A sick and elderly man has been arrested this month for the cold case bludgeoning death of his young bride in 1973.
Donald Rudd, now in his early 70s and hospitalized in Illinois, is accused of murdering his new wife Noreen Rudd (née Kumeta), then staging her homicide as a fatal auto accident.
It’s not the only time the former attorney has been suspected of wrongdoing -- in 1994 Rudd was disbarred from practicing law for a pattern of “dishonesty” and three years ago he was questioned for the 1991 shooting death of another female acquaintance.
Prosecutors allege that over four decades ago, Rudd killed his first wife through blunt force trauma to the head, then deliberately drove their car off the highway to feign that they were hit-and-run victims.
First responders found Donnie Rudd at the scene “cradling” his dead spouse’s body whom he claimed must have “hit a rock” when she was violently ejected from the vehicle.
A coroner subsequently ruled the 19-year-old woman’s death accidental, despite a suspiciously large “hole” in her skull.
In 2013, however, Noreen Rudd’s body was exhumed for a second autopsy, during which it was discovered she had been struck “multiple times” in the head, leaving her with mortal wounds “inconsistent” with a car crash.
Accused killer Donald Rudd has pleaded not guilty in the cold case murder of his wife.
