48 Hours - Murder in Las Vegas

On December 18, 1994, a wealthy real-estate developer mysteriously disappeared from his home in Las Vegas. A month later, the charred remains of his decapitated body were found. Authorities suspected his wife, Margaret Rudin, but she fled to Mexico before they could arrest her. “48 Hours" Correspondent Harold Dow reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/3/2002. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.

Duration: 38m
Broadcast on: 18 Dec 2025
Audio Format: other

[music] It's a horrible way to live. Are we worried? Looking over your shoulders? Always. Every minute of every day. In Reveer, Massachusetts, a quiet blue-collar 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 and she'd say hello. To those that knew her, Lee was a sweet, quiet woman. And my shop is right there. Print shop owner, Vince LaPorter, 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 basically like a grandmother, you know? Very soft-spoken. Very, very nice. A nice lady. Just one of the regulars. Jackie Mellow served Lee Coffee at his blues diner. There was just something about her. She was more classy. You know, a more well-spoken, well-educated kind of girl. No one ever knew Lee Brown was really Margaret Roode, a woman suspected of murder in Nevada. This is just unbelievable, you know? I don't believe she was capable at all. I'll do with something like this. Massachusetts state trooper Mark Lynch got a tip from Nevada authorities that Margaret Roode was living in Reveer. It was that Beige went over there. Lynch tracked Margaret down to this apartment, and with one of his officers disguised as a pizza delivery man... A dominoes shirt, baseball cap, and a dominoes pizza box. He gained entry and made the arrest. We opened 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?" 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 Roode, Las Vegas meant murder. She's brought back to Las Vegas to stand trial for the 1994 murder of her husband, Ron Roode. Let me ask you a point, Mike. Did you kill your husband? Absolutely not. Ron Roode 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 Vaccaro and Phil Ramos were homicide detectives assigned to the case. We know there was this real rocky roller coaster relationship between Margaret Roode and her husband. Was there a strain in the relationship? Mini. Margaret Roode 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 1987, it was the fifth marriage for both. He was extremely mysterious, very charismatic. Did you fall all over with him?

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