Gay millionaire convicted of man’s 1998 cold case murder after his ex-husband sets up police sting

The story of Timothy Stephenson and Joseph Ginjeko is almost certainly going to go down in the “messy gay divorce” history books, after Ginjeko told police that his husband was a murderer amid a bitter custody battle.

Bay Area millionaire Stephenson has since been convicted of a 1998 cold case murder that originally left police scratching their heads, after his husband filed for divorce and approached police in 2020.

The Daily Mail reports that Stephenson was jailed for 16 years earlier this month, after the police investigation found that Stephenson fatally shot a 26-year-old man– Randall ‘Randy’ Oliphant – in January 1998 after picking him up at a gay bar in Kansas City and then taking him back to his home.

Stephenson was questioned by police over Oliphant’s disappearance at the time, but told them he had dropped him off at another bar after taking him home, according to East Bay Times.

He had actually shot the man twice, then dumped his body in woodland 100 miles away where it was discovered two months later. Stephenson has never explained what motivated the killing. He later remodelled the bathroom to mask the crime scene and conceal evidence.

The killer confessed to his husband, Joseph Ginjeko, about the murder in 2014, but it was not until the two were separating six years later that Ginjeko approached police. The couple have twin daughters.

Ginjeko agreed to wear a microphone to try and record his estranged husband confessing to the murder, however Stephenson reportedly became ‘paranoid’ when he was asked about Oliphant’s killing, asking Ginjeko if he was wearing a wire and frisking him – but he didn’t find anything and went on to admit the crime.

• Nov 29 2023

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