Bookkeeper describes marriage on the rocks

Kim Smith

Thursday, March 8, 2001 | 11:48 a.m.

Ronald Rudin's longtime bookkeeper took the stand again this morning to give jurors a glimpse into the real-estate developer's marriage with the woman accused of killing him -- Margaret Rudin.

Sharon Melton, who began working for Rudin in 1985, told jurors that the Rudins' marriage was "up and down, mostly down."

Although the real-estate office originally shared four telephone lines with the Rudin home, Ronald Rudin eventually had one of the lines removed from the home, because he knew Margaret was eavesdropping on it, Melton said. He wanted at least one line secure.

Eventually, her boss even banned Rudin from entering his office, which was on the same property as his home, Melton said.

Other witnesses have already testified that around the same time, Rudin purchased almost $1,500 worth of electronic listening devices -- devices that were discovered by Melton two months after Ronald Rudin's skull was found.

Prosecutors believe that Rudin, 56, and an uncharged accomplice shot Ronald Rudin, 64, in the head multiple times as he slept on Dec. 18, 1994, decapitated him, stuffed his remains in a trunk and set it ablaze near Nelson's Landing on Lake Mohave.

Chief Deputy District Attorneys Gary Guymon and Chris Owens contend that Rudin was upset after learning of an affair and wanted to get her share of an estate estimated to be worth $8 million and $11 million.

Ronald Rudin's skull and bracelet were found by fishermen in January 1995 along with charred remains.

Defense attorney Michael Amador told jurors that Ronald Rudin was involved in shady land deals. He said he intends to prove that Rudin's trustees -- who were also beneficiaries -- had better motive, means and opportunity to commit the murder.

One of those trustees, Harold Boscutti, spent most of Wednesday being cross-examined by Amador.

Amador tried to prove to jurors through Boscutti that Ronald Rudin sold tracts of undeveloped land in Lee Canyon to fictitious people named Riley, Wolfe and Feinstein in order to drive the price of the land up.

Boscutti told jurors that he became friends with Ronald Rudin in the late 1960s after going to work for him as a real-estate salesman. In the late 1970s, he agreed to become a trustee for Ronald Rudin and over the years notarized his signature on several documents.

However, Boscutti said he rarely read the documents presented to him. As for Riley, Wolfe and Feinstein, Boscutti said he never met them.

When Ronald Rudin turned up missing and later dead, Boscutti said he agreed to remain a trustee, despite the aggravations, out of loyalty.

While it is true he earned as much as $10,000 a month performing that function along with co-trustee, Sharron Cooper, Boscutti said he didn't need the money.

"Ron was my friend for a long time. You don't just turn it off," Boscutti said.

Boscutti testified that he and Cooper sold Lee Canyon for $6 million shortly after Margaret Rudin forfeited 60 percent of her husband's estate in exchange for $500,000 in cash and a couple of insurance policies.

However, Melton said that no portions of Lee Canyon were ever sold, because they weren't for sale.

When asked if it was true that he and Cooper evicted Rudin, canceled her credit cards, took away her car and cut off her access to her husband's assets, Boscutti said yes.

Boscutti said they were directed to do so by their attorneys, who were aware that Ronald Rudin had instructed his fiduciaries to investigate his death -- if violent -- and cut the responsible parties out of his will if they were a beneficiary.

Amador noted that their actions predated the trustees' civil suit against Rudin, effectively leaving her unable to battle them in court.