Man who killed his wife, mother gets life in prison

Malia Spencer

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.

The Las Vegas man who pleaded guilty to last year's killing of wife and mother was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole today.

William Rundle, 57, was sentenced before District Judge Michael Cherry for killing his wife, Shirley Rundle, 63, and his mother, Willa Rundle, 82, who has been missing since 1997. There were no speakers at the sentencing, Rundle's attorney Curtis Brown said.

Rundle, however, did address the court and apologized to various people, Brown said. He apologized to an ex-wife who was in court with her family for "all the pain he has caused them," Brown said.

Rundle also apologized to Shirley's daughter Magda Belen and his granddaughter Gretchen Belen.

This was the second time Rundle appeared in court for sentencing. The first hearing was postponed because the state Parole and Probation Board report was not ready.

The judge asked Rundle during sentencing if he had any information he wanted to share with the court about the location of his mother's body, Brown said.

Rundle responded that he had already "provided all the information," Brown said, and he did not know where his mother was.

As part of the plea agreement, money that was to be paid in restitution, about $10,000, will be placed in a trust fund in Gretchen Belen's name, Brown said. Rundle wanted to make sure the 12-year-old would be taken care of, he said.

Rundle pleaded to the murders in order to avoid the death penalty, Brown told the Sun in May.

On May 22 Rundle told Cherry who he killed his wife with a baseball bat but did not provide new information into the whereabouts of his mother.

Rundle entered a Alford plea, which is similar to "no contest." Willa Rundle's body has never been found.

Rundle told detectives that he killed his wife during an argument in their Poppywood Drive home during which she struck him with a champagne bottle. He also admitted to dumping her body on the side of the highway in Susanville, Calif.