Robert "Bobby" Baron acknowledges that his family had concerns about his drug use and previous thefts from the family business, but he denies any involvement in his father's 2017 murder.
"He was my rock, my hero. He was the best friend I ever had or ever will," Bobby Baron told a Lackawanna County jury Wednesday morning.
He took the stand as a prosecution witness during the murder trial of Justin Schuback, who is accused in the 2017 disappearance and death of Old Forge restaurateur Robert Baron.
Frequently referred to in court as Robert Baron Sr. — though he and his son had different middle names — the elder Baron was owner of Ghigiarelli’s Restaurant in Old Forge, a family business where several relatives, including Bobby, worked at various times.
When Baron Sr. failed to show up at the eatery as usual on the morning of Jan. 26, 2017, he was reported missing by his family. Despite an extensive initial search, partial skeletal remains were not located until March 2023, when Schuback was charged.
Bobby Baron and Schuback were friends with a shared history of drug use, and investigators say Schuback sometimes served as a dealer for the younger Baron.
Schuback's defense, led by attorney Bernie Brown, has focused heavily on actions and remarks made by Bobby Baron so far during the trial, which was in its second day of testimony on Wednesday in Scranton.
Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell asked Baron if he had any involvement in his father's death, which the son denied.
Powell then asked Baron, 37, if he felt any responsibility for his father's death.
"I feel responsible in that I was raised better than this, and I brought these types of people into our lives," the son responded.
Baron testified that he struggled with heroin addiction for 15 years. Powell asked Baron how he had supported his drug habit over the years.
"Through the restaurant," he replied.
Baron said he has been clean for the past seven years. At the time of his father's death, however, Baron had fallen back into using and had contacted Schuback in search of crack cocaine on the day before his father disappeared.
Baron testified that Schuback showed up on foot, which he said was unusual, and they walked to a nearby building where the transaction was to take place. Baron said he gave Schuback $50, and was told to wait.
Schuback didn't return.
"He had taken off," Baron said.
Powell asked Baron why he didn't initially disclose that to police when interviewed.
Baron said he did not want his family to know he was back on drugs, fearing they would "hate me, blame me" for what had happened to Baron Sr.
But Baron acknowledged his father already had expressed concerns about drug use.
Powell asked Baron about "a substantial amount" of cash he had turned over to his father on Jan. 25, 2017, the day before Baron Sr. disappeared.
Bobby Baron said he had "no bills," lived in an apartment owned by his dad, and was able to save money. Powell pointed to a 2023 podcast in which Baron made "outrageous statements" about having $111,000.
"That's the money I had accumulated over a number of years," Baron said. "I didn't have that amount on me at the time."
Baron said his father suggested turning the money over to him for safekeeping because he was worried that his drug use could lead to it being confiscated by police, or that drug use could lead to his death.
Investigators allege Schuback, an acquaintance of Baron's son, Robert Baron Jr., was in debt to his own drug dealer at the time of the killing, but witnesses said he was flush with cash in the hours after Baron Sr. disappeared.
Schuback allegedly knew Baron Sr. kept money in the restaurant building "because he didn't believe in using banks," according to an affidavit.
Cross-examining Bobby Baron on Wednesday, defense attorney Brown asked the son if he told Schuback he didn't have money for drugs like he used to because his parents were going to cut him off due to drug use.
Baron denied saying that, but acknowledged again that his father was holding his money because of concerns about the drug use.
Regarding Schuback, Baron testified that he had not seen Schuback for about two years until two weeks before his father died, when Shuback and his girlfriend, Kortney Rake, appeared at the restaurant "out of the blue," staying briefly to chat and then leaving.
"I don't know what the reason was," Baron said, suggesting to Brown that maybe Schuback was "casing the place."
Baron responded under questioning that Schuback had never been upstairs in the building, where his father kept the cash. He acknowledged that Schuback had only been in the restaurant and stood outside with him while talking and smoking.
"That, to you, is casing the place?" Brown asked rhetorically.
The attorney also asked Baron why he reached out to Schuback to buy crack if he had those concerns.
"The person I was dealing with in Plymouth couldn't get me drugs at that time, and I had an urge," he replied.
Later in the cross-examination, Brown asked Baron if he ever said he "went on a heroin bonanza, spending a ton of cash" after his father died.
"I was basically trying to overdose," Baron replied.
Under re-direct, DA Powell asked Baron how much he typically took from the restaurant to support his drug habit.
"No more than a couple hundred dollars at a time," he replied.
Proceedings will resume Thursday morning in Lackawanna County Court.
Background at a glance
Schuback, who is being tried in Lackawanna County Court before Judge Terrence R. Nealon, faces charges including first-, second- and third-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty at a county court arraignment in June.
Key coverage:
- He was arrested last year.
- A jury in the case was seated Monday.
- Testimony began Tuesday and is expected to last up to two weeks, with dozens of witnesses.
