The girlfriend of an American dentist and game hunter who was found guilty of murdering his wife on an African safari in Zambia, was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Friday June 23.
Lori Milliron, the girlfriend of Lawrence
Rudolph, was tried alongside him in July 2022.
Bianca Rudolph was killed in 2016 while she
and Lawrence Rudolph were on a hunting trip in Zambia. She suffered a fatal
shotgun blast in their hunting cabin at dawn as she was packing to return to
Phoenix, federal prosecutors alleged in court documents.
Rudolph maintained his innocence and said he
believes the gun fired accidentally.
Rudolph’s sentencing was to take place
earlier this week but has been postponed, according to court documents. A
federal jury found Rudolph guilty of murdering Bianca Rudolph and of defrauding
multiple life insurance companies.
The jury found her guilty of being an
accessory after the fact to murder, obstruction of justice and two counts of
perjury based on her testimony before a grand jury, according to the Department
of Justice.
On Friday, June 23, she was sentenced to 17
years in prison and fined $250,000, according to federal judge William J.
Martinez’s sentencing order.
The judge denied Milliron’s motion for
non-guideline sentencing. Martinez instead granted the federal prosecutors’
motion for a longer-than-usual sentence. In their motion, federal prosecutors
had argued that “Even now, Milliron has expressed no remorse.”
“Lori Milliron encouraged Lawrence Rudolph to
kill his wife for her. She told him to divorce Bianca Rudolph. When he said he
couldn’t afford to do that, Milliron responded by helping Rudolph procure
propofol – a lethal anesthetic drug that could be used as a poison – before he
took the trip where he did what she had wanted: get rid of Bianca,” their
motion read.
Million’s attorney, John Dill, said they plan
to appeal both the sentence and the jury’s verdict.
“We believe the sentence is excessive and
bears no reasonable relationship to the two counts of perjury before the grand
jury that formed the basis of the charges of obstruction and accessory after
the fact,” Dill said.
“The answers she gave before the grand jury
were not false. (…) Ms. Milliron had no involvement in the death of Bianca
Rudolph and she sympathizes with the family as victims of that tragedy.”
The killing occurred in Africa but Milliron
and Rudolph were tried in Denver, USA where the insurance companies are based.
Rudolph in court statements says she
accidentally discharged the gun.
“I did not kill my wife. I could not murder
my wife. I would not murder my wife,” Rudolph told jurors when he took the
stand in his own defense at his trial.
But federal prosecutors described it as a
premeditated crime. Prosecutors argued Rudolph killed his wife of 30 years for
the insurance money and to be with his girlfriend, Milliron. Rudolph cashed in
more than $4.8 million in life insurance payments after her death six years
ago.
Zambian law enforcement ruled the shooting an
accidental discharge, an investigating FBI agent wrote in an affidavit.
American investigators reopened the case after a friend of Bianca Rudolph
contacted authorities and said she suspected foul play.
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