At the end of an exhausting day and a half of questioning in his murder trial, Larry Rudolph read the jury the tender eulogy he wrote for the wife he’s accused of killing.

As Rudolph fought back tears, Bianca Rudolph’s brother and cousin abruptly stood up and left the courtroom.

Undaunted, or perhaps unaware of their departure, Rudolph choked out the words. Then, he made one final statement to the eight-woman, six-man jury: “I absolutely did not murder my wife. I am innocent. I never did anything. I’m completely innocent of this crime.”

Federal murder trial sees accused dentist take stand

Bianca Rudolph’s funeral was in Phoenix, Arizona, Oct. 21, 2016, 10 days after she was killed by a shotgun blast while the couple was packing up after a Zambian safari. The Zambian police force in Mumbwa, the closest town to the remote area where the Rudolphs regularly camped, cleared Rudolph and returned his firearm within a day of his wife’s death, declaring it an accident.

Federal prosecutor Bryan Fields grilled the 67-year-old game hunter about how the bullet was fired and what happened to the gun once he brought it to the U.S. There are varying stories about exactly who unloaded ammunition from the shotgun the night before the Rudolphs were to leave Zambia, but somehow one shell was left in the chamber.

The hunting camp’s lead guide testified that it was Larry Rudolph.

Rudolph’s attorneys contend that the gun hit the ground and fired, accidentally killing Bianca Rudolph as she struggled to pack it, but the prosecution believes Rudolph carried out a plan to murder his wife in order to collect millions of dollars in insurance money and finally live with his mistress.

The seasoned hunter testified that he wanted to leave the shotgun behind after the death, but since his Zambian guide didn’t have a proper permit, Rudolph was forced to tote it across the ocean to Arizona, where he stored it in his second home.

Despite a request from the FBI to help them understand how to prevent an accident like this from happening again, he did not offer to turn over the gun that killed his wife. Instead, he separated it into two pieces, put it in a cardboard box, and hired a special garbage company to take it away. He paid $100 cash for the service.

“I wanted it out of my sight,” he told the jury.

Dentist accused of murdering wife on safari will take the stand, attorney says

“Putting it in the dump kind of looks like you’re hiding evidence,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Fields.

“No, sir,” answered Rudolph.

Fields had plenty of questions for Rudolph about his behavior after his wife’s death. He texted his lover, who ran his dental office, about the accident but didn’t tell his children for days. When the U.S. Embassy took pictures of Bianca Rudolph’s body at the mortuary, Larry Rudolph exploded with anger. He called to inquire about insurance payouts first thing in the morning on Oct. 19, just a day after he returned to the States.  

Bianca Rudolph’s body was quickly cremated in Africa, one of the first things her husband enquired of the embassy. Her family and some friends were upset that this was against her Catholic faith.

Bianca Rudolph’s funeral was understated and simple at a cost of only $1,890 though the couple was worth around $15 million at the time of her death. 

The day after the funeral, Larry Rudolph bought a plane ticket for Las Vegas and flew a woman named Tiffany (Tammy? He mistakenly guessed on the stand) to share a hotel room with him. “I probably could have gone with the mailman at that point,” said Rudolph.

There was more fodder for the jury from a well-prepared government team. With some of the $4.8 million insurance payout, the Pittsburgh dentist admitted that he bought a $280,000 Aston Martin and a second car, worth $130,000. He used part of the insurance money to finance a $3.5 million home in Phoenix’ posh “Paradise Reserve,” where he and his girlfriend, Lori Milliron, would live together.

The relationship with Bianca’s two brothers and cousin was further strained when Larry Rudolph refused to supply them with documents about her death. 

Denver jury seated in trial of dentist accused of killing wife on safari in Zambia

In December 2016, two days after Rudolph was contacted by his insurance investigator, he invested $20,000 in a new company called Champagne Nails as a favor to his long-time safari guide Mark Swanepoel. Swanepoel testified three months later that Bianca Rudolph’s death was an terrible accident.

Randolph admitted on the stand that he lied under oath during depositions in his own defamation lawsuit against Safari Club International, a hunting group of which he was president for two years. Rudolph was upset that SCI members had called him an adulterer.

Rudolph’s decision to take the stand in his own murder trial is unusual according to Denver defense attorney Ryan Brackley, and can be dangerous.

“There is always risk when a defendant testifies, particularly when cross examination opens the door to a significant amount of negative information about the defendant,”said Brackley, who added that this could distract the jury from testimony.

But on redirect the defense scored points summoning Bianca Rudolph’s words from her grave when it produced deposition transcripts. Two months before she died, she testified in the SCI lawsuit that the couple was happily married. Since 2000, they had an agreement that though their marriage would be sexless, they would remain friends and see other people in a don’t-ask-don’t-tell arrangement. She said that the word “affair” is a “vague term that means many different things to many different people.”

Rudolph was arrested in December while on a trip with Milliron to Cabo San Lucas where he bought his former office manager a home. Milliron is also on trial for lying to the grand jury in January about their relationship. They are in the same courtroom and rarely look at each other. 

After 14 days of listening to often emotional and salacious testimony, the jury will hear closing statements Friday.