48 Hours - Death on Safari - Encore

Episode Date: September 11, 2022

An American woman dies by gunshot on a safari trip. Was it murder or an accident? "48 Hours" contributor Debora Patta reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits, and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it.

There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial, and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. What's the first step to growing your business? Getting people to notice you. But how do you do that? Two words. Constant contact. Your struggle with expensive, slow, and unmeasurable approaches to marketing your business is over. With constant contact, get email marketing that helps you create and send the perfect email to every customer. Connect with over 2 billion people on social media

with an all-in-one tool for posting and sharing, and create, promote, and manage your events with ease, all in one place. Join the millions of small businesses that trust Constant Contact with their marketing success. So get going and growing trust Constant Contact with their marketing success. So get going and growing with Constant Contact today. Ready, set, grow. Go to ConstantContact.ca and start your free trial today. Go to ConstantContact.ca for your free trial.

ConstantContact.ca This story begins with an American couple, Dr. Larry Rudolph and his wife, Bianca. Larry Rudolph is a well-known dentist in the Pittsburgh area. Larry and Bianca got married after he graduated from dental school, and they were both avid hunters. They traveled several times a year internationally. Lawrence and Bianca Rudolph traveled from the U.S. here to Zambia in 2016, heading to a safari hunting trip. No one would have imagined Bianca would never make it home and that that journey would end years later with allegations of cover-ups, infidelity, fraud, and murder. On the morning of October 11, 2016, Lawrence Rudolph and his wife, Bianca, were preparing to return to the United States.

And just after 5 o'clock in the morning, Lawrence was in the bathroom when he heard a shotgun and his wife screamed and came out to find her on the floor, as he says, with a shotgun blast that killed her almost instantly. Larry Rudolph told police that his wife, Bianca, was packing up and she was trying to put the shotgun into the soft shell case. That's when he said he heard that gunshot. The Zambian officials did rule that it was an accident.

They said that it appeared that it was an accidental discharge from the weapon. Once the hunting trip was ended, the weapon should have been rendered safe. It boggles the mind that two experienced hunters for this to have been an accident. People trusted him. I'm Dr. Larry Rudolph. And they knew of him.

They knew his face. They knew his commercials. We'll help you overcome your fears. Well, if he was in the office, they all felt like they were meeting a celebrity. You know, the man on TV, the dentist on TV. No sights, no sounds, and no fears. We had people come to the office and asked about Bianca and asked if she really did pass away, you know, what happened.

And we had to say we didn't know. There was a friend of Bianca who called the FBI and said that she was suspicious that her friend's accidental death was not really accidental. Lawrence Rudolph made sure Bianca's body was cremated within three days. The friend suggested that there were a number of troubling things. Miss Rudolph was a devout Catholic and it expressed to her explicitly that she would never consider being cremated. suggested that there were a number of troubling things. Ms. Rudolph was a devout Catholic, and it expressed to her explicitly that she would never consider being cremated. There were some certain things that just did not seem to add up.

A well-known local dentist is in jail in Colorado tonight. FBI agents believe their investigation will prove he killed his wife while on vacation. This case is about whether Lawrence Rudolph killed his wife while on vacation. This case is about whether Lawrence Rudolph killed his wife with a shotgun or did his wife accidentally shoot herself while packing the shotgun to leave? Why did he want to kill his wife?

There's a financial motive. We're talking about almost $5 million in life insurance proceeds. And he's had a long-term, apparently, affair with the manager of his office. Was it an accident or did he do this? Nobody knows what happened truly to Bianca, but Dr. Rudolph. KAMPENG Thank you. Nearly two weeks after Bianca Rudolph's death, while on a hunting trip in Zambia,

family and friends in Arizona gathered to remember her at her funeral. But at husband Larry Rudolph's Pennsylvania dental practice, there was a hush in the air. Larry never talked about Bianca's death ever. He was saying to everyone not to talk about it. And it made it sort of suspicious. Sherry Hauck worked as a dental assistant in Dr. Rudolph's Three Rivers Dental Group for nearly eight years. Rudolph's Three Rivers Dental Group for nearly eight years. The lucrative practice, with five offices in the Pittsburgh area, specializes in sedation dentistry, providing anesthesia for fearful patients. I liked everything about how we treated our patients and I really believed in

