When Randy Parker’s eleven-year-old daughter, Robbi, called him saying her mom was not home, he was not overly concerned. It was 4:45 p.m. on August 30, 1994, approximately one-and-a half hours after Robbi and her eight-year-old sister, Brandi, had returned home from school. Randy told his daughter that Mom had gone shopping and would soon be home.

Half-an-hour later, Randy arrived home, but his wife, thirty-two-year-old Bobbi Parker, had still not returned. Randy again assured his daughters there was nothing to worry about, and joked that she was probably late because she was buying them extra birthday presents. Privately, though, Randy was growing increasingly concerned.

Supper time came and went, and still no Bobbi. By then, Randy could no longer mask his worries. He was baffled as to why there was no sign of his wife . . . until he thought carefully of the day’s events.

Randy, the deputy warden of a minimum security prison in Granite, Oklahoma, one- hundred-forty-five miles southwest of Oklahoma City,  remembered one of the last people he had seen before going to work was forty-nine-year-old inmate Randolph Dial. When Randy called the prison to check on him, it was learned that the inmate was also missing.

The whereabouts of the escaped prisoner and the warden’s wife remained a mystery for over a decade. Whether Bobbi Parker went willingly or against her will with the convicted killer is still debated.

                                        Bobbi Parker      Randolph Dial

Randolph Dial was a former art teacher and an accomplished artist and sculptor; one of his pieces was briefly in a scene of the popular television show Dallas.

Dial did not shoot J.R., but he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for shooting another man to death.

An Artist And A Killer

The doorbell rang at the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, home of twenty-seven-year-old Kelly Hogan at approximately 10:00 p.m. on September 16, 1981. From another room, his wife Denise heard an argument ensue between her husband and another man, with the latter demanding to know the whereabouts of a Patty Thomas. Shortly thereafter, she heard a gunshot.

Denise fled out of a back door of her home and phoned for help. She did not see who had shot her husband.

When paramedics and police arrived, Kelly Hogan was pronounced dead at the scene, having been shot once in his chest.

Kelly Hogan

Kelly owned the Tai Kwon-Do Center in Tulsa. Earlier that day, a woman identifying herself as Patty Thomas had phoned him at his home, inquiring about martial arts lessons. They made an appointment to meet at the center at 8:00 p.m. Kelly returned home at 9:00, saying the woman never showed. One hour later, he was murdered.

No solid suspects emerged and Patty Thomas was never identified.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28310048/kelly-dean-hogan

 

No Suspects

Five years later, Randolph Dial matter-of-factly described how he knocked on the door and greeted Kelly Hogan with a bullet from a .380-caliber handgun, accurately describing the weapon used in the murder. Dial claimed the mob paid him $5,000 for the hit and that the motive involved drugs.  He confirmed “Patty Thomas” did not exist.

Nothing in Dial’s past linked him to the underworld, and investigators found no reason why the Mafia would have targeted Kelly Hogan, nor did they find any suggestion of his having used drugs.

Although police doubted Dial’s claims, he was temporarily released from jail following his 1986 arrest. While under police surveillance, he was wired in an attempt to garner evidence against other people he claimed were involved in the murder. As no such evidence was obtained, no additional arrests were made.

The consensus was that Randolph Dial had killed martial arts instructor Kelly Hogan for kicks. It was never determined what kind of connection, if any, he had with his victim.

Dial Boasts Of The Murder

Dial’s wife Katherine told investigators her husband had psychological control of her, having essentially turned her into a robot who was unable to think for herself. She said he had tricked her into helping kill Kelly Hogan, but refused to elaborate. I could not find anything specifically stating so, but it seems likely that she was the “Patty Thomas” who had phoned Kelly Hogan at this home.

Katherine, the second of Dial’s three wives, divorced her imprisoned husband in 1983. Three years later, she was found in a ditch, having been shot several times. Police found no evidence that Dial, from prison, hired someone to kill his former wife; her murder has not been solved.

I could not find a picture of Katherine Dial.

Diabolical Dial

Randolph Dial was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Kelly Hogan. After nearly eight years of good behavior, he was transferred to a minimum security unit at the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite. Dial’s daily work assignment was as caretaker at the next door home of the prison Deputy Warden, Randy Parker.

In his short stint at Granite, Dial was again considered a model prisoner, and he was again rewarded for his willing ways. The murderer was given trustee status, meaning he largely had full run of the prison and was given access to property outside the prison.

The clever and cunning killer who was fortunate to have escaped execution began executing a plan to escape.

