1998 Kansas City Murder: Timothy Stephenson Sentenced

TL/DR –

Timothy Stephenson lived a seemingly enviable life in a $2 million home in San Francisco, married to a doctor, until his past caught up with him in 2021 when he was arrested for a murder committed two decades prior. Stephenson’s husband, Joseph Ginejko, provided new information to the police about the 1998 murder of Randall Oliphant in Kansas City, a crime Stephenson confessed to Ginejko in 2014. Stephenson was extradited to Missouri, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Unraveling the Past of Timothy Stephenson: A Murder Case Resurrected After Two Decades

Timothy Stephenson, living in a $2 million suburban home east of San Francisco with his doctor husband and twin daughters, hid a dark secret. Two decades earlier, he had shot and killed a man in a Kansas City bar.

In 2021, the unsolved crime caught up with Stephenson. His personal life was deteriorating, with a divorce filing the previous year and a custody battle for his children in progress. Arrested on murder charges, he was extradited to Missouri, where he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 16-year sentence.

Stephenson’s downfall began when police obtained new information about the 1998 murder in Kansas City. The source was none other than Stephenson’s estranged husband.

A Decade-Old Confession Comes to Light

Stephenson confessed to his husband, Joseph Ginejko, about a murder he committed in Missouri ten years prior. According to a probable cause statement, Stephenson recounted meeting the victim, Randall Oliphant, in a gay bar in January 1998. The two drove to Stephenson’s house in Kansas City, where Oliphant was shot twice in the bathroom.

Oliphant’s body was later discovered in rural Benton County, Missouri. The area was familiar to Stephenson, who visited frequently because his father and grandmother resided nearby. Stephenson confessed to remodeling the bathroom to conceal the crime scene and evidence.

Investigators found that Stephenson’s phone records revealed roaming charges from a cellular tower near the victim’s body location. However, due to inconclusive DNA evidence from traces of blood in Stephenson’s Jeep Wrangler, it remains unclear why he was not arrested in 1998.

Stephenson and Ginejko, living in the once-named safest suburb in California, Danville, were married in 2008. Ginejko filed for divorce in January 2020, six years after hearing his husband’s startling confession.

New Evidence Emerges

Between early 2020 and April 2021, Ginejko spoke to the police and shared details of the killing previously unknown to the public. This evidence suggested he could only have learned these details from his husband.

An undercover operation was staged in April 2021, capturing a meeting between Stephenson and Ginejko on audio and video. During the conversation, Ginejko brought up Stephenson’s 2014 confession, which led to Stephenson becoming paranoid and admitting that he had confessed to the killing years earlier.

Stephenson’s 16-year sentence includes credit for time served, marking the end of a two-decade-long mystery and bringing closure to a long-unsolved murder case.

—
Read More US News