On the afternoon of December 22, 1992, the body of 40 years older man was discovered in the Junction City of Kansas. Kansas authorities were stunned by the nature of this crime because this kind of thing never happened in Junction City.
But three days before Christmas in 1992, a man named Randall ‘Randy’ Sheridan was shot to death while jogging on a gravel road around 3 pm. As the autopsy report disclosed later, his body was lying face up on the road and had been shot five times with a 12-gauge shotgun.
According to the report, Randy was shot three times before he collapsed to the ground, twice in the chest and once in the neck. As he fell, the shooter got out of the car and shot wounded Randy twice in his head to ensure he didn’t make it out alive.
Randy was just half a mile away from his home in the south of Junction City. After the incident, the Geary County officials went to Randy’s home to disclose the matter to his wife Judy Junghans, whom he married in 1981, and further investigated the murder. Randy’s spouse was completely shocked to find out about her husband’s murder after she’d just phoned him before 3 pm as he was going out jogging.
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Randy Sheridan Was Dana Flynn’s Ex-boyfriend
Dana Dreiling Flynn, the convict of the first-degree murder along with her brother Mikel Dreiling in 1996, was in a romantic relationship with Randy Sheridan before his murder. Randall Sheridan was born in 1952 in Ellsworth, Kansas. Dana was ten years younger than her married ex-boyfriend.
One year into the marriage, Randy divorced his wife Judy and started dating again. Dana was dating Randy, and their union was blessed with a daughter Ashley in 1985. Although Dana carried Randy’s daughter in her womb, the former lived separately, as their relationship wasn’t considered serious.
After Ashely was born, the former were often found arguing about the visitation schedule for Randy to meet his own daughter. Dana wanted no part of Randy in her and Ashley’s life, as she wanted to get rid of her ex-boyfriend.
Sheridan remarried his then-wife Judy, with whom he had another daughter. As a result, their relationship was once again taking a positive turn. In the meantime, Dana also had a son as she married a man named Steve Flynn in the late 80s.
Pastor Jerry and Dana Flynn Coerced Mikel Dreiling To Kill Randy
Dana constantly demonized Randy’s image with the help of Pastor Jerry A. Rollins to all the members of the church.
As a result, he was considered an ‘evil man’, and as pastor Jerry put it, ‘God wants him dead. This demonization influences not only the church community but also Dana’s younger brother Mikel, who got involved in the murder and served 23 years in prison; he was on parole in October 2019.
According to Judy’s statement, her late husband received two phone calls in the middle of the night. As she answered the call, she heard a male voice. Randall, on her side, snatched the phone from her and said, “Grew up ‘Mikel’ Mikie”. Dana’s brother was conflicted about whether he should kill Randall.
However, killing a man was against his religious beliefs and practice. He put his whole trust in his pastor and went for advice. As Jerry, the pastor labelled Randall as an ‘evil man’, Jerry had a psychological influence on Mikel, who decided to kill the ‘bad’ man who assaulted his niece.
Surprisingly, as the investigation was proceeding, it was discovered that Dana was having an affair with Pastor Jerry, who aided the felon with supplying a shotgun. Jerry, who accepted the plea deal on aiding a felon, served four months in prison.
Dana’s False Allegation To Win Child Custody Battle
After continuous ups and downs, Judy and Randy had a good relationship with the birth of their daughter. The problem was not in their marriage but in Dana, who claimed her ex-boyfriend was assaulting his own daughter.
Following her allegations, the police started investigating Randy but found no solid evidence to prove he was somehow involved in molesting Ashley. Rather, it was discovered that Dana was coaching her child so that she could take advantage of the child custody battle.
Randy Sheridan Case and Custody Battle
Before his death, Sheridan was in the middle of a major custody battle over Ashley as he feared Dana’s behaviour was not a good influence on her, and he wanted full custody of his daughter.
Ironically, the day before he was shotgunned in Junction City, Sheridan had a court hearing as he requested the court to take Ashley on a Christmas trip with his family. The court granted the permission, and Dana was supposed to hand over the custody of her child the next day to Randy, but unfortunately, she had other plans for Randall.
The following day, Dana went to her work but left early and made her supposed visit to her mother’s house. However, she didn’t have a strong alibi like her brother, who lied to the officials claiming he was with his sister in her house all day as he had a knee injury. The siblings didn’t get their story straight and were caught first-hand.
However, their arrest was delayed since the police didn’t find the murder weapon and couldn’t place them around the crime scene area. It took the prosecutor four long years to finally convict the felons with the charge of first-degree murder. Both brother and sister, Dana and Mikel, were sentenced to life in prison by the grand jury in 1996 with the only chance of parole after 19 years. Mikel was released from prison in October 2019 on parole and told to Oxygen exactly what happened on December that day in 1992.
Snapped: Where Is Dana Flynn Now?
Randy Sheridan’s case and custody battle were covered in the popular American true-crime-related series Snapped, which aired on November 22, 2020. The documentary series also featured Dana’s accomplice and brother, Mikel Dreiling, who confessed his involvement in such heinous murder in 1992.
In an interview with Oxygen, Mikel shed light on how the murder conspired and how he was coerced by his sister Dana and pastor Jerry to commit such a crime. Mikel doesn’t understand why his sister claims she has nothing to do with the murder and maintains her innocence. Even though all the evidence points out that she conspired in the murder.
Dana was denied parole twice by the grand jury, expecting the earliest possible release in January 2022. So far, no update or news has been disclosed to the media upon her release. She is probably in prison or may have been denied parole again. This section will be updated in light of any information regarding Dana from Randy Sheridan’s case and custody battle.
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