TV show revisiting LV murder case

Bill Gang

Friday, Sept. 11, 1998 | 10:45 a.m.

The television show "America's Most Wanted" that had put the fugitive wife of a slain Las Vegas millionaire in the hands of police -- only to have her fumbled away -- will recount the near miss on Saturday's broadcast.

Margaret Rudin talked her way out of being arrested last week in Phoenix, Ariz., by showing police there identification in another name, according to Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon.

The recently broadcast story of the murder of Realtor and developer Ron Rudin and the search for Margaret Rudin resulted in a call to police in Phoenix revealing she had been living in cell-sized YMCA room for the past two months.

The 55-year-old woman was picked up by police but freed after two hours when they weren't convinced she was the wanted woman. She summoned a limousine, picked up the only thing she had with her -- her purse -- and disappeared.

When her room at the YMCA was searched a couple of days later, authorities found her personal belongings, a couple of pieces of identification in Margaret Rudin's name and a set of keys with a tag reading "Property of Ron Rudin," Guymon said.

Ron Rudin's burned and bullet-ridden body was found near Nelson's Landing on the Colorado River on Jan. 22, 1994, nearly a month after the 64-year-old man disappeared. He had been shot four times in the head and his body had been stuffed inside an antique trunk.

Margaret Rudin was indicted on murder charges in April 1997 but by then she had disappeared with her share of her husband's reported $11 million estate.