my beautiful sister, Cindy

I received word from one of my Victim Advocates yesterday that a parole hearing is to be held next Tuesday for Rudi Apelt. Rudi is the brother of the man Cindy married who assisted him with her murder for life insurance. He is actually the person who wielded the knife in the desert on the night of December 23, 1988, stabbing her multiple times and slashing her throat. This was proven in court by his own expert Vincent DiMaio. You can read about that Perry Mason moment here.

Rudi was sentenced to death in 1990 for the first-degree murder, then a life WITH parole sentence for the conspiracy. Nineteen years later, his death sentence was commuted because one Judge , Silvia Arellano, decided to release him from Death Row under a mental retardation claim. Once the Federal Supreme Court ruled that we can’t execute the mentally retarded (a ruling I agree with), suddenly both of these scheming conmen became “mentally retarded” overnight according to their attorneys, and those championing against the death penalty, one murderer at a time.

Rudi’s sentence was commuted to life WITH parole which, thankfully, Arellano decided to run consecutively to the conspiracy Life WITH parole sentence vs the concurrent option they argued for.  Arellano, the biased Judge, had also ruled that nothing, not one thing, in their lives after the age of 18 could be considered in her decision–read: THE CRIMES FOR WHICH THEY WERE CONVICTED COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED IN THE DECISION FOR SENTENCE FOR THE CRIMES THEY COMMITTED.  It was a terrifying time as this monster could have gone from Death Row to up for parole in five short years after that commutation.

Yes, it seems like a moot point or a formality that he should be given these yearly parole hearings for the first sentence he is serving, as he’s eight years into the second 25 to Life sentence. He could be granted parole on the first one and still turn right around to his cell to continue the second one. BUT, I’ve become a bit educated on how prisoners become victims over the years, and how attorneys make big bucks championing murderers and I don’t trust any of it. So, yes, I wrote a letter to the parole board and I guess I will each year, to make sure no one ever considers releasing him from prison or giving him any leniency.

I suspect he will continue, along with his disgusting champions, to try and play the “mentally retarded” card and since I’ve been informed it’s a fairly new parole board who may not know the case, I decided to do a bit of educating on exactly who Rudi Apelt is.

Here is a copy of my letter that my advocate will be reading into the record next Tuesday.  I won’t be in AZ at that time and frankly, I never want to be in the same room with either of those sociopaths ever again so her reading my words to their faces is just fine with me.

the face of a monster

Here it is (apologies for it being dense to read–Wordpress is not letting me put paragraphs on this when I edited it):

To the AZ State Parole Board,

My name is Kathy Monkman Higham, and I am the sister of the victim in this case, Cindy Monkman. She was my only sister, 14 months older than me and her life was taken on December 23, 1988, by Rudi Apelt and his brother Michael, in the Arizona desert for one motive: money. Specifically, $400,000 in life insurance taken out on her in the weeks before her murder. Her body was discovered on Christmas Eve day. She was killed the day after the insurance papers arrived in the mail.

I’d like to offer my opinions on this murderer Rudi Apelt, and perhaps give you some information about him, as you evaluate the options related to parole for this convicted murderer.

In 2009, Rudi Apelt was deemed “mentally retarded” by one finder of fact:  Judge Silvia Arellano after a lengthy death penalty appeal. He was removed from Death Row at that time, vacating the death sentence and replacing it with a grandfathered in Life WITH Parole sentence which she ordered to be run consecutively with his other Life WITH parole sentence for the conspiracy to commit murder conviction.  Life WITHOUT parole was not an option in Arizona when this killer was sentenced in 1990, which is why he is even being considered for parole now.

Judge Arellano, in making her decision, deemed that no information related to Apelt beyond the age of 18 would be considered by her in the final outcome of that appeal. This means that the crimes for which he was convicted–first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder–were not considered in the determination of sentences for said crimes. Both brothers were in their late 20s at the time they slaughtered my sister in a sophisticated scheme for $400,000 in life insurance proceeds. They had been plotting this murder for about two months at least.

For purposes of this hearing, I will focus on this murderer, Rudi and the life he lived past the age of 18, and up to, and including the murder of my sister Cindy.

I have seen police reports on Rudi Apelt from Germany, which include burglary, assault, insurance fraud, and rape. Rudi served 5 years in a German prison for a violent gang rape of a woman  before coming to the United States and murdering my sister.  Not only did he and his cohorts rape and brutalize their victim, but they left her outside the city limits for dead, much like my sister, although he made sure Cindy was actually dead before leaving her in the desert that December night. Rudi stole the car they drove to the airport in to come to the US, and warrants were out for their arrest in Germany shortly after they left in the summer of 1988.

It was proven in court by Rudi’s own expert, famous pathologist Vincent DiMaio, that it was, in fact, Rudi himself who inflicted the majority of the stab wounds to my sister’s chest, severing her aorta, piercing her lung and then nearly decapitating her by slashing her throat. She was also severely beaten, but it was not proven who committed those blows. The knife wounds were easily established because Rudi is right handed, and his brother Michael is left-handed, and the majority of her wounds were clearly committed by a right handed individual, according to his own expert. Michael’s footprint was found on her forehead and it was presented in court that he stood on her head, as Rudi slashed Cindy’s throat as she lay helpless on the desert floor. Rudi and his brother went to the nightclub/restaurant, Bobby McGees and used Cindy’s credit card for a celebratory dinner  after they killed her.

I met Rudi the very night that Cindy met the men who would kill her in a few short months. We were at a night club, and Rudi was supposed to be the date of one of our friends who had met this pair of brothers there the night before. But what I witnessed was Rudi blowing kisses and winking at me, which was highly inappropriate and distasteful. He was also meandering around the bar hitting on other women and kissing them on the dance floor. Although this behavior was rude, it does not rise to a level to prove mental retardation, in my opinion. That’s just common sense. He obviously possessed the savvy and bravado, as well as the confidence to be able to pursue multiple women at once. I do not find this behavior evident in mentally retarded people. You might ask yourselves the same question.

In the weeks leading up to murdering my sister, Rudi spent his time, with his brother, lining up other women to date, asking them to marry him, pursuing them and borrowing their cars, staying in their homes alone without his brother, lying to them, while stealing money from their purses and blank checks from their homes. He was able to convince luxury car dealers, Rolex watch distributors, and a custom home realtor that he was anything from a professional athlete (he is tall and at the time quite stocky), to an international banker to a pilot. Along with his brother, these schemes were believed, as they test drove Jaguars, BMW’s and signed a contract on a custom home, presumably pre-spending the life insurance money before they murdered my sister, as they had no other source of income other than illegal activities and schemes. All of these people came forward to testify about their experiences with these German con artists and how they believed their lies, including consistent claims of wealth.

Rudi, along with his brother, attended Cindy’s funeral and got up and spoke. I witnessed both of them  driving away from the grave site laughing in their rental car. Their accomplice, Anke Dorn, testified that that very night they confessed to her that they had murdered Cindy.

Now with all of this information (which I have well documented in police reports and court records, if you would like me to provide supporting documentation), I encourage you to ask yourselves if you would assess this violent man as mentally retarded and give him any leniency for this or any other reason.  If for some reason, you give him the benefit of the doubt that Judge Arellano did, then I implore you to realize, clearly, that he is a danger to any society and should never be released from prison.

Rudi Apelt is a sophisticated con artist and violent man, of this there is no doubt, whatever label one wants to put on him.

Please make sure he remains in prison for the rest of his life, however long that will be.

Thank you for your consideration.

Kathy Monkman Higham

this right here is innocence–don’t get it twisted

 

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