Transcript of The After Show: The Hunt for Mr. Right

Hi there, everybody. Welcome to 2020, The After Show. I'm Deborah Roberts, and as always, it's great to have you with us. Today, we are going to do what we always do, which is peel back on a recent 2020 episode, and one that we just can't stop talking about around here, which just aired. It's called The Hunt for Mr. Wright, and it centers around a beloved American University accounting professor by the name of Sue Markham, and she was known for her kindness and also just her generosity to her students. And on October 25th, 2010, people were just absolutely shocked when Sue was found murdered in her Bethesda, Maryland home after A friend went to go check on her after not hearing from her. Later on, an autopsy would confirm that she died of a blunt forced trauma to her head, and she was asphyxiated. Her house had been ransacked, her car was stolen. Police originally thought this was just maybe some a horrible robbery gone wrong. They had very little to go on in trying to solve this crime. But of course, investigators began to unravel it, and what they discovered was a web of deception, betrayal, and even a secret relationship that shocked even her closest friends.

They had no idea about this. We're going to reveal emails between Sue and her killer and talk a little bit more about how investigators were able to crack this case and put this puzzle together. And of course, to help us take a good look at this and to break it all down is our 2020 contributor, Pat Lalama, who is with us on so many of these journeys and brings such clarity and such insight to stories like this, particularly those around women who were victimized. So, Pat, it's so great to have you back with us.

Thank you. I love being here, and I particularly feel very strongly about this episode, and I think we can help our viewers and listeners understand more about why this case happened.

Well, you were just so passionate about it. And one of the things you're always passionate about when you cover these stories with us is it's not just about the crime for you. It's about what happened around the crime and the motivation. There was a very big web to untangle with this particular case. But what was it about it that attracted you when you think about Sue Markham, who is this 50-something-year-old, very smart professor, a single woman and suddenly killed? What was it that caught your eye right away?

Something very specific. You know that, Deborah, our job in telling these kinds of stories is to help people better understand the criminal justice system. But beyond the actual crime, for me personally, and why I became involved in criminal justice coverage, is the human condition. What makes a person do such horrific things at the risk of losing their freedom and their livelihood and their families and their loved ones? What is it that drives us psychologically? I looked at this case and I saw a very specific thread. That was a woman, brilliant, loving, generous, funny, adored by her students, intelligent, and fell into a trap that most people don't really understand. Because what I heard throughout covering this case was, Well, how could such a brilliant woman let herself be taken over by this one man? It's a complicated thing that happens to us, even if we are intelligent, even if we are successful. Who among us haven't fallen for someone who gave us a good line, and we looked back later and went, Oh, wow, where was I? But she went further with this, and I think we need to explore that.

Before we even get to that and what police eventually discovered, let's just talk about Sue Markampatt and what you discovered about her. You said she was this She had a lot of friends. She was very much into yoga. What did you learn about her?

She was a woman of substance, a renaissance woman, so to speak. She loved art, she loved music, she loved hanging with her friends. But what really struck me is hearing her students say that she made accounting fun. I think that pretty much encapsulizes it.

Because it's hard to imagine that.

She made accounting fun. So what a person can do that? Another friend said that she was zany. It's not a word we hear very often today, but I I think of someone zany being comical. I mean, this woman once did accounting for the circus. Oh, funny. For Barnabelle and Bailey.

She had a lot of light.

I think it's fair to say that she was searching for someone, and when she met Jorge Landeros, something struck her. She even said she was enamored from the get-go, and she could never get out of that after.

Well, let's talk about the crime scene, because this woman, her friends haven't seen her. Police show up, and right away, the crime scene looks a A little strange. The windows have been lifted, electronics piled up, her car has been taken. So initially, this appears to be possibly a burglary. That's the route police were taking right away, and then they discover not.

Exactly. So that It was at first glance, remember, it's the initial observations that they're making. We all do know it is the fact that there were several robberies in around the area over several months' time. When they saw that her car was gone, when they saw that some stereo equipment was moved and other items said, okay, oh, and the window, that would end up becoming very important because the theory was, oh, somebody broke in. But later on, they started looking at that screen in the kitchen and realized that the screen was pushed out. Now, why would the screen go that way if you're breaking in? And that's certainly not the way you left if you were the robber. But the big thing was her car being gone. Now, there were other clues as they started looking at the fact that she was still wearing a relatively expensive necklace. And they started putting pieces together, started looking at documents, and then they realized, not so fast, this does not look like a burglar.

Yeah, there are always those tail-to-tail clues, which we uncovered so well, I think, in 2020. Absolutely. What was interesting here was, too, as often happens in our stories, we think things are going in one direction. Her car is stolen. There's an 18-year-old. Police initially think, Okay, they've got their guy, and ultimately, he's not the guy. He just happens to steal this car.

This took the case in such a different direction at the time, because imagine any investigator is going, Well, it's got to be related to this guy. I mean, of course, they're going to look into it. But your first thought is, here's this young man. They've got to be on the lookout around the area for this stolen car. Here's this young kid, and he's driving it, and he gets into a big high-speed chase, and then he's arrested. And you can imagine that police said, This is it. It's him. But then there's no DNA from him in the house.

