A Fatal Betrayal in East Palatka
The relationship between employer and employee is built on trust, but in the case of Minnie Ruth McCollum and Richard Barry Randolph, it ended in an unimaginable nightmare. In late 1987, 26-year-old Randolph was desperately searching for a job. With no prior work experience and a highly unstable living situation, he faced rejection at every turn. That was until he walked into the Handy Way convenience store in East Palatka, Florida.
The store’s manager, Minnie Ruth McCollum, saw potential in the young man when no one else would. She decided to give him a chance, hiring him despite his lack of credentials. For the first few months, it seemed like Ruth’s gamble had paid off. Randolph proved to be a dedicated, responsible worker. His steady income even allowed him to rent a small house, offering a semblance of stability to a young man who had grown up as an orphan.
However, this period of peace was short-lived. Randolph developed a severe addiction to cocaine. As the dependency tightened its grip, his life rapidly spiraled out of control. Soon, he could no longer afford his rent and was evicted, ultimately taking up residence inside a dumpster located right next to the convenience store. His behavioral shift was immediate; he became irritable, unkempt, and frequently arrived late to his shifts. After discovering that Randolph had stolen from the business, a heartbroken Ruth made the difficult decision to fire him.
The Nightmare at Handy Way
On the morning of August 15th, 1988, Randolph returned to the Handy Way store, driven by desperation and the weight of his addiction. Armed with a toy gun, he intended to rob the business. The situation turned critical when Ruth caught him attempting to open the store safe. Recognizing that the weapon in his hand was fake, she confronted him, sparking a violent argument that quickly turned physical.
What followed was a prolonged and exceptionally brutal assault. Randolph repeatedly beat Ruth with his hands and slammed her head against the store’s hard surfaces. When she tried to defend herself, he used the drawstring of his own sweatshirt to strangle her until she lost consciousness.
The nightmare did not stop there. When Ruth regained consciousness and began screaming for help, Randolph resumed the assault, striking her until she could no longer resist. In a final, horrific escalation, he stabbed her multiple times in the neck and head with a small knife before sexually assaulting her.
Following the attack, Randolph stole Ruth’s car keys and lottery tickets, leaving her for dead. As he was locking the front door of the store to make his escape, three witnesses—Terry Sorrell, Dorothy Petilla, and Debra Petilla—confronted him. Wearing an employee shirt, Randolph lied, claiming Ruth’s car had broken down and that he was on his way to pick her up. Suspicious of his story and noticing the overturned trash cans, disarray, and a displaced security camera inside, the women immediately contacted the sheriff’s office.
An officer arrived swiftly to find Ruth lying on her back, covered in blood, struggling to breathe, and moaning faintly. She was rushed to the hospital in a coma, where she survived for six days before succumbing to catastrophic brain injuries. Randolph was arrested later that day at a grocery store in Jacksonville while attempting to cash the stolen lottery tickets. He quickly confessed to the crime, pointing investigators toward the bloodstained clothing he had discarded during his flight.
A Historic Execution and Three Decades of Appeals
In 1989, a jury found Randolph guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery, sexual assault, and grand theft. They recommended the death penalty by an 8-to-4 vote, which the presiding judge accepted, citing four severe aggravating factors: the crime was committed during a sexual assault, it was done to avoid arrest, it was motivated by financial gain, and it was uniquely heinous, atrocious, and cruel.
Randolph would spend the next 35 years on Florida’s death row, launching a complex web of appeals, clemency requests, and post-conviction motions. In his later years, Randolph developed systemic lupus, a severe autoimmune disease. His legal team argued that Florida’s three-drug lethal injection protocol could cause extreme pain and suffocation due to his medical condition, potentially constituting cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
However, the Florida Supreme Court ultimately rejected the claims, citing that they had been filed past the legal deadline. On October 21st, 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant, scheduling the execution for November 20th, 2025. This marked a historic milestone for the state, as Randolph became the 17th person executed in Florida in 2025—the highest annual total recorded since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.
The Final Hours
On November 20th, 2025, Richard Barry Randolph’s 35 years on death row came to an end at the Florida State Prison near Starke. Having grown up an orphan and maintaining no family ties, he received no visitors and made no phone calls on his final day. He woke up at 4:00 a.m., showered, and spent time with a spiritual advisor.
His final meal, served the evening prior, consisted of a double hamburger with lettuce and tomato, fried onion rings with ketchup, and a slice of cherry pie topped with whipped cream.
At 5:50 p.m., Randolph was escorted into the execution chamber. The procedure experienced a brief delay as officials worked to establish a viable IV line, a common complication in long-term inmates. Once the line was secured, the execution began promptly at 6:00 p.m.
The execution process lasted roughly six minutes. Observers noted that Randolph moved, gasped, and grimaced slightly as the lethal drugs began to take effect. Throughout the process, the viewing room lights remained dimmed, and Randolph kept his eyes closed. When asked if he wished to share any final words or a statement, he chose to remain completely silent. He was officially pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m. Outside the prison walls, the night remained quiet, with no demonstrations or protests marking the conclusion of a case that took over three decades to reach its final chapter.
