BALTIMORE COUNTY — A Baltimore County judge has granted home detention for the man accused of murder in the 2002 disappearance of his wife, Michelle Rust.
Dwight Rust Jr., also known as DJ, has been held without bail since his arrest on April 21.
Judge grants home detention for husband accused of murder in Michelle Rust's 2002 disappearance
“If you're not a flight risk and you're not a danger and there's no evidence to say otherwise with no criminal record, not even incarcerable traffic, worse than a speeding ticket, then you can't hold somebody pending trial," Jeremy Eldridge, Rust's defense attorney, told reporters outside the courthouse Wednesday.
BREAKING: A Baltimore County judge grants level 3 home detention for Dwight Rust Jr, the husband accused of murder in his wife, Michelle’s 2002 disappearance. Trial date still not set. @WMAR2News
— Jack Watson (@JackWatsonTV) May 6, 2026
RELATED: Husband charged with murder in Michelle Rust's 2002 disappearance
Prosecutors declined to comment Wednesday, but in the courtroom, cited public safety concerns, and argued Rust's 'incentives change' after being charged with murder.
They did not go into much detail in Wednesday's court appearance, but said they do have new information in the case.
Rust, meantime, will be released on Level 3 - Home Detention, which entails 24/7 monitoring, and will be able to visit with lawyers and doctors.
Michelle was last seen on July 20, 2002. At the time, Dwight told police Michelle left in the morning to pick up things up for their son's birthday party but did not return. Shortly after she vanished, her father-in-law found her Dodge van parked empty about 10 minutes away on Zion Road in Halethorpe.
During a court appearance on April 22, prosecutors with the State's Attorney's Office argued that Dwight Rust was having an affair and was taking steps to start a new life with another woman at the time of Michelle's disappearance.
“This judge believed," Eldridge explained on Wednesday, "that just because you're charged with murder. When the nature of the evidence is 24 years old and the state is unable to meet that threshold of showing that you're a danger of flight risk, that it militates in Mr. Russ's favor, which is releasing him on home detention.”
MORE: Husband, accused of murder in wife’s 2002 disappearance, to be held without bail
A trial date has not yet been set.
