American dentist and big game hunter is found guilty of killing his wife on their African safari

Lawrence Rudolph, 67, killed his spouse, Bianca Rudolph, with a shotgun and defrauded a number of insurance coverage firms, a federal jury discovered Monday. Rudolph took in additional than $4.8 million in life insurance coverage funds after he died almost six years in the past.

Two weeks later, whereas Bianca Rudolph was packing for the couple’s return dwelling, she suffered a deadly blast from the Browning shotgun at their searching cabin in Kafue Nationwide Park. Rudolph informed investigators he heard the shot at daybreak whereas within the toilet and believed the shotgun had by chance exploded as she holstered it , in line with court docket paperwork. He informed investigators he discovered her bleeding on the ground.

However federal prosecutors at Rudolph’s trial in Denver, the place the insurance coverage firms are primarily based, described it as a premeditated crime. Prosecutors argued that Rudolph killed his spouse of 30 years for insurance coverage cash and to be along with his girlfriend.

Protection lawyer David Markus had argued that Larry Rudolph had no monetary motive to kill his spouse. In court docket paperwork, he famous that Rudolph owned a dental observe close to Pittsburgh valued at $10 million.

“We’re clearly extraordinarily upset. We consider in Larry and his kids,” Markus and fellow protection attorneys Margot Moss and Lauren Doyle stated in a press release following Monday’s verdict. “There are a variety of very important enchantment points, which we are going to pursue after we have now had the prospect to regroup.”

Embassy official expressed suspicion after taking pictures, FBI says

In court docket papers, investigators alleged that Rudolph raised suspicion when he sought to rapidly cremate his spouse’s physique in Zambia.

Rudolph scheduled a cremation three days after his dying, in line with court docket paperwork. After reporting his dying to the US Embassy within the Zambian capital, Lusaka, the consular chief ‘informed the FBI he had a nasty feeling concerning the scenario, which he stated was altering too rapidly’ , FBI Particular Agent Donald Peterson wrote within the legal report. affidavit.

In consequence, the chief consular officer and two different embassy officers went to the funeral dwelling the place the physique was being held to take pictures and protect any potential proof. When Rudolph found that embassy officers had taken pictures of his spouse’s physique, he was “furious,” Peterson wrote.

Rudolph initially informed the consular chief that his spouse might have died by suicide, however an investigation by Zambian legislation enforcement concluded it was an unintentional discharge.

Insurer investigators got here to an analogous conclusion and paid out on the insurance policies.

However forensic proof confirmed Bianca Rudolph’s accidents got here from a shot fired from at the least two toes away, in line with a legal criticism filed in federal court docket.

“At this distance, there’s cause to consider that Bianca Rudolph was not killed by an unintentional discharge as acknowledged,” the criticism states.

A pal of Bianca Rudolph requested the FBI to research

However federal investigators argued the taking pictures was premeditated in order that Rudolph “might falsely declare the dying was the results of an accident.”

Rudolph orchestrated his spouse’s dying as a part of a scheme to defraud life insurance coverage firms and permit him to reside brazenly along with his then-girlfriend, the FBI has claimed.

Bianca and Lawrence Rudolph moved from Pennsylvania to Arizona about 4 years earlier than her dying. Rudolph’s dental observe remained in Pennsylvania, and he commuted between his Phoenix dwelling.

Federal authorities turned concerned after a pal of Bianca Rudolph requested the FBI to research the dying as a result of she suspected foul play. The pal stated Larry Rudolph had been concerned in extramarital affairs and had a girlfriend on the time of his spouse’s dying.

The girlfriend labored as a supervisor at her dental workplace close to Pittsburgh and informed a former worker she had been courting him for 15 to twenty years, in line with court docket paperwork.

Three months after Bianca Rudolph’s dying, the girlfriend moved in with Larry Rudolph, in line with court docket paperwork.

CNN has reached out to his lawyer for remark.