A Tangled Web Part 1: The Disappearance of Ron Rudin

Episode #64 - A Tangled Web Part 1: The Disappearance of Ron Rudin

[Shaun] 

Ron Rudin had the true Golden West pioneer spirit. He came to Las Vegas in the late 1950s, and like many others, saw a valley full of potential. 

Ron was a self-made millionaire with a signature style and a love of Cadillacs, but it was no secret that he was gripped by paranoia, living behind high walls, barbed wire, and bulletproof glass. 

[John] 

When Ron married Margaret Rudin in 1987, it was the 5th marriage for both of them. As their lives merged, their relationship proved to be complicated and at times, violent.

When Ron vanished just days before Christmas in 1994, the circumstances surrounding his disappearance raised unsettling questions. Was this the result of his growing paranoia, or was there something far more sinister at play? What really happened on that December night?

(Music - Pause for 8 seconds)

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I’m your host, Shaun, 

[John] 

And I’m your cohost, John

[Shaun] 

Last season, we shared the stories of the 6 wives of Thomas Randolph. Randolph is known as the Black Widower because 4 of his six wives are dead, with 3 of them dying under suspicious circumstances. 

He was ultimately convicted of the murder of his 6th wife, Sharon, and is currently in prison serving a life sentence in Lovelock, a rural town in the northern part of Nevada. There’s a lot more to the story and you can listen to it by visiting sinspod.co/blackwidower 

Over the next few episodes, we are going to bring you the story of Ron Rudin and his fifth wife, Margaret Rudin, who became known as The Black Widow. 

December of 2024 marked 30 years since Ron disappeared, and the facts of the case and what transpired over the past 3 decades may shock you, confuse you, or anger you. 

There is no way we could have fit all of the details of this case into one episode, and we want to thank Elizabeth Atwood for her assistance in researching this case with all its unbelievable twists. 

[John] 

This is one of the most notorious murders in Las Vegas history, and there’s no question that the circumstances of Ron’s disappearance and the circus of a trial that followed attracted the attention of the true crime world. 

There was 

• a TV movie on the Oxygen network called Snapped: Margaret Rudin; 
• a CBS 48 Hours Mysteries episode called “Murder in Las Vegas: Did She Do it?”; 
• and episodes about Margaret on American Justice, Investigation Discovery, and Forensic Files. 

The trial itself was covered in full on Court TV as the “Black Widow Murder Trial.” Several books were written about Margaret and Ron as well, including “If I Die…” by Michael Fleeman & we appreciate his research into the Rudins. 

Ron Rudin wasn’t born in Las Vegas, but he made his life and fortune here. He was born on November 14, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the only child of Roy, who worked as a chemical company executive, and Stella, who was a stay-at-home mom. 

Tragically, Ron’s father passed away when Ron was only 10. He was very close to his mom, a bond that lasted well into Ron’s adulthood.

[Shaun] 

Ron joined ROTC (the reserve officer training corps) as a young man, as well as the Illinois National Guard, reportedly as a way for him to avoid being drafted into the Korean War which was fought in the early 1950’s. He was enlisted to fight overseas anyway, and when he returned to the US, he moved to Las Vegas to start his career as a real estate mogul.

According to Las Vegas Review-Journal records, Ron Rudin had his own real estate company as early as 1959, posting classified ads for starter homes and handyman’s dreams around Las Vegas. He also began purchasing homes to rehab and resell himself including a 2 bedroom home for himself in 1965 in a community called Alpine Place, which was located at Charleston and Decatur. 

As the construction industry boomed in Las Vegas in the 1980s and ‘90s, he quickly became a success in the industry and a powerful figure within the community. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that in 1994, Ron’s fortune was estimated to be $10 million (or about $22 million today). 

[John] 

Ron was known to be a workaholic, and meticulous and punctual due to his military experience but was also reported to be paranoid and obsessed with security. 

His home resembled a fortress, with high exterior walls, barbed wire, cameras, and barky English Setter hunting dogs on patrol. He took extensive precautions, such as installing bullet proof security glass at his home and office, frequently wearing a bullet-proof vest, and carrying a gun almost everywhere he went, with guns at the ready in his home and also in his car. 

