Rundle’s son tells about what he heard of grandmother

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.

The son of William Rundle, who is charged with killing his mother and his wife, told a grand jury he found his father's explanation of his elderly grandmother's disappearance "curious."

In grand jury transcripts released Monday, Rundle's son, Robert Rundle, said he was surprised to see that his grandmother, Willa Rundle, wasn't living with his father and Shirley Rundle when he visited the couple in fall 1997.

"I was a little curious as to where she was when I got there," he testified. "My father told me that she had gotten kind of ornery in her old age ... but basically that she had taken off with a male nurse that was looking over her care."

Robert Rundle, who said he never had a close relationship with his father, said he wondered how the elderly woman, who was taking medicine for high blood pressure and other ailments, was taking care of herself.

"I asked him, 'How can she go to Austria? She can hardly walk,' " he testified. "And he said she had a nurse, a live-in nurse, who happened to be a young male and that's how it came out."

Rundle was formally charged in the alleged death of 87-year-old Willa Rundle two weeks ago, nearly six months after his arrest in the death of Shirley Rundle, 63.

The indictment added an additional open murder count and two theft counts to the charges already pending against Rundle.

An arraignment on the charges Monday was continued until Wednesday, when District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski is expected to decide whether the combined counts will be separated.

A tentative trial date has been set in the combined case for Feb. 10. Rundle faces the death penalty.

But according to Metro Police Detective Sheila Huggins, who interviewed Rundle in a Florida jail shortly after his arrest, Rundle gave her a different explanation as to his mother's disappearance.

Huggins said Rundle told her Shirley Rundle killed the elderly woman by tampering with her morphine tablets, then disposed of the body.

"He explained that Willa Rundle had been murdered in his home," Huggins testified. "He explained that he came downstairs and found her body in her bed, that he was taken aback at the murder ... and that Shirley had told him, 'I did it, I killed her.' "

Rundle told Huggins he was depositing his mother's Social Security checks into his account, but that he had no idea where his mother's body was, Huggins testified.

Shirley Rundle's daughter, Magda Belen, said Willa Rundle lived with her mother and stepfather for less than a year. She said she saw the woman about once a week during that period.

While Willa Rundle appeared to be in good health, Belen testified, she often used a wheelchair or a walker to move around.

In the fall of 1997 Rundle told Belen that his mother had moved back to Austria where she was born and would not be coming back, Belen testified.

"The only thing that Bill Rundle mentioned is that she wanted to be with her friends and she wants to stay there for the rest of her life," she said.

Metro Detective Donald Tremel testified that he found a walker, a wheelchair and a walking cane in the closet when he searched Rundle's home with a search warrant.

Tremel said the items looked as if they hadn't been used.