A millionaire dentist has been found guilty of murdering his wife with a shotgun at the end of an African safari trip - and cashing out on a £4.8m life insurance policy in her name.
The Mirror reports that Lawrence 'Larry' Rudolph, 67 - convicted of killing his wife of 34 years Bianca Rudolf - faces the death penalty or life in prison after Monday's verdict. Bianca died from a gunshot wound to the heart at their cabin in Zambia on October 11, 2016, on the day they were set to return to the US after a safari holiday.
Rudolph, a big game hunter from Pennsylvania, maintained his wife accidentally shot herself with their Browning gun. But a jury found him guilty of murder and mail fraud for cashing in Bianca's £4.8 million life insurance.
The couple had an open marriage since 2000, and Rudolph's girlfriend Lori Milliron, was found guilty by the same jury on Monday of being an accessory after the fact to murder, obstruction of a grand jury, and two counts of perjury before a grand jury. She was found not guilty on three other counts of perjury.
Rudolph, who has the support of his two adult children with Bianca, will appeal his conviction, according to his lawyer David Markus. Before the verdict, Markus had tried to dismiss what he said was a government case built on gossip and innuendo about the defendant's affairs, cash payments to his girlfriend, and whether the funeral he organised for his wife was nice enough.
The court case was tried in a federal court in Denver as some of the insurance money was paid out in Colorado, the Daily Mail reported. Rudolph claimed he was in the bathroom when he heard his wife, apparently a nervous traveller, say "come here and help me" before a shot rang out. He said he then found her on the floor bleeding.
Prosecutors, however, said evidence showed Bianca's wounds came from a shot fired from two to 3.5 feet away, and said the barrel of the gun was too long for her to have shot herself. In opening statements, the prosecution told jurors that Rudolph was overheard saying, "I killed my f***ing wife for you!" during a heated argument with Milliron at a Phoenix steakhouse in 2020, after he learned that the FBI was investigating his wife's death.
Rudolph denied that and claimed the pair were having a row about their finances and how the Covid-19 pandemic, then at its start, would affect the Pennsylvania dental franchise that had made him wealthy. But he was irritated because he said his major concern was the FBI's investigation.
Rudolph claimed what he actually said was: "Now they're saying I killed my f***ing wife for you." Zambian authorities determined two days after the shooting that it was accidental, according to the defense, as did investigators for the insurers who paid out the £4.8 million.
However, in December last year he was charged with 'foreign murder' and mail fraud by US authorities. Prosecutors, who believed the murder was premeditated, said he killed his wife for the payout, and so he could move in with Milliron.
Rudolph said he and his wife, despite marital problems and twice being close to divorce, agreed to stay married but were free to pursue sexual relationships with other people. He said neither Milliron nor his wife had given him any ultimatums about ending his relationship with the other.
His lawyer Markus argued that Rudolph had no financial motive for murder. Rudolph was worth more than $15 million when his wife died, he said, and the insurance payout went into a trust for their children. Rudolph told jurors: "I did not kill my wife. I could not murder my wife. I would not murder my wife."
Colorado's US Attorney Cole Finegan thanked the FBI for travelling around the world to collect evidence and interview witnesses in the case, and said he hoped the verdict brings some peace to Bianca Rudolph's family. "Bianca Rudolph deserved justice," he said.
Rudolph waved to Milliron as he was led out of court to jail after not having any interaction with her in the courtroom in previous days. Milliron will remain free with an ankle monitor until she is sentenced. Rudolph will be sentenced in February.
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