It’s no surprise then that Ron was also an avid gun collector and eventually a licensed firearm dealer, amassing a “huge armory full of guns,” according to former Las Vegas detective Don Charleboix. 

His collection was reportedly valued at $3 million (around $7.5 million today) with hundreds of guns in his collection. 

He also had a distinct sense of style– he wore a few pieces of heavy jewelry including a large white gold and diamond bracelet with letters spelling out his name R-O-N, and he always dressed in black– black pants, black shirts, black cowboy boots, which some compared to the style of Johnny Cash. He also drove a black Cadillac that he adored and kept spotless and well-maintained.

Ron also reportedly had an interest in Scientology, and would often gift friends books written by L. Ron Hubbard, the the founder of Scientology. 

Despite his notoriety in Las Vegas, Ron was described as a very private man with a limited social life. He went to great lengths to avoid any publicity. One longtime friend, Jerry Stump, told the Las Vegas Sun that Ron once attended a cabaret show with a performance by adult film star, Marilyn Chambers.

Jerry spotted him standing in the club’s front doorway, and asked him why he didn't head inside the club and take a seat. Ron said, "If the police raid the place, I want to be the first one out." 

Jerry told the Sun that Ron, “treasured his privacy, yet he also had an eye for the ladies. I would say that Ron Rudin was a loner who didn't want to be alone."

[Shaun] 

Jerry wasn’t wrong. Ron was reportedly quite the ladies’ man and was married 5 times between 1959 and 1987. His first marriage didn’t last very long, and he was single for 8 years before marrying his second wife, Caralynne. While the 2 didn’t go the distance as husband and wife, after their divorce, Caralynne and Ron remained friends and business associates. 

His third wife, who some sources referred to as Ron’s one true love, was hairdresser Peggy June Lee. According to Michael Fleeman, Peggy was 15 years younger than Ron when they got married; he was 46 and she was 31. She and Ron had a lot in common. She was a skilled marksman, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal once published a photo of Peggy after she had killed a “trophy prize oryx” during a December 1978 hunt in White Sands New Mexico. She apparently shot the second-largest oryx in New Mexico history during that trip as well. 

If you're wondering what an Oryx is, it’s a type of antelope that is well adapted to the desert, with horns up to 3 feet in length

They are not native to the state but were introduced in the late 1960s by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. Specifically, gemsbok oryx which are native to Africa, were released in the White Sands Missile Range area to establish a hunting population.

The oryx adapted well to the environment and thrived, spreading beyond the initial introduction area. Today, they can be found in parts of southern New Mexico, particularly around the White Sands region, and occasionally outside that range. They are considered a managed species, and hunting permits are issued to help control their population

I clipped that photo out of the RJ archives and we will share it on our social media. 

According to Peggy’s family, Peggy had bouts of severe depression. Tragically, she shot herself in the primary bedroom of their home, on December 20, 1978, just a few days after that hunting trip. 

I don’t want to take too big of a detour away from Ron and Margaret. I do want to add that some of the circumstances around Peggy’s suicide raised questions, including that her suicide note was obviously written in two different handwritings. What happened to Peggy could be its own episode, so we’re going to dedicate this week's Swing Shift to sharing more about Peggy Rudin. 

At Peggy’s funeral, her uncle Chris confronted Ron and accused him of killing Peggy. He threatened to kill Ron for what he had done. His wife, Peggy’s aunt, was able to calm Chris down, out of respect for Peggy. 

Despite lingering questions, ​​Ron was never charged in connection with Peggy’s suicide. 

[John] 

Peggy’s death had a profound effect on Ron. From that December forward, Ron would always feel distressed when the holidays came around. Friends said that later in life, Ron became convinced he was possessed by the spirit of Peggy Rudin. 

Jerry Stump was quoted by author Michael Fleeman explaining, “Ron was really upset. He used to have this Christmas party every year at the office. He’d put up a tree in the office. After that, no trees, no Christmas parties. After that, he hated the holidays.”