everything we did and how he did it. After years building his successful practice, Dr. Rudolph, says Sherry, was now spending limited time in the office. He and Bianca had lived in homes in both Pittsburgh and Arizona. The couple had met while Larry was in dental school and Bianca was at the University of Pittsburgh. Larry and Bianca got married in the early 80s shortly after she graduated from college. Megan Schiller is a reporter at Pittsburgh CBS television station KDKA. They proceeded to have two kids. They had Julian who's their son who's now an attorney in Florida and they had had a daughter, Anna, who is now following in her father's footsteps. Anna, a friend of Sherry's, is also a dentist at the practice.

Anna described her mom as like an angel. She loved her mom. People that knew Bianca Rudolph described her as a very kind, caring person. Sherry never met Bianca and there may have been a reason why. She says Larry was having an affair with the woman who managed the offices, Laurie Malone. Larry and Laurie's affair just seemed like it was just very open. As far as I know, it was probably going on for 20 years. It was just uncomfortable and you just didn't talk about it. In the office, Sherry saw different sides of Larry. Larry could be very nice and he could change attitude within a matter of minutes. That erratic behavior, Sherry says, was one of the reasons she left her job. He could throw tempers and we'd sort of just call it like he was going Rudolph.

Something Larry did enjoy talking about in the office and took pride in was his hobby, big game hunting. Larry Rudolph and Bianca Riddle were avid hunters. That was a huge part of their life. They were both very well known for it. Hi, my name is Dr. Larry Rudolph, and it's my privilege to be serving as your president of Safari Club International. Rudolph served for several years as the president of Safari Club International,

a group that promotes hunting. We are first for hunters, period. First for hunters! He traveled the world recording messages for members. I'm here on the banks of the Kufuri River in Zambia. I've been doing some lion hunting and just having a great adventure. His term, though, would be tainted by claims

he damaged the club's reputation through alleged misconduct, including supposed adultery. Larry denied the claims and sued for defamation. The case was ultimately settled, but Larry was ousted as a club member. But his passion for hunting endured. And in 2016, he and Bianca headed to a favorite location, Kafue National Park in Zambia. Kafue National Park is considered a big game paradise. The oldest and the most prestigious national park in that area of southern Africa.

Just to put it in scale, it's the size of New Jersey. The park has one section that is a protected wildlife sanctuary and an adjacent area referred to as game management that allows hunting. On the trip, the Rudolphs stayed in this two-room cabin consisting of a bedroom and a bathroom. Bianca wants to finally hunt a leopard. She'd been trying for years to hunt a leopard. The trip lasted about 10 days, a time that was happy, according to Spencer Kakoma, the local game scout accompanying the couple.

They were laughing at each other, kissing each other, hugging each other. Did you think they were a happily married couple? I was even admiring that because I'm also married. And did you see any tension between Larry and Bianca Rudolph? No, I didn't see any tension. Bianca never did shoot a leopard and on the final day of the safari, before the Rudolphs went to their cabin, Spencer says, as is daily protocol, the guns were emptied of all ammunition. And you saw Bianca Rudolph cleaning her gun of live ammunition? I saw Bianca Rudolph doing that. It was clean, there was no ammunition which was there.

You saw it with your own eyes? Yes. It was the end of the Rudolph Zambian hunting trip. They were supposedly packing up and getting ready to fly home. But then Bianca Rudolph suffered a fatal gunshot wound. Spencer was working about 30 yards away when he heard the gunshot and ran to the cabin,

finding 56-year-old Bianca Rudolph dead on the floor, shot in the heart. The weapon was a 12-gauge shotgun similar to this. Spencer says the gun, partially in a soft-sided case, was next to her. And Larry Rudolph seemed inconsolable, sobbing. Spencer says Larry first claimed Bianca died by suicide, shooting herself intentionally while he was in the bathroom. And he says Larry was so distraught that he ran to a nearby river saying he wanted to jump in and kill himself. Spencer says he calmed Larry down and they went back to the cabin.

