Randy Herman Jr found guilty of first degree murder of Florida roommate Brooke Preston- claiming he stabbed her while sleepwalking. Sentenced to life behind bars.
A Florida man who claimed he was sleepwalking when he stabbed his roommate to death has been sentenced to life in prison.
Randy Allen Herman Jr, 26, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder and sentenced to life behind bars. Herman argued that he was sleepwalking when he stabbed 21-year-old Brooke Preston more than 20 times at a West Palm, area home in March 2017.
He testified he had no memory of the attack, just being covered in blood with a knife in his hand the Palm Beach Post reported.
A forensic psychologist testified that Herman’s history of sleepwalking could explain the attack. Herman’s defense said he suffered from sleeping disorder- parasomnia while also arguing there was no motive or history of violence between the two.
Investigators said Preston was preparing to move to New York and start a new job along with relocating to be with her boyfriend in her native, Bradford County, Pennsylvania home.
It remained unclear if Herman harbored romantic designs on his female roommate.
Prosecutors claim Herman stabbed Preston to death when she dropped by Herman’s home to say goodbye to him before she moved back home. The woman had recently moved out of the home she’d shared with Herman.
Investigators during trial testimony said Herman repeatedly stabbed Preston in the abdomen, back and throat. The woman also had defensive wounds on her hands.
Prosecutors rejected the defense’s sleepwalking claim, saying the attack was deliberate.
The guilty verdict and sentencing follows Herman’s 53-year-old father Randy Herman Sr. allegedly killing his 50-year-old girlfriend Gail Monahan in Hanover Township, Pennsylvania.
Two months later, as law enforcement officers closed in on him in Marshall County, Alabama, Herman Sr. was found dead inside a pickup truck.
