‘Black Widow’ Margaret Rudin files wrongful conviction lawsuit in death of husband

LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) - Margaret Rudin, the Las Vegas woman who was accused of murdering her husband in 1994, is suing the State of Nevada after her conviction was vacated.

Margaret Rudin filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit against the state on Thursday, according to a press release from her attorneys. The lawsuit revolves around the disappearance of her husband, real estate developer Ron Rudin, on December 18, 1994.

His car was later found in the parking lot of Crazy Horse Too, a strip club. The lawsuit alleges that the club has ties to organized crime in Las Vegas. Ron Rudin’s burned remains would be found a month later at Nelson’s Landing, a hiking area in Boulder City, Nevada.

Margaret Rudin’s attorneys said that Ron Rudin “had a long list of enemies from a complicated personal life, a known history of dubious business dealings and ties to criminal elements.”

“There was never any evidence such as fingerprints, DNA or eyewitnesses connecting Margaret Rudin to Ron Rudin’s murder. However, inexperienced homicide detectives focused on Margaret Rudin from the beginning in a biased police investigation,” her attorneys said.

Margaret Rudin was found guilty of her husband’s murder on May 2, 2001, and was sentenced to life in prison.

She continued to deny her involvement in the murder and she spent more than 20 years fighting for a new trial.

On May 15, 2022, after more than 22 years in prison, a federal judge freed her after ruling that she was not granted a fair trial.

“Today in her early 80s, Margaret Rudin intends to prove, under a Nevada statute amended in 2019 to address the rights of persons wrongfully convicted, that she was not involved either directly or indirectly in her husband’s death and did not commit the crime,” her attorneys said.

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