Murder in Las Vegas | Full Episode | Forensic Files

a well-liked well respected woman isn't who she says she is she's hiding from the law but what of what she's really
hiding is murder 48 hours right now take a good look at Margaret Ruden she was so sweet a woman of class and
distinction well spoken well educated she was like a grandmother you know hard to believe she was a fugitive for almost
3 years we open the door and then she's hiding right next to the tub she's charged with brutally murdering her
millionaire husband is Margaret capable of sliding up behind Ron while he's sleeping in bed and shooting him no
doubt in my mind police say money was the motive 60% of Ron's millions of dollars would have gone to her and there
was suspicious Behavior what kind of a wife when her husband is missing remodels her entire master bedroom and
turns it into an office but in Vegas things aren't always as they appear Harold da investigates let me ask you
point like did you kill your husband absolutely not a 48 Hours mystery you're telling us that you've been framed
murder in Las [Music] Vegas accused of a horrific crime murdering your husband almost No One
Believes that you're innocent you see no way out out of fear and panic you disappear it was a gruesome crime that
appeared to defy the odds the accused a mild-mannered grandmother certainly not the sort of person you would expect to
find running from the law prosecutors say she ran because she had something terrible to hide but the unlikely
suspect in this case has a far different story to tell about why she chose to vanish Harold da investigates a case of
murder in Las Vegas and the pursuit of a woman who to many seemed above [Music] suspicion it's a horrible way to live
were you worried looking over your shoulders always every minute of every day in Riv Massachusetts a quiet
bluecollar town just outside of Boston 54-year-old Lee Brown was keeping a dark secret I am not in the habit of talking
to people about my life she would just come in she say hello to those that knew her Lee was a sweet quiet woman and my
shop is right there print shop owner Vince La Porter was Lee's neighbor she'd probably come in like two or three times
a week and make copies she was very pleasant she was like basically like a grandmother you know very soft spoken
very very nice a nice lady just one of the regular Jackie Melo served Lee coffee at his
Blues Diner there was just something about her she was more classy you know a more um well spoken well educated kind
of girl no one ever knew Lee Brown was really Margaret Rudy a woman suspected of murder in
Nevada this it's just unbelievable you know I don't believe she was capable at all of doing something like this
Massachusetts State Trooper Mark Lynch got a tip from Nevada authorities that Margaret Ruden was living in Riv it was
at um Bean over there Lynch tracked Margaret down to this apartment and with one of his officers disguised as a pizza
Delivery Man a Domino's shirt baseball cap and a Domino's Pizza Box he gained entry and made the arrest we open the
door and then she's hiding basically either in the tub or right next to the tub the statement was made Margaret you
know why we're here and she says yeah this is about Las Vegas isn't it Las Vegas the
strip the shows a high stakes gambling Mecca but to Margaret Ruden lost Vegas meant
murder she's brought back to Las Vegas to stand trial for the 1994 murder of her husband Ron Ruden let me ask you
point blank did you kill your husband absolutely not Ron Ruden disappeared December
1994 back then he was a successful real estate developer and gun dealer who was worth an estimated $12 million 60% of
Ron's millions of dollars would have gone to her Jimmy vakaro and Phil Ramos were homicide detectives assigned to the
case we know there was this uh real Rocky roller coaster relationship between Margaret Ruden and her husband
was there a strain in the relationship many Margaret Ruden admits there were problems but that wasn't reason to kill
him I don't have a history of staying with somebody if I'm really unhappy I have a history of divorcing them and so
did Ron when they married in 19 1987 it was the fifth marriage for both he was extremely mysterious very charismatic
did you fall in love with him yes he needed me but soon after they were married Margaret says she began to see another
side of Ron I thought I'd made a terrible mistake you know by then I knew that he was uh drinking a lot and he was
having an affair did that upset you that he was having extra marital Affairs did
it make you angry no you know why is because um 99% of the men that I've ever had in my life had fairs I believe that
about 90% of the men do you might as well expect it but in spite of everything she says she loved
Ron and was determined to make her marriage work I still thought that I could have an influence on him that I
could make a difference when Ron disappeared in 1994 Margaret was prepared ing for the
grand opening of her antique shop and I expected him to come in and he didn't we knew something was
wrong Sharon Melton Ron's close friend and bookkeeper after 10 years I think I knew him well immediately became
