His wife and daughter said he was a selfless family man with a loud voice and a constant smile.
Mia Randolph said she and her husband, Mark Randolph, have been separated for four years, but remained close. He was a big personality, a loving father, and still texted her every day.
"Every morning he'd say 'Good morning' to everyone in his contact list," she said in a phone interview Tuesday, her voice full of tears. "That's how we knew something was wrong" when no text came Saturday.
A relative found Mark Randolph, 50, dead on the floor of his Hilltop Court apartment in Gloucester Township that afternoon. On the bed next to him was a butterfly knife, a broken bracelet, and a broken silver necklace with a dumbbell charm on it, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
Authorities said the necklace belongs to his brother, Shawn Randolph, 45, of Blackwood, who works as a personal trainer.
He was arrested in Philadelphia Monday and charged with murder, the prosecutor's office said Tuesday. Mark Randolph died from blunt trauma to his neck, the medical examiner determined.
Mia Randolph said Shawn struggled with addiction and would have periods of heavy drug use when he would say he had blacked out.
According to the criminal complaint, Shawn texted a friend Saturday that he blacked out during a fight instigated by his brother and later fled the house.
"His blood is on my hands now," Shawn wrote.
Brothers Mark Randolph, left, Dan Randolph, center, and Shawn Randolph, right. Shawn Randolph is charged with murder in the death of Mark Randolph. Provided
Mia Randolph said that losing Mark is painful enough, but it is even sadder to know that her brother-in-law is charged with the crime.
"They loved each other," she said. "[Mark] would do anything for this man."
Mark and his two brothers grew up in South Philly. After their parents died when they were young, they ended up raising each other, Mia Randolph said. It made Mark and Shawn especially close, and Shawn would often live in Mark's apartment, she said.
'I can never forgive myself'
In a probable cause statement, Camden County Prosecutor's Office Detective Chris Sarson indicated there were signs that Shawn Randolph took things from his brother's home when he visited early Saturday morning, but didn't say specifically that robbery was the motive for the killing.
Mia Randolph said she believes the fight occurred when Mark Randolph refused to give his brother money for drugs.
Sarson wrote that surveillance video footage showed Shawn entering the apartment at 6:28 a.m. with a red duffle bag. When he left at 7:47 a.m., he had changed clothes and was carrying the bag, which seemed much heavier than before.
Police also noted that there was also a padlock on the bed, which had apparently been taken from the bedroom's closet door.
A friend of Shawn's told police they texted Saturday afternoon about what had happened. In the messages, Shawn claims that his brother came at him with the butterfly knife and what happened was self-defense, though he also said he blacked out.
"...you know I love my brother he was all f------ pissed off at me," the texts read. "I mean come on man I don't want to do that to my brother his blood is on my hands now I can never forgive myself for that but [what] was I supposed to do leaving was the wrong thing to do I was scared..."
Sarson noted that no blood was found on the knife on the bed.
Philadelphia Police Department arrested Shawn around noon Monday on the 800 block of Porter Street in South Philadelphia. He is awaiting extradition to the Camden County Correctional Facility, where prosecutor's will ask that he be held pending trial.
'The neighborhood's dad'
Mark Randolph had an outgoing, larger-than-life personality and was loving to everyone in his life, his family said.
"He would give a stranger the shirt off his back. He'd light up a room every time he walked into it, say 'hi' to everyone he knew and didn't," said his daughter, Attalia Randolph, 17. "He'd make everyone feel wanted and like they are something."
Mark Randolph and his daughter, AttaliaProvided
But family came first, she and Mia Randolph said.
"My father would always say, 'family is everything, we are here forever' and he meant that deeply," Attalia Randolph said. Despite her parents' separation, she said, he loved his kids, stepkids, Mia Randolph and his girlfriend, and reminded them every day.
"He was always there, everything negative he would make positive, always had a smile on his face..." she said. "He loved me. He was my best friend, my world."
Mia Randolph, Attalia's mother, said her late husband had a loud voice and used it to greet anyone he saw, so he knew everyone at the Wawa or at other places he would frequent. "He's going to be missed by so many people," she said.
They ran off to Las Vegas to get married six weeks after they met, she said, and were married 18 years. He worked as a cook in Philadelphia, but hadn't worked since he was disabled in a car accident more than 15 years ago.
She said he was always "the neighborhood's dad," playing catch with all the kids and buying them and their parents ice cream when the truck came around.
"He'd give you anything and everything. He was very selfless," she said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with the funeral expenses.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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