Warden's wife, killer lived as couple, witness says

MANGUM, Oklahoma -- The wife of a deputy warden and the prisoner she's accused of helping escape lived as man and wife in a small trailer on a chicken ranch in east Texas for more than a decade, an investigator testified Monday.

Bobbi Parker and Randolph Dial were found after their case was highlighted on "America's Most Wanted."

The details of how Bobbi Parker, 46, and convicted murderer Randolph Dial lived together during his time on the lam were detailed at a preliminary hearing to determine if she will be tried on a charge of helping Dial escape.

The trailer had only one bed, and a search of the home uncovered photographs, mail they received, cards they exchanged, condoms, Viagra instructions and a vibrating sex toy, testified investigator Robert Williams with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
"We found items that appeared to us as a husband and wife relationship between a man and a woman," Williams said.

Parker told investigators the couple never were intimate, that she wasn't attracted to Dial and that the sex toy was a gag gift from a friend, Williams said.

Parker's defense attorney maintains Dial, who died in prison last year, kidnapped Parker at knifepoint and held her against her will by threatening to harm her and her family.
"From the get-go, Dial was intimidating to her," said attorney Rick Cunningham. "He threatened her and her family, her two daughters ... and that became an oppressive part of that situation.
"She kind of resigned herself to her fate."

Dial escaped the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite on August 30, 1994.

He and Parker were found April 4, 2005, after their case was highlighted on the television show "America's Most Wanted."

Parker's husband, Randy Parker, testified Monday that Dial was an artist who had been allowed to start up a pottery program in the detached garage at the Parkers' home on the prison grounds.

Bobbi Parker told investigators she began to feel woozy on the day of the escape, possibly from being drugged, and that she recalls Dial carrying her to the van.

Williams said Parker had numerous opportunities to escape while living with Dial, including when Dial was near death from a heart attack. Instead, she wrote him a love letter, the investigator said.

"The first night I spent in this house without you was unbearable," Williams said, reading from the letter. "I want us to laugh, do things together, sleep together ... because I love you."
The charge against Parker carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. The preliminary hearing is to determine whether there is enough evidence to move the case to trial.

Dial was serving a life sentence for the 1981 murder of a karate instructor.

Prosecutors previously filed court documents that alleged Parker had previous relationships, including sex, with inmates before escaping with Dial and that she had said she was unhappy in her marriage.

Bobbi Parker remains married to Randy Parker, who sat with other family members behind the defendant. She and her husband whispered to each other at times during the proceedings.

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