concerned when Ron failed to show up at work the next morning he would just not not show up and let anyone know one
month later Ron did show up charred remains of a body had been discovered in the desert 40 m outside of
Las Vegas so this is where Ron Ruden stopped right here not a very fitting end for anyone they tell me that Ron's
remains had been found think I was numb more than anything else amongst the remains was the framework of an antique
trunk and about 35 ft that way towards the river was where the head rolled to the human skull it was right in that
area right there bullet holes in the skull the medical examiner felt there was a possibility of a decapitation
having occurred postmortem is Margaret Ruden capable of murder is she capable of murder without a doubt it's unjust
it's not fair if she is innocent why then did this Pleasant softspoken grandmother go on the run for almost 3
years when you're helpless and you're totally alone you do tend to maybe Panic that's next
[Music] right through here is where the trunk got dragged and then uh here's a burn
spot right here where the fire actually took place Las Vegas homicide detectives
Phil Ramos and Jimmy vakaro have seen their share of murder somebody's dead we want to know who did it but nothing
compares to what they believe happened to Ron Ruden shot possibly decapitated hauled some 45 miles outside of town
does that sound like Overkill it does to me I did not kill my husband now Ron's wife Margaret will stand trial for his
murder this is my handsome husband on her way to church I want to remember him um during the good times you still
love it yes so does Ron's cousin Brenda woods we were very close who was like a sister to Ron we just kind of had a
special relationship this was taken in 1956 in our backyard he would have been all of 27 years old there oh it's on huh
yeah Ron was a kider Ron was fun and that's what I remember most about him is that he was always teasing and always
making us laugh Brenda watched Ron become a successful real estate developer he had the plates R rr-1 Ron
Ruden realy but were wored about him failing at four marriages until she met Margaret the first time I met her I
loved her I did we all did want a completely happy Christmas she was so sweet and had that sweet voice and so
softspoken Brenda saw in Margaret a caring mother and grandmother who doted over Ron it was the kind of person that
you'd say you're welcome in my home at any time but when Ron mysteriously disappeared 7 years later Brenda's
attitude changed the more information we got the more we started adding it up and
the more we thought she had something very much to do with it whether she pulled the trigger or
not police felt exactly the same way she's given us bad signals right from the start they turned their attention to
Margaret everything keeps bringing us back to her after she showed what seemed like a lack of concern for Ron's
whereabouts I think that that was part of the reason why people were looking at Margaret right away I saw him about 6:30
they say it took Margaret 2 days to file a missing person's report and that she did so only after Ron's co-workers
informed police first generally speaking uh if the spouse is missing the wife's the one reporting him one month later
when the detectives told Margaret that Ron had been murdered again Margaret's reaction raised suspicion we've notified
a lot of people that their loved one is dead I've never seen a non-reaction like
Margaret's and then there was the antique trunk police say Ron was burned in Margaret had an antique store and she
was an antique dealer but it was information coming from this man he's the guy that tells us everything that
sent up a red flag he's the one that really takes us and brings us straight on focus with Margaret this is actually
the master bedroom Margaret hired Augustine Lavado to remodel the bedroom before Ron's body had been found this is
what I turned into an office for why detectives ask would Margaret Ruden do so before she knew the fate of her
husband this is all done before we even make the death notification If Ron's coming home where are they going to
sleep detectives say Margaret was trying to clean up the murder scene by removing
furniture and carpeting there was what I thought was blood on the carpet and when
I was cutting through it this like scabby type material kept sticking to me it looked like dried blood but there was
more Lavado also noticed a portrait of Margaret hanging over the bed it gave me a creepy feeling like it was like
staring at me on it there appeared to be blood I saw brownish red splatters going
up the whole picture and then when I saw that I put the carpet and those two together and went wow based on levato's
statement detective searched the bedroom the carpeting had long since been thrown
out they could only find tiny traces of Blood on the ceiling walls and the portrait police failed to find a sample
of Ron's DNA so they couldn't tell if it was his blood but detectives believe it
was and say this is where Margaret shot Ron and killed him all of this uh movement of the trunk and everything Ron
