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A Bay Area Millionaire has been convicted of a 1998 cold case murder after his husband set up a sting operation to catch him.
Timothy Stephenson, 48, was jailed for 16 years for the murder of 26-year-old Randall Oliphant earlier this month.
Stephenson fatally shot OIiphant after picking him up at a gay bar in Kansas City before taking him back to his home.
Years later, the killer admitted his crimes to then-husband, Joseph Ginjeko, even revealing that he had remodeled his bathroom to hide the grisly scene.
But it wasn’t until six years later when the couple were going through a messy divorce and custody battle that Ginjeko approached police with his information.
Timothy Stephenson, 48, has been convicted of a 1998 cold case murder after his husband set up a sting operation to catch him
Stephenson, 48, has been convicted of the January 1998 the murder of 26-year-old Randall Oliphant (pictured)
The killer (right) told his husband, Joseph Ginjeko, about the murder in 2014 but it was not until the two were separating six years later that he approached police. Pictured: The couple with their twin daughters in 2013
He told cops how Stephenson had once confessed to shooting Oliphant in the bathroom at his home in January 1998.
At the time, Stephenson was questioned by police over the victim’s disappearance but told them he had dropped him off at another bar after taking him home, East Bay Times reports.
In reality, he took Oliphant home where he shot him once and then again as he was pleading for his life.
He then dumped the victim’s body in woodland 100 miles away in rural Benton County, Missouri, where it was discovered two months later.
Stephenson had successfully managed to conceal his dark past for many years, practicing as a doctor and living in $2 million home in a quiet suburb east of San Francisco with Ginjeko and their twin daughters.
But as his personal life began to unravel, Ginjeko recalled his husband’s 2014 confession and went to police.
Investigators then found that Stephenson’s cell phone records matched with roaming charges from a cell tower near where Oliphant’s body was found.
In 1998, they also interviewed a person who bought Stephenson’s Jeep Wrangler in May of that year who told them that parts of the car’s carpet had been torn out.
Stephenson fatally shot OIiphant after picking him up at a gay bar in Kansas City before taking him back to his home
Ginjeko agreed to wear a microphone to elicit the confession that would ultimately lead to his estranged husband’s conviction
Stephenson pleaded guilty and was jailed for 16 years with credit for time served
Traces of blood were found in the rear cargo area, but DNA evidence was inconclusive. It is not clear why Stephenson was not arrested at the time.
The woodland where Oliphant was found was also familiar to Stephenson, who had spent time at his grandparents’ nearby growing up.
Ginjeko filed for divorce in 2020 and went to police not long after, divulging the kind of information that would only have been known by the killer.
He then agreed to wear a microphone to try to elicit a confession from his estranged husband, who never disclosed his motive for the killing.
When Ginjeko broached the subject, Stephenson became ‘paranoid’ and asked if he was wearing a wire, even frisking him before he would continue.
He eventually admitted to confessing in 2014 but said he had only told Ginjeko to scare him into not leaving him.
Stephenson was charged with murder in December of that year and extradited to Missouri where he pleaded guilty.
He was sentenced to 16 years in prison with credit for time served.
