Murder trial set for man in Citrus Heights drugstore heist that left woman, 87, dead

Kimani Eli Randolph will stand trial Monday in the 2017 drugstore murder of an elderly shopper he allegedly bowled over during the robbery of a Citrus Heights Rite Aid.

Opening statements begin Monday morning before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Emily Vasquez in the brazen robbery that led to the death of 87-year-old Marilyn Stribley days after Thanksgiving.

Stribley was a regular customer and popular presence at the store in the 6600 block of Auburn Boulevard where three men, including the man later identified in security camera images as Randolph, dashed out as she walked inside on Nov. 27, 2017,

Sacramento County prosecutors say Randolph knocked Stribley backward to the ground, her head striking the floor.

The two other men stepped over the prone woman as they fled. The crew robbed the pharmacy of $23,000 in pills, prosecutors said. Earlier that day, the trio knocked over a Walgreens drugstore in a similar robbery, prosecutors said.

Stribley died days later on Dec. 2 at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael.

Randolph fled California after the robbery but was soon arrested in Las Vegas and brought back to Sacramento to face robbery and burglary charges connected to the pharmacy heist.

Months later, in March 2018, Sacramento County district attorney’s prosecutors filed a murder charge against Randolph in Stribley’s death.

Randolph, now 22, remains held without bail in Sacramento County Main Jail.

This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 1:46 PM.