A TROPHY fighter is said to have told his lover “I killed my wife for you” after killing his wife to collect a life insurance benefit worth £4.2million.
Dentist Lawrence Rudolph, 67, is accused of killing his wife Bianca in a remote hut in Zambia, Africa, during a leopard hunting safari.
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Prosecutors allege that Rudolph, of Pennsylvania, killed his wife for an insurance payment of £4.2 million – despite claims at the time in 2016 that she shot herself.
During a court hearing in Colorado – the state where the insurance payments were made – Rudolph is said to have admitted his guilt to his girlfriend Lori Milliron.
It is alleged that he told her that he killed his wife at a steakhouse in Phoenix, Arizona, after learning that the FBI was investigating his wife’s death in 2020.
US Assistant Attorney General Bishop Grewell, pointing to Ms Milliron, said, “He killed his wife for her.”
But Rudolph’s lawyer, David Markus, claimed that the witness had misheard him, and that he actually said “they say I killed my goddamn wife for you”.
He told the court that the shooting happened as staff went in and out of the cabin to serve the couple breakfast.
Markus told jurors that workers found Rudolph in shock after the shooting and claimed his wife accidentally dropped the weapon, causing it to go off.
After a two-day investigation in Zambia, authorities concluded it was an accident, as did insurance investigators, Markus said.
Rudolph has been charged with murder and mail fraud.
If found guilty, he faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Milliron is accused of lying to a grand jury and being an accomplice afterwards.
Mr Rudolph has always denied being responsible for his wife’s death after telling authorities in Zambia that he was in the bathroom when his wife shot herself while snatching a shotgun as the couple prepared to return to The United States.