Ron is said to have coped with everything by throwing himself into his work, and taking a risk on a huge development project at Lee Canyon. He hoped to build a “country club” type resort up on Mount Charleston for locals to escape to, with a huge lodge, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, ice skating, and a large RV park. 

Ron met and married his 4th wife in 1985, an outgoing woman named Karen Carmany. Karen echoed the concerns of Ron’s other ex-wives that Ron had a drinking problem and that was two different people when he was drunk versus sober. 

He also was becoming more and more paranoid, refusing to leave the house at night, though Karen didn’t know what he was afraid of. 

The Lee Canyon project was not proving to be as successful as Ron had hoped, and he had trouble obtaining the financing he needed. At one point he told Karen he was on the brink of bankruptcy. 

​​By 1987, he scaled back the project to just an RV park, and Karen and Ron filed for divorce. 

Later that same year, Ron met his 5th wife, Margaret,  at church. 

[Shaun]

Margaret Rudin was born Margaret Lee Frost on May 31, 1943 in Memphis, Tennessee, making her 12 years younger than Ron. She was one of three girls. Her two sisters are Barbara and Dona. Many news sources describe her as a soft spoken “southern belle” or a “socialite.” Margaret is known to journal extensively and to keep diaries and logs, of conversations and events. 

As a young girl, her family moved often, and Margaret had lived in 15 states and changed schools 22 different times before graduating high school, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 

At the age of 18, Margaret married a 20-year-old carpenter. They settled in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, and had two children. They divorced after 10 years, and Margaret went on to marry and divorce twice more. In 1981, after an extremely cold winter in Chicago, she moved to Las Vegas. 

Margaret met her fourth husband, a boat dealer, in Las Vegas, but the marriage ended a few years later in a highly contentious divorce. 

1987 was a rough year for Ron, and also a particularly painful year for Margaret. Her two children were grown & out of the house. Her father passed away that year and Margaret needed surgery for some health issues. Her 4th marriage ended and Margaret was once again starting over. 

She met Ron at the First Church of Religious Science in Las Vegas (which is no longer there, it’s been torn down), and she immediately caught Ron’s eye, said Michael Fleeman, author of If I Die. “She was outgoing, she was vivacious, very sociable and dressed nicely.” 

​In later interviews, Margaret shared a story that after her 4th divorce, she told a friend of hers that her next husband would wear cowboy boots because in Vegas, that means you're macho, and Margaret was into guys who were macho. 

When Ron showed up at church the day they met, Margaret’s friend pointed him out to her saying, look he’s wearing cowboy boots! 

Margaret said that Ron was charming, and she had never met anyone suaver, smarter, or slicker than he was. 

Ron and Margaret had a whirlwind romance, with Margaret claiming that Ron started pressing for marriage soon after their first date.

They were married on September 11, 1987.

[John] 

Margaret moved into Ron’s heavily fortified 2 bedroom house located near Charleston and Decatur, and behind the strip mall that Ron owned and where he had his business offices. 

Note that this was the same home where Ron’s wife Peggy had died by suicide about 9 years before Ron met Margaret. 

Margaret and Ron reportedly had a very volatile relationship, and Ron was known to be having an affair. Friends described their relationship as being marked with distrust, jealousy, and suspicion, but the two of them were very close and were said to be passionately in love. 

According to Margaret, one evening she and Ron began to argue after she overheard him talking to an ex-girlfriend. She said he slapped her, and in self-defense, she grabbed one of the many guns in the home. She said he wrestled it out of her hand, and instead of shooting her, he shot a painting on the wall.

While as we said, Ron was cleared of suspicion in Peggy’s suicide, Margaret did tell a story in an interview with 20/20 that one night when they were lying in bed together, Ron asked her what she would say if he told her he had killed Peggy: 

She said,  

“One night when we were watching some crime story, he said to me quietly, ‘What would you say if I told you I murdered Peggy?’ And I kind of caught my breath and I didn't know what to say because if I just said, 'Yes, I want the details,' I would have had to have left.

I just said, ‘No, no, you’re not going to relieve your guilt by telling me. I don’t want to know.’”

Margaret said the two of them never spoke about it again.

