Bianca Rudolph’s death in Zambia’s Kafue National Park was ruled an accident—until two suspicious women alerted the FBI. What followed was a five-year investigation revealing a web of lies, infidelity, and a $5 million insurance scheme.
A gripping true-crime feature exploring the 2016 Zambian safari murder involving American dentist Larry Rudolph and the trial that followed.
To his employees at Three Rivers Dental Group, Larry Rudolph was a man who lived for the hunt.
Larry Rudolph’s Story: A Hunter’s Alibi or a Killer’s Cover-Up?
It’s the 11th of October 2016, in the Kafue National Park. The sun peeks along the horizon, its light shines on the land but holds back its heat this early morning. The river flows steadily as dragonflies emerge from their hiding places to hover over the water. You can hear the African fish eagle calling out from atop its perch on one of the many trees, royalty in its stature as it steadies itself on the branch.
These early mornings are the perfect time for tourists to head off into the deepest part of the park and watch animals live and hunt, but for the two Americans named Larry Rudolph and his wife Bianca, that won’t be today. They are settled in their two-room cabin, which features one bedroom and a bathroom, right in front of a river, preparing for their departure back to the United States.
That’s where their two children are: Julian, who is a lawyer and Ana Rudolph, who follows in her father’s footsteps and practices dentistry. Neither of their children shares their parents’ affinity for hunting.
Bianca, being the expert hunter that she is, is disappointed that the Leopard, the trophy she’s always wanted has been escaping her line of sight the past few weeks, and she has to hold off on catching it. The beast is for next time when her hunt proves successful, if not here in Zambia, maybe somewhere else. Larry and she always travelled the world for big-game hunts—their shared passion as a couple. Larry has been the president of the Safari Club International (SCI) since 2006 until he was ousted in 2012 for issues relating to how he conducted himself. One of the issues is adultery.
Bianca knew about his adultery, but her religion prevented her from divorcing him. Larry, unwilling to lose money, dismissed the idea of divorce entirely. They make their marriage work. So, on this fine morning, he showers in the bathroom, preparing to head back home, back to his work at the Three Rivers Dental Group, where he will probably tell the tale of their failed hunt to his employees and his beautiful daughter. He loves talking about hunting.
His thoughts of home are interrupted by a gun blast followed by Bianca’s scream of pain right outside the bathroom, he rushes out and finds his wife lying dead on the floor, a pool of blood all around her and her 12-gauge shotgun placed in its bag with holes at the end of the bag where the muzzle is. She’s not moving.
He kneels beside her, panic sets in, and tears begin to flow. A shadow passes by the window and through the front door enters the game scout, Spencer Kakoma. He stops by the door and eyes the scene, a man trying to understand what occurred. His eyes are piercing, like a man who has seen much in the world and looks to be in his early forties.
His English is jagged but understandable. “What happened?”
“What am I going to tell my children?” Larry asks Spencer as he continues to sob. “I think I’m going to kill myself, I don’t–I don’t know what to do, she killed herself!”
Spencer tries to console him, but it doesn’t work. Larry wobbles out of the cabin and onto the banks of the river, as if it calls out to his pain, promising to take it away. However, Spencer follows him from behind and pulls him away from the river, calming him down.
Mr. Godfrey Necube, the camp manager, checks on the situation. “She killed herself while I was in the bathroom,” Larry tells him when he asks about the cause of death. Godfrey takes note and leaves the matter to the police for investigation. Larry is taken to Commander Roston Yeyenga, who questions him about his dead wife. The devastated widower shakes and quivers with tears falling down his cheeks, and stutters a little, “She had accidentally shot herself while trying to pack up the gun. My Bianca.” The commander empathises with him; he sends his investigators to the scene, and they take photos of the body, finding his story to be plausible.
Bianca’s will stated that she wanted to be cremated. Being cremated in a land you loved to hunt in would be lovely for her, so Larry decides to cremate her right here in Zambia.
A woman who loved the wild dies in the wild from her gun, poetic?
Her body leaves the national park and is taken for an autopsy to the city of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Larry phones the consular chief at the U.S. Embassy, Otto Westhassel, and informs him of the events that transpired at the cabin. He asks where he can have Bianca’s body cremated so that he can start for the U.S.
Larry arrives at the crematory and cremates his late wife, when the cremation is done, he is given the ashes and leaves for the U.S. not long after. He holds a memorial for her with friends and family. His grief impels him to command his staff at his clinic not to talk about Bianca’s death in any capacity.
Months pass, and though grief never really goes away for a while, Larry decides to move on with a co-worker of his named Lori Milliron. He decides to cash in his wife’s insurance claim and continues to manage his dental practices for the next five years.
THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO SPENCER KAKOMA
Spencer Kakoma is near the cabin the Rudolph couple are in; he is the eyes and ears of wildlife around here and monitors danger that can come from anywhere and anyone. As a guide, he usually knocks on the tourists’ cabin at 5 in the morning to take them out to see the animals. But not today, the Rudolphs are leaving.
That’s when he hears something that shouldn’t be heard coming from the safety of a cabin–a gunshot, and an ominous woman’s scream.
He hurries towards the origin of the sound with worry for the tourists’ lives in mind, they could have fired at an animal that made its way to the cabin and the woman was attacked.
Within 15 seconds, he arrives to the sound of Larry Rudolph sobbing. He enters the door to find Bianca lying dead in a pool of blood, her shotgun in its bag with holes at the end of the bag where the muzzle is.
Larry, fully clothed, wonders what he’s going to tell his children as he kneels over his wife. He speaks out loud about killing himself, not knowing what to do because of his wife’s suicide. He even tries to throw himself into the river over his wife’s death, but Spencer cools him down. Later, he tells the camp manager, Godfrey Necube, that she shot herself intentionally while he was in the bathroom.
The body is taken to Lusaka, and Larry follows after, and the park goes back to the serenity of its serene violence when the tourists leave.
THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO OTTO WESTHASSEL
The consular chief at the U.S. Embassy, Otto Westhassel, a former marine, receives a call from Larry. Larry informs him of the events that transpired at the cabin, “She accidentally shot herself while trying to place the gun in its bag,” he tells the chief, and about the authorities who questioned him and found the death of Bianca plausible.
Larry asks where he can have Bianca’s body cremated so that he can leave for the U.S. as quickly as possible. Otto suggests holding off on the cremation, but Larry insists. Otto gives him the information that he needs, and the next day, he takes two of his security personnel and heads off to the morgue to inspect the body.
Once he arrives, he takes pictures of the lethal wound. When Larry arrives, he’s not pleased with the actions of the ambassador and also denies the authorities access to any further autopsy investigations and demands that his wife be cremated immediately.
When all is said and done, the dentist leaves with the ashes of his late wife.
A FRIEND & AN EX-EMPLOYEE
A former employee of Larry’s named Anna Grimley, who knows what kind of person he is, and the unpredictable emotions he can exhibit, is a little bit suspicious of the events that have occurred so far relating to Bianca, so she does what any concerned person would do, she calls the F.B.I, asking them to look into it.
To Anna’s shock, she learned someone else had also reported suspicions—proof she wasn’t the only one doubting Larry’s story.
This other person is Betsy Wandtke, a close friend of Bianca. She doesn’t trust Larry’s statement and suspects foul play. She called the FBI attaché in Pretoria, South Africa and asked them to investigate. She believes that her friend, who was a devoted Catholic, would never allow for her body to be cremated, and she knows Larry was cheating on Bianca for years, even during their last trip to Zambia.
The Five-Year Manhunt: How the FBI Uncovered Larry’s Lies
Receiving such tips from the two women and one might say others who may have been never mentioned, the authorities make haste to begin their investigations into the matter.
Investigators flew to Zambia, interrogating witnesses who saw what happened that fateful morning.
Spencer Kakoma, the guide, states that he remembers Larry Rudolph being fully clothed when he was kneeling beside his wife. Though Larry claimed he’d just come from the shower, Kakoma found it puzzling, especially since he was fully clothed, and he also chimed in with the loaded shotgun, which Kakoma saw Mrs. Rudolph emptying the night before, so someone must have reloaded it.
Larry’s contradicting statements about his wife committing suicide and then shifting to her accidentally shooting herself are accounted for. Bianca, being an expert hunter who knew her weapons and also the size of her arm, about the size of a 12-gauge shotgun, doesn’t make it plausible for her to shoot herself. They follow up with some ballistics tests and conclude that the gun was fired a few feet away from her, rather than her being shot as she tried to close up her bag.
The investigators also navigate the actions Mr Rudolph took after the death of his wife, from his insistence to cremate the body with utmost speed to his anger at the fact that Former U.S Marine Mr Otto Westhassel took pictures of the gunshot wound.
As a bonus, a bartender in Phoenix overheard a confession from Larry as he argued with Milliron, stating that he went far and beyond for Milliron, to the point of killing Bianca for her.
ARREST
After five years, authorities uncovered the truth: Larry murdered Bianca to claim her $5 million in life insurance, all to be with Milliron. In December 2021, he was arrested, and a few weeks later, after she testified on her relationship with him, Milliron was arrested as well.
In June 2022, both were convicted. By June 2023, Lori received 17 years for obstruction of justice and perjury, while Larry was sentenced to life in August for premeditated murder.
So, Bianca rests, having caught an animal greater than a predator – a murderous spouse. And like a predator, Larry hunted and caught his prey in the early morning and fed off of her for 5 years, until he was caught and placed in a zoo.