Ruden was a 6 foot plus man at about 220 detectives have a theory Margaret didn't
act alone we know there's a Coke Spirit we know there's some help in this but is
Margaret capable of uh sliding up behind Ron while he's sleeping in bed and shooting him no doubt in my mind and
Ron's friend and bookkeeper Sharon Melton says Ron thought so too one time he stood in my office and screamed at me
she won't shoot me Sharon she wouldn't get anything but guess what none of us knew about the directive but Ron Ruden
the directive something Margaret knew nothing about an unusual provision Ron put in his will to protect his assets it
was a signal to investigators that if he died by violent means they should look at his
beneficiaries do you think he was speaking from his grade I think he was saying yeah in the event that somebody
murders me take a look at these people including my wife including my wife while detectives were certain Margaret
was the killer the District Attorney's office was concerned about the lack of Hard Evidence we don't know we got
enough to take to a jury here and they didn't a grand jury failed to indict Margaret for the murder of her husband
but then prosecutors Gary Gman and Chris Owens caught a break quite honestly it was concealed in a garbage bag a gun was
found so it looked like trash at the bottom of the lake 14 mil from where Ron ruden's body was discovered ballistics
showed that it was the murder weapon incredibly the gun was owned by Ron Ruden no question about that at all no
question at all records from the uh ATF have absolutely confirmed that that was his gun and Ruden had reported the gun
missing six years before he was murdered are you saying basically that Margaret Ruden took his gun and waited all this
time to kill him that's what the evidence suggests one year after the gun was found 2 years after Ron's murder the
second grand jury handed down an indictment but before prosecutors could arrest Margaret rudley
she fled you're telling us that you've been framed I think it all boils down to Greed on Whose part that will definitely
come out of trial if you're not guilty why do you run [Music] next I have so many memories of this
place when I was a kid my mom spent a lot of her time here we laugh a lot I know it's her all-time favorite place is
here by the water 34-year-old Christina Mason remembers the good times growing up with her mother Margaret in Zion
Illinois she's just a wonderful person and I'm proud to say that she's my mother Christina says her mother has
been accused of a crime she did not commit I miss my mom very much and we just want her to come home I'm sorry
I'm sorry how does your family feel about you being in jail I don't think anyone
could ever ever know how hard it is for her this is Margaret when she was I think four years old and this one she
was five Margaret's mother Eloise Frost if you could be with her right now what would you tell her I love you you more
than anything happy birthday to you today is Eloise's 80th birthday so the scary
thing about being 80 is that I want to live long enough to see Margaret pronounced innocent cuz she is inocent
but prosecutors Chris Owens and Gary Gman ask if you're not guilty why do you run just weeks before she was to be
indicted it's real clear that she left because she was soon to be held accountable Margaret Ruden argues she
left Las Vegas nearly 2 years after Ron's murder and that she had no alternative but to run I was terrified
at that point I had no attorney I had no money it didn't seem like anybody was going to help me it didn't seem like
anybody was even going to Care far from the bright lights of Las Vegas Margaret traveled to guadalahara
Mexico where she worked teaching English it was a wonderful Adventure because I had never been alone
before to avoid detection Margaret Ruden changed her identity how many aliases did you have do you know I really don't
know there were quite a few after several months in Mexico Margaret moved on to Phoenix Arizona and another Alias
there was a net boat right she worked in a hotel gift shop and lived at a YMCA her last stop River Massachusetts
where Margaret Ruden was finally arrested I wanted my life back I wanted to be with my children I wanted to be
with my grandchildren why did she run she was scared defense attorney Michael Amador says Margaret was forced to run
by a police department that had rushed to judgment within days after the missing person's report was given they
immediately targeted Margaret as the perpetrator you saying law enforcement in this case used tunnel vision
absolutely item police say Ron's employe es were the first to report him missing
not Margaret since his employees were immediately concerned that he didn't show up for work why wouldn't Margaret
be concerned but Margaret says she did call police and was told to wait they had said that the majority of them
always come home they had a policy that it was 48 hours to wait and Margaret didn't stop there I started calling
everyone that I ever knew to see if anybody had heard from him or if anybody had heard him say anything oh Margaret
