Twisted Confession: Tenn. Sex Offender Admits to 2013 Motel Murder After a Decade of Mystery
A chilling confession has finally unraveled the mystery of a missing woman’s fate—over ten years after she vanished without a trace.
On Feb. 7, the Knox County District Attorney General’s Office announced that 62-year-old Randall Rose pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2013 killing of 58-year-old Sharon Leinart. A judge sentenced him to life in prison, though Rose was already serving a separate life sentence for another murder in Madison County.
According to the Knoxville Police Department, Leinart was reported missing in March 2013. Her family, who maintained nearly daily contact with her, grew alarmed when all communication and financial activity suddenly ceased on Jan. 23 of that year. Leinart, who was homeless at the time, had last been seen at Volunteer Ministries, and a relative later claimed she had been staying at a Knoxville-area motel.
Despite efforts to locate her, including submitting familial DNA to the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, the case remained cold for years.
Then, in a shocking turn of events, Rose admitted during an October 2023 interview that he had strangled a woman at the Sunset Motel and hidden her body. His chilling confession aligned with Leinart’s case, leading authorities to formally charge him with her murder. However, her remains have never been found.
Prosecutors revealed that Leinart had once been an emergency nurse and a dedicated volunteer with the Civil Air Patrol. In response to the conviction, District Attorney General Charme Allen said, “After a decade of wondering what happened to their loved one, I hope the judgment in this case allows this family to find some measure of peace.”
As if the revelations couldn’t get more disturbing, records from the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry show that Rose has two prior rape convictions. Now, with two life sentences stacked against him, he will never again walk free—but for Leinart’s loved ones, closure remains elusive until her body is finally recovered.
