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Lawrence Rudolph, 67, the founder of Three Rivers Dental in Pittsburgh, was arrested by the FBI in Mexico and extradited to the US in December for foreign murder and fraud charges in December 2021, according to court documents.
He is accused of killing his wife, Bianca, while in Zambia on a hunting safari in Oct. 2016, according to the criminal complaint.
Rudolph originally told authorities in Zambia that Bianca had shot herself accidentally in the chest while preparing her 12 gauge shotgun on Oct. 11, 2016 around 5 a.m., according to the court documents.
It's now known that she was shot from a distance of 2 to 3.5 feet (1 meter) away, according to court documents and the prosecution's arguments.
Numerous friends also came forward and told the FBI that he was known to have affairs and had traveled to Mexico multiple times with a mistress of approximately 20 years -- one trip to Mexico took place just one month before the safari with his wife, according to court documents.
He has since testifying that he has had an open marriage since 2000, according his statement in court.
“I did not kill my wife. I could not murder my wife. I would not murder my wife,” Rudolph testified in July 2022.
But after her death, Rudolph proceeded to cash out $4.8 million from seven life insurance policies over the next year, according to the FBI.
He was also heard yelling “I killed my [expletive] wife for you!" during an argument with his girlfriend Lori Milliron at a Phoenix steakhouse in 2020 after he learned that the FBI was investigating his wife's death, court records show.
The couple had been married since 1982 but despite his affairs, Bianca refused to divorce him because she was a "devout Catholic" and Larry did not want a divorce because he was afraid of "losing his money," a friend told the FBI, according to the court documents.
The first life insurance policy on Bianca was taken out in 1987, according to the court documents.
If he is convicted of the foreign murder charge, Rudolph could face the death penalty or life imprisonment. If he is found guilty of mail fraud the charge could face up to 20 years of imprisonment.
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