More than 15 years after American University accounting professor Sue Ann Marcum was found beaten and strangled in her Bethesda, Maryland, home, her family told a Montgomery County judge about the way Marcum lived.

“During the trial we noted the 15th anniversary of my sister’s death,” said Alan Marcum, the professor’s brother. “Yesterday was her birthday — today we’re standing here with the person who murdered her, sentenced to 25 years” in prison.

Jorge Rueda Landeros, 56, was sentenced Tuesday by Circuit Court Judge Rachel McGuckian. He had been found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in October 2025.

Before sentencing, Alan Marcum told the judge about his sister’s joie de vivre.

“Sue worked at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus,” Alan Marcum recounted to reporters after the sentencing. “She brought that experience into the classroom, where she put a red ball on her nose and talked about the depreciation complexities of elephants.”

With the sentencing, Sue Marcum’s friend Larry March said he felt a sense of closure.

“Sue is now doing God’s work, and we now can do Sue’s work on this earth,” March said.

Alan Marcum said what made his sister a great teacher is that she cared about the people who came to learn from her and she loved finding ways to make accounting relatable.

“Accounting became meaningful and not just a bunch of numbers,” Alan Marcum said. “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.”

Rueda Landeros was initially Sue Ann Marcum’s Spanish and yoga teacher. The two developed a personal and financial relationship, making investments with Marcum’s money.

Marcum was found dead in her home on Massachusetts Avenue in Bethesda on Oct. 25, 2010.

In 2011, evidence collected from the crime scene identified Rueda Landeros as a suspect, and an arrest warrant was issued, charging him with murder. Montgomery County police detectives learned Landeros left the country, and was in Mexico, until he found and arrested in December 2022.

The maximum sentence in Maryland for second-degree murder is 30 years in prison. McGuckian said her sentence of 25 years reflected that Rueda Landeros had no prior criminal record.