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A wealthy dentist accused of murdering his wife of 34 years, so he could be with his mistress told jurors Wednesday that her 2016 death at the end of an African safari trip was a tragic accident.
"I did not kill my wife. I could not murder my wife. I would not murder my wife," Lawrence Rudolph, 67, told jurors, in U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado.
The dentist, who established a flourishing franchise in Pittsburgh, had a net worth of $15 million at the time of the alleged murder.
Federal prosecutors say that Rudolph, a big-game hunter, fatally shot his wife, Bianca, at the tail end of a safari trip in Zambia on Oct. 11, 2016.
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He wanted to be with his longtime mistress Lori Milliron, and his wife would have never agreed to a divorce as a devout Catholic, according to prosecutors.
Bianca and Lawrence "Larry" Rudolph are pictured on a trip before her October 2016 murder in Zambia. (Facebook)
Milliron, Rudolph's former office assistant, is being tried alongside him for lying to a grand jury and being an accessory after the fact.
Rudolph told jurors, his voice trembling with emotion, that he was in the bathroom of their cabin at the Kafue National Park when he heard a shot fired. He emerged to find his wife on the floor, covered in blood, he said.
He said that the couple had an open marriage, and Bianca knew about his romance with Milliron.
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The pair, who share two grown children, were close to divorcing twice but had achieved harmony in their marriage in 2000 when they agreed to pursue other sexual partners, he said.
His girlfriend and his wife were okay with the arrangement, he told jurors. But prosecutors say that Milliron had given him a one-year ultimatum to divorce his wife shortly before the murder.
Bianca and Lawrence Rudolph with their son on a hunting trip. Wealthy dentist Lawrence Rudolph is accused of murder his wife so he could run off with his mistress. (Facebook)
Lawrence Rudolph's attorney, David Markus, argued in opening statements that his wife accidentally shot herself in the heart at about 5:30 a.m. when she packed the Browning 12-gauge shotgun in a case as she packed for their departure from the hunting lodge.
Bianca Rudolph, also a big-game hunting enthusiast, had hoped to bag a leopard on the excursion but was unsuccessful.
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Local Zambian authorities concluded two days after the shooting that Bianca Rudolph's death was an accident.
Investigators for her numerous life and accidental death insurance policies reached the same determination and paid out $4.8 million to Lawrence Rudolph, who hastily had her body cremated before leaving the country, according to prosecutors.
Lawrence Rudolph with a ram he hunted. He's on trial for murdering his wife so he could run off with his mistress. (Facebook)
Markus told jurors that Rudolph was a multimillionaire with no financial motive to murder his wife. In fact, the attorney said, Rudolph put the entire payout in a trust for their children.
The dentist, who established a flourishing franchise in Pittsburgh, had a net worth of $15 million at the time of the alleged murder.
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But prosecutors countered that Bianca Rudolph's wounds came from a shot fired from 2 to 3.5 feet away – a distance too great for the weapon to have fallen and discharged accidentally.
After the slaying, the dentist and his lover bought a home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, but soon learned that the FBI was investigating him for murder.
A witness allegedly overheard Lawrence Rudolph confess during an argument with his girlfriend at a Phoenix steakhouse.
Larry Rudolph posing with a caribou he shot on a hunting trip. He's accused of murdering his wife, Bianca Rudolph, so he could be with his mistress. (Facebook)
"I killed my f-----g wife for you!" he allegedly blurted out to Milliron, U.S. Attorney Bishop Grewell said in opening statements.
Rudolph testified that the witness misheard the exchange and what he actually said was, "Now they're saying I killed my f-----g wife for you."
Rudolph is being tried for murder and mail fraud in Denver, where the insurance companies he's accused of defrauding are based.
He was arrested in December, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where he owns a home. The FBI launched an investigation after receiving a tip from Bianca Rudolph's friend.
Lawrence and Bianca Rudolph's son, left, and daughter, back right, attending their father's trial for their mother's murder in U.S. District Court in Denver, July 13, 2022. The adult children are supporting their father. (David Zalubowski/ AP)
The victim was a devout Catholic and cremation would be against her faith, the friend allegedly told authorities, according to an arrest affidavit.
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The couple's children are supporting their father, who faces up to life in prison or death if convicted.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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