Man accused of killing wife in Baltimore County cold case released on home detention

A man accused of killing his wife in a 24-year-old Baltimore County cold case can be released on home detention while he is awaiting trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Circuit Judge Dennis M. Robinson Jr. acknowledged that the first-degree murder charge against Dwight “DJ” Rust Jr. in the 2002 killing of his wife, Michelle, was “among the most serious” of violent crimes.

But he said Rust’s lack of a prior record suggests he is not a significant threat to the community and that his lifelong ties to southwest Baltimore County make him unlikely to flee.

The decision to release Rust was not easy and might not be popular with the public, the judge said. But “holding the defendant without bail is not the only option,” he added.

Robinson ordered Rust, a Halethorpe resident, released from the Baltimore County Detention Center with electronic monitoring. He will be required to remain home except for medical appointments, submit to alcohol and drug testing and surrender his passport.

About a dozen of Rust’s friends and family members cried and hugged in the courtroom gallery as Robinson issued his order.

Rust, seated beside his attorneys in an orange jumpsuit with his hands shackled in front of him, showed little emotion and declined to address the court.

Michelle Rust was 24 when she went missing on July 20, 2002, according to the Baltimore County Police Department.

Dwight Rust Jr. told officers that his wife went to the store that morning to purchase items for their son’s third birthday party. But witnesses said they never saw her leaving her house on Clark Boulevard or driving her vehicle.

Her green Dodge van was later found, parked and unoccupied, a few miles from her home, with the key broken off the driver’s door lock. Investigators concluded her disappearance was the result of foul play.

Police pursued the cold case for decades. Michelle Rust’s body was never found, and there has been no trace of the clothing or jewelry she was wearing the day she disappeared.

On April 20, nearly 24 years after Michelle Rust’s disappearance, a grand jury indicted Dwight Rust Jr. on a charge of first-degree murder. He was arrested the next day and has since been held without bond.

The indictment remains sealed, but Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Kroepsch said in court Wednesday that prosecutors were prepared to present alibis and cell tower records at trial linking Dwight Rust Jr. to the crime.

Kroepsch argued the 48-year-old should remain in jail until trial due to the seriousness of the charges, as well as the risk that he could interfere with the case or fail to appear in court.

But defense attorney Jeremy Eldridge said his client has consistently cooperated with investigators and was not a flight risk because of his deep ties to the community. He noted that Dwight Rust Jr. he has lived in Baltimore County his entire life, is married with five children and works for an HVAC company.

Eldridge added that prosecutors have offered no new forensic evidence tying his client to the killing, instead relying on allegations of an affair and statements that he planned to leave his wife.

“We are incredibly pleased here today that the judge in the Baltimore County Circuit Court decided to go through a thorough and thoughtful analysis under Maryland law,” Eldridge told reporters Wednesday outside the courthouse. “He’s allowed Mr. Rust to come home to his family, to his friends, to the community that he has lived and thrived in for his entire life so that we can fight this case.”

Eldridge said that while release pending trial is rare in first-degree murder cases, this is the second time it has happened in a Baltimore County cold case in recent months.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 18. A trial date has not been set.