called very just TR Barbara orit's Mountain Lodge was located next to property Ron Ruden owned I asked Barbara
if she had seen Ron I said I also was worried that something might have happened to him over on the property she
was very worried very concerned um that Ron hadn't come home this was not a usual thing item the
bedroom you know what kind of a wife when her husband is missing under suspicious circumstances remodels her
entire master bedroom and turns it into an office there were so many reasons for
that too Margaret explains Ron was missing for almost a month before she changed her bedroom I didn't really
believe that Ron would be coming back once his car was found I believed it was Foul Play and there was another reason I
had never liked being in the bedroom because I had been told Peggy had committed suicide in there Peggy is
Peggy Ruden Ron ruden's third wife who shot herself in the head in that very bedroom that was always something that
bothered me item the murder weapon Ron's own gun there's no way that they could say I was the only person that had
access did you take the gun no I did not so if Margaret Ruden didn't kill her husband who did Margaret was framed for
the murder of her husband in my opinion Amador points to these two people Sharon
Cooper and Harold bucuti longtime friends of Ron Ruden and trustees of his estate they're the ones who a far
greater motive to kill Ronald Ruden than Margaret did you're looking at what attorney Michael Amador calls the
motivation for murder Ron ruden's land Cooper and bosotti along with Margaret Ruden were all beneficiaries of the
estate Amador believes that Cooper and boscutti arranged Ron ruden's murder framing Margaret so that they would be
the only beneficiaries of the estimated $12 million Fortune prosecutors say that's absurd
trustees were not the individuals who had access to that deadly weapon the gun they're not the uh individuals who fled
uh in this investigation they're not the persons that change people that changed
the room and and and altered the bedroom Michael Amador has his work cut out for
him this is a private document so does co-defense counsel Tom pataro there's been nothing simple in this case their
strategy Pro Ron Ruden wasn't killed in his bedroom there is absolutely no possible way that he was shot in that
room if they can prove that they say the entire State's Theory falls apart the blood that they describe is not the
result of a high velocity spray as a result of a gunshot wound to his head I want somebody to believe me but I want
them to believe me on the evidence with the trial fast approaching attorneys on both sides are cautiously confident to
me a trial is a street fight with neckti please state your name but the street fight is about to get nasty Donna can
with explosive testimony from the state star witness you are the sister of Margaret rud is that correct yes I am
that's next can you tell me what it is mar would say about a relationship with [Music]
it took several years for authorities to even find Margaret Ruden to try to bring
the 58-year-old grandmother to justice for the murder of her millionaire husband prosecutors say her motives were
Timeless jealousy and greed but she contends she was framed by others who stood to profit from her husband Ron's
death and she says the reason she fled Las Vegas was out of panic feeling helpless with no one in her Corner 6
years after the murder Mar Ruden would stand trial facing potentially damaging testimony from a bombshell witness and
with her own defense team about to roll the dice here again is Harold [Music] D in the city of high stakes gamblers
money power crime fear attorneys Michael Amador and Tom pataro are taking a chance the evidence doesn't support the
theory they can prove Margaret Ruden didn't kill her husband Ron there's nothing really tangible that you're
knocking out you have a right patero admits circumstantial cases like this one are hard to defend to defend that
you're defending against a whisp of smoke it's Mike Amador okay go ahead but lead defense attorney Michael Amador
appears ready once they get our expert we're going to kick their ass and confident the entire state case is
nothing but a house of cards waiting for just the slightest Breeze to knock it down Mike's had some really grandio
statements I mean he's been sure you know that he has what he has prosecutor Gary Gman the state has the burden of
proof and we've got to shoulder that are my shoulders broad enough we'll find out
all right District Court department 6 session the hon residing you see the please right Council stipulate that the
Pres of the jury all right call your next witness the state starts with one of the motives sues Please Mr Bale
jealousy of this woman did you have feelings for Ronald Ruden in November of 1994 Ron ruden's mistress yes Sue lyes
and can you describe those feelings for the jury as you felt them then I cared very deeply for Ron weeks before Ron
disappeared I don't mean to embarrass you ma' vulgar Anonymous letters were mailed to ly's children they are
dripping with Venom and anger I quote from the letter your mother has been screwing Ronald Ruden the realtor for
