He Believed His Father Was Innocent of Murdering His 'Amazing' Mom on African Safari. Then the Trial Started
Larry Rudolph, a Pennsylvania dentist and big game hunter, was found guilty of killing his wife Bianca on a hunting trip in Africa
In late 2021, Larry Rudolph, a Pennsylvania dentist and big game hunter, was arrested for the 2016 shooting death of Bianca Rudolph, his wife of 34 years, while they were on a hunting trip in Zambia.
When Rudolph requested that a judge release him from custody pending trial, the couple’s son Julian, now 33, and his sister, AnaBianca, in sworn affidavits, wrote: "[We] know him better than anyone else, and we know that he is innocent," according to ABC News.
Now, in an exclusive interview with ABC News, Julian has revealed he no longer feels this way.
“I can't stand by that original statement, because that was before we saw the evidence in the trial," he said.
Asked by ABC News' Eva Pilgrim if he believed his father murdered his mother, he responded: “It's incomprehensible to me.”
Rudolph and Bianca traveled to Zambia in late September 2016 so that Bianca, also a big-game hunter, could hunt a leopard. They were getting ready to leave their hunting camp in Kafue National Park on the morning of Oct. 11, 2016, when Bianca was shot in the chest with a Browning shotgun.
Rudolph told the local police that he heard the gunshot while he was taking a shower and that he found his wife on the bedroom floor bleeding from the chest. He said he suspected that the shotgun had been left loaded from the hunt the previous day, and that the gun went off while Bianca was trying to pack it into its case, according to a federal complaint obtained by PEOPLE.
Although Zambia law enforcement ruled her death as an accidental discharge, federal authorities in the U.S. were not convinced, ultimately accusing Rudolph of killing his wife so he could collect millions of dollars in life insurance benefits. Rudolph was charged with foreign murder and mail fraud.
Related: Wealthy Dentist and Big Game Hunter Lawrence Rudolph Found Guilty of Killing Wife on Hunting Trip
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
Julian and and his sister, AnaBiancaHe denied the allegation, telling his children that "the evidence is going to prove [it],” Julian said, per ABC. "Of course you want to believe that what you're hearing is the truth.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bishop Grewell told a jury during the trial's opening statements that Rudolph confessed to the crime to his longtime girlfriend, Lori Milliron, telling her, "I killed my f-----g wife for you," the Associated Press reported.
The trial, which was held in U.S. District Court in Denver, included testimony by Rudolph himself, who claimed his wife’s death was an accident. "I did not kill my wife. I could not murder my wife. I would not murder my wife," he told the jury.
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However, the jury didn’t buy his claims.
He was found guilty and later sentenced to life in prison. Milliron was sentenced in June to 17 years for being an accessory to murder.
"She was an amazing mother," Julian told ABC through tears. "I loved her. She was my best friend."
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