Girlfriend of dentist convicted of killing wife on African safari gets 17 years in prison

The girlfriend of a dentist convicted of killing his wife on an African safari in 2016 was sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison.

Lori Milliron was found guilty by a federal jury last year of being an accessory after the fact to murder and obstruction of justice in connection to the killing of 57-year-old Bianca Rudolph.

She was also found guilty of lying to a grand jury about her relationship with the victim’s husband, Lawrence “Larry” Rudolph. The 68-year-old was convicted of fatally shooting his wife of 34 years while the two were on a hunting trip to Zambia.

The victim’s daughter, Ana Rudolph, said on Friday Milliron “plotted to eliminate her mother.”

Addressing the 65-year-old directly, Ana said she might have taken her parents, but “despite everything you have done you will never take my soul. This might be difficult to understand … because you don’t have one.”

Milliron’s defense attorney, John Dill, said the prison sentence seemed “excessive” and that he would appeal.

Judge William J. Martínez said Millron deserved the long sentence because evidence showed she seemed to have encouraged the killing.

On Friday, Milliron maintained her innocence adding she was “sympathetic” to the Rudolph family.

Last summer, federal prosecutors presented evidence during a three-week trial in Colorado that Rudolph killed his wife so he could claim her death was an accident and pocket nearly $5 million from nine life insurance policies.

He claimed his wife died as a result of the accidental discharge of a firearm. However, evidence showed she was shot once in the heart with a 12-gauge shotgun on Oct. 11, 2016 — the final day of the couple’s two-week hunting trip.

The disgraced dentist was also set to be sentenced this week, but his hearing has been postponed.

With News Wire Services