Dentist gunned down wife on African safari

A big-game hunting trip to Zambia took a deadly turn for Bianca Rudolph when she became her husband's prey

- GAIL SHORTLAND

With a multimillion-dollar business providing a lavish lifestyle for dentist Lawrence “Larry” Rudolph and his wife Bianca, they could comfortably afford to pursue their passion for hunting. Larry and Bianca, 56, were avid large animal hunters who would travel all over the world to tick off the game on their wish lists.

In 2016, they went on a two-week safari in Zambia, Africa, so Bianca could achieve her dream of shooting a leopard. But when her gun claimed a different victim, a new hunt was about to begin.

Larry and Bianca had been married for 34 years and had a grown-up son and daughter. They had property in Arizona and Pennsylvania and led a privileged lifestyle. He ran a successful practice in Pittsburgh specialising in sedation dentistry, which provided anaesthesia for nervous patients.

They were both keen hunters who travelled the world to stalk and shoot animals, which could be anything from a hippo to a moose, and later posed for photos with their trophies and shared these on social media. At one time, Larry was president of US organisation Safari Club International, which promotes hunting. They were open about their love of game hunting, but careful to keep within the legal guidelines.

In October 2016 they spent two weeks in Zambia’s Kafue National Park, which has a hunting area, staying in a two-room cabin. Bianca had long wanted to shoot a leopard, but on this trip she’d had no luck.

On the morning of 11 October, the couple were packing up ready to fly home to the US, when a hunting scout nearby heard the sound of a gunshot. He ran into the cabin and found Bianca lying on the floor and bleeding from a shot to the heart. Her 12-gauge shotgun was partially in its soft-sided case behind her. Her husband was sobbing.