An accounting professor at American University was discovered dead in her Maryland home in 2010, and the yoga teacher she had come to trust has now been convicted guilty of her murder.
According to a news release from the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, on Thursday, Oct. 30, a jury convicted Jorge Rueda Landeros, 55, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Sue Ann Marcum, 52, of Bethesda.
According to prosecutors, Landeros taught Marcum yoga and Spanish.
The arrest warrant acquired by PEOPLE states that they built “a personal and financial relationship” over time.
She grew to trust him so completely that the two made joint investments with her money – to his benefit, prosecutors claim.
“Over the course of approximately two years, Marcum lost $312,000 while Rueda Landeros gained a total of $252,000 from her,” according to the recommendation from the state attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said he was named the sole beneficiary of Marcum’s $500,000 life insurance policy in the event of her death.
According to the warrant, Marcum became increasingly anxious and disturbed about how Landeros handled and spent the funds in the brokerage account over time.
According to the warrant, Marcum mentioned “not being able to sleep” because she was so concerned about what was going on.
“Making myself sick trying to figure out how to pay the mortgage,” she said in one email, asking Landeros to return the money, according to authorities.
“I don’t know how I got myself into this mess,” she wrote in another email. “I just want out of the whole situation.”
Marcum was discovered dead in her home on Massachusetts Avenue in Bethesda on October 25, 2010. The medical examiner stated that her death resulted from blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.
Investigators quickly identified Landeros as a suspect.
According to the state’s attorney’s office, detectives discovered that Landeros had a personal and financial tie with Marcum and that after the homicide, he fled to Mexico or Central America.
On April 15, 2011, evidence gathered at the crime scene indicated Landeros as a suspect. Detectives secured an arrest warrant and accused him with first-degree murder, but he continued on the run.
Landeros was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list until December 2022, when the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office learned that he was most likely living in Guadalajara, Jalisco, where he worked as a yoga instructor under the name Leon Ferrara, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
Landeros was hauled into custody on December 13, 2022.
In July 2023, he was extradited to Montgomery County, Maryland, and imprisoned without bond. He was charged with first-degree murder and unauthorized flight.
During the trial, prosecutors told jurors Marcum had become “enamored” with Landeros, according to Bethesda Magazine.
“Jorge Landeros is a master manipulator,” Assistant State’s Attorney Debbie Feinstein told the jury in her closing statement on Wednesday, according to the Washington Post. “He preyed on Sue Marcum’s sympathetic nature and exploited her for his own advantage. And when she had nothing more to give him, he killed her.”
According to prosecutors, Landeros attacked Marcum following an argument and then staged the scene to look like a burglary, WTOP reports. His attorneys told jurors that the murder was the result of a botched burglary, according to the site.
Landeros faces up to 30 years in prison on the second-degree murder allegation. He is expected to appear in court for sentencing on February 6, 2026.