But now, Larry had a different version of events. It was no longer a suicide, but that Bianca accidentally shot herself packing up the gun. Were you surprised that a shot had gone off? Yeah, that's one of the things which made me suspect. I saw Bianca Rudolph removing the ammunition from the organs. So how do you think ammunition got into the shotgun? I think there must be just someone who loaded it. Somebody loaded that gun?

Yes. Things were not adding up for Spencer. He and Larry Rudolph went to the local police station. Rudolph was interviewed for about 30 minutes by now-retired police commander Rostan Yeyenga. And Larry told him Bianca accidentally shot herself while packing the gun. They heard the gunshot and they screamed. We said he rushed to the bedroom and then he found the wife lying down in the poor blood.

Did you believe him? I believed him because I wasn't there. I wasn't there. Commander Yeyenga sent his investigators to the scene who told him it matched Dr. Rudolph's description of events. They believe the shotgun found approximately three feet from Bianca's body was discharged while inside its case and reported that Dr. Rudolph had tried to resuscitate his wife.

It was decided that this was an accident. Yes, this is the report that we received. The police report, dated two days after Bianca's death, concluded Dr. Lawrence Rudolph rushed to the bedroom only to find his wife lying on the floor bleeding. The findings further suggested the firearm was loaded from the previous hunting activities causing the firearm to accidentally fire. This is to me a little bit astounding that they would have made that conclusive declarative statement that this was absolutely an accident so soon after Ms. Rudolph died. What do you think of the decision by police in Zambia

to rule Bianca Rudolph's death accidental? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved.

From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. 48 hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet. A brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. And the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye?

Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans. Discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

It's just the best idea yet. Bianca Rudolph's death in Zambia was devastating for her daughter, Anna. Anna always said Bianca was like the best mom and just did everything, was like a very good person and was very wholesome and kind. Dental assistant Sherry Hauck says Larry Rudolph didn't tell Anna or her brother Julian about their mother's passing for nearly a week. Anna had troubling questions about what had happened. for nearly a week. Anna had troubling questions about what had happened.

She had no idea whether her mom got shot in the face or the chest or anywhere. She just would say, I want to know what happened to my mom. And at the Kafue National Park, there were doubts too. From the moment the gunshot rang out early that October morning. It's a loud boom. David Katz is a ballistics expert

and former special agent at the Drug Enforcement Agency. We asked him to review documents in this case. He says the blast from the Rudolph's 12-gauge shotgun would have been ferocious. Bianca Rudolph screamed after the gunshot. GameScout's Spencer Kakoma instantly knew that sound meant trouble. She didn't scream help. She screamed, ah!

Then that's how we rushed there. Within 15 seconds, we reached there. She was dead already. From the beginning, Spencer said he had questions about Larry's version of events, including when Larry told him he was in the bath when he heard the gunshot and raced out to find Bianca dead. But when you saw him, he was fully dressed.

With shoes. It confused me. 15 seconds to be fully clothed with shoes is pretty quick. Exactly. But local police say Larry told them he was wrapped in a towel when Spencer arrived. Kafue National Park investigator Masua Musese also had questions about what he saw in the couple's cabin. He says he observed the wound on Bianca's chest, the gun nearby,

and wondered how she could have accidentally shot herself in the heart while handling the long-barreled weapon. What did you think? What was your theory? To me, I suspected that there should be a foul play because the way the firearm was lying, the way the deceased was lying, the way the deceased was lying, the way the bullet went through,

because to me to say that she shot herself, I doubt it. So, Mr. Musese, did you ever voice your suspicions of foul play to the Zambian police? I voiced my suspicion to the police. And what did they say in response? In response, the Zambia police told me that the police will investigate up the bottom of the issue. But did they?

They didn't. Within days, says reporter Megan Schiller, local officials allowed Bianca's remains to be cremated in Zambia. Even the paper over there reported what had happened as an accidental shooting and the comments on social media were people saying that it seems suspicious to them. One reader suggested this doesn't sound right. Something fishy here? And it was suspicious to one of Bianca's friends. Certain Bianca was opposed to cremation for religious reasons, the friend made a call about two weeks later and set a chain of events in motion.

