December 22, 2015 – At a Christmas Eve bond hearing in Rolling Meadows, northwest of the Loop, a former Chicago attorney accused of murder will learn how much it will cost to remain free pending his trial.

Donnie Rudd, accused of killing his wife, Noreen, 42 years ago, is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing on Thursday afternoon, according to Cook County State’s Attorney spokesperson Tandra Simonton.

The 73-year-old Rudd is charged with murder. The minimum sentence, if found guilty, is 14 years in prison. If he is able to post bail, it likely will be steep. Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez is asking the court to set “a substantial bond.”

According to a “factual proffer” filed by Alvarez, Rudd is accused of killing Noreen in 1973, just 28 days after they were married. Noreen, who was 19 years old at the time, was found unresponsive by police in the front seat of a 1972 Ford Pinto Wagon on what is now Dundee Road near its intersection with Bateman Road in Barrington Hills.

At the time, Donnie Rudd said he was run off the road by an oncoming car in their lane. Noreen, he said, was thrown from the vehicle and hit her head on a large rock. There was no autopsy and the death was ruled an accident.

(Above) Shaded area in upper left is where the incident occurred. The area is about 15 miles west of Arlington Heights and about 23 miles northwest of O’Hare International Airport. (Below) Aerial view of Dundee Road (left to right) and Bateman Road intersection. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

40 years later, in 2013, as Arlington Heights police took a fresh look at the cold case, Noreen’s body was exhumed and an autopsy conducted by the Kane County Coroner’s Office. This time, the death was ruled a homicide, caused by blunt force trauma to the head. Two other medical examiners reviewed the autopsy report, other documents and photographs, and reached the same conclusion.

Rudd’s behavior after his wife died aroused suspicion. According to Alvarez, he moved in with a former girlfriend and cashed two insurance policies worth $120,000.

Rudd not ruled out as suspect in 1991 murder

Arlington Heights police say Rudd is also a suspect in the April 4, 1991, murder of Lauretta Tabak-Bodtke. Rudd has said he was at the victim’s home earlier in the day, dropping off documents, but left before she was killed. Neighbors recall seeing Rudd’s car, with vanity plates MR CONDO, parked in the victim’s driveway – earlier in the day, as Rudd says, but also later into the afternoon.

Rudd was representing Tabak-Bodtke, an interior designer, in a lawsuit against a business partner and, according to Anita Alvarez, had told Tabak-Bodtke he had settled her case for several hundred thousand dollars and would wire funds into her bank account. The money, however, never showed up.

Rudd (left, seen in a booking photo taken last week) was arrested at his home in Texas last Thursday and is being held in Rolling Meadows. He did not appear at a hearing on Monday because, reportedly, he was being treated for a bacterial skin infection.