The girlfriend of a rich dentist and big game hunter from Greensburg convicted of killing his wife on an African safari was sentenced Friday in Denver to 17 years in federal prison.
Lori Milliron, 65, formerly the office manager for Lawrence Rudolph in Greensburg, had been convicted of being an accessory to the murder of Bianca Rudolph in 2016 to collect $4.8 million in life insurance money.
Rudolph and Milliron had a long-standing affair, and she had given him an ultimatum to get rid of his wife, also a big game hunter.
So he shot Bianca during a leopard hunt and tried to make it look like she accidentally shot herself.
Prosecutors in Denver said Milliron was the instigator.
“Lori Milliron encouraged Lawrence Rudolph to kill his wife for her,” they said. “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 a trip where he did what she had wanted: get rid of Bianca.”
The safari in Zambia was the perfect opportunity.
Milliron argued that she’s innocent, and her lawyer said 17 years is too long. But Judge William Martinez said the term is appropriate because he said she encouraged the crime and seemed to have no remorse.
After Bianca died on the safari, Rudolph told authorities she shot herself by accident while packing up her shotgun.
But the FBI eventually figured out the truth. They said Rudolph murdered her and staged it as an accident so he could rake in the insurance money and take up with Milliron at his Phoenix home.
Which is just what he did.
Within weeks of Bianca’s death, Milliron had moved into his mansion.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
