Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - She Fell In Love With a Murderer and Helped Him Escape - The Bobbi Parker Story

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

In 1994, Bobbi Parker, the wife of an Oklahoma prison deputy warden, vanished from the Oklahoma State Reformatory along with inmate Randolph Dial, a convicted murderer and artist who had been given unusual privileges due to his painting skills. For 11 years, the two lived under assumed identities on a remote chicken farm in Texas until their discovery in 2005.

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What is it with these women Prison Workers Who Fall in Love with an Inmate and then help them escape? Now, this story starts with this woman, Bobby. And Bobby's 32 years old when all this begins and she's living in Oklahoma, but Bobby has a huge problem.

She's not happy with her marriage. She and her husband allegedly just aren't clicking anymore like they used to, and sometimes it gets lonely for her. But all that is about to change, because Bobby works in the state prison in Oklahoma where she runs a pottery class for Enmes. And one day in 1993, she meets this inmate, Dyle.

Dyle is actually serving time for murder. But despite that, he's actually considered a well-behaved prisoner. He follows the rules, the staff likes him, he's also a talented artist, like he's really good at sculpting. So the prison staff gives him special privileges, like he's allowed to work outside the prison walls sometimes, and he's allowed to help Bobby run her pottery class for the inmates. the inmates. And because of that, he and Bobby starts spending a lot of time together, making pottery

and teaching inmates. Sometimes they even leave the prison grounds to visit shopkeepers and I guess either buy supplies or sell their pottery. And while all this is going on, Bobby starts thinking, he's kind of foin, and he thinks Bobby is foin right back. And they end up liking each other and they end up falling in love. But of course, he's an inmate, so they got to keep this romance hidden. But here's what makes all of this extremely complicated. Bobby's husband also works at the prison. He's actually the deputy warden. Now, at some point, Bobby starts thinking that this secret hidden emotional affair that she's having with Dial, it's just not working for her. She can't do it anymore. But instead of ending the relationship, she decides to help dial escape from this prison

so that they can run away together and I guess live on the run for the rest of their lives. I don't really know what their plan is. So some time passes and it's now 1994 and the big day finally comes, the day they're going to attempt this escape. And Bobby tells her deputy warden husband that she's leaving to go shopping and she leaves. Then she takes their minivan and I guess picks up Dial and together they just drive off the prison grounds. And since this is not the first time she and Dial have left the prison together, I assume the guards think that they're just going to the shops to sell some pottery

or something and they let them pass by. So Bobby abandons her job, her husband, and her two kids because she's got two kids at home. And she and her convicted murderer inmate lover flee the state and they travel from Oklahoma all the way down to Texas. Meanwhile, back at the prison, the deputy warden husband, he eventually realizes that not only is his wife missing, but Dial the inmate is also missing and that they're together. So he calls the police and they start investigating. But they all assume that not that they ran away together,

but that Dial had kidnapped Bobby and used her to escape. So they start looking for them. And there's this whole man hunt, and they place Dial on the FBI's most wanted list. But by now, Dial and Bobby are in Hearst, Texas. And there, they stop at a local store, and Bobby calls not her husband, but her mom. And she's like, hey, mom, I can't talk now, but I'm okay. Then later, she calls one of her friends, and she tells her the same thing. She's like, I want you to call home and tell the kids that I love them.

And I guess the friend's like, uh, okay. So Bobby never directly calls her husband or her daughters. Anyway, after that, she and Dial keep driving until they get to Houston. And there, they settle down. And Dial, somehow he gets a job as a security guard because I guess they don't do background checks at this place. But apparently, these two don't feel safe in Houston because they don't stay there for long. So they move again. They move a few times, actually.

And finally, they end up in Campy, Texas. which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Like it's nothing but a few dirt roads out there. But there, they change their names and they both land a job at this local chicken farm, earning like $500 a week. And they start building a life there. They live in this trailer home and they start going to church regularly. They're doing everything to act like any normal couple.

Although they mostly avoid close interactions with other people, they kind of just keep to themselves. And this goes on for years. And no one at work or at the church appears to suspect anything. Then, around 2001, someone writes a book about their escape, and it gets published. And Dial picks himself up a copy. He takes it home, and he reads it. Now, this book portrays Dial as a kidnapper.

It claims that he kidnapped Bobby. So, Dial, he gets all mad, and he somehow gets the author's contact info, and he calls him to try and correct the record. and say, no, no, she came with me willingly. Plus, he tells the author that he and Bobby are happy and that they're doing okay. Then he even puts Bobby on the line to say hi. And now, of course, this author immediately reports this call to the police and police investigate it, but nothing comes of it since police don't know where this call

was actually coming from. So anyway, more years pass, and they keep living incognito working on this chicken farm. But then, in 2004, something terrible happens. Dial actually has a heart attack, and he ends up in the hospital. And Bobby, she stays home, and she's apparently devastated by this. She even writes him a love letter about how much she misses him. Now, he eventually recovers, and they go back to their normal chicken farm life. So it seems like they're just going to keep up this life on the run forever,

and police are never going to bust them. Until. Until it's 2005. Which means they've been on the run living together for 11 years. And around this time, the TV show, America's Most Wanted, airs an episode talking about the Dial and Bobby prison escape. Then someone in Texas, who I guess lives near Dial

sees his picture on the America's Most Wanted TV show website, and they go, wait a minute, that's my neighbor. And so this person calls the police, and soon enough, a whole lot of sheriff's deputies show up, and they surround the chicken farm. And so, bam, dial is arrested. Here's his mugshot. And of course, they take Bobby into custody because they got a whole lot of questions for her. Now, when they question her, she starts claiming that she's not in a relationship. with Dial, that he actually forced her to help him escape at knife point and that he kept her prisoner for 11 years. Then when they questioned Dial, he sticks up for her. He says, yeah,

don't blame her. Blame me. I kidnapped her and held her captive for 11 years. So it seems like they coordinated this response that if they ever got caught, they would blame it all on him so that she wouldn't have to go to prison like he has to. But here's the thing. The feds, they're not buying this whole story. They think Bobby was in love with Dial and that she was in on his escape. Partly because when they searched Bobby and Dial's trailer, they found the love letter she wrote him. They also found cards that they exchanged. They also found a box of condoms.

They also found a sex toy. Not to mention, there were two bedrooms in the trailer, but only one of them was being used. Also, when he had a heart attack and was in the hospital, she could have just like left and escaped, but she didn't. So eventually, they charge Bobby with helping him escape incarceration and she goes to trial and she's found guilty and she's sentenced to one year in prison. While Dial, he takes a plea deal for the escape and he's sentenced to seven years in prison on top of his original. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you're have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything

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