Jorge Landeros Is Sentenced to 25 Years for Killing American University Professor Sue Marcum

The man who was convicted of murdering American University professor Sue Marcum back in 2010 was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Jorge Landeros, according to ABC7 News. Landeros reportedly murdered the professor inside her home in Bethesda, Md.

Sue was a beloved professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and she was killed on Oct. 25, 2010. Landeros reportedly manipulated the crime scene to make it look like a burglary after killing her. The authorities later found his alleged motive for the murder. So, what happened?

The police learned that Sue had been romantically involved with Landeros after meeting in 2005, but the romance had ended prior to her death. She reportedly gave him over $300,000 to invest, but he lost all of it. Sue remortgaged her house, took money from her retirement fund, and even borrowed money from her father, according to ABC News.

Sue was found by a friend at the bottom of her basement steps with a broken bottle underneath her body, and she'd been beaten and strangled. Her Jeep was also missing.

Investigators later found a life insurance policy in her office, and Landeros was the beneficiary. He gave the police his DNA voluntarily while living in Juarez, Mexico, but he'd disappeared by the time the police found that it matched the DNA at the crime scene. They found him in 2021 after following his social media and linking him to a man named Leon Ferrara in Guadalajara. They later learned that Ferrara was Landeros.

He was arrested by the Mexican police and extradited to the United States in 2022. Landeros was found guilty of second-degree murder in October of 2025 and sentenced on March 3, 2026, to 25 years in prison.

Sue was an accounting professor at American University's Kogod School of Business. Her brother, Alan Marcum, said that she used her experience working for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus to make learning fun in her classroom.

"Accounting became meaningful and not just a bunch of numbers," he said, per WTOP News. "She cared about her students more than she cared about her subject, and that’s the mark of a great teacher — that was my sister."

Sue's friend, Don Williamson, said that she was "the warmest, kindest, most wonderful giving person I've ever met in my life. There's just no question about that."

"I think she was always looking in life for love," he added. "And she wanted to give love and receive love. And I think that created a personality that was very giving. And that's why she was such a good teacher."

Landeros reportedly became close to Sue after becoming her Spanish teacher and yoga teacher.

“During the trial, we noted the 15th anniversary of my sister’s death,” said Sue's brother, Alan, after her killer was sentenced on March 3. "Yesterday was her birthday, today we’re standing here with the person who murdered her, sentenced to 25 years."