There was one point when this case became an active international investigation, and that is when Bianca's friend called the attaché of the FBI in South Africa and said that she suspected foul play. Mary Fulginiti is a former federal prosecutor and CBS News consultant. She says Bianca's friend told the FBI about Larry's affair, said Larry had been verbally abusive to Bianca, and reported that Larry and Bianca had fights about money. She opened a Pandora's box as to why Lawrence would want to kill his wife. Even the consular chief at the U.S. embassy in Zambia had suspicions. He spoke on the phone with Larry Rudolph just hours after Bianca's death.

The consular chief had a bad feeling, he said, because Lawrence quickly turned it to cremation and getting out of the country, which he thought was highly suspect. The consular chief was a former Marine with decades of experience with weapons. Unbeknownst to Larry, he decided to inspect Bianca's body before it was cremated. He measured the shotgun wound and took photos. The consular chief said based on looking at Bianca's body, he didn't think there was any way that she could have done this to herself, that she could have been leaning on the shotgun. He said it looked like someone was holding the shotgun several feet away and fired it at her. The consular chief turned his photos and notes over to the FBI. An inquiry into Bianca's death was underway.

Retired FBI supervisory special agent and CBS News consultant James Galeano says international investigations take time. This case is being investigated outside of the United States. It presents a ton of different problems that you have to deal with. Back home, life went on for Larry. The FBI kept working the case, both in the US and in Zambia, and investigators eventually made their way back

to Game Scout Spencer Kakoma. So five years later, you heard from the FBI? Yes, that's when they caught me. Were you surprised? Yes, that's when they caught me. Were you surprised? Yes, I was surprised. Over the course of five years, FBI investigators interviewed numerous people, reviewed documents, photos, and conducted forensic tests, eventually filing a complaint,

listing evidence of possible foul play in Bianca Rudolph's death. The complaint lays out a neat roadmap of a lot of circumstantial evidence that points in the direction of Lawrence Rudolph as the murder of his wife, Bianca. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal.

There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with.

In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Zambia's Kafue National Park. Vast. Stunning. Serene.

But retired police commander Rostan Yeyinga will never forget the day back in 2016 when that gunshot rang out from this cabin, killing Bianca Rudolph. When your officers went to the scene, what did they see? What they told me was that they found a dead body lying facing upwards. And years later, he still recalls his conversation with Dr. Rudolph. He seemed to be sorrowful, you know. He was very sorrowful? You know, when you lose your beloved one, you can't be in that mood. I could even see some tears in his eyes. Yeyenga says the initial investigation was not rushed and says at the time no one told him they suspected Larry had anything to do with his wife's death.

What was the most powerful thing that he said to you that convinced you this man is innocent? To say he's innocent. That was his story. You're so easily convinced. I just have to tell you a story and you believe me it's coming from your mouth i can believe you whatever story you tell me i can believe it but could an experienced hunter like bianca accidentally shoot herself in the heart while placing a long barreled shotgun into a gun case for the for the shooters out in the heart while placing a long-barreled shotgun into a gun case?

For the shooters out in the audience, everyone's going to understand immediately, there's a visceral feeling, no, don't do it. Ballistics expert David Katz says if that happened, Bianca would have been pointing the muzzle at herself, ignoring safety protocol. Whether the gun is loaded or unloaded, if you know your way around guns, you would never under any circumstances point that weapon towards you or another human being. Katz often works with firearms at the company he owns, Global Security Group. At our request, he reviewed the initial FBI complaint.

The complaint, in fairness to Larry Rudolph, it's just the government's version of events. It's a one-sided document. So I want to be completely fair to Larry Rudolph. In the complaint, the FBI interviewed a Zambian ballistics expert who performed what's called a drop test to determine if the gun could have accidentally misfired if Bianca dropped it on the ground. The question is, if you slam the weapon hard enough, if you drop it, if you bang it on the ground, will that weapon discharge? The Zambian ballistics expert repeatedly

dropped the Rudolph's gun, most likely loaded with a dummy round, about four and a half feet onto cement, and reported the gun did not misfire. The complaint lists some of the other FBI findings, including the results of a series of tests using a 12-gauge shotgun of the same make and model as the gun that killed Bianca and a soft-sided gun case like the Rudolphs. They did gun tests. They did a study with people who were about the same height as Bianca and had similar arm lengths. The FBI performed a reach study, which Katz says would determine if Bianca could have reached the trigger while packing the shotgun into a gun bag. Fifteen women who were near Bianca's height were tested.

