Family Confronts Killer Who Encased Lover in Cement in Bathtub: 'You Buried Him Alive' By Lesley Cosme Torres

A man in Hawaii who pleaded guilty to killing his lover and burying his body in a bathtub full of concrete in 2022 was sentenced on Wednesday, July 30, to life in prison with the possibility of parole. 

Juan Baron, a 26-year-old Colombian man, pleaded guilty to murdering 73-year-old Gary Ruby, who was killed sometime between Jan. 19. 2022 and March. 7, 2022, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which cited authorities.

Baron told authorities that he killed Ruby after the victim revealed he had tested positive for HIV, according to an arrest warrant previously obtained by PEOPLE. Baron used a belt to kill Ruby before dragging him into a bathtub and slitting his wrist to make it look like he might have killed himself, per the warrant. 

Baron also confessed to police that, after finding bags of concrete in his garage, he concealed Ruby’s body in the bathtub and poured coffee grounds over the cement to mask the smell of the corpse, according to the warrant.

Baron and a friend fled Hawaii after Ruby’s murder and they were later arrested in California, where Baron was found hiding in a crawl space in a Mexico-bound bus. 

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While the details of the timeline are unclear, according to police, after Baron killed Ruby, he lived in the victim’s $1.2 million home and drove around his Audi A6, claiming it as his own. After his arrest, he confessed to police that he planned on “fraudulently acquiring” the home by forging documents, according to the warrant. 

Judge Cathy Remigo sentenced Baron to two counts of theft and a count of identity theft for stealing from Ruby after his death, Island News reported. The Hawaii Paroling Authority will set the mandatory minimum Baron has to serve before he can be considered for parole.

Ruby’s family members were at Baron’s sentencing hearing. They talked about the 73-year-old’s love for literature, plays and fine art. And they reflected on Ruby’s final moments, Hawaii News Now reported. 

“The medical examiner found particles of cement in my uncle’s lungs,” Gary Ruby’s niece said. “I have to live knowing that he was still breathing when you poured cement on him. You have to live with that too, Mr. Barone. What a horrific way to die.”

“You buried him alive,” Lorne Ruby, Gary Ruby’s brother said to Baron in court, per the outlet. “It was not enough for you to murder him. You inflicted horrible, unnecessary suffering upon him. How cold, how cruel, how inhumane, how evil such an act.”