Nothing connecting him to this case.

Nothing that was stolen from the house, like I believe an Xbox and some other items, is in his home. And eventually they realized, Is this real? This is not our person.

Back to square one. Yeah, back to square one. We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, Pat will share more details about how police unraveled this case.

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Welcome back to 2020, The After Show. I am talking with our contributor, Pat Lalama, and Pat is breaking down the case of Sue Markham, a beloved university professor, found murdered in her basement. Police find this man Jorge Lenderos. He had been Sue's yoga instructor. He was a Spanish teacher. They had hit it off. He was this apparently very bright guy who was very good with financials, and he was listed as the sole beneficiary of her life insurance.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Police began to look at that, right? It raised some major red flags. They took out reciprocal life insurance policies on each other. Then he started talking to her about, I used to do some stock brokering and investment work, and let's get in on, let's do some day trading. Well, okay, she liked him enough. They were friends. They had a short-lived romance, apparently. And what did she do? Just as the prosecutor said, she was in it for a relationship. He was in it for the money. This is a woman, Deborah, who refinanced her house not once, but twice. A A woman who was starting to take money out of her retirement. A woman who borrowed some money from her father.

And we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars now.

Yes. According to the prosecution, she eventually forked over $300,000 plus and lost it. But just to simplify the whole matter, and let's make it clear, he was never accused or charged of financial crimes. That is a very delicate, specific thing to try to go after. The murder was so impactful, and the evidence was there, and I don't think they wanted to mess up this case going for financial crime. So he was never accused of that. That's a very complicated thing to pursue. However, he set it up that he would do all the trading. Isn't that interesting? She had her own account. They had the joint investment account, and then Mr. Landeros had his own BFA account.

Yeah, which she had no idea. That was happening.

She was pouring all this money into the shared account, which she had no access to. Red flag, red flag. But she trusted him. And showing no guilt to her for it when she finally does get suspicious. So that's how it all begins.

He did present himself as this very, very slick guy who was very financially- Savvy, yes. How could she fall for something like that as bright as she was?

You cannot disparage a woman who falls for this because it It is as scarring and damaging trap as physical abuse in some ways, where you don't know whether you're coming or you second guess yourself all the way along, which Sue did, yet she fell in and she could not. She treaded water and couldn't get out. And he knew it. And to answer your question, he was very charming, and a lot of people thought he was very attractive in court. He was very chiseled, nice suit.

He probably knew how to get to her. He knew how to speak to her in a way that just made her butter in his hands. You talked about how the relationship was a short-lived romance, but what wasn't completely clear is, was she just blinded by love or was it after a while? Because there was evidence there were emails between them. She was starting to get anxious about her financial situation, and that was revealed in our report. In fact, she even writes, I don't know how I allowed myself to get into this mess that I'm in. I just want out of the whole situation. So was she blinded by love or was it just got in so deep and it was hard for her to try to dig out?

It's hard to know what was in her brain, but I can tell you about one email that I think says it all and answers your question. So through this course of time, a couple of years that he's doing this to her, she starts showing, like you mentioned, Got to get out of this. I can't believe you even sat at my kitchen table and told me you didn't care that you'd spent the money ghosting her, doing all these things. And she's like, I can't sleep, I can't eat, I I don't think straight. I'm so in debt. What am I going to do? How am I going to pay my mortgage? Yet, Deborah, through all of that, starting to see the problems, right? And you're hoping, Okay, get out, Sue. Get out, get out, get out now.

Get out of the house.

What does she say? Shortly before she's murdered, she writes an email that says, I am still trying to find ways. I'm paraphrasing. I don't have it in front of me. I'm still trying to find ways to make this happen for us.

Yeah. In fact, she wrote, I am committed to doing what I can do so that we can both be successful and happy.

Thank you. I'm so glad you have that in front of you because I think that says it all, Deborah. She's gone through the anguish. Her friends, Larry March, her good friend, talked about how He had never seen her like this. She would cry. She was not a crier. She would yell. She would snap. She was psychologically degrading right before her friend's eyes. But another thing, Deborah, is she never brought him around much. And she didn't tell her friends about the financial investments. And that's part of the whole process. He had manipulated her enough that she, in her intelligent mind, knew, Okay, there's something's wrong here, but it's that other part of the brain that was saying, just keep it quiet and keep moving.

Keep it between us. And also, too, there's that embarrassment factor, too. I think people hit a point where if you are somebody who's very well-regarded in a you should know better. After a certain point, even if you do know better, it's embarrassing to let friends and family know that you're caught up in this thing.

You are so right. But Deborah, listen to what we're both saying, that she is somewhere aware. She knows there's a part of that intelligent brain that's saying, Oh, my God, what have you gotten into? But there is that part that none of us, no scientists, no psychiatrists, nobody can really understand why we continue to accept the torment. And she did. And that's what I want all people, not just women. I mean, men can fall into this trap, too. But I think, particularly for women- Women were particularly vulnerable. When someone has a hold of your brain and your heart like that.

