Barrington Man Charged in 1973 Murder of Wife is Now Free on Bail

COOK COUNTY, IL - A man charged last year with the 1973 murder of his young wife in Barrington Township is now free on bail after he posted 10 percent of his $4 million bond.

Donnie Rudd, 74, had been in custody at the Cook County Jail since his arrest in December. His attorney, Timothy Grace, told the Daily Herald Rudd posted his bond about three weeks ago but would not comment on where his client is living now.

Rudd is accused of murdering his wife, Noreen Kumeta, 19, and then making the death look like a car accident in September 1973.

Authorities decided to reopen the Noreen Kumeta case while investigating Rudd’s possible ties to the 1991 murder of Lauretta (Terri) Tabak-Bodtke, 59, who was found dead in her home at 1627 N. Belmont Ave. in Arlington Heights. She suffered several gunshot wounds, according to Mike Hernandez, Arlington Heights Deputy Chief.

Police have not charged Rudd in connection with Tabak-Bodtke’s death but say he remains a suspect, Hernandez said.

Kumeta-Rudd, with a last known address of Hoffman Estates, died on Sept. 14, 1973. She was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Rudd when he allegedly veered off Route 68, which was Route 63 at the time of the crash, near Bateman Road in Barrington Hills, according to a Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office press release. When police arrived to the crash scene, Rudd was holding his young bridge in his lap in the passenger’s seat of their car and when officers tried to revive her, they found a large hole in the back of her head.

According to police reports, the Rudd’s car struck a barbed wire fence, causing minor damage to the vehicle. Officers noted approximately 165 feet of skid marks in the grass leading from the road. The skid marks were consistent with the car having driven in a straight line to its final resting point.

While being interviewed at the scene, Rudd explained to authorities that he and the victim were on their way home when another vehicle came into his lane. Rudd said that he was forced to drive off the road and the victim’s door came open, causing her ejection. Rudd also showed officers a large rock that appeared to have hair and blood on it, and stated that the victim must have struck her head on it when she was thrown from the vehicle.

After the incident, Rudd claimed that he had been forced off the road by a hit man sent to kill him by a local politician and that the victim had struck her head on the door as she fell out of the car, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office news release. An autopsy was not performed on Noreen Rudd and a coroner’s inquest concluded that the victim’s death was an accident.

When her body was exhumed in 2013, a pathologist found scrapes, cuts and other injuries to the left side of her head and concluded her injuries were consistent with several blows to the head but were not consistent with being hit by a rock on the ground, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The crash happened 27 days after the couple was married. Rudd met Kumeta-Rudd while working at Quaker Oats in Barrington while he worked as patent attorney for the business, according to a Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office press release. Rudd shared a home with his girlfriend at the time and Kumeta-Rudd had recently lost a boyfriend an an auto crash. Despite all that, the two quickly started dating and married a short time later.

Immediately following his wife’s death, Rudd returned to his former girlfriend and married her eight months later. According to prosecutors, Rudd received two payouts on two life insurance policies that were taken out on the victim. The first was a policy that all Quaker Oats employees received, which amounted to $20,000.

The second was a “Voluntary Accident Insurance” policy offered as extra insurance to employees, which had been taken out at the maximum amount of $100,000, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the death of Tabak-Bodtke -- a one-time client of Rudd who was a prominent lawyer in the 1970s. Rudd was disbarred in 1994, according to the Chicago Tribune.

A trial date has not been set in the Noreen Kumeta murder case.