Insets: Sue Ann Marcum and Jorge Rueda Landeros. Background: The home in Bethesda, Maryland, where Landeros killed Marcum (Montgomery County State Attorney”s Office).
A 56-year-old man is facing a lengthy prison sentence, more than 15 years after he murdered a well-loved college professor in Maryland, fled the country, and adopted a new identity.
Jorge Rueda Landeros was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday for the murder of 52-year-old Sue Ann Marcum, as reported by the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. Landeros was convicted of second-degree murder by a jury in October.
Landeros had been Marcum’s Spanish teacher and yoga instructor, and the pair developed a romantic relationship. Marcum, a cherished professor at American University, also engaged in an investment agreement with Landeros, which eventually turned sour.
In a telling email from October 2008, Marcum expressed her distress, writing, “The vision of you sitting at the end of my kitchen table telling me you have no remorse for spending the money keeps appearing in my head now that I know that the amount was $50,000; it is physically playing havoc with my body.”
Further investigation revealed that Marcum had handed over approximately $300,000, receiving nothing in return, with Landeros pocketing around $250,000. He had also named himself as the sole beneficiary of Marcum’s $500,000 life insurance policy.
Authorities discovered Marcum’s body on October 25, 2010, at her residence on Massachusetts Avenue in Bethesda. She had been brutally strangled and beaten. Initial signs suggested a break-in through a back window, with several valuables reportedly stolen. However, as the investigation unfolded, detectives concluded the burglary was staged and that Marcum likely knew her assailant.
Detectives recovered DNA belonging to someone other than Marcum. They then reviewed Marcum’s emails, which uncovered her relationship with Landeros. They also learned he had crossed the U.S. border from his native Mexico just days before the murder. Landeros had been going back and forth from the U.S. and Mexico on a regular basis and during one of the crossings, Border Patrol agents obtained a cheek swab for a DNA sample.
In April 2011, authorities confirmed the unknown DNA at the crime scene belonged to Landeros. They obtained an arrest warrant.
But by that time Landeros disappeared into Mexico. Cops learned that he assumed a new identity. It took 11 years before authorities could locate him, arrest him, and ship him back to Maryland to face charges.
A jury convicted him of murder after a nine-day trial.
Marcum’s brother Alan Marcum noted that Monday was his sister’s birthday.
“Today, we’re standing here with the person who murdered her sentenced to 25 years thanks to the work of the Montgomery County police, the State’s Attorneys, and I’m very grateful for the work that they did, and appreciative for the care and attention that the jury paid and that the judge gave us throughout this case,” he said.
Sue Ann Marcum was the director of the master’s in accounting program at American University and taught both graduate and undergraduate classes, her obituary said. She was professor of the year for three straight years.
Her longtime friend Larry March said Marcum had recently moved into a new home, and he believed she had cut all ties to Landeros.
“She was kind of starting her life over again, and then she was snuffed away from the Earth,” March said.