Dial Is Deemed A Model Inmate

Bobbi Parker, the warden’s wife, had worked with several inmates as a volunteer for various rehabilitation programs. Some inmates, upon their release, credited her for helping turn their lives around.

Occasionally, Bobbi felt the prisoners were getting too close to her, but she handled them and believed she could manage any situation. She had however, never worked with a convicted murderer or a man as clever and cunning as Randolph Dial.

Bobbi Parker, wife of the warden, and Randolph Dial, convicted murderer, were brought together when money was donated to start a prison art project. The two worked many hours alone in the Parkers’ garage, which had been converted into a ceramics studio.

The Convicted Killer And The Warden’s Wife Working Together

After a few weeks, Randy Parker felt Dial was spending too much time with Bobbi and told his wife he was pulling the plug on the program. Bobbi asked him not to do so, assuring him the situation was under control. Against his better judgment, Randy relented.

As Randy left his home on the morning of August 30, 1994, Dial, the prisoner, was doing groundskeeping work in the warden’s yard. At noon, Randy came home for lunch but found the house empty. The kids were in school and a note from Bobbi said she had gone shopping and left a sandwich for him in the refrigerator.

When Bobbi did not return home that evening, Randy rehashed the day in his mind and realized Dial was also usually working in his yard when he came home for lunch, but had been absent that day.

Randy hurriedly dialed the prison and ordered guards to check on the convicted murderer.

Deputy Warden Randy Parker

Bobbie’s Husband

As the warden’s instincts had fearfully told him, Dial was not in his cell.

Granite inmates said Dial had been trying to barter for valium on the prison black market for several months. Randy believes Dial used the valium to knock Bobbi unconscious and then kidnap her.

The Oklahoma prison system was soon shampooed with shame, and no one was glad they had used Dial as a trustee. The killer used his status to gain his freedom and he had apparently taken a prize souvenir with him. The conditions, however, under which Dial took his trophy, were unclear.

Aren’t You Sorry

You Used Dial?

Later that evening, after Dial was confirmed missing, a crying and distraught Bobbi called her mother, asking her to call Randy and to tell him and the girls that she loved them and that it would all be over soon. She then abruptly hung up.

Bobbi called a friend the following day and delivered the same message in the same demeanor. This call was determined to have been made from Fort Worth, Texas, two-hundred-twenty miles southeast of Granite, Oklahoma.

Later that day, Bobbi’s van was found abandoned just across the Texas border. Inside the vehicle, police found several packs of Basic cigarettes, the chosen brand of Randolph Dial. No evidence of a struggle was found inside the vehicle.

On September 9, ten days after Bobbi Parker was last seen, she made a final phone call, to her sister-in-law, in which she delivered the same message and again sounded distraught.

Phone Calls From Bobbi

Authorities found no definitive evidence of a kidnapping but also found no proof that Bobbi had left voluntarily with Dial. The investigation was conducted on the assumption that she had been kidnapped.

Dial Is Sought For Escape And Kidnapping

In the ensuing six months, authorities received several reported sightings of Dial and a woman who may have been Bobbi. One of the most credible occurred in September 1994, approximately one month after the couple disappeared, at an art sale in Galveston, Texas, five-hundred-forty miles southeast of Granite, Oklahoma.

Police theorized Dial had sold some of his artwork at the show to help finance his life on the run, but they were unable to trace any of his pieces, nor could they definitively say it was he and Bobbi at the show.

The following month, Dial was reportedly seen driving in Arkansas, but the sighting could not be confirmed.  Few further substantive leads surfaced as to the fate of Bobbi Parker and to the whereabouts of Randolph Dial for a decade.

Reported Sightings Of Dial And Bobbi

In April 2005, a viewer of the America’s Most Wanted website recognized Randolph Dial and Bobbi Parker. The tipster knew the couple as “Richard and Samantha (Sam) Deahl” who were living in a small trailer and working on a chicken farm in Campti, Texas, near the Louisiana border and four-hundred-forty miles southeast of Granite, Oklahoma.

When police arrived at the chicken farm, they found “Sam” working outside. She was confirmed to be Bobbi Parker and appeared healthy and unharmed.

Inside the shack, “Richard” was cooking a steak for supper; the sizzle soon burned out as police confirmed he was Randolph Dial and shackled him with handcuffs.

The Couple Are Found In Texas

In a jailhouse interview shortly after his arrest, Dial said he had taken Bobbi hostage at knife point, then drugged her. In a fashion similar to how he had dominated his former wife Katherine, Dial claimed he exerted a psychological control over Bobbie during his ten-and-a-half years as a fugitive. He likened it to Stockholm Syndrome, in which, over time, kidnapping victims become sympathetic to their captors often out of fear of violence.