over a year and she screws him on dirty carpet floors prosecutors believe Margaret feared ly's was going to steal
Ron and his money did you write the letters no I did not there is absolutely no way that Sue L was ever a threat to
my marriage in any way shape or form Margaret does admit knowing all about ly's how according to police she tapped
Ron's phone can you tell me what his reaction was to the letters he was angry he talked about confronting her her that
confrontation prosecutor Chris Owens theorizes sent Margaret into a rage ending in Ran's murder and the last
thing he' said to this girlfriend was I'm going to go talk to Margaret about these and the next night he disappears
according to prosecutors Margaret shot Ron and used a trunk to get his body to the
desert please state your name and spell your last name for the record Donna with
one n can the state star witness says she knows firsthand how anxious Margaret was
to be free of her husband I said I thought you were going to divorce him and she said to me that uh he's not in
very good health he can't even walk without being out of breath and I think I will wait but this isn't just any
witness you are the sister of Margaret Ruden is that correct yes I am Donna Cantrell Margaret's own sister is
testifying against her we have a long running history of of not speaking now have the two of you always had a close
relationship with each other no what's it like for a mother to see one of her daughters do something like this it's
horrible CU I spent my whole life raising my family and it it breaks my heart does marget ever talk to you about
what you should say if the police contact you to tell them that she and Ron were getting along better than ever
and that the girlfriend wasn't an issue now did you know or believe Ron and Margaret to be getting along better than
ever at the time of Ron's disappearance no her testimony sends shock waves through the defense and Lead attorney
Amador stumbling into cross-examination let me try this when was it in 1988 then
that you first uh went to a doctor and began uh getting a prescription for some sort
of anti-press no it was 1983 1983 but his efforts to discredit Cantrell fall short I want to know what
you intend to elicit from this witness okay I will only be cross-examining her about specific incidents in 1984 she
slammed a glass up against a man's head at a bar because he called her a for it because it was crowded and she
pushed him and there were other acts of of violence that she perpetrated is going to be ridiculous she's not on
trial here this woman is not on trial this woman testified you have a right to impeach her but this is getting
ridiculous as Margaret watches on she loses faith in her attorney my attorney was not prepared Mr Amador was getting
worse with every day that passed instead of a better Department 6 District Court
is now a session please be seated on the following day Margaret does something about it Mr Ruden stand up a minute what
is the issue here I would like to ask for a mistrial because I don't believe that Mr Amador
is prepared enough Amador supports his client's motion and admits defeat the extensiveness of the case made it
impossible given the time but the judge doesn't buy it couldn't the same thing happen in any case couldn't a defendant
say oh by the way judge things are not going my way too much give me a mistrial let me get another second bite of the
apple he denies the motion the trial of the state of Nevada versus Margaret Ruden will resume at 1:00 the judge has
made his ruling and now we go forward the defense team decides that co-counsel Tom patero should step in and take the
wheel one of his first challenges prepare for the testimony of this man the is a Yehuda shiron a former Israeli
military officer turned business man and he explained this business to us he obtains this holy oil and then he
bottles it and he sells it to the Catholic now let me ask you this Chiron helped Margaret manage her finances
detectives believe Chiron was also Margaret's lover and somehow connected with the murder were you involved with
him romantically I was involved with him as a a friend I have a lot of male friends that doesn't mean there's
anything romantically involved Chiron was given full immunity will he implicate Margaret Ruden that's next
[Music] she could not have done it would be physically impossible for her to have done any of the things that
that are attributable to her by the state Tom pataro is convinced 58-year-old Margaret Ruden isn't capable
of committing the gruesome murder of her husband Ron we've never believed that she did it by herself we've always
alleged that someone else had to have assisted her prosecutors say that someone else is Yehuda Chiron a
47-year-old former Israeli intelligence officer this was not a oneperson job to remove the body of a man that large and
take him out to a remote spot in the desert Yehuda shiron who is he he was a friend Margaret says she turned to
Chiron to help her straighten out Ron's finances after he disappeared we had an agreement that he would do a lot of the
