A vicious killing that shocked the sleepy town of San Rafael has finally been solved, the police department announced this week.
On Feb. 1, 1966, 60-year-old Marjorie Rudolph was alone in her ranch-style home on Carroll Court. Rudolph was descended from one of Marin County’s first settler families; she was related to Dr. Galen Burdell, the man who held the Rancho Olompali land grant. The night that she died, her husband, local Bank of America manager Leroy Rudolph, was in the hospital, recovering from a routine surgery. Around 5:30 p.m., a neighbor called and asked Marjorie if she wanted to come over for dinner. Rudolph declined, saying she was already in her robe and wanted to stay in for the night.
Sometime between that phone call and 8 p.m., police believe a man knocked on her door. Rudolph was a careful individual and unlikely to let in strangers, so detectives believed she knew him. Once the person was inside the home, a violent struggle ensued. Furniture was knocked over, and blood splatters were found in multiple rooms. Using some kind of heavy, pointed object, the killer ruthlessly beat Rudolph, breaking most of her ribs and fracturing her skull. A county coroner would later remark that her sternum was crushed so badly it was “as if someone had pounced up and down on her.”…