Dial also added that he escaped from prison because a fellow inmate associated with the Aryan Brotherhood was going to kill him because his new cellmate was a black homosexual called “Peaches.”

Dial’s Account

On February 7, 2007, Randolph Dial, on top of his life sentence, was given an additional seven years for his escape from the Granite prison. Four months later, on June 13, he died of a heart attack at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlister at age sixty-two.

Before Dying, Dial Clears Bobbi . . .

Bobbi confirmed Dial’s account, saying she did not try to leave him out of fear. Her family believed her, but not everyone accepted the claim.

Among the skeptics were the Greer County, Oklahoma, prosecutor’s office. On April 22, 2008, they charged Bobbi Parker with the felony of aiding a prisoner’s escape and subsequently helping him elude capture. The decision to do so was made largely on the statements of people who knew “Richard and Sam.”

Numerous acquaintances said Sam (Bobbi) never told anyone she had been kidnapped or was fearful of Richard (Dial.) In addition, they stated she was often alone and would have had numerous opportunities to escape.

. . . But The State Does Not

At Bobbi’s trial, prosecutors produced photos, emails, and romantic letters found in the trailer which they considered indicative of a willing couple. Finally, and perhaps most tellingly in the jury’s eyes, was the fact that Bobbi had helped nurse Dial after he had suffered a heart attack in 2004.

In addition, an inmate at Granite at the time Bobbi disappeared testified he had had a previous romantic relationship with her, while another testified he saw her willingly get into her van with Dial on the day she disappeared. The second inmate went on to say she drove the van and did not appear to be drugged or incapacitated in any way.

Bobbi’s defense team, however, discredited the testimony of both inmates. It was proven that the only romantic relationship between Bobbi and the first inmate was in his head, while the inmate who testified he had seen Bobbi willingly drive Dial away had changed his story several times.

Bobbi, At Her Trial

Bobbi’s lawyers argued that Dial had kidnapped her by drugging her and beating her. She claimed she was emotionally, physically, and sexually abused by Dial over her decade of captivity, that he had forced her to pose for the risque photos found in the trailer, and that he threatened to harm not just her, but her daughters as well, if she attempted to escape. Several psychiatrists testified on Bobbi’s behalf, supporting her claims of being “psychologically spellbound.”

Bobbi did not take the stand in her own defense.

Was Bobbi Brainwashed?

Despite the testimony of the medical professionals, the jury rejected Bobbi’s claims. Instead of the maximum ten years in prison, however, they recommended she only spend one year behind bars. The judge agreed to the sentence.

Bobbi Parker was released from prison after serving six months.

Bobbi Is Convicted,

But The Sentence Is Light

Randy Parker and his now-grown daughters believe Bobbi’s claims of being kidnapped and subsequently brainwashed by Randolph Dial and feel she was unjustly imprisoned. All are glad the family matriarch is back home.

Randy is now retired from the Oklahoma Board of Corrections. He and Bobbi are still living in Oklahoma.

Reunited: Randy Takes Bobbi Back

Charles Sasser’s book At Large: The Life and Crimes of Randolph Franklin Dial is an intriguing read about the saga of the charismatic killer and the warden’s wife. The book, originally published in 1998, was updated and re-released after the couple were found in 2005.

In 2001, seven years after his escape, Dial called Sasser, a former Tulsa Homicide Detective. During the nearly hour-long conversation, Sasser says Dial told him he had read the book a dozen times and offered “you [Sasser] weren’t always complimentary to me, but you were always fair and objective.”

During the call, Sasser also briefly spoke to a woman who he said sounded jovial and carefree. He asked three specific questions and was satisfied the woman he had spoken to was Bobbi Parker. Efforts afterwards to trace the phone call were unsuccessful.

After being found, both Dial and Bobbi confirmed the phone call. Bobbi claims she was putting on a front in acting happy because of her fear of Dial. Sasser dismisses her claims of being brainwashed for over a decade. He believes Bobbi went willingly with Dial.

Dial Read Sasser’s Book

Several pieces of Randolph Dial’s artwork had previously been available for sale on eBay, but I no longer found them on the site. I do not know if they were purchased or removed.

Some Of Dial’s Artwork On eBay

SOURCES:

• ABC News
• America’s Most Wanted
• At Large: The Life and Crimes of Randolph Franklin Dial by Charles Sasser
• CBS News
• newsOK
• Tulsa World