uh paperwork for me that I did not know how to do but detectives Ramos and vakaro insist Chiron was more than a
friend the huge amount of phone calls that were occurring between Yehuda and Margaret I mean she called him I don't
know how many times and now we're starting to think uh-oh now we have a boyfriend involved and so did that make
us start thinking that we need to go investigate him you bet despite their suspicion they were never able to prove
Chiron was involved they looked at Yehuda Shir and thought he knows something but he's not telling us why
not well maybe he's afraid that he's going to get prosecuted so the District Attorney's Office granted Chiron full
immunity hoping he would implicate Margaret but he didn't all right call your next witness
yiron Yehuda Chiron now prosecutors are trying again on the stand and Monday night you rented the van yes Chiron
rented a van the day after Ron Ruden disapp appeared prosecutors believe he used it to dispose of the body isn't it
true that you went to Nelson's Landing with that van in 1994 nope you are sure of that I'm very sure once again Chiron
gives the state nothing and the defense jumps at the chance to make that clear to the jury did you kill Ron Ruden no I
did not did you help kill Ron Ruden no I did not he was the only person that could have said I killed Ron Ruden and
could have walked out the door but even with immunity he said no the defense begins to build momentum wherever you
start measuring from there raising doubt as to where Ruden was killed they say that he was shot in his
bedroom while he was asleep well we say the objective evidence doesn't support that in any way shaped manner or form
and while handyman Augustine Lavado says he saw blood in the bedroom a month after Ron Ruden disappeared and one of
the things you thought was very important was to look down at the floor this police detective searched the house
just days after Ron disappeared and saw nothing you were down there on the carpet weren't you it similar to that
position yes you see any big stains down there that struck you was being unusual
no after ruden's body was found the room was searched again this time by forensic
specialist Mike Perkins and this time a small amount of blood spatter was found the size of these is consistent with a
gunshot wound but pataro argues the blood found in the bedroom doesn't make a crime scene going to make a right to
prove it he brings the bedroom to the jury we literally rebuilt the bedroom so that the jury could see
specifically what we're talking about the whole body would have to go this way to get the head now facing the back to
the east is that correct yes pataro also brings in his own expert who says the small amount of blood makes it difficult
to prove anything at all what you're telling us then is that when we put all these stains that are there in total
that we come up with how much volume I think was less than a drop less than a drop
total yes the amount of blood was found was very minute it would not be consistent with someone that would have
been shot in the bed that would have been a great deal of blood nobody ever said that that's all the blood that
there was we just said when the police got there 30 days later after she didn't a remodel top to bottom that's what was
left Michael Amador says from the very beginning investigators had the wrong person were you ever questioned by
detectives Vio and Ramos about your whereabouts on December 18th of 1994 I don't recall who should they have
been following I mean think about it follow the money where does the money lead Sharon Cooper and Harold bosy Shar
Cooper and Harold bucuti trustees and beneficiaries of Ron's estate the people Margaret says took control of Ron's
Fortune within a week of Ron's disappearance the trustees had already uh started putting every asset that he
had in their name after the trust was dispersed All the Monies were dispersed how much did you get a million and a
quarter million and a half the death of Ron Ruden made some people millionaires one of them was not Margaret Ruden his
wife but prosecutors say Cooper and bcui were simply following the instructions in Ron's will these are not killer
people they're just nice people that got surprised by situation and dealt with it
the best way they could after almost 100 Witnesses 8 weeks of testimony and more
than 500,000 taxpayers dollars Margaret Ruden is a good and decent woman the trial goes to the jury Margaret Ruden
chooses not to take the stand the cas is now submitted to you l ladies and gentlemen I've been doing this 26 years
and the one thing I know is I have no idea what's going through the jury's mind right now when we come back this is
wrong no jury should ever ever have to go through what I went through an amazing turn of events
[Music] it's still too early to guess what the jury might be thinking at this point
they almost 9 weeks after her trial began have you talked to Margaret Margaret Ruden must now wait for the
jury to decide her fate I did not kill my husband and I have total confidence that's what the jury will
return as days pass it's clear the jury is struggling to reach a verdict well once again we're hearing about problems