[Shaun]

Margaret described their marriage as a roller coaster, with Ron seeing other women but also professing his undying love for her. Margaret also observed that Ron would behave differently when he had too much to drink. 

In 1988, Ron filed for divorce from Margaret, and Margaret packed up her belongings and moved out of the house. A few months later, the 2 started reconciling and ended up getting back together before the divorce was finalized in the court. The two of them continued to have fights and make up, on again, off again. 

According to Margaret's sister, Dona Cantrell, Margaret would often complain that Ron was stingy, and it is said that Ron kept Margaret on an allowance and did not allow her access to his bank accounts. Margaret had a job at an antique store, but she dreamed of opening her own business. 

According to their friends, their fights got worse. Margaret recounted a story to the press where Ron hit her during a fight — she was bleeding – but the cops took them both away in separate patrol cars to spend the night in jail. Margaret blamed Ron’s drinking for their nearly constant fighting, explaining that he would get angry and throw things. 

Since the relationship was so toxic and Margaret was so obviously unhappy, her sister suggested that she get a divorce from Ron and move on. According to Dona, Margaret explained that Ron was not in good health and that she thought she would wait. Dona and others interpreted this to mean that Margaret hoped he would die from his poor health, essentially that she wished he was dead. 

[John] 

In 1991, four years into their marriage, Ron told his attorney that Margaret was becoming “vicious and violent.” Without naming her specifically, Ron executed a secret directive to the trustees of his estate that they take "extraordinary steps" to investigate the cause of his death if he died by "violent means." The directive also provided that any beneficiary who caused his death was not to receive any assets from his estate. 

Around this same time, Ron also removed a phone line that was shared between his office and his residence after his employees claimed that Margaret had been eavesdropping on their conversations. After Ron got rid of the shared phone line, Dona claimed that she and Margaret placed hidden listening devices in Ron's office. The devices transmitted a signal to a receiver and recorder that allowed Margaret to eavesdrop undetected. 

In 1994, with the aid of these devices, Margaret discovered that Ron was involved in an affair with a woman named Sue Lyles, who was also a former employee of his. 

On December 13, 1994, Sue told Ron that her children, ages 25 and 12, had received graphic, threatening anonymous letters about the affair. Sue was able to intercept the letters before her children could read them. Sue was certain that Margaret had sent the letters. Although Sue’s daughter’s name was Natalie, Margaret could never remember that and always called her Melissa. No one else in Sue’s family was named Melissa, so it wasn’t clear what the mix-up was. 

The letter that arrived at the house was addressed to Melissa Lyles. It wasn’t hard for Sue to connect that back to Margaret. 

It’s also reported by Ron’s financial advisors that Ron believed he was slowly being poisoned, and he had sought treatment from two different doctors, one in Utah and one in Arizona to get to the bottom of what was happening. 

December 18th was the grand opening of Margaret’s new antique shop, with a reception for friends and family. Ron attended the grand opening very briefly, which was not a surprise given the state of their relationship, but is disheartening and confusing given how much funding he had invested in getting the business off the ground. Amounts reported in the press ranged from $30,000 to $100,000.

[Shaun]

On the morning of Monday, December 19, 1994, Ron didn’t show up for work at the realty office, which was very out of character for him. So much so that friends, family and employees were immediately concerned. One of Ron’s employees tried calling his home but received no answer.

The next day, his employees went to a Las Vegas Metro police station to report Ron missing. 

According to court documents, a police officer contacted Margaret to inform her and let her know that Metro would accept the report made by the two employees unless Margaret planned to make her own report. Margaret explained that she tried to report her husband missing the day before, but that she was told to call back if he was still missing after 48 hours.

Margaret told police that she last saw her husband at the grand opening of her new antique store. She returned home from the opening around 2am to find her husband's car missing and the burglar alarms turned off. Although she thought it was strange, she was exhausted from the day, so she went to bed.

Margaret later explained that Ron was still attempting to develop an RV park in Lee Canyon. Few people knew this, but he was planning to sell off a large parcel of property, and the deal was scheduled to go through on the 19th. She said she thought that he might have gone up to the property to spend the night in his trailer as a way to say goodbye to it. She said she called a friend, Barbara Orcutt who owned a lodge and lived up on the mountain to ask if they had seen Ron, but Barbara told her no. 

