A Baltimore County man accused of killing his wife, who disappeared in 2002, was ordered held without bond Wednesday as his attorney blasted the case as baseless and lacking any new evidence after more than 20 years.
Defense attorney Jeremy Eldridge said investigators have produced no new evidence in the 21 years since Michelle Rust’s disappearance to justify charging his client with first-degree murder. More than a dozen family members and friends of the man accused of the murder, Dwight “DJ” Rust Jr., attended the hearing in support of him.
The state prosecutor, Jacey Sheckells, argued that Dwight Rust Jr., although cooperative with police, was now a risk to the community and witnesses living there since he was officially charged. She called someone who could commit murder “an inherent danger” to their community.
Sheckells said that Dwight Rust Jr. attempted to impede their investigation decades ago by trying to cover up an affair he was having with the woman he is now married to and has children with.
District Court Judge Krystin J. Richardson sided with state prosecutors and ruled to hold Dwight Rust Jr. without bond because of the serious nature of the crime.
“This case is embarrassing, it’s a travesty,” said Eldridge. He said Dwight Rust Jr. should have been released to go to his job at an HVAC company and help support his five children.
Michelle Rust was 24 years old when she was reported missing in the afternoon of July 20, 2002. She was last seen by family members other than her husband at 11 p.m. on July 19, 2002, in their home on the 1800 block of Clarke Boulevard in Arbutus.
Michelle Rust’s body has never been found. In 2023, police searched the grounds of the property where she had lived with her husband. Investigators said they expected foul play, and Sheckells said it was unlikely to be a random abduction.
Dwight Rust Jr. told investigators in 2002 that his wife went to buy party supplies for her son’s third birthday party around 9:30 a.m. but never returned, according to a news release from the Baltimore County Police Department. But witnesses told detectives that they never saw her leave her house, police said.
She was last seen driving a green 1998 Dodge Caravan. The vehicle was found parked a few miles from her home on the 2400 block of Zion Road by her father-in-law, with the key broken off the driver’s door lock. She was wearing a black V-neck shirt, a princess-cut sapphire ring, a diamond engagement ring and a white gold cross necklace with diamonds, none of which were recovered.
There was no activity on her credit card or in her bank accounts after her disappearance, investigators said.
Eldridge said a sealed 18-page report that was used to indict his client pointed to no new forensic evidence tying Dwight Rust Jr. to the murder of his wife. He said prosecutors were relying on evidence that Dwight Rust Jr. was having an affair with the woman he is now married to and had told people that he had planned to leave Michelle Rust.
The defense attorney argued that Dwight Rust Jr. wouldn’t harm his wife while he was also telling people he was planning to leave her.
“He didn’t profit from her disappearance, there’s no life insurance policy, there was no pecuniary gain,” he said. “Divorce is one of those common things we deal with in society, and where there’s no financial benefit or gain, there’s no motive.”
Eldridge added that police engaged in “bullying tactics” over the years while investigating the case, including showing up at Dwight Rust Jr.’s child’s school concert to speak with him.
“The Attorney General’s Office has shown that they are not a trustworthy partner in this investigation, and neither is the Baltimore County Police Department,” Eldridge said.
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