink and Donna will drown, and she's apparently not a very strong swimmer. So, of course, Donna is like, avoid the rocks, but he doesn't. He ignores her. And eventually, pow, the raft slams into the rocks,

and it gets punctured. And pretty quickly, water starts pouring in, and the raft starts sinking. And Donna, she's all scared and screaming, while Randy, he just keeps calm. And he tells her, shut up! But she keeps yelling for her parents to come help. Now, her parents, they're in a do.

different raft not too far away, and they hear her and they pull up in their raft, and of course now Randy can't do anything while her parents are around. So now she's safe. But after this nightmare of a trip ends, Donna realizes that she doesn't feel safe with Randy at all anymore. I mean, he might be trying to murder her. So after only about four months of marriage, she files for divorce. And a few more years pass. It's now 1990. And Randy decides, He's going to try again. Only this time, he's determined not to fail. And soon enough, he finds his next victim.

Because one day, he's at his son's Little League baseball game, and that is where he meets this woman, Cynthia. And Cynthia is a single mother who's there to also watch her own son play baseball. And so they meet, and they hit it off, and before long, they start dating, and after only dating one whole month, they get married. Damn, these people move fast. Anyway, this will be wife number four. And so about five months go by.

And Randy decides, it's time. And he starts pressuring her to take out a life insurance policy worth about $385,000. And once that's done, he goes to her and he suggests that they go on a little rafting trip. And she agrees. So they head out to Lake Sammamish, about 15 miles away from them. And so they're there and they're out on the water. in a raft, and Randy, he isn't going to use the same old trick he did with Donna. He's going to try something different. So, boom, he suddenly pushes Cynthia out of the raft, and then he holds her there

underwater. And unfortunately, she drowns. Then he pulls her body back onto the raft, and he slowly makes his way back to shore. And when he gets there, people are panicking, and a lifeguard is trying to help revive her, but Randy, he's just chill and relaxed, like he's over there folding up his raft while everyone else is trying to help her. Anyway, not long after, the police show up to investigate, and Randy tells them this whole bullshit story about how a speedboat created a large wake that flipped their raft over and that Cynthia was thrown into the water and then she suddenly got a cramp in her leg and couldn't stay afloat, so she drowned. Now, police immediately find this story suspicious, like a leg

cramp, really? I mean, he wasn't panicked when they got back to shore. I mean, this is all just so hard to believe. But they investigate, and once again, there are no witnesses who saw what happened out there on the water, so there's not much for them to go on. Meanwhile, just like he did after Janice died, Randy moves quickly and he has Cynthia's body cremated. And soon afterwards, he moves to collect the $385,000 from the life insurance policy. So now that's in motion. So it's starting to look like Randy He's gotten away with murder And he'll probably do it again to his next wife

Until Until police eventually learned That this is actually the second woman To have died while married to Randy And the first woman who died Died under suspicious circumstances Then they learned that Randy Had taken out life insurance policies

On both Janice and Cynthia within a few months of marrying them. So they start building a case against him. And once they finally have enough evidence, bam, they arrest him. And I can't find a mugshot, but here is a picture of him. And so ultimately, he goes to trial for murdering Cynthia, and he's found guilty,

and he gets sentenced to 50 years in prison.