A Hawaii millionaire was buried alive in wet cement after his furious young lover discovered that the 73-year-old had HIV, a court has heard.
Gary Ruby, 73, was found entombed in a bathtub at his $2.2 million gated Honolulu home in 2022.
His now 26-year-old partner, Juan Tejedor Baron, originally confessed to the grisly murder but has since walked back his admission.
At a court hearing on Monday, Dec. 9, to determine if his guilty plea may be rescinded, the court heard more gruesome details about the circumstances of Ruby’s death. “There’s an inference that Gary was still alive when you poured the cement over him,” Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell said, according to the Star Advertiser. Baron responded that this was “speculation” but confirmed that he was aware the allegation appeared in the prosecution’s case.
Baron had previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, identity theft, and two counts of theft of property as part of a plea deal. The terms would have seen the state agree not to seek a life sentence without parole or a minimum mandatory sentence of more than 20 years.
However, Colombia-born Baron has since argued he did not fully understand the plea deal, as he did not have a translator present. His defence attorney, Randall Hironaka, is attempting to prove that Baron was afraid of receiving the death penalty and was under the influence of prescription drugs at the time.
In October, a hearing began on a motion to withdraw his guilty plea before Oahu Circuit Judge Catherine Remigio. Baron testified that his former lawyer, Kyle Dowd, had impressed upon him that he would die in prison, which Baron took to mean he would be sent to the electric chair. He also added that a weekly prescription he was taking at the time impaired his judgment.
The hearing will continue on December 23 and will include testimony from Baron’s former attorneys and an interpreter.
California police arrested Baron in March 2022 in connection with the brutal killing. He had attempted to flee the country after the murder, making it as far as a bus terminal in the Golden State before he was apprehended by LA-based officers. They found him “hiding in a crawl space under an enclosed bench” of a Mexico-bound bus, police said.
Baron confessed to the killing, telling officers he murdered longtime Honolulu resident Ruby, with whom he had been in a romantic relationship, after learning the latter was HIV-positive.
According to the arrest warrant, Baron told detectives he killed the victim after Ruby informed him of his HIV status following a sexual encounter in February. This revelation reportedly caused Baron to strangle his much older lover with a belt.
“Baron stated that he had sex with Gary but became angry after Gary informed Baron that Gary was HIV-positive,” the warrant reads.
Baron then explained that soon after, he noticed Gary choke slightly while eating, prompting him to “react by placing a belt around Gary’s neck and tightening the belt until Gary lost consciousness.”
Baron told officers that he then dragged the elderly man’s corpse to the bathtub, using a kitchen knife to slit Gary’s wrists in an effort to stage a suicide.
Cops said that Baron confessed to attempting to cover up the killing, pouring cement from Ruby’s garage and coffee grounds over the victim’s body in the tub, only to realise he did not have enough to submerge the slain millionaire.
“Baron then drove to Lowe’s to purchase four additional bags of concrete and further filled the bathtub, covering Gary,” the filing states.
Baron further told detectives that he added coffee grounds to the bathtub mixture to better mask the smell of Ruby’s decomposing body.
“Baron stated he used coffee grounds to cover the cement in an effort to conceal the smell of decomposition,” the affidavit states.
Following the murder, Baron attempted to pass off Ruby’s gold 2020 Audi A6 and multi-million-dollar home as his own when questioned by officers investigating Ruby’s sudden disappearance. He told officers he had purchased both from the deceased.
According to the warrant, Baron admitted to officers taking over ownership papers of Ruby’s car and even had plans to try to acquire the home.
The hearing will continue on December 23.
