Laborer testifies to seeing blood on carpet, portrait

Kim Smith

Wednesday, March 21, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

Jurors got two distinct pictures of murder suspect Margaret Rudin Tuesday during the testimony of a manual laborer who worked five days for her around the time of her husband's disappearance.

Now they must decide: Was Margaret Rudin trying to be a good Samaritan when she hired Augustine Lovato, a broke ex-felon, or did she have a more sinister reason?

If jurors believe the latter, prosecutors have gone a long way toward proving their theory that Rudin and an uncharged accomplice shot Ronald Rudin in the head multiple times as he was sleeping on Dec. 18, 1994.

Prosecutors believe Lovato unknowingly helped erase signs of a violent crime within the Rudin home.

The trial will resume Monday. District Judge Joseph Bonaventure called for a break in the trial to give the defense team much needed preparation and investigative time.

Lovato testified Tuesday that a temporary employment agency put him to work at Rudin's house on Dec. 20, 1994. While he and his cousin put up a Christmas tree and did other menial tasks, Lovato said a soft-spoken Rudin told them that her husband was missing.

Lovato said that although she was quiet, Rudin didn't seem too upset.

When he returned alone the next day, Lovato said one of his tasks was to clean a large spot on the carpeting in a laundry area. Rudin had told him she had already tried to clean the spot herself and the area was damp, Lovato said.

At the end of the day, Lovato said Rudin expressed interest when he suggested he work for her directly instead of going through the employment agency and paying their fees.

However, when he didn't hear from her for several days, Lovato said he gave his pager number to her sister at Rudin's antique store and later stopped at the store to see Rudin.

Lovato said he was asked on Jan. 12 to turn Ronald Rudin's bedroom into an office. Toward that end, he dismantled the bed, which was covered with a mattress cover and plastic, and removed the other furniture from the room.

Rudin also asked him to tear up a large section of carpeting from the area around the bed, saying she wanted to throw down an oriental rug, Lovato said.

He was in the process of doing that when Rudin came back from a visit with her attorneys and told him to remove all of the carpeting because she was going to replace the whole thing, Lovato said.

By that point, Lovato said he'd already realized a portion of the carpeting he was cutting up was hard and he has getting "flicked" in the face with a dark brown scab-colored substance.

When he pulled up the padding, Lovato said it smelled rank, like his dogs "after they've been chewing on rabbits."

Later Lovato said he walked up to a portrait of Rudin that had been hanging above the bed. He said the painting gave him an eerie feeling because it felt as though Rudin was staring at him.

"I saw brownish-red splatters going up the left hand side," Lovato said. "It was like something had been flicked on it or something."

Lovato told Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

"I kind of froze at first," Lovato said.

"Why?" Guymon asked.

"Because it looked like blood to me," Lovato said.

Lovato said he also saw a blob of a brownish-red substance gurgling in the master bathtub drain

When he went back to the home two days later, Lovato said he noticed the painting was gone and went looking for it. When he found it in another bedroom, the portrait had been cleaned.

A week later Lovato said he saw a gun in Rudin's car after dumping the box springs and mattress in an alley at Rudin's request.

Rudin's last request, Lovato said, was to mail a box to her mother in Tennessee.

It was that box that ultimately led to his conversations with police.

Lovato said his mother discovered the box under his car seat and questioned him about it. After telling her about all the odd things he had experienced, she urged him to tell the police.

However, Lovato said he didn't want to have anything to do with the police because of a 1993 aggravated assault conviction.

The matter was taken out of the his hands, however, "because my mom woke me up and there were four detectives in my front room," Lovato said.

Defense attorney Tom Pitaro attempted to cast doubt on Lovato's testimony, pointing out inconsistencies in Lovato's statements to police, to a grand jury, on the stand and in a civil lawsuit deposition.

Lovato acknowledged the details he gave the grand jury about his conviction differed from those he provided to police. He also admitted he told attorneys in a civil lawsuit Rudin was upset about her husband's disappearance.

He also acknowledged that he didn't tell police about the gun he allegedly observed, and he also told them that there was nothing unusual about the carpet padding.

In addition, Lovato told police he washed the blob in the bathtub down, but he testified Tuesday that after he saw it he just walked away.

Lovato denied Pitaro's suggestion he tracked Rudin down for a job in January 1995 because he had heard about a $25,000 reward in the case.

"This was never about a reward," Lovato said. "This was about a man that was loved and was missing or dead."

Pitaro noted that Rudin not only gave him a job, but gave him furniture and other items.

"She treated you decently, didn't she?" Pitaro asked.

"Yes, that's why I had a hard time believing all of this," Lovato said.

As Pitaro ended his cross-examination, he remarked, "Thank you very much for repaying her this way," -- a remark Judge Joseph Bonaventure told the jury to disregard.

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