Federal prosecutors allege Lawrence “Larry” Rudolph, 67, a big game hunter and former head of an international safari club, killed his wife at the end of a 2016 hunting trip in Zambia. He later cashed in life and accidental death insurance policies in the United States.
He has maintained his innocence. Rudolph told Zambian police his wife of 34 years, Bianca, died while he was in the bathroom, suggesting she shot herself while trying to pack a shotgun the couple took on the trip.
Their trial begins with jury selection Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver. The wide-ranging case - involving the 2016 death of a U.S. citizen, the purchase of a residence in Arizona, and Rudolph’s surprise arrest in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - is being tried in Colorado because several insurers tied to the payout were based here.
The couple took frequent trips abroad; both were big-game hunting enthusiasts, and in 2016 Bianca wanted to bag a leopard. They traveled to southern Zambia’s Kafue National Park so she could do so. According to an arrest affidavit, a friend of Bianca’s called an FBI legal attache in South Africa several weeks later, suspicious about the death and saying that Larry Rudolph had been having an affair. The friend also had doubts about the cremation, insisting Bianca was a Catholic opposed to the practice.
In 2017, Rudolph received life and accidental death insurance payments totaling nearly $4.9 million from several insurers. Documents suggest -- and the defense insists - the insurers conducted their own investigations before issuing payment. Rudolph’s attorneys insist their client had no ulterior motive for collecting, given the millions his dental franchise was worth.
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