Donnie Rudd found guilty of 1973 murder of wife

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (WLS) -- Donnie Rudd, an attorney accused in the cold case slaying of his young wife more than 40 years ago. was found guilty Monday afternoon.

A Cook County jury found Rudd, now 76, guilty of killing 19-year-old Noreen Rudd.

Prosecutors accused Rudd of beating his young wife to death less than a month after they were married and staging a car accident to cover it up - all for $120,000 in insurance money.

Noreen's death was reclassified as a homicide in 2013 when Arlington Heights police exhumed her body as a part of an investigation into the 1991 cold-case murder of interior designer Loretta Tabak-Bodtke, with whom the Texas transplant had a business dispute.

Rudd, who was a real estate attorney in Illinois but lost his license in 1994 after being suspected of fraud, has remained a suspect in the killing of his one-time client who was found shot to death in her suburban apartment.

Rudd faces a minimum of 14 years in prison.

Rudd's attorneys expressed disappointment in the verdict and said they planned to appeal. Meanwhile Noreen's family expressed gratitude and relief to the jury after their verdict was delivered, and said it had been a long and difficult road to justice.