Juan Baron: Man pleads guilty to killing his 73-year-old boyfriend and hiding body in a bathtub in Hawaii

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

HONOLULU, HAWAII: A 25-year-old man has pleaded guilty to claiming the life of his 73-year-old boyfriend and concealing the body in a bathtub with concrete at a multimillion-dollar Hawaii home, ABC News reports. Prosecutors suggested that Juan Tejedor Baron receive a 20-year prison sentence for killing his lover, Gary Ruby, in March 2022.

On Monday, March 18, Baron entered a guilty plea for second-degree murder, first-degree theft and identity theft and his sentencing is scheduled for July 3. 

Gary Ruby's brother didn't hear from him for weeks

On March 7, 2022, Ruby’s brother called Honolulu police to inform them that he didn't hear from Ruby in about three weeks. The brother, whose name has not been disclosed, said Gary Ruby had mentioned he had started dating a man much younger than him.

According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, police went to the home in the exclusive Hawaii Loa Ridge subdivision and found Baron outside. He claimed he had bought the house from Ruby five years ago, but property records said Ruby had actually bought the home in 2020.

The authorities also saw Baron driving a 2020 Audi, for which records showed Ruby transferred ownership to Baron a month before the murder.

How did authorities find the victim Gary Ruby's body?

The police entered the home the following day and went inside the master bathroom where they saw a concrete-filled bathtub with coffee grounds on top. The authorities then noticed several insects while they began to dig through the coffee grounds. Police removed the concrete to find Ruby’s body at the bottom of the tub. The manner of death was determined to be homicide. 

When was Juan Tejedor Baron arrested?

On March 9, 2022, authorities arrested Baron in Anaheim, California, hiding in a crawl space of a bus heading to Mexico.

Baron allegedly said in an interview with the detectives that he became angry with Ruby when he told him he was HIV positive. Soon after, he saw Ruby choking on food and instead of helping him, he placed a belt around Ruby’s neck and strangled him, the affidavit said.

He then dragged Ruby to the bathroom and slit his wrists in order to make it look like a suicide case, according to the affidavit. Baron found two bags of concrete and partially covered Ruby’s body. Then, Baron drove to Lowe’s to buy four more bags of concrete to fully cover the body.

Baron put the coffee grounds on top to conceal the smell of decomposition, according to the affidavit. He later said the true motive for the murder was so he could fraudulently obtain Ruby’s 2020 Audi valued at $63,000 and his home which Ruby bought for $2.2 million.

Juan Tejedor Baron's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case

 Baron’s attorney, Myles Breiner, filed a motion to dismiss the case where he accused prosecutors of misconduct after a deputy prosecutor on the case shared crime scene photos during public seminars about elder abuse, according to Hawaii News Now.

The deputy prosecutor was fired. As part of the plea agreement, the defense agreed to drop the prosecutorial misconduct motion.

Gary Ruby worked as a regulation analyst 

Ruby was born and raised in Montreal, Canada and moved to Hawaii after earning his law degree. He worked as a regulation analyst at Hawaii’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, according to his obituary.

At Ruby’s funeral, loved ones remembered him as a man who “cared about the deeper things in life,” his brother Lorne Ruby said, according to local ABC-affiliate KITV. He also never forgot the special occasions for those he loved. “Whether we’re talking birthdays, anniversaries, you name it. Gary remembered, and Gary celebrated it,” his brother said.