Suspect In Professor's Murder Refuses To Return To The U.S.
BETHESDA, Md. (WJZ) -- A suspect in the murder of an American University professor is refusing to return to the United States.
Sue Marcum was killed in her Montgomery County home last October.
Mary Bubala reports the fugitive in the case is apparently taunting police in messages from his Mexican hideout.
Jorge Landeros is known as a stock trader, yoga teacher and poet. Investigators say he had a relationship with a popular accounting professor at American University named Sue Ann Marcum, made lucrative investments with her and was the sole beneficiary of her $500,000 life insurance policy.
Police say she was hit with some force somewhere on her body. She was choked to death, according to the medical examiner. It all happened at Marcum's house in Bethesda.
At first the case had all the signs of a burglary gone bad. Police say there were signs of forced entry at her window, signs of a struggle. A teenager was arrested later in Marcum's stolen vehicle. But as the evidence built, it led them away from that teen -- who is no longer a suspect -- and straight to Landeros.
According to an affidavit obtained by CNN, Landeros gave a DNA sample to police in El Paso, Texas, a sample that matches one on what's believed to be the murder weapon.
But then, investigators say he skipped across the border to Juarez, Mexico. There's now an Interpol arrest warrant for him, and the FBI has filed a criminal complaint in naming Landeros as the only suspect in Marcum's murder.
Landeros has not only refused to come back to the U.S., but it appears he's taunting police.
The Washington Post obtained a recent e-mail from Landeros to an El Paso detective, who had asked to meet with him.
"Of course, you are cordially invited to cross the same bridge in the opposite direction, and meet me at Sanborn's, a great cafe and restaurant here in Juarez, and we can talk shop all you want. It's best if you come on a Sunday. We can have brunch. It will, of course, be my treat. Yours, Jorge," said the e-mail.
"It's causing us some delay. We believe he's using a shield of an international border to delay and slow this process. We'd like justice to start, like him to return, have his day in court," said an official.
In his conversation with the Washington Post, Landeros denied killed Marcum, saying he wasn't in the U.S. at the time of her murder.
U.S. authorities say they're working on an extradition deal with Mexico.
