A 68-year-old man was arrested at a Washington nursing home after being charged with first-degree murder in the 1992 death of his wife. 

Janice Randle was found dead in her bed in November 1992, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said on social media, with her toddler daughter Katie in a crib nearby. Her estranged husband, James Robert Randle, told police that she had likely overdosed and said she had a history of using painkillers. The couple was going through a divorce and living separately, the sheriff’s office said. 

Initially, police investigated the death as a possible overdose. When later autopsy results showed no drugs in her system at the time of death, the case became a homicide investigation, but “only breadcrumbs of information could be pieced together, with nothing substantial to establish probable cause for an arrest,” the sheriff’s office said. 

The case remained unsolved until family members came forward with new information, including “witnessed confessions” from Randle, the sheriff’s office said. CBS affiliate KIRO reported that Randle had confessed to killing his wife in conversations with his siblings and one of his children. 

“He actually talked to his brother about how he staged the crime scene,” a deputy prosecutor said in court, according to KIRO. “He also confessed to this murder to one of his daughters later on as well. He told her that he had had to put a pillow over his wife Janice’s head and said, with regards to the murder, quote, ‘Just know it was me.'”

The sheriff’s office said the tips and new information “led to a thorough investigation with a new perspective.” The sheriff’s office said it is now believed that Janice Randle “died as a result of a violent struggle” with Randle, and that evidence gathered in the new investigation “contradicted the original account given in 1992.” Police were able to establish probable cause on which to arrest Randle, who was living in a retirement facility in Everett, Washington. 

Body camera video shows police arresting Randle, now 68, at the facility. He can be heard asking, “What’s this about?” before being handcuffed and led to a waiting vehicle. 

Randle was arraigned on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder, KIRO reported. He is being held on a $1 million bail, KIRO said. The sheriff’s office said the case “stands as a powerful example of how advancements in technology and investigative practices can bring justice, even decades later.” 

Katie Wakin, Janice Randle’s daughter and Randle’s stepdaughter, told KIRO that “no one in our family ever doubted” that Randle was responsible for her mother’s death. 

“We just had no way to prove it back then,” Wakin said.  

Wakin said she and her siblings, including the sister who was found in the crib near Janice Randle’s body, are still healing from their mother’s death and the new investigation into their father. Wakin told KIRO she plans to attend all court hearings. 

“Our mom was taken from her; she has no memories of her. My mom loved her very much. Very, very much,” Wakin said. “She loves (her father), but she knows that he needs to be accountable, and she’s willing to put aside all of that to make sure justice is met and that our mom’s story is told.”