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A dentist accused of murdering his wife and cashing out on her life insurance policy will be tried in Denver, CBS 4 reports.
Federal prosecutors charged 67-year-old Dr. Lawrence "Larry" Rudolph, who lives in Arizona and has a dentistry practice in the Pittsburgh area, with murder and mail fraud. The charges stem from the death of his wife Bianca, who suffered a fatal shotgun blast to the heart during an October 2016 safari trip in Zambia.
Rudolph told authorities at the time that his wife accidentally shot herself while packing a Browning 12-gauge shotgun into its carrying case, officials say. Investigators don't buy his story.
According to a 21-page court affidavit, Rudolph allegedly got $4.8 million in insurance payments following the incident, some of which through Denver company addresses. A friend of Bianca's reportedly told federal agents the dentist was having an affair with an employee at one of his practices and even traveled with her to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico multiple times before and after Bianca's death, according to NBC News.
"Lawrence Rudolph murdered his wife," FBI Special Agent Donald Peterson wrote in an affidavit, "as part of a scheme to defraud life insurance companies and to obtain money and property from them through the false and fraudulent pretense, representation, and promise that the death was an accident."
David Oscar Markus, Rudolph's attorney, issued a statement on the charges: "The government is seeking to manufacture a case against this well-respected and law-abiding dentist."
Rudolph is scheduled to stand trial in February, but reporters say it may be delayed.