Denver jury seated in trial of dentist accused of killing wife on safari in Zambia
Opening statements in the murder trial of Larry Rudolph will begin Wednesday morning. The 67 year old dentist is accused of murdering his wife, Bianca and collecting millions of dollars in life insurance money
Carol McKinley
After what one attorney described as a “long two days” of jury selection, 12 jurors and two alternate were seated Tuesday in the murder trial of a dentist accused of killing his wife during a leopard-hunting safari six years ago and collecting nearly $5 million in life accidental death insurance policies.
A grand jury indicted Larry Rudolph, 67, for allegedly killing his wife around Oct. 11, 2016. He also faces a charge of mail fraud for reportedly misrepresenting the cause of Bianca’s death in order to obtain $4.9 million in life insurance claims.
The fraud charge stemmed from insurance documents mailed to an address in Englewood. Authorities in Mexico, where Rudolph was on vacation, detained and deported Rudolph in late December 2021, and law enforcement arrested him at Denver International Airport.
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Also charged in Bianca Rudolph’s murder is her husband’s former office manager and alleged lover, Lori Milleron, who is accused of lying to a federal grand jury about the case and about their relationship. She’s charged with perjury and being an accessory after the fact.
Rudolph has maintained his innocence telling Zambian authorities that he was in the restroom when Bianca shot herself accidentally as she was attempting to pack a shotgun. She was cremated in Zambia according to court documents. Friends said she was a Catholic who would not have agreed to anything except a traditional burial.
The first witnesses scheduled to take the stand are Bianca Rudolph’s two brother, Vince and Ralph Finizio, who watched jury selection from a listening room Tuesday in the Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse in downtown Denver.
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In the same room, but sitting across the aisle from the Finizios, were Larry and Bianca Rudolph’s two adult children.
Attorneys asked jurors if they could get past two particular biases: their views on infidelity and also on big game hunting. Rudolph is suspected of having a multi-year affair with Milleron, and the death happened on a big game hunting trip during which Mrs. Rudolph wanted to take a leopard as a trophy.
Opening statements will begin at 8:45 Wednesday morning in a trial which is expected to last three weeks.