Jose Rodriguez Cruz plead guilty to 1989 murder of estranged wife

Accused wife killer returned to Northern Virginia

Nearly five months after being indicted for the 1989 murder of his first wife, Jose Rodriguez Cruz is in the custody of authorities in Stafford County.

STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. - Decades after her body was found in a wooded area along Interstate 95 in Virginia, Marta Rodriguez’s killer has finally been brought to justice.

Jose Rodriguez Cruz pleaded guilty on Monday for killing his estranged wife and then dumping her body along the highway.

Rodriguez Cruz was already serving time in West Virginia for the murder of Pamela Butler, when he was charged with killing Marta Rodriguez.

DOWNLOAD: The FOX 5 DC News app for local breaking news and weather

Marta Rodriguez’s body was discovered in 1991, but decades passed before it could be identified.

She’d disappeared from Arlington under mysterious circumstances two years earlier.

Pamela Butler’s family pressed hard for Stafford County authorities to file charges in the Marta Rodriguez case – in part because Jose Rodriguez Cruz had only received 12 years in connection with her death.

Pamela Butler vanished from her Northwest D.C. home in February 2009. The case received widespread attention for years.

Rodriguez Cruz is scheduled to be sentenced on February 4, 2021 at 9 a.m.

Stafford County Crime and Public Safety Northwest Washington, D.C.Virginia