None was able to reach the trigger of the shotgun while zipping the case. This is not a live weapon. We asked Katz to demonstrate how the test might have been done with the help of this woman who is 5 feet 4 and a half inches. Bianca was 5 feet 4 inches. So I'm going to measure your arm. FBI analysts used a photo of Bianca to measure her arm length. They estimated Bianca's longest possible right arm length at 28.75 inches. 29 inches. So your reach is slightly longer than the maximum reach as

estimated by the FBI. The gun used in this demonstration is not the same make and model as the Rudolph's gun. It is not a weapon. It just looks like one. It's a prop gun, non-functional and not capable of holding a bullet. According to the FBI, the model of gun the Rudolph's had was approximately 31.1875 inches from trigger to muzzle. We attached a wooden dowel to the barrel of the prop gun to make it match that lens. So I'm going to take this weapon. I'm going to point it at your chest right where the wound on the victim was placed. The idea is that somehow the weapon could be discharged accidentally

as if it was being pushed into a gun case. So let's bend over. Keep going. Keep going. If you can touch the ground even with it. Now try to stretch out and touch the trigger. You're not on the trigger. You're close to the trigger. Okay. Next, Katz added a gun case similar to the one that Rudolph's owned. All right. Let's say you were zipping. Can you reach your hand in and touch the trigger? The woman in our demonstration was able to reach the trigger. Just about, just about.

Yeah. I guess what I'm left with is this conclusion. Possible. Unlikely, but, you know, with sufficient leaning forward. But that would then suggest, without any doubt, a contact shot. A contact shot is a gunshot wound occurring when the muzzle of the gun

is in direct contact with the body at the moment the gun fires. This is a 12-gauge shotgun shell. It contains pellets of double-aught buckshot. In a contact shot, there is no time for the pellets to spread. Instead, they go straight into the tissue in one tight group, the same diameter as the gun barrel. With contact shot, you're going to get this. Further away, you're going to get this. Further away, you're going to get this. Katz says those photos of Bianca's body taken by the consular chief in Zambia may rule out death by a contact shot. The most critically important issue in this case is how far from her body was

the muzzle of that shotgun when the rounds were fired. When the consular chief took those photos, he also measured Bianca's shotgun wound and noted the pellets covered approximately six centimeters in diameter, roughly two and a half inches. That pattern would be impossible if the muzzle had been pressed against the victim's body. So from what distance would a weapon have to be fired to cause a two and a half inch wound? We asked Katz to use this real shotgun to show us how rounds fired from different distances

can make different sized wounds. We didn't have access to key information about Rudolph's gun but the long barrel of this gun measures the same distance from trigger to muzzle approximately 31.1875 inches. Fire! Cats fired into a block made of ballistic gelatin designed to simulate the effects of bullet wounds in human tissue. When I fired the last round that was from 10 feet there are discernible pellet wounds here here here this is why the consular chief was suspicious when he saw the wound, because he saw a wound that was more like this.

FBI investigators also compared shot patterns created by firing from various distances and estimated that Bianca's wound depicted in the photographs was created by a shot from a distance of between two and three and one half feet. The complaint's conclusion, Bianca Rudolph was not killed by an accidental discharge, and it wasn't just ballistics catching the attention of the FBI. This is a case that's going to be made on the totality of the circumstances. Do you think it was physically possible for Bianca Rudolph to shoot herself? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook.

Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X.

In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Anna always said how she wished she had more time with her mom.

