Suspect in husband’s death in court after three years

Kim Smith

Wednesday, March 22, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

Nearly three years after she was indicted by a Clark County grand jury in the murder of her wealthy husband, Margaret Rudin made her first court appearance before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure this morning.

The dyed-blonde Rudin, 56, quietly answered all of Bonaventure's questions, pausing and smiling slightly when asked her age.

The former antique-store owner will apparently be represented by a public defender in the coming months.

Las Vegas attorney Charles Kelly, who represented Rudin along with attorney Ted Manos before the murder indictment, informed Bonaventure they were withdrawing from the case.

Deputy Public Defender Will Ewing then asked Bonaventure for one week to look over court documents to ensure the public defender's office does not have a conflict of interest in the case and can represent Rudin.

Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon did not object, and Bonaventure set Rudin's next court appearance for March 31.

Ron Rudin, 64, disappeared Dec. 18, 1994, and his remains were found near Lake Mohave on Jan. 21, 1995. He had been shot several times in the head. A corroded gun belonging to Margaret Rudin was found in the reservoir in July 1996 and ballistics tests showed it was the gun used to kill Ron Rudin.

It wasn't until much later that Margaret Rudin was indicted on murder charges, however. Before that happened, in April 1997, she went to court in a fight over Ron Rudin's estate, estimated at $5 million to $10 million.

The attorney for the estate, Mark Solomon, alleged that Margaret Rudin shot her husband in the head four or five times while he was sleeping and then decapitated him to make his body fit into an antique trunk. Solomon further alleged Rudin and an accomplice took his body to a remote site in a rented van where they set it on fire.

The trial ended abruptly with a settlement. The deal reportedly gave Rudin considerably less than the 60 percent of the estate she had claimed.

When fishermen found Ron Rudin, all that remained was a skull filled with holes and some bones. Authorities had to identify the remains through dental records and a gold bracelet with the name "Ron."

In the months before she was indicted, Rudin told the Sun she had nothing to do with her husband's death.

"If someone was writing a novel of the most unbelievable horror story that could ever be imagined, it couldn't be written better than this story," Rudin said in March 1995.

Rudin also hinted that perhaps her husband's death had something to do with the many "fraudulent" activities he was involved in.

Rudin disappeared right before the indictment was handed down, and over the next three years, television shows such as "America's Most Wanted" and "Hard Copy" aired the story hoping the public would help find her.

In September 1998, police came close to arresting her, only to have her slip away.

Police in Phoenix picked Rudin up after a tipster told them she was staying in a room at the YMCA, but she showed them identification and a Social Security card in another name and she was freed after two hours.

The final break in the case finally came last November when another tipster informed police Rudin was in Massachusetts. An officer disguised as a pizza delivery man enabled officers to get into her apartment to make the arrest peacefully.

Rudin's attempts to fight extradition failed, and she arrived back in Las Vegas Sunday morning.