‘Most Wanted’ to feature Rudin

Karen Zekan

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

A Las Vegas woman wanted in the murder of her multimillionaire developer husband will be profiled this weekend on "America's Most Wanted."

Margaret Rudin, 54, was indicted by a grand jury in mid-April for allegedly shooting her fifth husband, Ron Rudin, at least four times in the head as he lay in bed. His body was decapitated to fit into an antique trunk, driven to Nelson's Landing and burned.

The woman, who police believe was motivated to kill to inherit her husband's estimated $11 million estate, remains at large. A civil trial last year over a lawsuit filed by Ron Rudin's estate against Margaret Rudin ended prematurely in a settlement with the widow receiving only $500,000. She was not included in her husband's will.

The Rudin murder story will air at 9 p.m. Saturday on the Fox network, KVVU Channel 5. Metro Police are hoping the broadcast will generate leads to locate their suspect.

The couple married seven years before the Dec. 18, 1994, murder. Ron Rudin, also a prominent Realtor, had most of his cash tied up in property.

Metro homicide investigators believe Margaret Rudin had help in completing the murder. Mark Solomon, attorney for Rudin's trust at the civil trial, had claimed that the couple's relationship was on the rocks, and that Yehuda Sharon -- the man with whom Margaret Rudin was allegedly having an affair -- may have been her accomplice.

Margaret Rudin reported her husband missing two days after he disappeared. Fishermen found his body and skull Jan. 22, 1995, near Lake Mohave, burned and ravaged by animals. On July 26, 1995, a diver at Lake Mead found the murder weapon -- a .22-caliber pistol registered to Ron Rudin -- wrapped in plastic about 15 feet from shore.