Larry Rudolph, 64, who is a dentist out of Pittsburgh is charged with killing his wife while on safari in Zambia and was also charged with first-degree murder in a foreign nation along with mail fraud.
His wife, Bianca Rudolph, 57, passed on from an evident gunshot wound to the heart back on October 11, 2016, as she was packing her luggage to board a plane with her significant other.
The jury was entrusted with the conclusion as to whether Bianca Rudolph was the victim of murder or fell victim to a terrible mishap on the day of her demise in a remote Zambian lodge by a river that had been constructed particularly for her.
The verdict was tricky and tough to come up with as the case has been ongoing and pending for quite some time, but the undeniable reality of Bianca’s death in the foreign nations was the distraction of what the defense depicted as “noise”. In other words, this could have been a distraction to throw off the crime and make things seem more accidental as the couple was known for their extravagant multimillionaire way of life, their open marriage, and various worldwide game-chases during which Larry Rudolph sacked a white rhino, a polar bear, a few panthers, elephants, lions, and other wild creatures.
Lawyer David Markus warned the court from the beginning of the trial that his client would take the stand. Towards the end of last week, Larry stood as the final witness in the preliminary and was ridiculed and talked down on for about four hours by Bryan Fields who was the prosecutor about his odd behavior after the passing of his wife. Bryan hammered away at Larry questioning him over and over why he chose not to tell his children about his wife’s death. Implying most sane people would normally call their closest loved ones and family and notify them, but Larry did not.
“I didn’t want to call my children from 8,000 miles away and tell them their mother had died. I wanted to hug them, hold them and grieve with them,” Larry responded.
The trial was heated, and Larry was roasted for quite some time. Typically, cameras aren’t allowed into court rooms, but on this trial, they were allowed, and the case has been quite a rollercoaster ride for certain news outlets that got front-row seats. In concluding statements, Markus acknowledged that Larry was not a likable person, but he emphasized to the jury that they shouldn’t rule on whether the man is likable or not, but they should rule on the facts which were on their side, saying that hypotheses and gossip were simply not enough to convict a man.
“I think he probably did it is a not a guilty verdict under the law,” Markus said in Larry’s defense.
Larry’s two children were there for most of the trial along with Bianca’s brothers, but none of them stayed through the entire trial to find out what the verdict would be on Larry’s fate.
As if this trial couldn’t get any wonkier, as Larry left the courtroom, he waved to his mistress, Lori Milliron who was also given a slew of charges ranging from obstruction to misleading a grand jury about her relationship with Larry and more. Yikes, no wonder the children and family didn’t stay with Larry until the end!
One of the most crucial pieces of evidence against Larry was that Bianca had a gunshot wound that had hit her heart directly and killed her in a split second. Upon examination, it was determined that the gunshot wound was from a Browning shotgun and entered her left chest region from a slightly angled position above her body, further investigation hint that the shot was taken from only about a meter away.
This ruled out any possibility on the defense theory that Bianca committed suicide or that there was some sort of horrible accident. However, Dr. Michael Baden, a recognized forensic pathologist, who was testifying about the gunshot wounds also made note that the autopsy was so messy that they couldn’t tell what direction the shotgun pellets were going, they could see the entry points, but could not determine the direction. He also added that he has never done any type of autopsy in Zambia and had very little experience with gunshot wounds.
Members of the jury overlooked all evidence including texts, emails, and lewd messages, and even took a gander at the gruesome autopsy photographs along with other evidence. You’d think after all this time and after an extensive trial with evidence piled this high sentence would have been carried out quickly, but Larry Rudolph will be sentenced starting February 1, 2023.
This story syndicated with permission from For the Love of News
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