Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
“Run Bambi Run” is the fourth episode of The Playboy Murders season 2 and follows the events that led to a young Laurie Bembenek‘s suspension from the police department and her subsequent conviction for the murder of her husband’s ex-wife. The episode will be aired on ID on Monday, February 5, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET.
Laurie “Bambi” Bembenek was a former Playboy bunny when she was convicted of fatally shooting Christine Schultz in 1982. After serving as a waitress at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Bembenek served in the Milwaukee Police Department in 1980. The following year, she married Elfred Schultz, a Milwaukee detective who was previously married to Christine Schultz. They reportedly had two sons and separated in 1980.
According to Fox News, Christine Schultz was found dead in her bedroom. A gunshot passed through her heart on May 28, 1981. Her son Sean found her and contacted Christine’s boyfriend, Stuart Honeck, who reported the murder to authorities. Christine was 30 at the time of death when she was bound and gagged. Experts found that she was shot using Elfred’s off-duty gun. The hair samples in Laurie Bembenek’s hairbrush also matched those in the bandana used to gag Christine.
A few months later, Laurie Bembenek was arrested, and she was found guilty of Christine’s murder in 1982. The prosecution revealed that Bembenek had been actively complaining about the $700 amount that Elfred Schultz had been paying his ex-wife Christine as alimony. Bembenek argued that this was a plan plotted to frame her owing to her interest in assisting the investigation into corruption and sex discrimination within the department, the New York Times reported. Lauri Bembenek was then sentenced to life in prison.
How did Laurie Bembenek escape from prison?
Eight years into serving the sentence, Laurie Bembenek fled from the Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac in 1990. She reportedly squeezed through the laundry room window and climbed a seven-foot tall, barbed wire fence to escape prison. She went to Canada with her fiancé, Dominic Gugliatto. He was also the brother of one of her inmates, CBS News reported.
When Laurie Bembenek was on the run, over 200 followers expressed their support for her attempt to evade the law. They wore “Run Bambi Run” T-shirts and rallied actively. After the case of her escape was covered on America’s Most Wanted, a restaurant patron reported that he saw Bambi. She was caught along with Gugliatto in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
She opposed extradition and finally returned to Wisconsin in 1992. The prosecution then agreed to set her conviction aside after she pleaded no contest to the charges against her. However, she was asked to serve 10 years of probation. In 2002, she completed parole. Once again, Laurie Bembenek filed an appeal to test genetic evidence in the murder of Christine Schultz. However, the appeal was rejected by the Wisconsin appeals court.
According to Oxygen, a re-examination of DNA evidence suggested that it could have been a male intruder, and there may have been an act of sexual violence. The possibility of the supposed murder weapon not being the one used at the crime scene was also raised, but nothing led to her acquittal. Laurie Bembenek died of liver failure at the age of 52 on November 20, 2010.
Discussing the case, the fourth episode of the Playboy Murders season 2 will air on ID on Monday, February 5, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET.
