The dentist who was convicted of murdering his wife
American dentist and avid hunter Lawrence (Larry) Rudolph, 67, was found guilty of murdering his wife Bianca with a shotgun during their 2016 African safari in Zambia, a federal jury ruled yesterday (Monday). He was also convicted of fraud after receiving more than $4.8 million in life insurance payouts after her death nearly six years ago.
Rudolph has maintained his innocence and said the gun must have been accidentally fired: “I didn’t kill my wife. I couldn’t have murdered my wife. I wouldn’t have murdered my wife,” Rudolph told jurors when he took the stand to testify in his defense at a federal trial in Denver last week.
The jury also found Rudolph’s partner, Lori Milliron, guilty of being an accessory after the fact to murder, obstruction of justice and two counts of perjury based on her testimony before the jury, according to the Justice Department.
Larry and Bianca Phoenix shared a passion for hunting big game, and traveled to Zambia in the southern African continent in September 2016 so Bianca could add a tiger to her animal trophy collection. They carried two hunting rifles: a Remington .375 rifle and a Browning 12 gauge shotgun.
Two weeks later, while Bianca was packing for the couple’s return home, she was fatally shot by a Browning shotgun at their hunting lodge in Capo National Park. Rudolph told investigators he heard the shot at dawn while he was in the bathroom and believed the gun accidentally went off when she put it in his bag, court documents said. He told investigators he found her bleeding on the floor.
But federal prosecutors at Rudolph’s trial in Denver, where the insurance companies are based, described it as a premeditated crime. Prosecutors claimed Rudolph killed his wife of 30 years for insurance money and to be with his girlfriend Milliron.
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Attorney David Marcus argued that Larry Rudolph had no financial motive to kill his wife. In court documents, he stated that Rudolph owns a dental practice near Pittsburgh worth $10 million. “Obviously we’re very disappointed. We believe in Larry and his children,” Marcus and fellow defense attorneys Margot Moss and Lauren Doyle told CNN in a statement after Monday’s verdict. “There are a lot of really strong appeal issues, which we will deal with after we have a chance to reorganize.”
Milliron, who was tried alongside Rudolph, said the couple was in an open relationship, according to court documents. Milliron and Rudolph lived together from 2017 until his arrest last year, her attorney, John Deal, told CNN. “We’re disappointed with the jury’s verdict, but that’s our method,” Deal said. “Laurie Milliron is innocent and we will continue to fight to exonerate her.”
In court documents, investigators claimed Rudolph raised suspicions when he asked to hastily cremate his wife’s body in Zambia. Rudolph set a fire three days after her death, according to court documents. After reporting her death to the US embassy in the Zambian capital Lusaka, the head of the consulate “told the FBI he had a bad feeling about the situation,” FBI Special Agent Donald Peterson wrote in an affidavit.
As a result, the head of the consulate and two other embassy officials went to the funeral home where the body was kept to photograph and preserve any possible evidence. When Rudolph discovered that embassy officials had photographed his wife’s body, he was “furious,” Peterson wrote.
But forensic evidence showed the deceased’s wounds came from a gunshot fired from at least two feet away, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. “At this distance, there is reason to believe that Bianca Rudolph was not accidentally killed,” the complaint states.
US Attorney Cole Fagan welcomed the jury’s verdict: “Bianca Rudolph deserved justice… We can only hope that this verdict will bring her family some peace.”
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