Sherry Houck says Bianca's death continues to haunt the Rudolph's daughter, Anna. She was devastated that she couldn't even say goodbye to her. It appears Larry Rudolph wasted no time setting up house with his longtime rumored girlfriend, Laurie Milliron, in Paradise Valley. Within weeks, she had moved into their home in Arizona. Rudolph's business continued to thrive. No sights, no sounds, and no fears, only at Three Rivers Down. He and Laurie split their time between Pittsburgh, Arizona, and a vacation home in Cabo San Lucas,

Mexico. After a while, I thought, well, if it wasn't an accident, wouldn't he have been arrested by now? Nothing's really happened. But in December 2021, more than five years after Bianca's death, Rudolph's new life with Laurie was about to change. And that FBI complaint would turn out to be the key. The federal prosecutors and the FBI agents had decided that they had enough information to essentially charge Larry with crimes. Laurie Millaren's attorney, John Dill, says the pair was at the Cabo home. They were going down there for vacation and having a return flight. He wasn't fleeing or disappearing or anything like that. But their holiday came to a sudden and surprising end when local authorities arrested Rudolph. Lori's reaction when he was arrested, obviously she was shocked.

Mexican police executed a warrant for Lawrence Rudolph's arrest for the foreign murder of Bianca Rudolph and for mail fraud relating to Rudolph collecting Bianca's life insurance. The FBI said the insurance never should have been paid because it believed Rudolph murdered Bianca's life insurance. The FBI said the insurance never should have been paid because it believed Rudolph murdered Bianca. Larry Rudolph was the beneficiary and he was the recipient of nearly $5 million of insurance money. Those millions were spread out over nine separate policies.

One of the insurance companies where Larry mailed a claim is located in Colorado. So that's where the case would be tried. Bianca died on October 11th, and the first claim was submitted on October 31st. I'm not sure if there's a time period when there's an accidental death that somebody's supposed to wait so it doesn't look wrong. In a court filing, the defense claimed there was no

financial motive for the alleged crime, asserting that Rudolph's dental practice alone was worth $8 million. What's more, Dill says, the fact that all nine policies were paid proves Bianca's death was, as Rudolph described, and Zambian officials ruled, an accident. You'll see insurance companies went through a full investigation, including going to Africa. But Mary Fulginiti says not so fast. For one thing, the FBI's resources would have allowed for a much more thorough investigation into Bianca's cause of death. They just have access to more things. They have ballistic experts, access to the counselor chief and other witnesses in Africa that I'm not sure the insurance firm had access to, to talk to. Within days of his arrest, Rudolph was extradited to Denver. A grand jury was

convened there to hear evidence about his case. Everyone in Pittsburgh was talking about how this dentist, who was a well-known, respected dentist, could possibly be accused by the FBI. Sherry says word of Rudolph's arrest hit Anna hard. She was just devastated. I called to check on her, and she would not talk about her dad being arrested. She just talked to me about anything but that. Laurie Millar and followed Rudolph to Denver. She was about to become involved in the case as well

by way of a subpoena. She was called to go before the grand jury, and she was in town for his bond hearing and went and testified. About two weeks after Rudolph's arrest, that grand jury handed down their indictment. FBI agents believe their investigation will prove he killed his wife while on vacation before allegedly collecting millions in insurance money. It seemed that the multi-million

dollar windfall of insurance money Rudolph received wasn't the only motive the FBI believes was behind Bianca's murder. In the complaint, it says Laurie Milliron had given Rudolph an ultimatum. You have one year to get rid of the practice and leave your wife. Dill says there was no ultimatum. That allegation came from a disgruntled employee according to a defense motion. All we can just say is that's not what the evidence is going to be. As for the speed of Bianca's cremation, Rudolph's attorney says that's no attempt at a cover-up, that both he and Bianca had expressed their final wishes. The defense is going to argue, well, they have a will, and in the will,

it was the directive of both parties to be cremated. As Mary Fulginiti explained before the trial, murders on foreign soil are difficult to prove, and the length of the investigation might actually be a liability. What the defense is going to do is try to make it look like this case, which is five plus years old, has stale testimony, stale witnesses, stale everything. But it turns out that years after Bianca Rudolph died, there would be something new after all. Another arrest that no one saw coming. The truth about the death of Bianca Rudolph, wife and mother, has remained as elusive as the Zambian leopard she hunted. Her husband stood charged with murder and mail fraud.

