Jorge Rueda Landeros. Photo Courtesy: FBI.
A fugitive wanted for the 2010 killing of a Bethesda professor has been extradited from Mexico back to Montgomery County.
Jorge Rueda Landeros, 53, is currently held at the county’s Central Processing Unit and is charged with first-degree murder and unlawful flight, Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) Chief Marcus Jones said during a press conference Wednesday.
He is being held without bond, according to MCPD.
52-year-old Sue Ann Marcum was found in her Bethesda home in Oct. 2010, Jones said. Per a release from MCPD, her cause of death was blunt force trauma and asphyxiation. She was a professor at American University.
During investigation, it was determined Rueda Landeros had a personal and financial relationship with Marcum, Jones said. He was listed as the beneficiary under a life insurance policy found in her home, and evidence at the crime scene connected to Rueda Landeros.
Jones said Rueda Landeros fled to Mexico and was working as a yoga instructor under a different name, “Leon Ferrara,” when he was located in Guadalajara. He has dual citizenship in the U.S. and in Mexico. He was previously a yoga instructor in the U.S. as well.
Sue Ann Marcum. Courtesy: American University
Jones expressed gratitude to Marcum’s family members — who he said were watching the press conference virtually — for their patience as authorities worked to find and extradite Rueda Landeros.
“I hope that this arrest and knowing that he is back in Montgomery County to face trial will provide some sense of closure to you all,” Jones said. He said it was a partnership between MCPD and the FBI, which worked with Mexican authorities.
A warrant was obtained in 2011 and he was arrested in 2022. The FBI Baltimore Field Office coordinated his extradition to Montgomery County.
FBI Special Agent Thomas Sobocinski said Rueda Landeros was arrested by Mexican authorities and the FBI has no information on how he was arrested or anything that occurred during the arrest.
MCPD Detective Paula Hamill said she does not believe the life insurance policy was ever paid out.
“Just holding out hope, and faith that it would happen, that we would find him,” Hamill said.
