A millionaire Pennsylvania man and big game enthusiast was found guilty of murder and mail fraud for the death of his wife while on safari in Africa in 2000.
A jury found Lawrence “Larry” Rudolph guilty of 67 years old, guilty of shooting his wife, Bianca Finizio Rudolph, of 34 years, after a three-week trial in federal court in Denver.
In addition, he was convicted of mail fraud for collecting 4.8 million dollars in life insurance payments after the death of his wife in the month of October 2016, which according to the dentist was accidental and self-inflicted.
The jury sided with the prosecutors who claimed that Rudolph he killed his wife in cold blood as a premeditated plan to take the life insurance payments and start a new life with his lover from 20 years.
Prosecutors said the millionaire shot his partner during a hunting trip in Zambia on 11 October 2016, and years after the event he was heard screaming “I killed my damn wife for you!”, in an argument with his lover, Lori Milliron, during a dinner.
The dentist maintained his innocence in court and assured that his wife had accidentally shot herself in the chest while keeping a shotgun in its case at the time he was in the bathroom.
Also, he said that Bianca Rudolph had packed her bags quickly because she was in a hurry to get home from the trip to Zambia.
“I didn’t kill my wife. I couldn’t murder my wife. I would not kill my wife,” he told the jury.
However, prosecutors declared that the gunshot wound could not have been accidental, presenting evidence showing that the shot to his heart it had been made from a distance of two to three and a half feet.
They also indicated that the dentist planned to kill his wife after she asked for more decision-making power in the finances of the marriage and demanded that Milliron be fired.
For their part, Rudolph’s lawyers stated that he had no reason to murder his wife for Milliron because the couple had allegedly decided to have an open relationship since 2000, which allowed them to have sexual relations with other people.
Also They stated that they had no economic need for the life insurance payments, which they allocated to a trust for the couple’s children, when at that time they had a fortune of more than 15 millions of dollars. Insurance company detectives concluded the death was accidental and paid more than $5 million for the family.
Prosecutors said Milliron, who is manager of Rudolph’s dental franchise, knew about the homicide after it happened. She was charged with lying to a federal jury about the case and her relationship with the man.
Lori Milliron was found guilty by the same jury of being an accessory to murder, obstruction of a grand jury and two counts of perjury before a grand jury. She was found not guilty on two other counts of perjury.
Rudolph would face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
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