WASHINGTON — The Silver Spring man who police tracked down to Mexico for the April murder of his wife was on probation when she was killed and had earlier been indicted in a chase that led to the death of a Montgomery County police officer.
On Sunday, Montgomery County Police announced Ruel Francis Dempster II, 30, was arrested by Mexico’s federal police agency close to the U.S.-Mexico border for the murder of his 34-year-old wife Alice Mino Dennis.
On April 18, Dennis was found dead on the kitchen floor of their apartment in the 3600 block of Bel Pre Road.
Police believe she was killed during a domestic dispute.
Police and Montgomery County prosecutors said the extradition process is underway to bring Dempster back to Maryland to stand trial for first-degree murder in the death of Dennis.
Federal and Maryland court records show Dempster had a long criminal record and was on federal probation for a 2015 gun conviction at the time he allegedly killed his wife.
In 2007 Dempster was arrested and indicted for manslaughter in the 2007 death of rookie Montgomery County police officer Luke Hoffman, although prosecutors eventually decided to drop the charge.
Dempster had been found guilty of several misdemeanors, including failure to stop after an accident, driving without a license and marijuana possession, but jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the manslaughter charge.
In December 2007, Montgomery County prosecutors decided to not retry Dempster.
According to a 2015 District Court plea agreement, Dempster, a native and citizen of Liberia, had been ordered removed from the country in 2008.
He pleaded guilty to being an alien in possession of a firearm.
On July 8, 2015 he was sentenced to three years in prison, minus time served, and three years supervised probation.
Elizabeth Morse, public information officer with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland confirmed Dempster was on supervised release at the time of the murder of Alice Mino Dennis.
