Rudin’s remains play a role in trial

Kim Smith

Wednesday, March 28, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

Margaret Rudin forgot something when she went to her husband's memorial service in Chicago -- his remains.

Prosecutors would like the jurors in her murder trial to think the incident is yet another indication that she cared little for her husband. However, defense attorney Tom Pitaro on Tuesday suggested an alternate theory.

Pitaro asked Metro Police homicide Detective Phil Ramos if it was true that Ronald Rudin's contract with Davis Funeral Home required it to send his remains back to his native Illinois.

Ramos insisted that the funeral home had made arrangements to give the remains to Margaret Rudin but ended up having to Federal Express them when she failed to retrieve them.

Tuesday was the second day Ramos spent most of the day on the stand. He and his partner, James Vaccaro, were the lead investigators in the case.

The detectives believe Margaret Rudin, 56, shot her husband, 64, in the head multiple times as he slept on Dec. 18, 1994.

One of the suspected accomplices, Yehuda Sharon, was granted immunity in 1995 and is expected to testify during the trial. Although he has offered in the past to sell information to prosecutors, Sharon told grand jurors in 1997 he knows nothing about the case.

Prosecutors believe Ronald Rudin's multimillion-dollar estate and his affair with an IRS agent drove Rudin to kill him.

Pitaro and fellow defense attorney Michael Amador contend Ronald Rudin's trustees had the real estate developer killed, because they, too, were his beneficiaries.

On Tuesday Pitaro again tried to discredit the testimony of Augustine Lovato, a manual laborer who claims to have seen blood in Ronald Rudin's bedroom after his disappearance.

Ramos acknowledged that if Rudin is convicted, he and Vaccaro will tell the trustees that Lovato's information was a "crucial" part of the case and he should receive all or a portion of a $25,000 reward.

The detective also admitted that Roma Scott, a friend of Rudin, received a $5,000 reward for providing authorities seven boxes containing incriminating evidence.

Ramos said he didn't think Scott should have received the reward, which was paid by the trustees.