in the jury room but finally after long days they get a verdict and they're going to announce it at 12 R will you
stand up the wait is over have you arrived at a verdict yes sir we have almost 7 years after Ron Ruden was
brutally murdered we find the defendant guilty his wife Margaret is guilty of murder I was numb I was totally numb and
as she has been throughout the trial Margaret remains stoic what were you thinking that I'm Dreaming this isn't
real it can't be real through it all you never showed any emotion how could you do that you know I don't think it's a
choice I don't think you deliberately say I'm not going to show any emotion to the camera but you were
hurt definitely yeah it was complete shock and disbelief disappointment I I mean it broke my heart ladies and
gentlemen of the jury is those your verdicts as R so say you one so say you all yes for Tom potaro it's a disappointing
end to an exhausting fight in the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln I'm too old to cry and it hurts too much to
laugh but for prosecutor Gary Gman Justice is served this was a long time coming and it was nice to see that this
jury was now holding her accountable for a premeditated deliberate act it all came back to Margaret jury Forman Ron
vest to me this was a slam dunk with a step ladder but was it it's Mike Amador just hours after the verdict a stunning
allegation I just got off the phone with juror number 11 they uh forced her into
voting that way I changed my vote I never changed my mind Corine Kovac is juror number 11 the loan hold out during
deliberations do you think maret Ruden is guilty of murder no I don't I think I've read these notes a total of 16
times from start to finish Kovac believes prosecutors failed to prove their case Beyond a reasonable out they
said Margaret killed Ron Ruden in that bed and I don't believe that happened she told 48 Hours she was pressured into
voting guilty I was told to my face we're going to deliberate until we reach a verdict and when she refused to change
her mind she says the other jurors became nasty and belligerent they went off on me I mean they went off screaming
and yelling and pointing and sticking fingers in my face but the jurors we talk to dispute kac's claims there was
no pointing fingers there was nobody in her face it scared me to think that I had already voted and that wasn't going
out of that room and nothing was going out of that room until I agreed with the other 11 jurors on the fifth day of
deliberations Kovac changed her vote guilty I'm sorry I buckled I'm sorry I didn't stick by my guns and I'm sorry I
couldn't take it anymore and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life had Corine
Kovac voted her conscience it would have meant a hung jury and a new trial which
is what Margaret Ruden wants most I will keep fighting I will fight back in every
way possible I can to overrule the verdict absolutely Justice was and here's where his mom and dad are but
for Brenda woods and the rest of Ron ruden's family this case is closed I'd like to see Margaret go to prison and
stay there it was a horrible horrible thing no one should die the way Ron died shortly after trial the judge
pronounced sentence life in prison for Margaret Ruden he rejected her motion for a new trial so saying her lawyers
didn't present sufficient evidence to support their claim that a juror was pressured into voting guilty the judge
also cited a lack of support for the claim that her lead attorney Michael Amador had been
ineffective during sentencing the judge scolded Margaret Ruden for showing No Remorse but he left her with a faint
glimmer of hope she will be eligible for parole after 20 years with time already
served that means she'll get her first chance at Freedom when she's [Music] 76 a
[Music]

Did an elegant, soft-spoken grandmother murder her millionaire husband? Police say the motive was money, but she tells a different story. "48 Hours"' Harold Dow reports in this episode which originally aired in June 2002. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Margaret Ruden is convicted of murdering her husband Ron, despite claims of being framed and a lack of direct evidence against her.

Key points

The Fugitive Grandmother. Margaret Ruden, a seemingly sweet grandmother, is accused of murdering her millionaire husband.
The Arrest. Margaret is found hiding in a bathtub, leading to her arrest for murder.
The Gruesome Discovery. Ron Ruden's charred remains are found in the desert, raising suspicions about his wife.
The Gun's Revelation. A gun, identified as Ron's, is found, linking Margaret to the murder.
Margaret Ruden Found Guilty. After almost 7 years since Ron Ruden's murder, the jury finds Margaret guilty.
Juror Claims Pressure to Vote Guilty. Juror Corine Kovac reveals she felt pressured into changing her vote to guilty.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's a horrible way to live.

Margaret reflects on her life as a fugitive.

2:13WatchFeb 18, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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