Then, come February 2022, this case would grow even more complex when Laurie Milliron was charged. As if the story couldn't get any stranger, now we know that his alleged longtime girlfriend, Laurie Milliron, is now facing federal charges. federal charges. Seven federal counts alleging she provided false and misleading testimony to a grand jury sitting in the District of Colorado. Just over a month after that testimony, Laurie Milliron was arrested. She's accused of lying about her relationship with Larry. She's accused of lying about what Larry said in the days and months following Bianca's sudden death. I think she was shocked. She did not expect this to happen. A 64-year-old woman, she faces as much as 30 years in prison for those charges. But her attorney, John Dill, emphasizes...

for those charges, but her attorney, John Dill, emphasizes... There's no allegations by the government that she was somehow involved or had anything to do with what happened to Bianca Rudolph in 2016. Dill says that the speculation and the charges against his client are all false. The truth is, Lori Milliron is not a criminal. She didn't perjure herself, didn't lie to the grand jury. But former prosecutor Mary Fulginiti says there may be another reason the government filed those seven counts against Laurie Milliron. They might have also charged her because they would like to put some pressure on her to cooperate.

Pressuring Rudolph's longtime girlfriend to be the star witness against him. Well, if I was the prosecutor in this case, I would absolutely be hoping that she was going to come forward and possibly cooperate against him. And she's the one witness that could possibly do him in. Hi, I'm Dr. Larry Rudolph, president of Safari Club International. Meanwhile, from home detention in Arizona, Larry Milliron was still connected with Rudolph, running his multi-million dollar dentistry practice, but forbidden to contact him.

Still attempting to work, yeah, from where she is. It's a lot more difficult, obviously. The government planned to try them together in the same courtroom, an outcome their lawyers fought against and lost. The two on trial together was a powerful image that could impact Laurie Milliron. Laurie Milliron does not want to be sitting next to Lawrence Rudolph at trial because he's charged with murder, and she wants nothing to do with that, and she doesn't want any of that prejudice to spill over to her which will

ultimately say oh well she was a part of it I mean if she's she's the lover and in a pre-trial affidavit filed by Rudolph's attorneys and signed by Laurie she wrote that Larry and I were romantically involved and Mrs. Bianca Rudolph was aware of that. The suggestion, the affair was an open secret, not a motive for murder. But the prosecution would soon test the loyalties of Laurie Milliron and Larry Rudolph. And see if they stay aligned or if at the end of the day she does ultimately cooperate. Our defense is basically that what their government is saying, not only can't they prove it, that's not the facts. Over the years and across an ocean,

facts have been hard to come by in this case. Retired FBI Special Agent James Galliano knows time can be a prosecution's toughest challenge. Memories get rusty and cloudy. Documents get lost or destroyed. With every day that passes, it gets more and more difficult to close the loop here, get the evidence you need, and make a conviction.

There's a lot of hurdles that have to be overcome here, so it's by no means an easy prosecution. overcome here. So it's by no means an easy prosecution. 7,000 miles and a world away, Bianca Rudolph's death has impacted those who barely knew her. Former police commander Rostan Yeyenga still thinks it was all a terrible accident. There will be no evidence connecting to the murder. There will be no evidence connecting Dr. Rudolph to the murder? I don't think so.

From the experience that I had, no. But one time, Scout Spencer Kakoma was so shaken by this experience that he quit his job. He believes that in his beautiful country, as Bianca Rudolph hunted, she became the prey. Yes, I'm just happy with the American investigation. She wanted to escape, but they have managed to corner him. Larry Rudolph's legal team provided 48 hours with the following statement. Larry Rudolph's legal team provided 48 hours with the following statement. Dr. Rudolph is innocent. The Zambian authorities who were there and investigated said so.

The insurance companies who paid the claim after they investigated said so. Strangely, five years later, the feds brought charges without any real evidence, no eyewitnesses, no forensics, no anything, except for some speculation sprinkled into a chasm of conjecture. Anna and Julian have lost their mother. Sources tell us they have expressed support for their father. And next, what really happened in the country bianca rudolph cherished would be decided in a colorado courtroom If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.