Police: Husband arrested in connection with 24-year-old cold case disappearance of Michelle Rust
By Blair Young, David Collins, Khiree Stewart
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ARBUTUS, Maryland (WBAL) — Baltimore County police on Tuesday announced an arrest in a 24-year-old missing persons cold case in the disappearance of Michelle Rust.
A grand jury on Monday indicted Dwight Rust Jr., 48, on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the disappearance of his wife, Michelle Rust, police said. Dwight Rust Jr. was arrested on Tuesday and remained held at the Baltimore County Detention Center.
On Wednesday, a judge ordered Dwight Rust Jr. to remain held without bail.
In previous reporting, Dwight Rust Jr. told police that his wife had left their home on Clarke Boulevard around 9:30 a.m. on July 20, 2002, to go to a store to pick up items for their son’s third birthday party.
But neighbors told police they never saw her leave the house or drive away in her 1988 green Dodge Caravan.
Investigators said there was never any activity on Michelle Rust’s financial accounts, no money taken from ATM’s, no checks written, and her credit cards were never used or found.
Police, along with Michelle Rust’s family, searched for her in various neighborhoods, during which time, her father-in-law found the van she was driving parked at Zion Road and Clyde Avenue in Lansdowne. It was unoccupied with a key broken off in the driver’s door lock.
In 2023, Baltimore County police detectives and a team of Towson University forensic students searched for evidence at the Rusts’ home. Police said detectives have always suspected foul play.
“We are out here today to do ground-penetrating radar just in an effort to try to obtain any information related to her disappearance,” Dana Carter, with Baltimore County police, told WBAL-TV 11 News on May 7, 2023.
Detectives don’t think anyone had any encounters with Michelle Rust over the past 24 years. According to investigators, there was never any activity on Michelle Rust’s financial accounts, no money taken from ATMs, no checks written and her credit cards never used or found.
The indictment remains sealed, so it wasn’t immediately known what new evidence led to the arrest.
Neither of Michelle Rust’s family members nor someone at Dwight Rust’s house commented on Tuesday.
“It’s just very scary. This family has been waiting for justice for 24 years,” said a resident who lives in Dwight Rust’s neighborhood.
“I’m always surprised when cases take this long,” another resident said. “But I’m always happy when a cold case is closed, or on the verge of being closed.”
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