Margaret also mentioned to police how Ron would get melancholy in December, due to Peggy’s suicide, so it wasn’t unusual for him to be distant, agitated, or in an unpleasant mood, or for him to seek out de-possession services from doctors. Officers did not ask Margaret for additional details on the de-possession services, but I am guessing she means some kind of spiritual healing or exorcism. 

On December 22, officers went to the Rudin house to perform what they called a “cursory check”, with Margaret’s permission. They looked in the bedrooms, under Ron and Margaret’s bed, and in the closets, performing a basic search for any signs of violence. They noted a large glamour shot of Margaret hanging over the bed in their bedroom and commented on Ron's large arsenal of guns and other weapons at the house. They searched the yard and the shed outside of the property but found no sign of Ron or any clues about where he may have gone. 

[John]

On December 23, 1994, Ron's car was discovered parked in an alley behind the Crazy Horse Too Saloon in Las Vegas. We’ve mentioned the Crazy Horse Too before on the podcast. It was a strip club located just west of the Strip, it went out of business years ago, and was demolished in 2022. 

According to Ron’s second wife and his girlfriend Sue, Ron was not known to visit the Crazy Horse or places like it. As we mentioned, Ron didn’t like to go out at night, and his friends seemed to think he was a bit too old for that kind of late night activity at age 64. He was the kind of guy who went home after work, ate dinner, and went to bed. Rick Rizzolo, owner of the Crazy Horse posted Ron's picture, but none of the staff members recognized him. Rick said that he knew the regulars in the club, and Ron was not one of them. 

Ron’s car was locked,and, police discovered two sets of keys to the vehicle inside. It appeared the car had been there for a few days, and it was dusty from a recent rainstorm. The police also noted that a significant amount of mud and dirt had been tracked onto all of the floorboards of the car. This fact would raise the suspicion of Ron’s friends, as he was known for being neat and for treating his beloved Cadillac as his baby. 

He also didn’t have a habit of backing the car into parking spaces, so it struck them as odd that the car was found backed in. 

While officers searched the car, they didn’t find any of Ron’s guns that he was known to keep in the Caddy, at least none were mentioned in any records that we had access to. According to author Michael Fleeman, In the back seat were some articles of clothing – a tan jacket (size 46) a long-sleeved blue shirt, size 34/35, and a pair of black pants with no tag. 

Although fingerprints were also found, none belonged to Ron, and there were no clues in the car as to where Ron might be. 

[Shaun]

According to friends and family, Margaret went through the motions that Christmas. Metro continued to post bulletins about Ron, in hopes someone would come forward with tips as to his whereabouts. They began investigating, asking his business associates, tenants, neighbors, and friends when they had last seen Ron. 

Due to his disappearance, Margaret was struggling financially. Without Ron managing his assets and accounts, she didn't have access to any cash for her personal expenses or to keep the antique store running. It’s reported that she started to sell off pieces of furniture or jewelry to make ends meet. 

Over the next few weeks, there was no trace of Ron. He never used an ATM, didn’t cash any checks; he never returned to the Crazy Horse Too in search of his car, and he hadn’t called his wife or anyone else in his circle. Metro detectives began to fear the worst.

[John]

We hate to leave you all on such a cliffhanger, but there’s so much of this story to tell that we are going to be covering it over 3 episodes. We will pick it up next week with the new evidence found in a rural community known as Nelson’s Landing and the intensive investigation that followed.

As we mentioned earlier, this week’s swing shift episode is going to be an in-depth look at Ron’s 3rd wife Peggy’s apparent death by suicide. There are some details we will discuss that will be significant as we start to get into the investigation in more detail. If you're not yet a subscriber to our premium content you can subscribe on our patreon or on Apple podcasts for just $3/month. Visit sinspod.co/subscribe for more info on that. 

Also make sure you’ve liked and followed Sins and Survivors on whatever platform you’re listening on so you get the notice when Part 2 is released.

As always, we want to thank you for listening and remind you that what happens here, happens everywhere.