Murder Trial In American University Professor's 2010 Death Begins

BETHESDA, MD — The murder trial of a man who spent 12 years on the FBI Most Wanted list before being taken into custody for the 2010 death of American University accounting professor Sue Ann Marcum, began Wednesday.

Marcum was found beaten and asphyxiated in her home in Bethesda on Oct. 25, 2010.

Montgomery County prosecutors said Jorge Rueda Landeros, 55, befriended Marcum for her money, and killed her when that ran out. Authorities said she died after she was hit in the head with a tequila bottle and strangled.

WTOP reported that attorneys for Landeros said a burglary gone wrong resulted in Marcum’s death, and called their client “an innocent man being falsely accused of a crime he did not commit."

Marcum and Landeros created a joint investment count in 2008 for day trading; Marcum invested $250,000 in the account, prosecutors said.

“By 2009, the money was gone,” said Montgomery County Deputy State’s Attorney Ryan Wechsler in court. “The defendant was given $250,000 from Ms. Marcum to put in the investment account. He used that for his own personal gain, and he lost the rest in bad investments.”

Prosecutors said Landeros hoped to collect $500,000 from a life insurance policy on Marcum, The Washington Post reported. If convicted, he could face life in prison with no chance of parole.

Landeros did not put money in the investment account, Wechsler told the jury, but instead took advantage of her generosity.

“He put up no assets for this plan. Sue Marcum, on the other hand, mortgaged her home. … Sue took money out of retirement,” Wechsler said, according to The Baltimore Banner.

DNA found on the tequila bottle that was used to strike Marcum matched that of Landeros, prosecutors said, and the suspect's DNA was also found under her fingernails.