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Welcome back to 2020, The After Show. I am talking with our contributor, Pat Lalama, about this riveting story we just reported on 2020 about the case of Sue Markham, an esteemed professor at American University who was found dead in her basement. Then, of course, investigators began to uncover really a shocking relationship between her and a man who was her yoga instructor, Jorge Lenderos. So, Pat, let's talk about Lenderos because this is a man who, as we said, was very charming. He seemed to have some financial knowledge. He spoke Spanish. He helped her with Spanish, but he went back and forth between the US and Mexico. And that is how he was able to elude police, ultimately, when they began to realize that he was the guy they were looking for.

Yes. After the murder, Jorge went to Mexico. But all along, he had been traveling back and forth to see Sue. This was a It was a common thing for him. And so after her murder, he did go back to Mexico, back and forth to see his father in El Paso, but then back to Mexico. The Mexican police were on the look out for him at the behest of investigators on the East Coast. Usa, authorities. Yes. When he crossed the border, they stopped him. Oh, and he was a charming delight. They brought him into the office. He said, Yeah, whatever you need. I hadn't seen Sue in a long time, and I'm happy to help.

Completely cooperative.

Yeah, but that was, of course, a ruse. But he did offer a buckle swab without any problem. But also the very astute police officer watched him throw a Coke can away, and he had someone pick it up, pluck it out of the basket just to have. Yeah, in case. And that's when they found out once the DNA results came in, that His DNA was on the tequila bottle that was one of the deadly weapons, on shot glasses, where it appears, like the detective said, whoever killed her shared a drink with her because it was on the glasses and under her fingers. Later on, with new technology, they were able to confirm that it was Landeros who actually had his hands on her neck- Asphyxiated her. That ultimately killed her.

Well, In the meantime, though, police are writing him emails, trying to get him to answer some questions. In fact, let me read one of his responses. He says, Of course, you are cordially invited to cross the same bridge in the opposite direction and meet me at Sandborns, a great café 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. That is so chilling. I mean, it almost has a Hannibal Leclerc sound to it, doesn't it?

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's a good analogy. Oh, he was Mr. Taunt. But you know why? Because he was in Mexico. He even alluded, said something to the effect of, Don't have it verbatim. I think, let the Mexican authorities do what the Mexican authorities want to do. He really felt that he was invincible. I think he really felt it was nobody was ever going to get him. And he was just throwing out these little teases to the police like, Come and get me.

Almost cat and Mouse like. Absolutely. And you've covered all kinds of stories like this before. Talk about the psychology of a response like that. The person who really does, as you say, seems to feel invincible. I mean, to play around with police like this, it's astonishing.

It is a common trait with violent criminals and murderers who think they'll never be caught. And also another psychological element is somehow they've justified in their mind what they've done. These kinds of personalities think that the world can't touch them. And there's an arrogance, right? We've seen that in all the cases we've covered. There's a certain arrogance in a lot of killers. He had that arrogance. He was even arrogant in the courtroom. He was very chest-puffed out.

He couldn't believe he was on trial.

No, I think he just sat there and thought, This is beneath me. You didn't see a smile. You didn't see a grimace. You saw him. He stared into the gallery a lot. Like he stared toward us a lot. He listened to everything. He said nothing. There's an arrogance and there's a sense of invincible, and I see it a lot. But in this guy, it was times 10.

Times 10. Well, before we get to that, I do want to talk about the dual identity, because not only did he flee to Mexico, and he lived for years under an alias Leon Ferrara. Ferrara, yes. And continued to work as a yoga instructor. And people were just absolutely stunned who were in his environment.

Melded in his presence. When his students were interviewed, to a T, not him. Oh, there's no way this man was so spiritual and so Zen. And he was a poet, and he said he didn't need worldly goods, and that he had these two little Pomeranians, and they followed him like ducks. And he was just so cerebral and wise. And that's, again, I think we are writing the handbook for predators here today in this podcast, because these are all the usual signs. And that's how he gets in by the charm.

Things for people to realize. Well, this case went on, and fortunately, authorities didn't let it It went on for years. Jorge Landeras was finally apprehended in Guadalajara in 2022. He was extradited to the United States. That was a big turning point, particularly for investigators who have been on this case for a long time.

He was on the 10 Most wanted list. He was just gaffine at American authorities like, You'll never get me. He probably got very comfortable, Deborah, where he just felt that maybe eventually the heat was off. But lo and behold, they got him.

Pat, thank you for your take on this story, and there is more to come. There is the sentencing of Jorge Lenderos. We're going to take you there when that happens. We'll find out whether Sue Markham's family actually finds justice in this case. So we thank you for being with us. And of course, don't forget, you can always find 2020 on ABC on Friday nights, and you can stream episodes like this on Disney+ and Hulu. We'll see you next time.

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