Ex-Greensburg-area dentist to remain jailed awaiting trial in wife's death

A former Greensburg-area dentist lost a bid this week to be released from a Denver detention facility as he awaits a trial on accusations he killed his wife during a safari in Zambia in 2016.

U.S. District Judge William J. Martinez in Colorado on Thursday upheld a federal magistrate’s Jan. 4 decision that Lawrence Rudolph, 67, who operated Hempfield-based Three Rivers Dental Group, will remain in jail awaiting trial on accusations he fatally shot his wife.

Martinez ruled Rudolph remains a danger to the community and a flight risk because of having $27 million in assets and a residence in Mexico. Martinez also determined there is no reason to conduct a hearing to resolve Rudolph’s requests of Jan. 6 and 17 for a temporary release.

Rudolph was charged Dec. 22 with foreign murder and mail fraud in obtaining a $4 million life insurance policy in connection with the death of his wife, Bianca Finizio Rudolph, 57, in their hotel room Oct. 11, 2016, in Zambia. He was living in Arizona and arrested while in Mexico, according to court records. The charges were filed in Colorado, the location of an insurance company that paid on the insurance policy on his wife’s life.

None of the pretrial release conditions proposed by Rudolph’s attorneys would “reasonably assure” Rudolph would appear in court and not be a risk to the community, including relinquishing his firearms and passport; posting a $5 million bond secured by his home and the homes of his children; living under house arrest with his girlfriend in Phoenix, son in Miami or daughter in Cranberry; or electronic monitoring and private security guards that could report to pretrial services, according to the judge.

Risking the loss of the homes of his girlfriend or children if he fled “promises little assurances” given Rudolph’s financial resources, Martinez wrote.

The judge stated that he was “deeply troubled” by Rudolph’s suggestion that he should “buy his way out of detention by constructing a private jail from the comfort of his girlfriend or relative’s home.”

Prosecutors had countered Rudolph’s request by saying in court documents he “has more incentives to flee now than he has ever had.”

Martinez rejected Rudolph’s argument he could not properly prepare a defense while behind bars. To Rudolph’s request to be freed from jail because of his heart condition and a 2021 surgery to implant a pacemaker that makes him vulnerable to covid, Martinez noted Rudolph tested positive for covid and failed to produce evidence his medical condition places him at serious risk.

Defense attorney David Oscar Markus could not be reached for comment Friday in his Miami office.

Markus had filed an uncontested motion Wednesday asking the judge to continue the trial from Feb. 28 to allow additional time to review the evidence, which includes some 6,000 pages of documents. The defense also wants time to conduct its investigation in Africa, so it requested a status conference in 30 to 45 days.

U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan in Denver filed a motion Friday asking the judge to allow Rudolph’s attorneys to have copies of the grand jury testimony and permit Rudolph to see the copy, but not retain a copy in jail.