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.