Thursday, May 22, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.
William Rundle, a former Las Vegas father of the year, avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty Wednesday to killing his wife and his mother, but prosecutors say much of the case will remain a mystery.
During the second week of testimony in his trial, Rundle pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife, Shirley, 63, and his 82-year-old mother, Willa Rundle, who has been missing since 1997.
As a result of the plea agreement, Rundle will be given a sentence of two concurrent life terms when he is formally sentenced on July 8.
Rundle, 57, appeared poised as he told District Judge Michael Cherry what he did to warrant his guilty plea.
"I took the life of Shirley Rundle, my wife," Rundle said, "by striking her multiple times with a baseball bat."
But Rundle was less forthcoming in the details of his mother's death, entering that plea pursuant to Alford, which is the equivalent of a "no contest" plea. Willa Rundle's body was never found.
"It shows he's a coward," Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz said. "I don't believe he'll ever tell us where his mom is. He's not even really admitting he killed her."
Deputy Public Defender Curtis Brown said Rundle took the deal because he didn't want to risk a possible death sentence.
"It's a dangerous gamble," he said. "Mr. Rundle felt that at his age, regardless of what happened, he would never get out of prison. He's comfortable with his decision."
Madga Belen, Shirley's daughter, who was in the courtroom when Rundle entered the plea, said she was happy with the negotiation.
"With life in prison he's as good as dead," she said. "I know my mom is watching over us right now. I'm glad this is over."
Rundle was also ordered to pay $10,667 in restitution, which will be held in a trust fund for Belen's daughter, Gretchen. Belen said Rundle loved Gretchen.
Two jurors who spoke to the Sun on Wednesday said they knew that at least 11 of the jurors weren't buying Rundle's claims that the slaying of his wife was unplanned.
Rundle told detectives Shirley's killing came during a heated argument at the couple's home on Poppywood Drive, when she hit him with a champagne bottle, breaking his arm. But a doctor testified that Rundle's injury didn't match his story.
Rundle also admitted to police that he had dumped his wife's body on the side of a highway near Susanville, Calif., where he knew it would be easily found.
Juror Samantha Kahoaka-Kaoihana said she questioned why the bat used in the slaying was moved to a downstairs closet in the days leading up to Shirley's death, when it was usually kept upstairs in a locked cabinet.
"It was suspicious,"she said. "There were several inconsistencies there."
Juror Alisha Boggs said she thought Rundle also lied about the details surrounding his mother's death.
Rundle told police Shirley had opened Willa Rundle's morphine capsules and put more medicine inside. But Willa Rundle's doctor said the medication came in tablet form.
"That threw us off," she said. She added, "If my spouse did something like that to my mother, I'd want to know where her body was."
Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens pointed to other inconsistencies in Rundle's story. In one statement to police, Rundle used the pronoun "we" when discussing the disposal of the body, he said.
Rundle's cousin, Jennie Luna, who was in the courtroom when Rundle entered the plea, said Rundle was emotional when she spoke with him moments before he entered his plea.
"A few tears were shed," she said. "He apologized for what he did. I told him I forgive him. Everybody needs forgiveness."
In the trial, Rundle faced charges only in Shirley's death. Prosecutors had also charged him with Willa Rundle's death, but a judge dismissed that charge, citing lack of evidence.
Rundle claimed Shirley had killed his mother by upping her dosage of morphine and that she then had two men dispose of the body.
He told police he didn't know where the corpse was, even when they offered not seek the death penalty against him in exchange for the information.
Cherry ruled that jurors would not hear testimony about the details of that offer, saying it could hinder future police negotiations.
Brown said that decision was a major blow to the defense team's trial strategy.
"Bill's veracity in his claims of denial suffered with that ruling," he said. "That substantiates his claim that he didn't know."
But prosecutors had presented a lot of evidence against Rundle.
In the five years after Willa Rundle's disappearance, Rundle spent $390,000 of her money and cashed $70,000 of her social security checks.
He told family members that his mother was traveling in her native Austria, but the woman's walker and cane were found in a closet at the couple's home.
Rundle's taped statements to police in the days after his arrest in Orlando, Fla., also gave prosecutors ammunition in their case against him.
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