(Trends Wide) — The girlfriend of an American dentist and big game hunter who was convicted of murdering his wife on an African safari was sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison, court records show.
Lori Milliron, Lawrence Rudolph’s girlfriend, was tried alongside him in July 2022. A jury found her guilty of accessory to murder, obstruction of justice and two counts of perjury based on her grand jury testimony, according to the court. Justice Department.
This Friday, she was sentenced to 17 years in prison and to pay a fine of US$ 250,000, according to the sentence handed down by federal judge William J. Martínez.
The judge denied Milliron’s request for a non-compliant sentence. Instead, Martínez agreed to the federal prosecutor’s request for a longer-than-usual sentence. In his motion, federal prosecutors had argued that “even now, Milliron has not expressed any 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 it, Milliron responded by helping Rudolph procure propofol – a deadly anesthetic drug that could be used as a poison – before taking the trip where she did what she wanted to do: get rid of Bianca,” her motion read.
Million’s attorney, John Dill, told Trends Wide the defense plans to appeal both the sentence and the jury’s verdict.
Lawrence Rudolph was a big game hunter. (Credit: Facebook)
“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 obstruction and aiding and abetting charges after the fact,” Dill said. “The answers she gave before the grand jury were not false. (…) Ms. Milliron had nothing to do with the death of Bianca Rudolph and she stands in solidarity with her family as victims of that tragedy.”
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 the murder of Bianca Rudolph and of defrauding several life insurance companies.
Husband says the gun went off accidentally
The murder occurred in Africa, but Milliron and Rudolph were tried in Denver, where the insurers are based.
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Bianca Rudolph was murdered in 2016 while she and Lawrence Rudolph were on a hunting trip in Zambia. She was fatally shot in her hunting cabin at dawn as she was packing to return to Phoenix, federal prosecutors alleged in court documents.
Rudolph maintained his innocence, saying he believes the gun went off accidentally.
“I didn’t kill my wife. I couldn’t kill my wife. I wouldn’t murder my wife,” Rudolph told jurors as he took the stand in his own defense at trial.
But federal prosecutors described it as a premeditated crime. Prosecutors argued that Rudolph killed his wife of 30 years for the insurance money and to be with his girlfriend, Milliron. Rudolph collected more than $4.8 million from her life insurance after her death six years ago.
Zambian police ruled the shooting accidental, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. US investigators reopened the case after a friend of Bianca Rudolph’s contacted authorities and said she suspected a crime.
— Trends Wide’s Faith Karimi contributed to this report.
